The People Behind Foundation AI

Dustin Clonch is the co-founder of Foundation AI, where he helps businesses turn complex, manual processes into intelligent, AI-powered workflows. With nearly three decades of software and technology experience, Dustin works directly with organizations to identify high-impact opportunities for AI and agentic automation—and turn those opportunities into practical solutions that deliver measurable results.

Dustin began his software development career in 1997 at the University of Nebraska, where he worked on a Mellon Foundation-funded initiative exploring the cost-effectiveness and potential of online learning. In 2011, he founded Agilx Software and grew the company into an established custom software development firm, delivering hundreds of applications for organizations across the country.

In 2026, Dustin and longtime CTO Jeff Hale founded Foundation AI to pursue what they believe is the next major shift in business technology: agentic AI. Foundation combines decades of software engineering experience with a new generation of AI agents capable of working alongside people, software, and business systems.

Today, Dustin's focus is helping organizations move beyond AI experimentation and put AI to work—automating real processes, solving real operational problems, and helping businesses prepare for a fundamentally different era of work.

Jeff Hale is co-founder and partner at Foundation AI, where he leads technical strategy and implementation, helping organizations transform complex business processes into intelligent, reliable software and agentic AI solutions.

With more than 25 years of software engineering experience, Jeff has built his career solving difficult technical problems, architecting durable systems, and leading development teams from concept through production. Before founding Foundation, he served as CTO of Agilx Software, where he led the technical delivery of hundreds of custom software solutions. Earlier in his career, Jeff held software engineering and technology leadership roles at Assurity and Security Financial Life Insurance.

At Foundation, Jeff is focused on putting the rapidly evolving capabilities of AI to practical use. He brings a pragmatic, engineering-first approach to agentic AI—designing systems that don't just demonstrate what's possible, but reliably perform real work inside real businesses.

His philosophy is straightforward: technology should solve problems, reduce complexity, and create measurable value. Whether architecting a new software platform or deploying AI agents into an existing operation, Jeff focuses on building solutions that are secure, maintainable, and designed to last.