Why Calabrio

“Dave” Rhodes, the CEO of Calabrio, brings decades of experience growing and scaling software businesses with a passion for technology innovation that drives business impact. Prior to Calabrio, he was Chief Executive Officer of Sauce Labs, the leading provider of continuous test and error reporting solutions that give companies the confidence to develop, deliver and update high-quality software at speed. Dave also held the positions of SVP/GM of Unity’s Digital Twins Business after serving as their Chief Revenue Officer. Dave built Unity into the leading provider of real-time 3D software solutions for video games and digital twins. Prior to Unity, Dave was the Executive Vice President of Sales, Services and Marketing at Paradigm/Emerson, responsible for developing, implementing, and executing the company’s worldwide sales growth strategies, as well as its services and marketing operations. Previously, he spent 11 years at Autodesk, where he last served as Vice President of the Americas. Dave has an MBA from the University of San Diego and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from UC San Diego.

Joel Martins, Chief Technology Officer, leads Calabrio’s companywide product, development, and technology teams. Joel has more than 20 years of experience driving innovation, growth, and operational excellence in software companies. Prior to joining Calabrio, Joel served as CTO at Apryse, Social Solutions, and MicroEdge. Successes in his tenures as CTO include completing the transaction to a new private equity owner, selling to a publicly traded company, the creation, launch, and dramatic growth of a new product line, accelerating an existing product line to $1B, and securing a $59M investment from former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who joined the Social Solution’s Board of Directors. Before becoming CTO at MicroEdge, Joel led global enterprise teams for 14 years at Symantec. He is also an Operating Advisor at Thoma Bravo. Joel graduated from the University of Minnesota with a BS degree in Computer Science and attended Luther Seminary in St. Paul post-graduate.

Carl Gillert, Chief Financial Officer, leads Calabrio’s global finance and accounting, and enterprise digital services functions. Carl has over two decades of experience primarily in private equity-backed technology companies, where he has worked to achieve growth and operational efficiencies through partnering with key business stakeholders. His expertise includes operational and commercial finance strategies and transformation, FP&A, pricing, revenue operations, M&A, accounting, and treasury. Prior to joining Calabrio, Carl was most recently the CFO of Litera, where he was responsible for managing the financial health, performance, and strategy of the business to support Litera’s Value Creation Plan. Before Litera, Carl was at Exostar, a cyber security and secure collaboration firm sponsored by Thoma Bravo, where he built a best-in-class finance team and accelerated the growth of the business as it transformed into a successful provider of SaaS solutions. Carl holds a Master’s Degree in Accounting from the University of Central Florida and a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from the University of South Florida. He is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Frank Ciccone, Chief Revenue Officer, leads Calabrio’s global sales, partners and alliances, and solutions engineering teams. Frank has more than 15 years of experience in customer experience (CX) driving growth, innovation, and transformation across Fortune 1000 and private equity-backed organizations. Prior to joining Calabrio, Frank was the CRO at Alvaria where he reshaped the company’s sales strategy, improved partner relationships, and increased both revenue and Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT). Before Alvaria, Frank was responsible for a $1.8B North American business unit at Avaya where he implemented a strategy that led the company back to growth after years of decline. Additionally, at Verizon, he managed a $400M collaboration and CX business, growing it to over $1B in annual recurring revenue overseeing a global team of more than 250 employees across cybersecurity, cloud, and managed services. Frank holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Manhattan College and an MBA from Hofstra University.

Dillon Nugent, Chief Marketing Officer, leads Calabrio’s global marketing efforts including demand generation, corporate communications, marketing operations and business development. Dillon has over 25 years of experience building and scaling marketing teams to develop growth strategies for B2B and B2C companies. Her experience in the SaaS space includes the merger of Spredfast and Lithium, relaunched as Khoros, where she built out the demand generation practice, implemented agile marketing, and partnered with sales and product to launch programmatic and ABM strategies to accelerate pipeline. Prior to that she led marketing at Spiceworks. Dillon started out in advertising working with brands to expand market presence developing brand strategies and creative, media, communications, and acquisition plans. She earned a Bachelors of Business Administration in Marketing from James Madison University. Dillon is passionate about leadership development and mentors through several organizations.

