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

Bobby Yazdani Founder and CEO

Bobby Yazdani is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Saba. He was an industry pioneer in creating the Human Capital Management category in 1997, and has grown Saba into a $100 million+ profitable enterprise software business providing premier software and service solutions for people management and collaboration.

Saba's people platform enables enterprise learning, performance and compensation management, succession planning, and workforce planning that align, engage, develop, mobilize, and foster collaboration across employees, customers, and partners. The company has been recognized by leading industry analysts for excellence and innovation in unified people management, collaboration, and social networking, and serves a roster of over 1,400 customers with more than 19 million users across 150 countries. Saba's solutions are available on-premise or on-demand.

Saba's customers are global leaders across a broad range of industries and public sector organizations, and include BMW, Daimler AG, IBM, The American Red Cross, Procter and Gamble, Medtronic, U.S. Army, and U.S. Navy, among many others. Bobby is a frequent spokesperson at industry events held by organizations such as the United Nations and The Economist. Prior to founding Saba, Bobby held various senior R&D management positions at Oracle Corporation.

Bobby has a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley.

Jeff Carr President, Global Field Operations

As President, Global Field Operations, Jeff Carr is responsible for Saba's worldwide field operations, including sales, professional services, 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 the 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.

Shawn Farshchi COO and Executive Vice President

Shawn Farshchi is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Saba. As COO and a member of the executive team, Shawn is responsible for Saba's complete product development, delivery and customer support. His direct responsibilities include product development, product management, product marketing, Cloud operations, IT and global customer support organizations.

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, Shawn 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.

Elaine Kitagawa CFO and Executive Vice President

As Chief Financial Officer, Elaine Kitagawa is responsible for leading Saba's global finance operations. Elaine brings more than 20 years of experience building, leading and growing entire financial divisions. In her most recent role as Chief Operating Officer for Gaia Interactive, a leading online gaming community for teens and young adults, Ms. Kitagawa lead the Gaiaonline.com business unit that represents approximately 90 percent and 50 percent of the company's revenues and resources, respectively. Ms. Kitagawa also served as Gaia's Chief Financial Officer, from 2008 to 2010, where she helped scale the company from an early-stage to a late-stage venture-backed company by building operations from the ground up.

Prior to Gaia, Kitagawa served 9 years at Ariba in various executive roles including CFO of Ariba EMEA and VP of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations. Kitagawa was integral to the company's transformation from an on-premise software company to a business commerce solution provider. Prior to Ariba, Ms. Kitagawa held various financial and operational roles at Clarify, Inc., The Dialog Corporation and 3Com.

Kitagawa graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a BS in business administration from University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business. She is also a certified public accountant in the state of California. 

Peter Williams 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.

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

Shinichi Bitoh Senior Vice President and General Manager, Japan

Shinichi Bitoh is responsible for sales, professional services, and alliance activities in Japan. He brings 28 years of experience in the Japanese HR and training business, with a proven record of growing revenue and market share.

Prior to joining Saba, Bitoh served as president of Fast Lane Institute for Knowledge Transfer's newly established Japanese subsidiary. He has also served as president of Global Knowledge Network Japan and in a variety of senior management roles with SAP Japan, Oracle Japan, and other organizations.

Bitoh holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Japan's Meiji University.

Don Bosworth Senior Vice President and General Manager, North America

Bosworth is responsible for sales, professional services and alliance activities in North America. Bosworth, who joined Saba in 2004, has most recently been responsible for growing revenue and market share in North America through both direct and indirect channels. He brings more than 25 years of enterprise technology sales leadership and a strong focus on customer satisfaction to his position.

Before joining Saba, Bosworth served for more than four years as the Regional Vice President of Sales for Docent. Prior to Docent, Bosworth held senior sales management positions at Vantive, PeopleSoft, Verity, and Oracle.

Bosworth earned a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and an MBA from the University of Illinois.

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 this, 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.

