Executive Team
- Marcus Ryu, Chief Executive Officer
- Karen Blasing, Chief Financial Officer
- John True, Senior Vice President, Field Operations
- Alex Naddaff, Vice President, Professional Services
- Pete Espinosa, Vice President, Worldwide Sales
- Jeremy Henrickson, Vice President, Product Development
- Dan Gordon, Vice President, Product Management
- Ben Brantley, Chief Technology Officer
- Priscilla Hung, Vice President, Operations
- Brian Desmond, Vice President, Marketing
- Bob Donohue, Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary
Marcus Ryu, Chief Executive Officer
Marcus Ryu is Chief Executive Officer at Guidewire and has overall responsibility for our operations and strategic direction. Since co-founding the company in 2001, Marcus has held a wide variety of roles for the company, including securing key customer relationships, communicating our distinctive value proposition to the market, and defining our product strategy. He serves on our Board of Directors and has managed the engineering, marketing, and strategy departments. Marcus has considerable experience analyzing the underwriting and claims operations of insurers and is a frequent speaker to industry audiences on technology and operational issues. Before Guidewire, Marcus was Vice President of Strategy at Ariba and an Associate and Engagement Manager at McKinsey and Company. He has an A.B. from Princeton University and a B.Phil. from New College, Oxford University.
Karen Blasing, Chief Financial Officer
Karen Blasing has served as Guidewire’s Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer since 2009. In this role, she has overall global responsibility for our Finance and Administration Operations. Karen brings more than 20 years of experience in creating and implementing corporate strategic plans, executing mergers and acquisitions, and building finance, accounting, legal, and human resource programs and systems. Prior to joining the company, Karen was CFO at Force10Networks (acquired by Dell), Nuance Communications, and Counterpane Internet Security. She also held senior finance roles at salesforce.com, Informix Corporation (acquired by IBM), Oracle Corporation, and Syntex Pharmaceuticals (now Roche). She holds a B.A. in Economics and a B.A. in Business Administration, Finance from the University of Montana and an M.B.A. from the University of Washington.
John True, Senior Vice President, Field Operations
John True joined Guidewire in 2011 as our Senior Vice President of Field Operations. His more than 20 years of sales, general management, and business development experience with high growth technology firms, help unite the strategies and execution of our global Sales, Services, and Alliances teams. John’s previous positions include Chief Operating Officer at Fortify Software, Vice President of North American Sales at EqualLogic, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Ariba, and senior management positions with Parametric Technology Corporation. John previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of Agilis Systems and continues today as a director of the company. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Missouri.
Alex Naddaff, Vice President, Professional Services
Alex Naddaff has served as Guidewire’s Vice President of Professional Services, a global organization working in over 10 countries, since 2002. He plays a key role in designing technology solutions for the insurance industry and ensuring successful customer implementations. Alex brings more than 20 years of experience building, implementing, and managing mission-critical systems for major financial institutions. As Vice President of Claims Technology at Hartford Financial Services, Alex established a multi-year strategic direction and led the implementation of claim technology for more than 6,000 claims people supporting the auto, property, general liability, and workers' compensation business lines. Prior to the Hartford, he was First Vice President of Credit Systems at MBNA America, where he developed systems for credit line management, credit application processing, and imaging. He was previously a Vice President at J. P. Morgan. Alex has a B.S. from Wagner College.
Pete Espinosa, Vice President, Worldwide Sales
Pete Espinosa serves as Guidewire’s Vice President of Worldwide Sales, where he is responsible for sales execution and results for all of our products, globally. He has more than 25 years experience in global sales leadership, sales execution, results management, client relations, industry solution sales, and building and leading high performing sales teams. Prior to joining the company in 2008, Pete was Executive Vice President of Sales for Pay By Touch, the global leader in biometric payment and loyalty marketing solutions to the retail industry. Prior to that, Pete was Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Operations for Retek, the leading application provider to the retail industry, and also held the same position at Vignette, the leading provider of web content management and application solutions. Pete began his career at IBM where he worked for 17 years, including serving as Executive Assistant to IBM Chairman and CEO Louis V. Gerstner. Pete holds a B.A. in Speech Communication and Political Science from Luther College.
