Paul Sutton has more than twenty-five years of experience in software and technology. Sutton has experience in executive management as well as sales, marketing and technical management. He has grown Kabira to 100 large customers in 40 countries, drove the company to produce the 64-bit Kabira Infrastructure System and the revolutionary cross-network Kabira Transaction Switch, and won VISA, Motorola and Hitachi as strategic customers and partners. Before joining Kabira Technologies, Sutton was vice president of sales and marketing at Intellicorp, a business modeling software company. Previously, he held positions as vice president of sales at Softlab, a computer-aided software engineering firm owned by BMW AG, and as managing director of Boole & Babbage, a system management software company.

 

Greg Straughn has over 20 years of experience in financial management of high-growth communications and technology firms. Prior to joining Kabira, Straughn was consulting to emerging Internet firms on developing and implementing merger and acquisition strategies. He was CFO of Pacific Bell Internet Services where he developed the original business plan and managed the establishment of the business and growth from zero to $25 million in revenue, and CFO of PacTel Finance, a diversified leasing company. Straughn previously held various financial management positions at Pacific Telesis Group. He has a BS in finance from UC Berkeley. Straughn is also the author of several books on financial and general management of a small business.

 

Manish Gupta is responsible for all Kabira marketing functions world-wide, including product management, product marketing, marketing strategy, public relations, and marketing communications. Over the last nineteen years, Gupta has established marketing and business development excellence at Aperto Networks, Apple, Jetstream Communications, Megisto Sytems and National Semiconductor. In addition to his executive operational roles, Gupta has been a member of the Board of Directors at Aperto Networks and the WiMAX Forum. Gupta has provided thought leadership globally for several facets of the communications industry including 3G, WiMAX, DSL, VoIP, webcasting, interactive appliances, and satellite communications. Gupta received his B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.E. from Georgia Institute of Technology, and an MBA from Santa Clara University in California.

 

Jean-Bernard Guyonnaud joined Kabira in 1999, bringing over 25 years of successfully building sales and revenue growth. Guyonnaud now holds the position of Vice President for EMEAR Sales for Kabira, responsible for all EMEA and Russian sales operations. He has built substantial market interest for Kabira in the EMEA region as he has successfully led the France Telecom and Orange accounts and opened up banking and financial markets for Kabira throughout Europe. Prior to joining Kabira, Guyonnaud held sales and marketing leadership positions at Blue Lagoon, Promind and Quetzal Informatique, addressing the banking, insurance and telecommunications markets. In 1988, he joined Sun Microsystems and managed OEM/VAR business for banking and insurance. Guyonnaud began his career at Sema Group and Opit. Guyonnaud earned a Master’s degree in Agronomy from ISAB and a specialization in Tropical Agronomy from ESAT, France.

 

Mark Phillips has successfully lead technology and software development efforts for more than three decades. Most recently the Chief Technology Officer at Knowmadic, Inc., Mark took over leadership of Kabira's product and solutions development in 2006. He has held executive positions at various early-stage technology companies in Silicon Valley, serving as vice president of product development at General Magic until 2001, where he was responsible for building and overseeing the company's technical and linguistics teams and planning and implementing the company's enterprise-focused product direction. He was chief technology officer and vice president of engineering at OPI Software, served as vice president of engineering at Angara E-Commerce Services, and also held positions at Insession, Inc. and Transactions Systems Architects, Inc. He began his career at IBM and Tandem Computers. Mr. Phillips earned a master of science degree in physics from Oxford University. He holds 15 patents.

 

Before co-founding Kabira in 1996, Dirk Epperson was director and architect for Sybase's successful Intermedia Server that delivered video-on-demand to major telecommunications customers across the globe. Prior to that position, he worked in Strategic Planning at Sybase, where he was instrumental in the Sybase acquisition strategy. Before joining Sybase, Epperson was vice president of software development at Hill Arts & Entertainment, Inc., where he developed industry-leading ticketing systems for entertainment and major league sports teams. Epperson holds a physics degree from Harvey Mudd College, and a masters degree in engineering from Yale.

 

As VP of Business Development at Kabira, Chris Clabaugh oversees Kabira’s global partnering efforts, with the operating concept of “partnering with purpose”, and leads Kabira’s channel expansion in APAC and Latin America. He joined Kabira after his role as VP of Business Development for CollabNet, where he oversaw the global channel program, APAC operations, and launched an on-demand training and e-commerce site. Prior to joining CollabNet, he was VP of Application Partner Market Development for Progress Software. Mr. Clabaugh was co-founder and CEO of Allegrix, Inc., a pioneer in SaaS enablement, which was acquired by Progress Software in 2001. He has a BS in Computer Science from Tulane University and sits of the Board of Advisors for the Tulane School of Engineering.

 

Dan Sifter has more than fifteen years of experience in networks, protocols and open system computing for telecommunications and other industries. Before co-founding Kabira in 1996, Sifter was chief architect for Sybase's connectivity products group, where he designed innovative extensions to Sybase's Open Client and Open Server products. Before joining Sybase, he worked for Control Data Corporation as architect for messaging technologies.