Juan Cuadros Vice President, Latin America Region

As Vice President, Latin America, Mr. Juan Cuadros is responsible for Saba's direct sales, indirect sales, and professional services across Mexico, Central America and Caribbean, and South America, including Brazil.

Cuadros, who joined Saba in 1999, has more than 20 years of enterprise software sales management experience and a strong track record entering and growing new markets in Latin America. Prior to joining Saba, Cuadros held senior sales, alliances and marketing management positions during his tenure of 10 years at Oracle Corporation where he led business development efforts for new technologies and emerging markets. Also, he held a senior management position at Applicast, an early provider of On Demand business software and services.

Juan Cuadros earned a B.Sc. in Mathematical and Computational Science from Stanford University, and a Masters in Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Amar Dhaliwal Senior Vice President, Product Operations Group

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 fifteen 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.

Olivier Ghezi Senior Vice President, Global Alliances and Channels

Olivier Ghezi is responsible for the development and growth of Saba's alliance strategy and partner program, as well as overseeing strategic alliances and relationships to expand Saba's footprint globally.

Ghezi joined Saba in June 2000 and established Saba's presence in South Europe. Most recently, Ghezi served as Senior Vice President EMEA, where he played an instrumental role in growing Saba's revenue and market share through both direct and indirect channels across the region and established a proven track record of forging key international agreements with strategic partners and customers. Prior to Saba, Ghezi held senior sales and consulting management positions at BAAN France and also served in positions of progressive responsibility at IBM France, Rank Xerox and Atos.

Ghezi holds an MBA from Schiller International University, Paris Campus, and a Master's degree in Computer Science from Paris University.

Emily He Senior Vice President & General Manager, Saba Enterprise Cloud

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

Emily brings over 15 years of experience in CRM, supply-chain management, and online consumer communities. Prior to Saba, she has 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.

Daniel Klein Senior Vice President, Testing & Assessment

As a senior vice president and member of the Saba executive team, Mr. Klein is responsible for building Saba Testing & Assessment into a market-leading force as part of the Saba People Cloud. He also serves as the general manager of Pedagogue and Comartis, both Saba operating companies in the testing/assessment space.

Mr. Klein has a rich set of experiences in building and operating global education and learning enterprises for some of the world's best-known technology brands. Prior to Saba, Mr. Klein served as global vice president with SAP AG, responsible for leading sales channels, global operations, and acquisition integration for SAP Education, the largest learning solutions business in the technology sector.Prior to SAP, Mr. Klein served as group vice president, global service lines and operations for Business Objects SA,with responsibility for all consulting and education lines of business worldwide.

Prior to joining Business Objects, he led Convene, Inc., an eLearning software company focused on improving enterprise performance. As their president and CEO, he brought Convene's "Educate, Collaborate, Operate" vision to life: the convergence of training, knowledge management, and performance support.Mr. Klein also built a solid record of achievement at PeopleSoft, Inc., where he served as vice president, worldwide education services. In this position he created new sales, marketing, and operational practices to evolve PeopleSoft Education into a global learning solutions practice. Mr. Klein also served as the general manager, Tandem Education, for Tandem Computers Inc.

Mr. Klein is a graduate of Northern Illinois University with a B.S. in computer science.

George LeBrun General manager Saba's Social Enterprise Platform

As General Manager of the team leading Saba’s Social Enterprise Platform, George LeBrun is responsible for the oversight of Saba’s social products business, including its thought leadership and advisory around the Social Web, product strategy, business development, digital media and branding for Saba’s social enterprise platform, the Saba People Cloud.

George brings more than two decades of executive experience to Saba.Most recently, LeBrun served as Founder and CEO of Social Instinct, an enterprise software company focused on developing HR and knowledge management solutions, including social platforms and applications, for clients and partners such as: AT&T, IBM, Globex Game Studios, Ipswitch, and others.

