Blue Ridge Wine & Spirits Case Study

Anil Kona is an accomplished technology leader with over 20 years of experience delivering innovative enterprise software solutions. As Chief Technology Officer at Blue Ridge, he currently leads software development to bring complex products to market.

Previously, Anil served 5 years as Vice President of Engineering at Coupa Software. In this capacity, he built and led high-performance application engineering teams that quadrupled company revenues to over $1 billion in 5 years through organic and inorganic growth. Prior to Coupa, Anil spent 11 years progressing through senior technical leadership roles at Xactly. During his tenure, he made significant contributions to scaling the engineering organization and driving business growth.

Anil holds a Master’s Degree in Engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in India as well as executive education certificates in areas like business strategy, finance, and leadership from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

Ken brings an extensive history of solution innovation, business strategy and ecosystem development across industries and technology areas to his role as Chief Product & Strategy Officer. With his executive and corporate strategy experience, he has created and lead programs working across major strategic partnerships, large and small consultancies, channel partners, and technology alliances.

Ken’s history includes supply chain management solution companies like Blue Yonder (formerly known as JDA Software) developing modern partner programs, ParkourSC (formerly known as Cloudleaf) in IoT and digital twin solutions, and Cisco Systems leading business
operations in solutions for Sports, Entertainment, and Retail.

Ken graduated from Brigham Young University with a BS in Business Management with emphasis on Finance and an MBA with emphasis on Venture Capital, Entrepreneurship and Strategy. He also led the BYU Cougars Men’s Swim Team as Captain in his undergraduate
years.

Brad is the Chief Revenue Officer for Blue Ridge responsible for driving sales growth, overseeing marketing strategy, and delighting customers. Brad has over 20 years of sales and leadership experience in the technology industry.

Prior to joining Blue Ridge, Brad was Chief Revenue Officer for SmartLinx and VP of Global Enterprise Sales for ADP. Brad spent 20+ years at ADP, where he held 10 different roles, which aligns perfectly with his loyalty and entrepreneurial spirit.

Brad holds a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University Bloomington.

Kyle Pexton is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of senior-level positions in various SAAS-based B2B software companies, with extensive experience leading private-equity backed companies to successful exits. Most recently, Mr. Pexton served as President and CFO of NMI, a payments enablement platform, where he led the company through substantial organic growth and multiple acquisitions. NMI was ultimately sold to Insight Capital Partners. He also served as CFO of Accelerated Payment Technologies, which resulted in a sale to Global Payments. Mr. Pexton served in Sr. Executive roles at Authorize.Net, which ultimately sold to Cybersource.

Mr. Pexton has also served on multiple Boards of Directors of companies in the payments, ecommerce, capital markets, supply chain, and retail sectors.

Kyle is a licensed Certified Public Accountant, and holds a Masters of Accountancy degree from Brigham Young University.

For almost a generation, Sverre has marketed, sold, designed, and implemented Supply Chain Planning solutions throughout Europe and now oversees Blue Ridge’s operations in the Nordics.

Sverre has an educational background in business strategy and logistics and a varied career helping retailers, distributors, and manufacturers get in control of their supply chain- and production planning in several countries across Europe.

Having seen the Blue Ridge solutions save companies and turn them into profitable and rewarding companies to work in, Sverre has become passionate about the immense value that the solutions bring to the table – all from breakthrough changes in the Annual Statements to creating new and enriching job content for our heroes, the Supply Chain Planners, – to management gaining full control of the company, and for the owners who see their investment prosper and thrive.

Lia brings several years of experience as a consultant and advisor for Private Equity firms, including TPG, to drive “extreme” top-line growth for middle-market B2B SaaS companies.

Most of her work has been in the “Commercial” operating functions, including Sales, Marketing, Revenue Operations, Channel, Product, and Pricing.

As the Head of Revenue Operations for Blue Ridge, Lia drives visibility, efficiency, and productivity across Commercial teams with the goal of growing the customer base and increasing the value customers derive from our SaaS software solutions.

Prior to working for PE firms, she began her career at a Supply Chain-focused Management Consulting firm headquartered in NYC.

Lia was born and raised in Tbilisi, the Republic of Georgia; she came to the United States in 2013 to study at University. She is fluent in Georgian, Italian, and English and certified in JavaScript, Python, and Ruby. Lia holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Mount Holyoke College.

Laxmikant brings 25 years of experience in IT & consulting services on a diverse technology stack. He is responsible for managing the entire India operations and product delivery.

Prior to joining Blue Ridge, Laxmikant executed large-scale, complex IT transformation programs in leading IT organizations such as Accenture, IBM, Wipro, and Ness Technologies. He has extensive experience in large-scale cloud transformation engagements and is also skilled in digital transformations, enterprise architecture, AI, DevOps, Big Data, IT strategy and governance, global delivery model, and Due Diligence.

Laxmikant holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics from Mumbai University and Post Graduation in Finance Management from MIT, Pune.

Laura is a collaborative, influential leader with an exceptional record of accomplishing inclusive and consultative talent acquisition practices. With over 15 years of experience in talent acquisition and HR services, she currently serves as the Head of Talent and HR for Blue Ridge. Laura’s experience has allowed her to grow and sharpen her skills in Recruiting, Coaching, Leadership, Engagement, and Talent selection.

Laura received a BS in Business Administration from Delaware Valley University and is dedicated to organizational growth and company culture.

As Chief Customer Officer, Dawn is responsible for overseeing customer success in integration, product adoption, technology enhancements, and overall customer satisfaction. A results-oriented IT professional with 20 years of experience driving growth, deliverables, and productivity for diverse organizations.

Prior to joining Blue Ridge Dawn was VP of Development and Customer Success with Izenda, where she was responsible for product management, product development, onboarding, and support initiatives across the company to deliver outstanding customer value. Prior to that, Dawn applied her management skills at NCO, Stratose, QBE FIRST, and Trauner, Cohen & Thomas LLP.

Sam has held financial leadership roles with many high-growth SaaS companies, from sub-$10 million to $300 million+ ARR.

Prior to Blue Ridge, Sam was CFO at DadeSystems (acquired by Versapay, a Great Hill Partners company). Before that, Sam was VP Finance at Netsurion (Providence Strategic Growth), Director Finance at Model N (NYSE:MODN), and led FP&A at Greenway Health (Vista Equity Partners).

Sam began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Sam holds an MBA from the University of Florida and a Bachelor’s from the University of Michigan.

Santhosh brings more than 17 years of experience in software development, consulting services, customer success, and information technology. He is responsible for all aspects of product development, including cloud operations.

Prior to joining Blue Ridge, Santhosh led the successful implementation of supply chain solutions and transformations for enterprise organizations. His background also includes extensive S&OP, supply chain planning, and logistics experience with management and consulting roles at Steelwedge, Honeywell, and i2 Technologies.

He holds an MS in Industrial Engineering from Arizona State University and a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Osmania University.

Jim Byrnes is the Executive Chairman of Blue Ridge, where he brings a proven track record in growing profitable application and consulting businesses.

Prior to joining Blue Ridge, Jim served as CEO of M4 Global Solutions, consisting of three independent operating companies: Changepoint, Uniface. and Lochbridge. Prior to M4, he spent more than 11 years at Infor, where he held multiple executive positions, including SVP of Process Manufacturing and Wholesale Distribution and EVP of Global Consulting Services.

He previously ran the US operations of Ability as President of the supply chain management solutions provider. Jim has also served as the Chief Operations Officer of Impact Innovations Group, a consulting services company focused on delivery chain management.