Apttus Events Guide

Sam Zayed is Chief Revenue Officer at Apttus responsible for driving revenue growth and customer expansion on a global scale. Sam brings more than 20 years of experience building and leading high performing enterprise software sales teams. Prior to joining Apttus Sam was a member of the Apptio leadership team that completed a successful Nasdaq IPO in 2016 followed by a PE-led private transaction in 2019. At Apptio, Sam was SVP, Americas and SVP, Global Account Management.  Prior to Apptio, Sam held various sales and consulting leadership roles at PwC, Commerce One, Hubwoo, Perfect Commerce and Bank One Capital Markets. 

Sam holds an MBA from The University of Michigan Ross School of Business in Ann Arbor, MI and a BA from DePauw University in Greencastle, IN.

Gregg Hampton is Chief Financial Officer at Apttus, where he provides financial leadership and strategic direction as Apttus capitalizes on its Middle Office market opportunity. With broad financial experience over nearly three decades of strategic and operational roles, he brings extensive experience to Apttus.

Prior to joining Apttus, Gregg served as CFO at Actian and Blue Coat Systems, Inc. His background also includes various roles at HP, including General Manager of Enterprise Software and Vice President of Finance. Gregg joined HP through its acquisition of Mercury Interactive, where he served as Vice President of Internal Audit/Global Compliance and Corporate Controller. He holds a BS in Accounting from Santa Clara University.

Ashish Shah is the General Manager of India Operations, where he leads the day-to-day operations across three offices. As a member of the senior team, he supports strategic initiatives and is passionate about the deployment of new technologies, developing products that exceed customer’s expectations, and building a world-class team that drives business growth.

Prior to Apttus, Ashish was General Manager at GE, where he spent 21 years of his career. He previously served as Managing Director of NextGen Healthcare, leading the build from the ground up, scaling the operation to a few thousand employees, and encouraging cultural transformation to strengthen the value proposition of the India center.

Ashish holds an MS in Electrical Engineering from Bradley University and a BS in Electrical Engineering from L.D. College of Engineering.

Koti Reddy is the SVP and Head of Research and Development at Apttus, where he will ensure that Apttus’ reputation for innovation and industry-leading solutions in the Middle Office space is unparalleled. His expertise in engineering, research and development, and other critical operations will allow him to play a significant role for Apttus as it continues to grow its business.

Prior to Apttus, Koti served as SVP of Engineering at Callidus Cloud where he was responsible for all product development and cloud operations. He holds a B.Tech in Electronics and Communications from Sri Venkateswara University and a PG Diploma in Computer Science from RMIT University.

Frank Holland is Chief Executive Officer of Apttus, where he is responsible for directing the company’s growth at scale and capitalizing on the vast Middle Office market opportunity. His extensive experience in the software space spans decades and includes a track record of operational and strategic accomplishments, board memberships, and sterling leadership.

 

Frank’s long history of operational excellence and innovative execution provides a foundation for Apttus’ continued growth and industry leadership. Prior to joining Apttus, Frank built and led global teams as a Corporate Vice President of Microsoft for more than 20 years. He grew the company’s Dynamics CRM and ERP products, directing its global salesforce in delivering a portfolio of on-premise and cloud offerings. Additionally, Frank directed key aspects of Microsoft’s business expansion and competitive positioning efforts, such as the customer-facing due diligence process associated with the $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn in 2016. Before taking on the role as CVP of Dynamics, he ran Microsoft’s $4 billion advertising sales business and Microsoft’s Operations, focusing on order-to-cash functions and field operations.

 

Frank holds a BS in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University.

Greg Cannon is the Corporate Controller at Apttus, where he is responsible for the company’s global accounting operations. Greg is an experienced, well-rounded financial practitioner with a track record of helping businesses operate efficiently while growing at scale.

Prior to Apttus, Greg recently served as Corporate Controller for Actian Corporation, leading the worldwide accounting operations and assisting with the successful sale of Actian to HCL and Sumeru Equity Partners. Greg’s background also includes positions as Vice President of Finance/Investor Relations and Corporate Controller at Glu Mobile. During his tenure, he prepared the company’s S-1, leading to its successful IPO in 2007, and helped raise more than $185 million in the capital markets through two secondary offerings and private placement from a strategic investor. Greg started his career at PwC.

As a founding member of the Apttus team, Neehar Giri has built and implemented the most sophisticated suite of revenue operations software in the world, playing an irreplaceable role in creating the Middle Office space and defining the Quote-to-Cash Industry. He is universally recognized as an innovator and enterprise software visionary by Apttus customers, partners, and employees since the organization’s earliest days.

Neehar is also the co-founder of Nextance, a provider of enterprise software. Previously, Neehar served as Chief Solutions Architect at Clarify and has spent his entire career as a respected innovator and leader. He has been nominated and won numerous respected industry awards, including CIO of the Year from the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Neehar has a MBA from San Jose State University and a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Madras, India.

