Chas Watkins

Founder & CEO

Chas has been building things with computers since before it was a career. He taught himself Z80 machine code as a teenager — borrowing a processor technical manual from the library and hand-entering values directly into memory on a ZX81. By 18, he was selling software.

After earning his degree in Electronics from the University of Hull, he joined Egghead Software — the pioneering retail software chain — as one of its early team members. He went on to become an Apple Certified Developer for the Macintosh, then moved to Sydney where he ran retail sales, government accounts, and digital pre-press sales for an Apple Centre. He later led technology operations for Kwik Kopy Australia, supporting 110 stores across Australasia.

When the dot-com era hit, Chas joined Scient in San Francisco on day one. Scient grew to over 1,100 employees, hit $156 million in annual revenue, and was featured on the cover of Forbes. He was part of the team that built some of the most recognized names of that era — and lived through the crash that followed.

After the dot-com bust, he built his own venture: a cosmetic ambulatory surgery software platform, which he later sold to a large healthcare group.

In 2008, foreseeing the US property crash, Chas relocated to Roatan — a Caribbean island off the coast of Honduras. What was meant to be a few years became permanent. He built an 18-year real estate career there as a licensed RE/MAX agent. That experience — building businesses where infrastructure isn't guaranteed, solving problems with whatever's available, and operating where relationships matter more than contracts — shaped how OmelasAI operates: lean, resourceful, and relentlessly practical.

Chas is also a published author. To Hold The Sun (2014 Bronze Medal, Readers' Favorite — Inspirational Fiction) is a philosophical novel set on Roatan. Life on Roatan: A Guide to Understanding is a practical guide to Caribbean island living and property.

OmelasAI is the culmination of everything — four decades of building, selling, writing, and learning across three continents, now amplified by AI tools that make a small, focused team extraordinarily productive.