Leadership Team

Co-Founder and CEO

Anant Kale

Anant founded AppZen in 2012 to bring AI to global finance teams, and is responsible for the company’s vision and business execution. Previously, he served as Vice President of Applications at Fujitsu America, where he had broad responsibility for the management and delivery of the company’s global enterprise applications and infrastructure. He has more than 20 years of experience in software development and engineering leadership. Anant earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Engineering and an MBA from Mumbai University. He loves music and hopes to learn to DJ sometime in the future.

Co-Founder and CTO

Kunal Verma

Kunal co-founded AppZen in 2012 and developed its core artificial intelligence technology. He is passionate about developing AI-based solutions to solve real-world business problems. He is responsible for AppZen’s product vision, and oversees the company’s R&D and data science teams. Previously, he led research teams at Accenture Technology Labs that were responsible for developing AI-based tools for Fortune 500 companies. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Georgia with a focus on semantic technologies. He is a published author with over 50 refereed papers and holds several granted patents. Kunal is a keen golfer and an avid follower of the Georgia BullDawgs and the Golden State Warriors.

CFO

Gaurav Agrawal

As CFO, Gaurav is critical in driving AppZen's growth, strategic investments, and profitability. He is a trusted strategic partner to the CEO, collaborating with the executive team to achieve company goals. Gaurav is a seasoned finance professional with over two decades of scaling high-growth companies, including senior finance leadership positions at Confluent and LinkedIn, and early on at Lyft. He began his career at CSFB M&A and holds a BS in Business Administration from UC Berkeley. He enjoys time with his wife and two girls (#girldad), volunteering in the community, playing golf and basketball, and supporting his favorite teams: Cal, 49ers, Lakers, and Giants.

VP Marketing

Leah R.B. Kahn

As VP of Marketing, Leah spearheads AppZen's marketing strategy by driving growth, empowering finance teams, and delighting customers. With a focus on storytelling and business insights, she’s materially impacted markets across product and data analytics, financial services, and deep learning. Prior to AppZen, she built global media companies, helped take Amplitude public, and launched SaaStr, one of the world’s largest SaaS communities. With a BA in Environmental Science from Pitzer College, Leah is a seasoned leader and an avid Formula One enthusiast with a passion for sustainability and innovation.

COO

John Narbaitz

John Narbaitz brings over 20 years of sales, solutions consulting, and engineering experience in leading SaaS and technology companies. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Sales at enterprise video provider Prysm and configure price quote leader Apttus. Previously, he held sales and solutions consulting leadership roles at Hewlett-Packard, Autonomy, and Interwoven. John earned a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science from UC Santa Cruz. He has a special place in his heart for hair metal bands from the 80s and is known to turn the volume up to 11.

CRO

David Shaw

David Shaw serves as AppZen's Chief Revenue Officer. He is a veteran of the enterprise software industry with over two decades of experience. Prior to AppZen, David held sales and leadership positions at Oracle and Salesforce, and most recently helped to lead Zuora as it grew from a 100-person company to an IPO in 2018. In his free time, he can be found surfing San Francisco's outer banks in 52°F water or at his daughter's soccer games in Marin.

SVP Customer Success

Matt Wright

As AppZen’s Senior VP of Customer Success, Matt is responsible for ensuring organizations achieve successful outcomes with our solutions. He brings his passion for improving efficiency in finance operations to his interactions with every customer. Prior to AppZen, Matt was the President of Symbeo, a leader in global AP automation services, and he built and led Customer Success operations for Taulia. In his free time, Matt enjoys spending time skiing, paddleboarding, and playing golf with his family in Oregon’s great outdoors.

VP People & Culture

Yoona Wong

Yoona is an HR executive with more than 20 years of experience in all areas of human resources, including organizational development and change management. She is passionate about maximizing employee engagement, partnering with management, and building a culture that attracts, develops, and retains talent. She comes to AppZen after previously leading the HR function for Rakuten Rewards. She was the first, dedicated HR resource at Ebates, acquired by Rakuten in 2014, and has worked for many startups in her career. Yoona earned a BA from UC Berkeley and a JD from Georgetown University Law Center. She loves travel, food, and all outdoor activities, especially skiing and hiking.

Board of Directors

Co-Founder and CEO

Anant Kale

Co-Founder and CTO

Kunal Verma

Lightspeed Venture Partners

Arif Janmohamed

Arif joined Lightspeed Venture Partners in 2008 and focuses primarily on investments in the areas of cloud, infrastructure, AI, and data driven applications. Prior to joining Lightspeed Venture Partners, he worked in the Corporate Business Development Group at Cisco Systems where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, strategy, and investments in the Unified Communications, Enterprise Collaboration, Mobile, and SaaS market segments. Before joining Cisco Systems, Arif was with Novitas Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm. Earlier in his career, Arif worked in technical development and product management roles at WebTV (acquired by MSFT), Andes Networks (acquired by SUNW), and Sun Microsystems.

Arif holds an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a BSc in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada.

In his free time, Arif plays ice hockey with his wife, who yells at him for never passing the puck to her.

LSVP.com

Redpoint Ventures

Alex Bard

Alex is a career tech entrepreneur, executive, and angel investor. In 1996, he co-founded eShare technologies, a web-based customer support platform acquired in 1999. Alex then co-founded eAssist Global Solutions, a CRM for support acquired in 2004. Alex went on to next co-found Goowy Media, a distribution and analytics platform, backed by Mark Cuban and acquired by AOL in 2008. After 2 years at AOL, Alex co-founded Assistly (now Desk.com).

REDPOINT.com