CADIENT - Key Persons


Bob Cotton - CFO

Job Titles:
  • CFO
Bob has thirty years of financial and business performance management experience with both public and p... Read More Bob has thirty years of financial and business performance management experience with both public and private companies, ranging in size from small to mid-market to Fortune 500. Bob is a key player in managing the overall achievement of corporate goals and objectives and blending larger strategic planning with active involvement in day-to-day operations. Before joining Cadient Talent, Bob played a leading role directing general finance, accounting, FP&A, legal, and human resource functions. Bob has expertise in handling financial aspects of mergers and acquisitions and private equity financing, managing internal finance and operations, treasury, and FX management. His software expertise includes software and services pricing, deal structuring and contract negotiation, and Software Industry Technical Accounting Standards. "I've water-skied in 1 ocean, 2 Seas, and 3 Rivers - can you guess which?"

Jim Buchanan - CEO

Job Titles:
  • CEO
Jim has spent the past fifteen years in executive management roles in the talent acquisition industry. Prior to Cadient Talent, Jim co-founded Merlin Technologies, the parent company of Assess Systems, a human capital management company specializing in assessment software and solutions. Under his leadership, the company experienced significant growth and was acquired by a private equity firm in 2015. Before Merlin, Jim was the CFO of Peopleclick, one of the first companies to offer an applicant tracking system serving a blue-chip customer base - including forty-nine of the Fortune 100 and more than a third of the Fortune 500. Jim earned his bachelor's degree at Indiana State University and his MBA at Indiana University. "Despite having painfully ordinary basketball skills, I have a curious connection with the NBA. In college, I worked closely on a class project with Larry Bird, one of the "50 Greatest Players in NBA History"! Then, much later, while working at a public company, one of our board members was David Stern, the NBA Commissioner!"

Jon Puckett

Job Titles:
  • VP, Customer Success
Jon has over twenty years of experience in delivering talent management software solutions to enterprise and SMB cus... Read More Jon has over twenty years of experience in delivering talent management software solutions to enterprise and SMB customers. At Cadient Talent, Jon is responsible for retention, product adoption, and the long-term success of Cadient Talent's customers, including Implementations, Training, Professional Services, Customer Success Management, Account Management, and Technical Support. Prior to Cadient Talent, Jon spent twelve years with the Talent Acquisition division of Kronos where he built professional services and account management teams while leading customer renewals. Prior to Kronos, Jon worked for Unicru and Decision Point Systems. Jon received his BA in Business and Secondary Education from Eastern Illinois University. "As a major Portland Trail Blazer fan, I was once part of a reality TV show centered on the selection of the Portland Trail Blazers dance team! While, unfortunately, all my footage was left on the cutting room floor, it was a great experience and I remain a diehard Trail Blazer fan. Go Blazers!!"

Lori Nicholas - VP of Sales

Job Titles:
  • Sales Director
Lori is an experienced professional with a record of leading high-performance teams to drive sales revenue, profitab... Read More Lori is an experienced professional with a record of leading high-performance teams to drive sales revenue, profitability, and operational excellence. Prior to joining Cadient, Lori spent twenty years leading sales operations, business development and marketing success for large and small organizations across multiple industries including technology, information management, finance, and entertainment. Outside of work, Lori enjoys traveling, playing tennis and golf. She recently served two terms on the board of The Young Men's Service League in Atlanta where she continues to volunteer in her community alongside her two sons.

Michelle Barry

Job Titles:
  • VP, Engineering
Michelle is a results-driven software engineering manager skilled at delivering high-performance, mul... Read More Michelle is a results-driven software engineering manager skilled at delivering high-performance, multi-million-dollar web applications built in SaaS architecture for Fortune 500 companies. Before joining Cadient Talent, Michelle held several leadership roles at PeopleFluent, culminating in her role as Senior Vice President. She oversaw their SaaS-based talent acquisition applications suite, providing market-leading recruiting workflow, onboarding, interview scheduling, and contact management modules. Michelle has also held technical, managerial roles at Plurimus, Keane, Ciber, and Computer Associates. She holds a BBA in Management Information Systems from Kent State University and currently serves on the board of MDLive.

Stuart Nisbet

Job Titles:
  • Chief Data Scientist
Before joining Cadient Talent, Stuart spent 30 years at SAS, where he was most recently head of research and de... Read More Before joining Cadient Talent, Stuart spent 30 years at SAS, where he was most recently head of research and development and a leader in applications of SAS technology for artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and deep learning. Stuart directed a global team responsible for the strategic development and management of SAS Advanced Analytics, Business Intelligence, Customer Intelligence, DevOps, UX/UI, and Data Management solutions. He received his bachelor's degree in Computer Science from NC State University. Stuart is transforming Cadient's machine learning capabilities into visual representations of data to provide organizations with a clearer picture of their hiring needs. He also oversees the analytics that augment the uniquely human role in the hiring process, to support each phase of the hiring journey.

Tom Bright - CTO

Job Titles:
  • CTO
Tom has many years of experience building leading global organizations and successful products and solutions. Prior ... Read More Tom has many years of experience building leading global organizations and successful products and solutions. Prior to Cadient Talent, Tom was the CEO of Field2Base, a leading mobile field service solutions company whose intuitive digital forms platform allows companies to digitize any paper forms and go paperless in just days. Before Field2Base, Tom served as COO of Peopleclick, Inc., one of the first companies to offer an applicant tracking system serving a blue-chip customer base - including forty-nine of the Fortune 100 and more than a third of the Fortune 500. Tom was instrumental in the successful acquisition of Peopleclick to Bedford Partners. Tom grew up just north of Boston, where he received his undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts - and his Boston accent. "I have a passion for coaching fastpitch softball at an elite level, and I've helped many of my players receive athletic and academic scholarships to their dream schools!"