Brad Peters is the CEO of Birst. Through his years of work helping to lead the Analytics group at Siebel Systems and his early work on on-demand software delivery, Brad became intensely aware of the limitations of current enterprise analytics offerings and the revolutionary power of the Software-as-a-Service model. Brad is excited to be bringing the power of advanced analytics to small and medium businesses that never had access before, as well as easing the reporting and analytics pain of managers everywhere.
Brad received an MS in electrical engineering and computer science from UC Berkeley, where he was a National Science Foundation Fellow and a California Microelectronics Fellow. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School.
Paul Staelin is Vice President of Customer Operations for Birst and a co-founder of the company. He is responsible for ensuring customer success and manages Birst’s professional services, support, training and operations teams to that goal. Due to his experience in companies both large and small, Paul knows how important it is to have the right data at your fingertips and get real value from your technology investments. Previously, Paul built and managed Siebel's Sales Analytics product line, overseeing its growth from start to over $40 million in annual license revenue.
Before Siebel, Paul co-founded emPower Corporation and served as its President for several years prior to its sale in 1999.
Paul holds an BS from Yale and an MS from MIT in Electrical Engineering and an MBA from Stanford University, where he was an Arjay Miller scholar.
Rick Spickelmier, CTO/VP Engineering, is responsible for engineering, security, and big ideas for Birst. Rick brings over 17 years of wide-ranging software development experience, including experience in enterprise architecture, databases, and on-demand applications. Rick has been Senior Director of Technology at Geac, CTO and Chief Architect at Extensity, and has also worked in a number of management, architecture and development roles at Objectivity. Rick has participated as a panelist and presenter at numerous conferences and industry events and has authored several books and publications.
Rick holds a Ph.D. and an MS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley.
Chris Polishuk is Vice President of Global Partners and Alliances for Birst. He is responsible for all indirect revenue channels at Birst, including Global Partner, OEM, and channel relationship sales and Alliances. Chris has a history of building profitable relationships in the analytics software space at companies such as the SAS Institute, Protagona (acquired by DoubleClick), and Nimblefish Technologies. Chris has led both direct and partner initiatives with Financial Services, Healthcare, Retail, and Gaming clients focused on the use of BI and analytics to empower decision making for everyone from front line personnel to corporate executives.
Chris received his BA in Political Science from the University of Dayton.
Stefan Schmitz is the Vice President of Products, responsible for ensuring that Birst reflects customer's needs and desires. Stefan was previously Director of Product Management at Oracle and Siebel, where he managed the Siebel advanced analytics and real-time decision product line. Stefan managed two OEM partnerships that led to the acquisition of one of the partners by Oracle in 2006. Stefan started his career as a data mining consultant and later worked for IBM, where he managed CRM implementation projects for major financial services organizations in Europe.
Stefan received an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and holds a MS in Computer Science from the University of Karlsruhe in Germany.
Jonathan Berent, Corporate Sales Director, leads all of the direct channel business for Birst. Berent brings extensive experience in building world-class direct sales organizations from Oracle, Oblix and Sun Microsystems. Prior to Birst, Berent served as Senior Sales Director for Oracle Corporation where he built and led the Corporate Sales Division for the Oracle Business Intelligence platform and EPM product lines, which outperformed all other divisions in its first year. At Oblix, Berent expanded sales operations and developed key strategic partnerships, which contributed to the eventual acquisition by Oracle.
Jonathan received his BA in Philosophy and Religious Studies from Stanford University.
Barbara Lewis is the Director of Marketing, responsible for telling the world how Birst can make their lives easier, better informed, and more productive. Barbara was previously in marketing leadership positions at TalkPlus, Good Technology, and Siebel Systems, where she helped launch both Siebel Analytics and Siebel CRM On-Demand. Barbara also has strategy and investment experience from her years at McKinsey & Co. and Vector Capital, a venture capital firm.
Barbara received an MBA from Stanford University and a BA in history from Yale University.