As a Co-Founder, Kent Perkocha’s top responsibility and passion is bringing value in every form to Apttus’ wide-ranging customer base. Apttus works with hundreds of customers, and Kent has successfully accomplished his mission to work personally with each of them. Throughout Apttus’ history, these connections have resulted in a direct feedback loop that intrinsically ties together the evolving needs of the customer with Apttus’ continually innovative product footprint. All told, Kent’s accomplishments represent the tangible value of prioritizing the needs of the customer from the highest tier of the Apttus organization.

Prior to Apttus Kent held senior sales management roles at contract lifecycle providers I-many and Nextance. Earlier in his career Kent held marketing and sales management roles at Oracle. Kent has a degree in Geography from UC Davis. In his spare time, he coaches his daughter’s sports teams.

Omer Rafatullah is the Chief Legal Officer at Apttus, where he is responsible for overseeing legal matters, advising based on changes in the law, and minimizing the company’s legal risks. He also ensures that Apttus remains in compliance with regulatory codes.

Prior to Apttus, Omer served as a Corporate Partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, focusing on meeting the needs of private equity sponsors in a variety of complex business transactions. In this role, Omer worked closely with the Thoma Bravo team on a number of platform and add-on transactions. He also advised on corporate governance, executive compensation, and general corporate matters.

Omer has an active pro bono practice with a particular focus on civil rights, social entrepreneurship, and community engagement. He graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School and holds a BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Praniti Lakhwara is Chief Information Officer at Apttus, where she is responsible for information technology solutions and the company’s internal security program. She is driving a comprehensive strategy for information technology that will help scale the company rapidly, build a world class IT organization, deliver innovative solutions globally, and create a secure robust infrastructure for our customers.

Prior to Apttus, Praniti was the VP of IT at Nimble Storage, running the teams responsible for Infrastructure, Applications, Security, and Data Platforms. Under Praniti’s leadership, the Nimble IT team repositioned the IT strategy, revitalized their brand within Nimble, established a “Customer 0” program, and executed a roadmap that doubled from prior years. Her background also includes senior roles at Guidewire Software and Align Technology.

Praniti was awarded the Bay Area CIO of the year in 2017 by Silicon Valley Business Journal and the San Francisco Business Times. She holds a B.S. degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Arizona State University.

Suzanne Gisborn is Vice President of Finance at Apttus, where she is committed to ensuring operational excellence and execution across Apttus’ enterprise. She brings more than 25 years of experience managing financial operations for an array of companies – from private firms to large public enterprises and Dow Jones components.

Prior to joining Apttus, Suzanne served as the Vice President of Finance for Actian and Bluecoat Systems, Inc. At Bluecoat Systems, she played a critical role in the company’s sale to Symantec. Suzanne’s background also includes positions as a controller and finance executive at HP, Mercury Interactive, and Sun Microsystems, providing strategic input into their operations, strategic reporting, and M&A functions.

Eric Carrasquilla is Senior Vice President of Product at Apttus, where he is responsible for the vision, design, and delivery of Apttus’ product portfolio. Eric has 20+ years’ experience building, launching, and monetizing enterprise grade applications that deliver successful customer experiences.

Prior to Apttus, Eric held product and marketing leadership roles at Model N, [24]7.ai, Amdocs, Baan, and Fujitsu. He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and a BS in Marketing from San Jose State University.

Colleen Carr is the Chief People Officer at Apttus, where she oversees all operations related to hiring, talent development, and human resources. Colleen’s focus is to foster and nurture a corporate culture that employees, customers, and partners can be proud of.

Prior to Apttus, Colleen served as Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Blue Coat Systems, Inc. There she was responsible for all HR activities focused on programs for innovation and scale, employee engagement, acquisitions, and building employee and management systems. Colleen has also held senior HR leadership roles at Actian, Hewlett-Packard, and Agilent Technologies. With more than 25 years in leadership roles at public and private technology companies, Colleen has a proven track record of creating work environments in which employees thrive.

Chris Bishop is Chief Delivery Officer of Apttus, where he ensures that customers have valuable interaction with Apttus at every stage of their engagement. This communication is critical to helping customers maximize revenue and manage key commercial relationships.

Prior to joining Apttus, Chris served as head of global services and support at Plex Systems, helping customers maximize the value from their deployments. In this role, he was responsible for the global leadership of all professional services, education, and customer support operations. Before Plex Systems, Chris held a number of senior leadership roles at various software companies, including Vice President of PeopleSoft’s North American Supply Chain consulting organization. He also has held leadership and operational positions at Oracle and Ford Motor Company.

Ben Allen is Chief Marketing Officer of Apttus, where he is directly responsible for much of Apttus’ innovation, growth, and success. Ben oversees Marketing as well as the general managers of the company’s key product lines, Apttus’ vertical solution teams, and the Max applied AI team.

Prior to his role as CMO, Ben was Apttus’ SVP of Strategy and GM of the company’s product portfolio. Before coming to Apttus in 2013, he worked as an investment analyst at Morgan Stanley. Ben holds a BA in Economics and Communication from Stanford University.