Executive Management

The Saba executive management team is a group of seasoned leaders who focus on creating value for our customers, partners, employees and investors.

Shawn Farshchi

Interim CEO

Shawn Farshchi is the interim CEO of Saba. Prior to taking on the interim CEO position, Shawn was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), responsible for Saba's product management, product development, cloud operations, professional services, customer support, IT and marketing.

Shawn brings over 30 years of experience leading, driving and managing technological, organizational and cultural change in highly dynamic business environments. Most recently, in his role as Chief Operating Officer for Coremetrics (an IBM company), a market leader in digital marketing and web analytics delivered through a SaaS model, he managed a broad range of responsibilities including product development, service operations, professional services, technical training and customer service.

Prior to Coremetrics, Shawn served as VP of Platform Engineering and Operations as well as the GM of Voice Applications for WebEx Communications Inc. In this role, he led the engineering and product development for the Voice, Video and Data Switching Platform, and was responsible for all aspects of WebEx's audio conferencing solutions. Prior to WebEx, he was regional VP at Oracle, Senior VP of Development at Broadvision and CIO at DHL Airways.

Jeff Carr

President, Global Field Operations

As President, Global Field Operations, Jeff Carr is responsible for Saba's worldwide field operations, including sales, alliances and customer success. A seasoned Human Capital Management (HCM) software executive, Carr brings to Saba more than 25 years of experience in global enterprise software and on-demand sales, marketing, services and global operations from a number of leading public and private companies.

Prior to joining Saba, Carr served as Executive Vice President at Taleo, where he had responsibility for global sales, alliances and customer success programs. During his tenure, Carr helped deliver record revenues and margins and served as a key driver behind the company's strategy and corporate direction over his last four years.

Carr's extensive HCM experience includes nine years with PeopleSoft Inc., where he ran a number of sales teams and business units and later served as a division president and then Executive Vice President, Worldwide Marketing, Strategy and Emerging Markets. Carr has also served as CEO of Motiva Inc., a leader in the enterprise incentive management industry, and as President and COO of RightWorks Corporation, a leading provider of B2B business applications. Carr began his enterprise software career in sales at human resource management pioneer Integral Systems.

Michael Shahbazian

Interim Chief Financial Officer

As Interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO) with responsibility for global finance, Michael Shahbazian has over 30 years of experience working with high technology companies, including CFO roles in numerous public and private companies. Prior to joining Saba, Shahbazian was Interim CFO at PDF Solutions. Prior to that, he served as CFO at six different companies, including Guidewire Software, Inc., Embarcadero Technologies, and Niku Corporation. Earlier in his career, he spent 20 years at Amdahl Corporation in various financial roles including Vice President and Treasurer.

Peter Williams

General Counsel and Executive Vice President

Pete Williams is responsible for leading Saba's efforts to capitalize on long-term growth opportunities, including merger and acquisition activities and strategic business and partnership development. He previously served as Saba's Chief Financial Officer from 2004 to 2007 and as General Counsel from 1999 to 2004. Since Saba's inception, Williams has also served as the company's Secretary.

Prior to joining Saba, Williams was a partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP, a leading international law firm. Williams has extensive experience representing high technology companies, as well as venture capital and investment banking firms. In addition to private and public financings and acquisitions, Williams also specialized in technology and content development, licensing, and distribution transactions, primarily for software and Internet companies.

Williams has a BA in economics and in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a JD from Santa Clara University.

Amar Dhaliwal

Senior Vice President, Product Strategy

 Amar Dhaliwal has been with Saba since May 2005. He was a co-founder and CTO of THINQ, which was acquired by Saba in 2005. During his tenure at Saba, Dhaliwal has successfully guided the company's Product Operations Group, which includes Product Development, Global Customer Care, and OnDemand Strategy and Operations.

Dhaliwal has more than 15 years of Human Capital Management (HCM) and enterprise software experience, and a track record of delivering innovation and a strong customer focus. Prior to his technology career, Dhaliwal worked for a number of global management consulting organizations advising customers on a variety of technology and business initiatives. He remains a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, and holds an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics.

Emily He

Senior Vice President Marketing

 Emily He is responsible for leading the development and execution of the go-to-market strategy for Saba Marketing on a global basis. Her direct responsibilities include defining product vision and strategy, developing product positioning materials and sales tools, leading product launch activities, orchestrating cross-functional growth initiatives, global communications, go-to-market strategy, branding, analyst relations, and demand-generation initiatives.

Emily brings over 15 years of experience in CRM, supply-chain management and online consumer communities. Prior to Saba, she held corporate marketing and product marketing leadership positions at a number of leading public companies such as AT&T, Oracle Corporation, and Siebel Systems, as well as private ventures such as E2open and Codeobjects. She holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Gina Cruse

Vice President, People

 Gina Cruse is responsible for all people (HR) functions at Saba. She works closely with the CEO and the executive staff to provide global strategic People direction and leadership to the company. This includes supporting and enabling the company's growth through talent acquisition, talent management and total rewards. As part of her responsibilities, she instills Saba's core values to support Saba's culture.

Gina has over 20 years’ experience in the high tech industry, driving business model transformations and building responsive HR teams connected with the business strategy. She has held senior-level positions in human resources at Cadence Design Systems, Business Objects and Unisys Corporation.