Meet the Team
4rivrs was started by founders who know the pressure of getting it right. We’ve worked in the field, submitted plans under deadline, and dealt with regulators.
We built this platform to make that process easier for people like you.
Charles H. Payne
Co-Founder &
Executive Chairman
Dave Paquette
Co-Founder & CEO
Dan Radez
Co-Founder & CTO
Robert Waldrop
Co-Founder
Charles H. Payne
Co-Founder &
Executive Chairman
Charles H. Payne is a distinguished environmental compliance expert, business leader, and Christian minister with a career spanning more than four decades in agriculture, engineering consulting, industrial operations, and faith-based leadership. Recognized across the stormwater industry for his expertise in Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) development, stormwater sampling, hazardous materials management, and regulatory compliance strategy, he has guided clients through successful engagements with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), and regulatory authorities in multiple states.
Charles holds a B.S. in Agriculture Sciences from Texas Tech University and an A.S. in Applied Chemistry from Cisco Junior College. His professional foundation blends hands-on agricultural roots with technical roles in water and wastewater engineering, flow control, industrial hygiene, and decades of environmental consulting. His work has earned recognition such as the 2005 NRCC Business Advisory Council “Businessman of the Year” and inclusion by Dun & Bradstreet among the Top Ten Percent of Small Businesses in America.
In addition to his professional accomplishments, Charles is a Christian minister and the founder of 4 Winds Global, a ministry providing refuge, education, and empowerment to marginalized women and children in Muslim-majority nations. His commitment to both environmental stewardship and spiritual restoration reflects an integrated approach to leadership that he brings to his role as Executive Chairman of 4rivrs.
Dave Paquette
Co-Founder & CEO
Dave Paquette is a systems and software architect with a record of turning complex and highly regulated processes into scalable and efficient systems. A USAF veteran, his field experience spans both military and industrial operations, where he applied a disciplined, detail-oriented approach to optimizing maintenance and documentation workflows in high-stakes environments. Tools and processes he developed eliminated repetitive tasks, uncovered procedural inefficiencies, and earned numerous IDEA awards for cost-saving innovations, while giving him firsthand insight into the critical role of documentation in safeguarding both operations and the environment.
With broad experience in finance and business operations, Dave has since specialized in building enterprise automation tools that free teams from low-value tasks to facilitate high-value organizational transformations. His work has been foundational in driving meaningful change across financial and operational domains, and he has set his mind to understand how well-designed technology can create lasting business impact.
At 4rivrs, Dave sets the strategic vision, guides product direction, and serves alongside a world-class founding team he considers the company’s greatest asset. He is deeply committed to fostering an environment where people can thrive and teams can achieve more together than any one individual could accomplish alone.
Dave holds a B.A. in Mathematics from UNC Chapel Hill and lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife and three sons.
Dan Radez
Co-Founder & CTO
Dan Radez serves as Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at 4rivrs. With more than two decades of experience in cloud infrastructure and open source software, he drives technical innovation and platform scalability across the organization.
Prior to 4rivrs, Dan spent 17 years at Red Hat, where he led a lab team responsible for DevOps operations across OpenStack deployments, managed TryStack (a public cloud testing environment for the OpenStack project), and contributed to the development of OPNFV (an open platform for network function virtualization used in the telecommunications industry). His expertise spans cloud platform development, systems automation, DevOps, TELCO virtual networking, and container platform scale and performance testing.
In addition to his engineering leadership, Dan is the author of OpenStack Essentials and an international speaker who has helped shape industry understanding of cloud computing fundamentals. His presentations at global conferences have guided organizations worldwide in their adoption of cloud technologies.
At 4rivrs, Dan applies his proven track record in platform automation and scaling, as well as his experience leading high-performance engineering teams, to accelerate the company’s growth and position it as the industry leader in online EHS documentation.
Robert Waldrop
Co-Founder
Robert has been leading and consulting for technology and business teams across a variety of sectors for over 25 years, serving in the US and internationally.
4Rivrs is his 5th significant startup as a founder to secure early-phase funding or sustainable profitability. As a fractional C-Suite or senior consultant, he has been a key contributor to approximately 100 organizations spanning a broad spectrum of company size and lifecycle maturity.
As a pro-USA, innovation enthusiast, Robert has intimately observed or helped determine the course of technology development for several US domestic, branded organizations.
Robert is a listed inventor on 6 US patents and has led or contributed to new technology and patent development for several early through late-stage companies, developing technology and products in sectors such as consumer, telecom/networks, medical/health, logistics, and industrial.
Robert’s other interests are contemplative prayer, wilderness adventure, fly fishing, story writing, and spending time with his two precious daughters. He also contributes time to several grassroots civic causes.