If you searched “Fabio DeMelo” and landed here, this page is the short answer to who I am and what I do. The name gets spelled several ways — DeMelo, De Melo, Demelo, and sometimes simply Melo — so it’s worth setting out clearly in one place.
A note on the name
Brazilian surnames with particles travel badly across systems. “de Melo” is routinely rendered as DeMelo, De Melo, Demelo, or collapsed to Melo, depending on whether a form allowed spaces, how a registrar capitalised it, or how someone heard it over the phone. All of those refer to me.
The practical consequence is that searching one spelling will not surface everything, and there are other people who share versions of the name. If you are trying to confirm you have found the right person: I am a technology entrepreneur based in the western United States, I hold a master’s degree from the University of Utah, and I run demelos. That combination should settle it.
Background
I began my career in the early 1990s as a software developer specialising in e-business. Over the following decades I held roles including CEO, CTO, and Vice President across a range of companies.
During the dotcom period in the United States I delivered a large number of websites across a genuinely wide spread of industries — real estate, finance, food and beverage, market research, healthcare, industrial, sports, and technology. By the mid-1990s my focus had settled on e-commerce and web usability, which at the time were still being figured out rather than taught.
That range is deliberate rather than accidental. Working across that many sectors teaches you which problems are genuinely domain-specific and which are the same problem wearing different clothes. Most are the latter.
What I do now
My work centres on building and operating technology ventures, with a current focus on applied AI for business operations through demelos — AI voice agents, workflow automation, document intelligence, and related systems for teams that want them actually deployed rather than demonstrated.
Alongside that I build and run a portfolio of software products spanning SEO and search visibility, workforce time tracking, document management, and trade and commodities. I also have commercial interests in mineral manufacturing in Brazil and mineral exports to China, and I run Wave Function Trading.
Academic life
My academic route was not a straight line. ADHD made learning genuinely difficult in my young adult life, and getting anywhere required first understanding how my own attention worked and then rebuilding my approach to study around it. That turned out to be the more valuable lesson.
I hold three degrees: a business degree from LDS Business College, a degree in Information Technology from the University of Phoenix, and a Master’s degree in Technology from the University of Utah.
I later returned to the University of Utah as an adjunct professor in the master’s program, teaching Business and E-commerce to graduate students. Teaching a subject you once struggled to learn changes how you explain it — you remember where the confusion actually sits.
Philanthropy
A significant part of my life outside business has been spent travelling and working on humanitarian and social projects. That has included visiting a Maasai community in Tanzania, supporting a children’s English school, a social project in São Paulo, Brazil, and school work in India, including Agra.
I have also been involved in crisis response — work connected to the February 2022 Turkey earthquake and a refugee camp in Hatay near the Syrian border, along with ongoing involvement in children’s peace initiatives.
The through-line is straightforward: the connections formed with people across very different circumstances have been the most enriching part of my life, and they consistently point toward the same conclusion — that what you get out of the world is closely tied to what you put back into it.
Frequently asked questions
Is Fabio DeMelo the same as Fabio Melo?
In my case, yes — “Melo” and “de Melo” are variants of the same surname, and both spellings appear in records relating to me. Bear in mind these are common Brazilian and Portuguese names, so other people legitimately share them; the details above are the reliable way to confirm identity.
What is your professional background?
Technology, from the early 1990s onward — software development, then e-commerce and web usability, then executive roles including CEO, CTO, and VP, and more recently founding and running technology ventures.
Where are you based?
The western United States, with business interests internationally, particularly in Brazil.
Do you still teach?
I served as an adjunct professor in the master’s program at the University of Utah, teaching Business and E-commerce.
How do I get in touch?
Use the contact page. I usually respond to messages within 24 hours.
Get in touch
If you are here because of a business enquiry, a speaking request, or a philanthropic project, the contact page is the fastest route. You can also see the ventures and companies I am involved with.
