VONAGE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Board of Directors
Alan Masarek joined Vonage (NYSE:VG) as the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors in November 2014. Since then, Mr. Masarek has ushered in an era of transformation for Vonage, driving the company's rapid growth and evolution from a residential home phone provider into a global business cloud communications leader. Through a series of strategic acquisitions, coupled with fast, organic growth and internal technology development, Mr. Masarek has created a culture of agility, technology innovation and customer centricity.
An innovator with deep experience in mobile, SMB and Enterprise sectors, Mr. Masarek came to Vonage from Google, Inc., where he was Director, Chrome & Apps from June 2012 until October 2014, following the acquisition of his prior company, Quickoffice, Inc.
Mr. Masarek was the Co-founder of Quickoffice, Inc., one of the world's most widely recognized mobile brands, and served as its Chief Executive Officer from July 2007 until June 2012. Under his leadership, Quickoffice became the world's most widely embedded mobile productivity software, with a top-grossing iPad app and a top 10 grossing app in the Google Play Store, engaging more than 26 million registered users at the time of Google's purchase.
Mr. Masarek earned his M.B.A., with Distinction, from Harvard Business School and his B.B.A., Magna Cum Laude, from the University of Georgia.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Ms. Katz joined the Board in 2014. She is currently serving as Executive Chairman of Author & Company, a digital publishing company. Since 2001, Ms. Katz has served on the boards of several public and private companies, and is currently a director of American Tower, a provider of international communications infrastructure, and NII Holdings, a multinational cellular telecommunications company. Previously, Ms. Katz served as a principal of Providence Equity Partners Inc., a private investment firm specializing in equity investments in telecommunications and media companies. From June 1984 to April 2000, she worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co., ending her tenure there as a managing director and co-head of Emerging Communications. She is a graduate of Princeton University.
Job Titles:
- Controller
- Principal Accounting Officer
- Senior Vice President
David Levi joined Vonage in 2017. In the role of Senior Vice President, Controller and Principal Accounting Officer, he leads world wide financial operations and tax strategy/compliance as well as global business controls, across the organization.
David came to us from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) where he was Executive Director - Global Financial, Operational and Compliance Controls. He was also US Controller at BMS and served as a Controller, Head of Financial Reporting and Corporate Accounting, Head of Technical and Treasury Accounting, and in audit at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He has more than 20 years of experience leading global finance operations across numerous companies, in addition to BMS, including Thomson Reuters, The New York Times and Danskin.
David is a CPA, earned his MBA from Villanova University, is currently working on his MSJ at Seton Hall Law in Intellectual Property, and obtained his B.A. in Accounting and Finance from Seton Hall University.
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Treasurer
Dave Pearson joined Vonage as Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer in May 2013, overseeing the Finance and Investor Relations organizations. Dave brings deep knowledge and experience in the global telecom and wireless industry to Vonage, along with financial and management expertise.
Dave has more than 18 years of executive leadership experience and more than 21 years of relevant industry experience. He spent more than nine years at Deutsche Bank as a Managing Director and the Global Media & Telecom Group Head, building one of the top U.S. and global media and telecommunications investment banking teams. Dave was responsible for all aspects of the group, including strategic planning, capital allocation, personnel, risk management and compliance, in addition to advising clients on mergers & acquisitions and raising capital.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- CEO of Proofpoint
Gary Steele joined the Board in July 2016. Mr. Steele is CEO of Proofpoint, a publicly-traded global Security as a Service vendor. Before joining Proofpoint in 2002, Mr. Steele served as the CEO of Portera, an applications company delivering solutions for the professional services industry. Prior to Portera, Mr. Steele served as the Vice President and General Manager of the Middleware and Data Warehousing Product Group at Sybase, Inc. where he initiated and spearheaded many early internet projects. Before joining Sybase, Mr. Steele served in business development, marketing, and engineering roles at Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard. He holds a B.S. degree in computer science from Washington State University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Partner at Long Arc Capital
Hamid Akhavan joined the Board in December 2016. Mr. Akhavan is currently a partner at Long Arc Capital, a private equity firm specializing in disruptive technology investments. Prior to that, Mr. Akhavan was a Principal at Telecom Ventures LLC, an investment firm specializing in telecommunications and related information technologies, from July 2014 to December 2015. Prior to that, Mr. Akhavan served as Chief Executive Officer of Unify Inc. (formerly Siemens Enterprise Communications) from February 2010 to January 2014 and previously served as Chief Operating Officer of Deutsche Telecom and Chief Executive Officer of T-Mobile International. He holds a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from California Institute of Technology and a M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Mr. Patel joined Vonage in May of 2016. Prior to Vonage, he was a Vice President at Motorola Mobility where he held various senior-level roles. Areas of focus included: technology development, product development, customer-facing roles and product marketing.
Mr. Patel has a proven record of accomplishment in technology planning, product development, and market introduction. His vast experience has allowed him to develop solid leadership skills to communicate effectively with management, customers, suppliers, and internal organizations.
Mr. Patel holds a BS Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Member of the Board of Directors
Jeffrey Citron has been the Chairman of the Board since January 2001. Mr. Citron was also the Chief Executive Officer from January 2001 through February 2006. He served as the Chief Strategist from February 2006 to July 2008 and assumed the additional role of Interim Chief Executive Officer from April 2007, upon the resignation of Vonage's & prior Chief Executive Officer, until July 2008. In 1995, Mr. Citron founded The Island ECN, a computerized trading system designed to automate the order execution process. Mr. Citron became the Chairman and CEO of Datek Online Holdings Corp. in February 1998 and departed The Island ECN and Datek Online Holdings Corp. in October 1999.