Prior to his time at Social Instinct, LeBrun acted as founding partner of Rule 13, a consulting firm that helps Fortune 1,000 companies assess and re-align their business rules, strategies, and innovation methodologies in accordance with the changing social landscape. While at Rue 13, LeBrun led the charge in educating global organizations on emerging trends and technologies, Web 2.0 applications, social media, new advertising platforms and methodologies, and aided in the development of multi-platform digital content and distribution. Prior to Social Instinct and Rule 13, LeBrun held executive positions at Enthuze, Performance Monitor, and Digital Standard.

Gaurav Mehra Managing Director, Saba India

Gaurav Mehra is a founder of Saba Software Inc. He has been a key leader in Saba's Engineering teams since the company's inception and has held various technical roles including as VP of Engineering. In his primary role as Managing Director of Saba India, he is the General Manager in charge of Saba's two Indian locations looking after Engineering and Operations deliverables from India.

Mr. Mehra began his career at Oracle Corp. in California before moving to Washington DC area, as Director of Software Development at HTR Inc. He returned to India in 1995 where he founded, and was Managing Director of, FRMware, a software services company, which was later merged with Saba.

Mr. Mehra holds BS and MS degrees in Computer Science from Stanford University. He also holds patents for a number of technologies developed at Saba.

Philip Richardson Senior Vice President & General Manager - EMEA

As Vice President, EMEA Region, Philip Richardson oversees direct sales, indirect sales and professional services to drive continued growth and operational excellence across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

Richardson, who joined Saba in 2007, brings more than 20 years of managing international sales organizations to Saba. Prior to joining Saba, Richardson served as Regional Vice President for the UK Region at BEA Systems, and has also served as Vice President and Managing Director for Northern EMEA at Entrust, a respected world leader in the information security marketplace. Prior to this, he held leadership positions at Open Market, Oxygen Solutions and QSP.

Richardson holds a B.Sc. Honors degree in electronic engineering from the University of Manchester.

Karen Steele Senior Vice President, Corporate Marketing

Karen Steele is responsible for global communications, go-to-market strategy, branding, analyst relations, and demand-generation initiatives. Steele has more than 20 years of experience leading global marketing teams, most recently as vice president of marketing for Cloud9 Analytics, a leading on-demand analytics applications provider.

Prior to Cloud9, Steele served as senior vice president of marketing with Xactly Corporation, a leading provider of on-demand sales performance and compensation management. Prior to her executive role at Xactly, she served as vice president of corporate marketing with Informatica Corporation, a leading provider of data-integration software and services. She was responsible for managing Informatica's global corporate marketing and marketing operations.

Prior to Informatica, Steele held senior marketing positions at Currenex and AlphaBlox. Steele began her career at Apple Computer, Inc. and NeXT, where she spent 13 years directing worldwide marketing communications and consumer marketing and brand programs.

Steele is the recipient of numerous marketing awards and is the marketing chair for the Silicon Valley Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

Bryan Tan Senior Vice President and General Manager, Asia Pacific

As Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific, Mr. Bryan Tan has overall responsibility for the sales, services, and partner activities for Saba solutions in the Asia Pacific region, reporting directly into the President of Global Field Operations.

Bryan has spent 24 years in the IT industry with extensive experience in regional sales, marketing and management roles for market leaders and multinational corporations. Bryan has proven capability in building businesses in Southeast Asia, Greater China, India, Korea, and Japan. In addition, he has solid domain knowledge in the Human Capital Management space to Saba.

Prior to joining Saba, Bryan was the Vice President of Sales for Asia, at Epicor Software, where he worked to grow the business and visibility of Epicor in the APAC region over the last 6 years. Before his time at Epicor, Bryan served as Director of Sales for SAP in Asia, as the regional director of Parametric Technology Corp. (PTC) for ASEAN and as the regional GM for Access360, where he oversaw the company's sales and business development operations throughout the Asia region. Bryan has also held other management positions in the region with companies including PeopleSoft, Sybase, Software AG, NCR and Singapore Computer Systems.

Bryan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Waikato, New Zealand.