Josh Geller, Chief Legal Officer, leads Calabrio’s global legal function. With more than 20 years of experience scaling legal teams to drive operational excellence, Josh previously served as Chief Legal Officer at Adenza and AxiomSL. His CLO successes include managing complex legal, risk and governance matters, along with the sale of AxiomSL to Thoma Bravo; the merger and integration of AxiomSL and Calypso into Adenza; and the sale of Adenza to Nasdaq. Prior to becoming CLO at AxiomSL, Josh was a partner in the Corporate Department of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP and member of the Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Client, and Investment Management practice groups, counseling clients on a wide range of strategic transactions across different industries. Josh holds a B.A. in economics from Yeshiva University, where he graduated magna cum laude, and a J.D. from Fordham University, where he was a member of the Fordham Urban Law Journal. He is admitted to practice in the states of New York and New Jersey, and is a member of the New York City Bar Association where he serves as a member of the Trade Secrets Committee.

Christine Kehoe, Chief People Officer, leads Calabrio’s global People function and teams. Christine has 25 years of experience driving organizational performance and building world class teams to achieve operational excellence and success.  Prior to joining Calabrio, Christine held several leadership roles with private and public technology companies including Roblox where she was VP People and Culture and prior to that, Christine was Senior Director of People & Culture at Unity, where she helped scale the company to a successful IPO. Christine holds a BA in psychology from CSUC and is a Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara certified coach.

Alexis Zotalis, Senior Vice President, Brand & Enablement, leads Calabrio’s global brand marketing and enablement functions developing and executing integrated brand strategies, internal enablement initiatives, and customer experience alignment to ensure a consistent and compelling brand presence. With more than 20 years of experience at primarily private equity-backed technology companies, Alexis has successfully driven growth through innovative marketing strategies and programs. Prior to joining Calabrio, Alexis led a startup business unit at Social Solutions that drove significant revenue growth through go-to market programs, scaled enablement frameworks and the launch of a new product line. Alexis holds a bachelor’s degree in Music and Business Administration from Central College.

Tim Klein, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, oversees Calabrio’s major strategic growth initiatives. With more than 25 years of experience in corporate development and capital markets, including strategic advisory, mergers and acquisitions, investments and financings, Tim has a long history of driving successful corporate growth. Prior to Calabrio, Tim was an early member of Lake Street Capital Markets where he contributed to the company’s exponential growth. He also led the Corporate Development group at Kroll Inc., a billion-dollar subsidiary of MMC. Tim holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Chicago.

Dave Orstad, Senior Vice President, Professional Services and Support, leads Calabrio’s global post-sales delivery management efforts. Dave joined Calabrio with more than 25 years of experience building and supporting organizations focused on balancing customer success with profitable growth. Dave has proven expertise in developing and elevating innovative strategies that drive customer success, satisfaction, and retention. Prior to joining Calabrio, Dave was the Senior Vice President of Professional Services at Accruent Software where he led global services, managed services, and global enablement, and focused on driving profitable business growth and delivering elite business outcomes for customers. He holds degrees in Economics and Communications from St. Olaf College.

Ryan Toben, SVP of Customer Success, leads Customer Success globally at Calabrio.   Ryan has been in B2B SaaS leadership for 15 years in a variety of customer focused leadership roles.  Prior to Calabrio Ryan was the GM of EMEA for Gainsight after other leadership roles there in sales and operations.  He has also held leadership roles at SuccessFactors, Mixpanel and Kiddom.

Ryan holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA from Boston College, where he was a varsity tennis player. His expertise in scaling businesses and optimizing customer engagement is instrumental in advancing Calabrio’s mission.

A seasoned executive with experience in product operations, engineering leadership, and cross-functional team management, Nicole Mewes currently serves as the Vice President of Business Operations at Calabrio. In this role, her responsibilities include driving executive team operational rhythms and leading critical enterprise initiatives. Previously at Calabrio, Nicole established the Product Operations organization which made significant strides in driving efficiency, establishing global processes, and implementing data-driven decision-making practices across Product and Engineering.

Nicole has held leadership positions a Best Buy, Securian, YA Engage, and Target. Her leadership philosophy emphasizes clarity, collaboration, and continuous improvement, with a focus on delivering measurable outcomes that align with the organization’s long-term goals. Nicole graduated from Purdue University with a BS in Management and attended University of Minnesota for her MBA.