Job Titles:
- Lead Independent Director
- Member of the Board of Directors
John Roberts joined the Board in August 2004. Mr. Roberts served as Global Managing Partner for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP from 1998 until his retirement in June 2002. From 1994 to 1998, Mr. Roberts served as Chief Operating Officer of Coopers & Lybrand, which merged with Price Waterhouse in 1998. He currently serves on the boards of directors and audit committees of Armstrong World Industries, Inc. and Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. and the board of trustees and audit committee of the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust. He is a Member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Job Titles:
- Boosts Sales Productivity With AI Assist
Since joining Vonage last November, Mario DeRiggi has been on the road non-stop spreading the message of why his company should be the lead partner for both the channel and customers. Channel Futures Reveals 2019 Talkin' Cloud 100 Research Edition Winners Channel Futures Vonage honored with the Trend of the Year Award for forward-thinking market analysis that anticipates the next big business opportunity for CSPs.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Michael McConnell joined the Board in March 2019. He has served as a director of SPS Commerce, Inc., a provider of cloud-based supply chain management software, since March 2018, and as a director of Adacel Technologies, a developer of operational air traffic management systems and advanced air traffic control simulation and training solutions, since May 2017. From April 2016 until the company was sold in September 2017, Mr. McConnell served as a director of Guidance Software Inc., a provider of forensic security and risk management applications. Previously he served as a director of Spark Networks, Inc., a global, online dating company, from July 2014 until the company was sold in November 2017, and as a director from 2007 to 2013 of Collectors Universe, Inc., a provider of third-party authentication and grading of high value collectibles, as well as the Chief Executive Officer from 2009 to 2012. From 1994 to 2007, Mr. McConnell served as a Managing Director of Shamrock Capital Advisors. Over the course of his career, Mr. McConnell has served on numerous other public and private company boards in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. During the past five years, Mr. McConnell served on the following boards in addition to those listed above: Redflex Holdings Limited, Vitacost.com and Best International Limited.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Chief Financial Officer of Pandora
Naveen Chopra joined the Board in July 2014. Mr. Chopra has served as Chief Financial Officer of Pandora since February 2017. Prior to Pandora, Mr. Chopra served as Interim CEO and CFO from January 2016 until TiVo was acquired by Rovi Corporation in September 2016. From 2012 to 2016, Mr. Chopra served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy at TiVo, where he was responsible for overseeing TiVo's accounting and financial reporting, planning, tax, treasury, mergers and acquisitions, business development, and strategy functions. Mr. Chopra joined TiVo in 2003 as Director, Business Development, where he later served as Vice President, Business Development, before being promoted to Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy.
Job Titles:
- Chief Product Officer
- Chief Product Officer at Vonage, This Week Told Us
- President, API Platform Group
Omar Javaid joined Vonage in July 2015 as Chief Product Officer, responsible for the Company's overall product strategy. In 2019, he was named President of the API Platform Group. Mr. Javaid oversees all aspects of the Company's product strategy in addition to the sales, operations and developer relations functions of the API Platform.
Mr. Javaid has more than 20 years of experience creating award-winning products in the technology industry with a focus on telecommunications, media and web product development. Prior to joining Vonage, he was Senior Vice President and General Manager of Discovery and Cloud Platforms for Rovi Corporation, a cloud-based entertainment discovery company.
Prior to Rovi, Mr. Javaid held positions as Vice President and General Manager of Commercial Mobility, and Vice President of Product Management and Marketing for Hewlett-Packard. He has also held executive positions at Motorola Mobility and Qualcomm, Inc. An entrepreneur, Mr. Javaid founded and led two successful technology startups. He earned a B.S. in Chemistry and a B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan.
Omar Javaid, chief product officer at Vonage, this week told us: "Businesses today are looking for ways to enhance connection and collaboration internally among employees while driving engagement and deeper relationships externally with customers. To address this need, more and more businesses are moving to the cloud, relying on unified communications and programmable communications via APIs to allow their employees more flexibility, increased mobility and enhanced productivity by enabling them to work and connect with customers anytime, anywhere, from any device and via any channel.
A series of interviews and profiles of Transformational Business Leaders: Q&A with newly named CMO, Rishi Dave of Vonage, who was brought in to help accelerate Vonage's transformation from its legacy residential consumer market focus to an enterprise B2B business.
Rishi Dave is the New Chief Marketing Officer of Vonage
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President at EBay Inc
Stephen Fisher joined the Board in January 2013. Mr. Fisher has been the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President at eBay Inc. since 2014. Previously, he served as an Executive Vice President of Technology at Salesforce.com, Inc. Mr. Fisher joined Salesforce.com in 2004 and held several leadership positions including Senior Vice President of Platform Product Management and Vice President, Engineering. Prior to that, Mr. Fisher served as Architect, AT&T Labs, Inc. from 2001 through 2004. Before joining AT&T Labs, he was Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of NotifyMe Networks, Inc. In addition, he served as Department Manager, Internet Products Group at Apple Computer, Inc and was a Lecturer at Stanford University. He has been an Independent Director of Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. since May 20, 2015. Mr. Fisher received an MS in Computer Science and a BS in Mathematics from Stanford University.