2014 SVBA JUDGES

To all of our judges, we owe our gratitude for their time, dedication and patience devoted to the task of voting in the awards.
Amrit Jassal
CTO at Egnyte
As CTO of Egnyte, Amrit is responsible for the overall technical direction of the company. He has extensive experience in building large scale, highly available systems all over the world. In the past he has deployed such systems at Cisco, Fujistu and Sun Microsystems. Prior to Egnyte, he served as the CTO of Valdero. He received his Bachelors in Technology in Computer Science from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He also holds an MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.
Andreas Hofmann
Senior Director Cloud Innovation Lab at Samsung Electronics America
With over 15 years of experience in managerial positions, Andreas Hofmann has his competencies in different baskets, be it Technical Product Management, Product Marketing, Business Development or Marketing Operations. Andreas has his key specialization across Web Strategy, eCommerce, Web Infrastructure, Product Marketing, Project Management, Mobile Application, User Experience Design and more. He’s currently the Senior Director of Cloud Innovation Lab for Samsung Electronics, America.
Byrne Reese
Vice President of Product at Bitreserve.
Crafting innovative user experiences for more than 15 years, Byrne Reese is currently the Vice President of Product at Bitreserve where he spearheads Bitreserve’s product development, user experience, and API. Prior to joining Bitreserve, Byrne has had product and/or leadership roles at ToyTalk, TokBox, Six Apart, and Grand Central. Plus, he has played an important role in shaping the technologies used by developers around the world, including the protocol behind the world’s first web services at Grand Central Communications to participating in working groups defining the standards of the Open Web.
Debjani Deb
CEO and Co-Founder at ZineOne
Debjani is CEO and Co-Founder of ZineOne, which she started in 2013 with the mission to re-imagine customer experience and support for an increasingly mobile world. Debjani is a serial entrepreneur whose previous company EmPower, a leader in social analytics, was sold to Genpact Worldwide (NYSE G)in 2012. Prior to starting EmPower, Debjani was Chief Strategy Officer at GCI Group at WPP company. She also worked at Booz Allen and Hamilton and AT&T Bell Laboratories. Debjani has an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a MS from Stanford University.
Dennis Yang
Co-Founder & VP of Product at Bureau of Trade
Dennis is an entrepreneur living in San Francisco, CA. He was the co-founder of Bureau of Trade, a commerce site, which was then acquired by eBay in 2013. Prior to that, he was the head of product and marketing for Infochimps, a big data company acquired by CSC in 2013. As a co-founder of Floor64, he produced the well-known business & technology blog Techdirt, and created the crowdsourced think tank, Insight Community. He also worked seven years building the comparison shopping site mySimon, acquired by CNET Networks in 2000 where he managed both product and engineering teams. Dennis first cut his teeth at Andersen Consulting, and holds a B.S. from Cornell University. You can follow him on Twitter at @sinned .
Douglas Kadlecek
President at Grio
Douglas Kadlecek is the President of Grio, a premiere software consulting company that specializes in web, mobile and game development. He has over 15 years’ experience in the software industry with specialization in software development, project management, software design and system architecture.
Erik Kokkonen
Senior Vice President at Westfield Labs
Vice President – Westfield Labs is a co-patent holder of developing an apparatus and method for delivering information over a networks. He has been in leading positions in leading organizations such as CBS Interactive and CNET Networks.
Erik Wiener
Architect at Conversica
Erik Wiener is a product and technology leader with 20 years of experience developing innovative products on the web. He is a veteran in machine learning and analytics, having spent the last 10 years building and optimizing product search, e-commerce and marketing systems. Erik is currently working as an architect for Conversica and has previously held senior roles in Nextag, NBC Internet and Verity.
Goetz Weber
Head of Strategic Partnerships & Business Development at HERE, a Nokia company
Weber currently heads Strategic Partnership and Business Development for Nokia. With expertise in advertising market, integration scenarios, data services and digital media consumer applications, Goetz Weber’s past experience has benefited the business operations of MNCs such as Samsung, Xmbobb, doubleTwist and inDplay.
Greg Sherwin
EVP Products at Regalix Inc.
