Leadership

As CEO, Rich Carlson brings more than 20 years’ experience in the software and wireless space to Savi. Carlson has many passions — leading technology and IoT companies to their full potential, cheering on University of Virginia athletics, and participating in endurance sports. He enjoys putting strategic planning, go-to-market strategies, and revenue generation expertise to work to propel companies to high growth — it’s a rush that doesn’t grow old.

In 2012, Rich founded the Neon Dolphin Technology Group, a consultancy that advises and helps grow IoT (Internet of Things) and software firms. Before founding Neon Dolphin, Carlson spent eight years as CEO at Wireless Matrix Corporation, where he transformed the business from a niche satellite provider to a leader in the fleet management SaaS (software-as-a-service) industry.

Born and raised in New York, Carlson has a B.A. in History from the University of Virginia, and an M.B.A from Georgetown University. Rich loves world literature and world music (acid jazz, Brazilian, dub, reggae, and electronica). He is a long-time fan of Thievery Corporation, a DC-based recording artist, and DJ collective. When he is not training for an Ironman Triathlon, Rich, his wife Lisa, and five children are planning their next travel adventure.

Jeff Friedman is Savi’s Chief Financial Officer.  He leads the company’s growth financing strategy and is responsible for managing all aspect of the company’s finance and accounting functions. In addition to impressive financial chops, Jeff brings a wealth of expertise in fundraising, investment transactions, exits, and corporate governance.

Most recently, Jeff was the Chief Operating Officer of Pherson Associates where provided overall strategic direction and operational management of the company and its affiliates.

At Monumental Venture Partners, an early stage venture capital firm,Jeff was a Founding Partner and Managing Director.  MVP’s portfolio companies included Telverse Communications (acquired by Level 3), Cinea (acquired by Dolby), and Digital Sandbox (acquired by Haystax Technology).

Jeff also spent ten years with MCI Communications in various financial management roles including Corporate Venture Capital, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Financial Planning and Analysis.

Jeff has a BA in Economics from the University of Virginia and an MBA in Finance from The George Washington University.  He believes that UVA will win the NCAA basketball tournament again in his lifetime.

Between them, Jeff and his wife Joan have six kids, a dog, and a cat.  They are looking forward to a downsized empty nest.  An avid runner, Jeff has completed ten marathons and there is still gas in the tank for more.

As Chief Technology Officer, Jim Hayden shapes the company’s analytics strategy and drives continued innovation across Savi’s full solutions suite. He has 25 years’ experience producing award-winning work on practical applications of analytic methods and technologies includes knowledge discovery, data mining and predictive analytics. Jim has built analytics and data businesses from zero to millions of dollars in multiple industries.

Before joining Savi, he was Vice President, Analytics at TEOCO, a leading provider of analytics solutions to communications service providers worldwide. At TEOCO Jim was responsible for creating the company’s Big Data analytics solutions – delivering actionable insights to global communications service providers. Prior to that, he was Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Mantas, a global leader in the Trading Compliance and Anti-Money Laundering software market. At Mantas, Jim led the spin-off from SRA International, drove business case development for new markets and products, and managed the research, data mining and intellectual property teams.

Jim holds a BS, Computer Science from George Mason University. In his spare time, he plays and coaches the oldest sport in North America – lacrosse! Fun fact, lacrosse dates back to the 1400s and was first developed by North American Indians who played it to toughen braves for war or to settle disputes between tribes. Jim has coached college teams and presently coaches high school and youth leagues.

Vicki Warker is Savi’s Chief Marketing Officer. She leads Savi’s go-to-market strategy and is responsible for defining and positioning the unique value Savi’s predictive and prescriptive analytics bring to the commercial and government supply chain industry.

Prior to joining Savi, Vicki was the Vice President of Marketing for industry innovator, O3b Networks. She successfully positioned the company as the fastest growing Satellite operator in history prior to the company’s sale to SES.

Vicki also held senior executive positions managing product development, product management, offer development, customer experience, and marketing for satellite operator Intelsat and Sprint Business Solutions.

Prior to joining Sprint, she was Vice President-Global Marketing with GE Global eXchange Services. Vicki served in a variety of channel management, product management and marketing roles at Concert Communications before being named Vice President-Marketing, Global Markets.

She holds Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Maryland.

As Senior Vice President, Government Sales and Operations, Rosemary Johnston oversees operations, systems support and governance assistance for Savi. She has been with Savi since 2006 and has held a variety of positions in services and support, business process improvement, business integration, and information technology systems.

Rosemary’s understanding of the military supply chain and logistics market comes from a distinguished career in both commercial enterprises and her 23-year service in the United States Air Force. While in the Air Force, she was responsible for spearheading planning and forecasting analyses that were critical to the supply chain community, developing key wartime logistics planning concepts,  and establishing supply policies that impacted the depth and breadth of retail and wholesale supply chains.  She chaired the US Air Force Supply Chiefs Advisory Board, US Air Force Supply Training Team, and US Air Force Supply Wartime Requirements workgroups.  In addition, she also chaired the Supply Chain Council’s Aerospace and Defense working group, which focused on further development of the SCOR Model and use of RFID technology to support and enhance in-transit visibility.

Rosemary holds certification from Defense Acquisition University in Product Lifecycle Management, Acquisition Professional Development and Logistics Management Professional Development.

Ryan Smith is Savi’s Vice President, Commercial Sales. He is responsible for directing the commercial sales team, sales operations, and managing global customer relationships for Savi.

Ryan brings fifteen years of experience in supply chain sales, solution selling, strategic account management, consulting and business building in the manufacturing, oil and gas, consumer packaged goods and utility industries. An industry veteran in the supply chain software market, Ryan has successfully led large organizations through periods of high growth.

Prior to joining Savi, Ryan held senior positions with GE Digital, where he worked on linking big data, analytical tools and wireless networks with physical and industrial equipment.

Ryan holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Arizona State University.

Ben Harris is Savi’s Senior Vice President of IT and Engineering.  In this role, he is responsible for the company’s technology infrastructure, software, and hardware engineering organization, DevOps, and professional services.

An experienced technology professional, Ben brings over 15 years of forward-thinking business and technology leadership managing top engineering teams to deliver innovative cloud-based solutions at scale. He is responsible for the oversight of all Big Data infrastructure, software and hardware development, customer support, professional services and security that supports operational intelligence of both external and internal customers.

Prior to joining the Savi team, Ben served as the Vice President of Technical Operations, IT and Security at GridPoint, Inc., an industry leader in Energy Management Systems for large-scale commercial and government clients.  In that role, he was responsible for all technology infrastructure and security supporting production systems, including multiple customer production environments, SaaS production environments, as well as corporate systems. Ben also held a number of senior technology leadership roles at Neustar, Inc. where he led infrastructure and IT teams in the shared services organization.

Born and raised in the Chicago area, Ben holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and Logistics from Elmhurst College, along with various technical certifications. When not delivering superior technology solutions to Savi customers, he enjoys hiking, mountain biking, HIIT, and spending time with his family.