Jeremy Henrickson, Vice President, Product Development
Jeremy Henrickson has served as Guidewire’s Vice President of Product Development since 2008. He has overall responsibility for our product strategy, design, and delivery. Prior to that, he served as our Director of Product Management from 2006 to 2008 and our Senior Product Manager from 2003 to 2005. Jeremy was also a founding member of our European sales team. Prior to joining the company, he was Director of Technology Services at Reactivity, Inc. (later acquired by Cisco Systems, Inc.). Jeremy holds a B.S. and an M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University.
Dan Gordon, Vice President, Product Management
Dan Gordon oversees the definition and design of all Guidewire product releases. He is responsible for product strategy, closely collaborating with customers to define product requirements and usability, and assisting customers in making the best use of our products. Dan and his team are committed to customer success as the top priority in product planning. Dan joined the company in 2003 from E.piphany, where he oversaw E.piphany Sales, a visionary sales force automation product. Prior to E.piphany, Dan worked at RealNetworks in a variety of roles spanning product marketing, e-commerce management, and strategic planning. Previously, he was a consultant at Booz Allen and Hamilton. Dan has a B.A. from Yale University and an M.B.A from Stanford University.
Ben Brantley, Chief Technology Officer
Ben Brantley is the technical liaison between Guidewire’s customers and our core platform development organization. He ensures that our technology platform is continually designed and evolved to meet ever-changing customer requirements. Ben is also responsible for defining and articulating our long-term technology strategy and direction. Before assuming the role of Chief Technology Officer, Ben served as the founder and director of our technical sales team. Prior to joining the company in 2005, Ben was a lecturer in Computer Science at the California Institute of Technology. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the California Institute of Technology.
Priscilla Hung, Vice President, Operations
Priscilla Hung is responsible for Guidewire's operations, including sales and services operations, corporate development and strategy, Information Systems and Technology, human resources, corporate services and real estate. Priscilla has extensive enterprise software experience at both startups and public companies. Before joining the company in 2005, Priscilla held several management positions at Ariba Inc. including the Director of Operations and Director of Global Channels and Alliances. Priscilla also previously held several channel, business development, and product marketing positions at Sun Microsystems, Uniface/Compuware, Pyramid/Siemens Nixdorf, and Oracle Corporation. Priscilla holds an M.Eng Industrial Engineering and Operations Research degree from Cornell University.
Brian Desmond, Vice President, Marketing
Brian Desmond is responsible for the development and execution of Guidewire’s global marketing efforts including demand creation, positioning, branding, and public relations. Brian brings extensive experience in corporate and product marketing to the company. Prior to joining the company in 2006, Brian served as Vice President of Marketing for PeopleSoft's Supply Chain solutions, where he led global marketing efforts for a division with $300 million in annual revenue. Prior to PeopleSoft, Brian led marketing at Ketera Technologies, playing a key role in establishing Ketera as a leader in the “software as a service” space. Prior to Ketera, Brian served in a variety of product marketing roles at Ariba and Tradex Technologies (acquired by Ariba). Brian began his career at Accenture, and managed project teams implementing SAP R/3 at Fortune1000 companies. Brian has a B.Com. in Economics and Marketing from University College of Cork, Ireland.
Bob Donohue, Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary
Bob Donohue is responsible for Guidewire’s legal and corporate matters as General Counsel and Secretary. He brings 30 years of experience as General Counsel gained at several Silicon Valley software and technology companies. Prior to joining the company in 2011, Bob had been General Counsel for BEA Systems, Cirrus Logic, Frame Technology, Cadence Design Systems, and Avantek. Before that, he served with law firms in California and New York and is a member of the Bar in both of those states. Bob is on the Board of Trustees of Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Gatos, CA. He has a B.A. from Columbia, an M.B.A. from New York University, and a J.D. from Fordham.