Greg brings 25 years of professional technology experience in Internet media and product development. Over the past decade, he has served as VP of Engineering at a number of Silicon Valley start-ups and more established companies, including several years at CNET Networks (now CBS Interactive), NBC Internet, TeeBeeDee.com, Meta Interfaces, and SVP of Engineering at Yola.com. Prior to working in the online world, Greg contributed as a technologist at several university research labs including The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. He also co-authored a book on Internet public relations and is a former columnist for ClickZ.
Jay Diamond
VP of Business Development at KNIME
Jay Diamond is VP of Business Development at KNIME, overseeing business operations for an open platform for data analytics. Prior to KNIME, Mr. Diamond spent many years at Intel Corp., driving new business strategy across platforms world-wide, running new media and global accounts for the Intel Inside program, and driving corporate internet strategy. In 2000, Mr. Diamond became CEO of Mediadome, a software & services company combining a unique graphical web interface with deep customer relationship management and analytics. The start-up was acquired by the company’s largest investor, Intel Corporation, in 2002. Mr. Diamond holds dual masters degrees in electrical engineering and business.
Mark Kaufman
Director, StarStar Product Management at Mblox
Mark Kaufman, Director, StarStar Product Management at Mblox, is a leader in product management with proven success in driving user growth and innovation for popular consumer websites and mobile apps for consumers and small businesses. Mark has held several senior positions in companies like CNET, CBS Interactive and Zoove Corp.
Monica Malhotra
Co-Founder at Saral Solutions Inc
Monica comes with diverse experience in corporate financial planning and have been a key member of the leadership teams in some of the best names in computer hardware and software industries. Currently the CEO & Co-Founder of Saral Solutions Inc., she has led finance, sales and operations in companies like Oracle, Compaq, HP and Interactive Data Corporation to name a few.
Murphy Freelen
VP/SF Studio Lead at Smart Design
As an expert in guiding and growing creative services firms, Murphy provides strategic leadership of the San Francisco studio for our global clients. At Smart Design, she elegantly and purposefully integrates digital, physical and brand into compelling and unexpected experiences that elevate people’s daily use of technology. Murphy leverages her deep understanding of clients’ desires and design’s capacity for generating business results.
Pinaki Datta
Director, Product Management at Sears Holdings Corporation
Pinaki Datta is all into retail and ecommerce. Presently, he is the Head of Product Management for Sears Commerce Services which covers marketplace, operations and support within Sears' Online Business Unit. With an extensive understanding of current technologies and best practices especially in the web, mobile, and CRM technologies, Pinaki has held senior roles in leading global consulting firms such as PwC, IBM, Motorola and eLoyalty. He has successfully built and led product management, operations and PMO organizations from ground up with his capability to translate business vision into tactics and processes.
Ravi Keswani
CTO at Auction.com
With more than 20 years in the Technology Industry, Ravi brings a wealth of operating experience. Leading software and infrastructure development, from start-ups to established companies, Ravi has been consistently successful in bringing top performing products to market. He has built successful technology businesses in the Silicon Valley and is named inventor on several web technology patents. He currently is CTO at Auction.com and has held executive positions at companies such as, Kabam, Betfair, Coupons.com, PocketThis and CNET Networks.
Sandeep Datar
Sr. Director, Design at Yahoo
Sandeep is currently the Senior Director of Design at Yahoo Inc. 20 years of profound experience across Design, Research and Innovation has put him in a place to lead a team that entirely takes care of Search, Local, Maps, Shopping, Answers and Small Businesses. His passion for design, combined with innovation has given him an edge over product ideation, conceptualization and brand strategy. Sandeep has built and managed global design teams in US, India, Singapore, Middle East and Latam.
Shekhar Kale
Senior Director, Oracle Sales Cloud Product Management at Oracle
Shekhar Kale, Senior Director, Oracle Sales Cloud Product Management is a visionary in managing the entire life cycle of a product from inception to fruition, including: customer management, post-production customer support, and partner/channel relationship management. Shekhar is highly proficient in management as well as successful handling of user interface and integration requirements, assessments, and designs. In his work tenure, Shekhar has held several senior positions in SAP and Oracle.