Meet our executive team

DJ Paoni

Chief Executive Officer

DJ Paoni leads Certinia’s mission to help organizations connect the front and back office with the leading customer-centric business suite on the Salesforce platform.

Before joining Certinia, DJ served as President of SAP North America where he was responsible for driving strategy, profitability, and customer success in the US and Canada, overseeing more than 25,000 employees and 200,000 customer relationships. Prior to that, he held several positions at SAP, including Managing Director and Senior Vice President Midwest, General Manager and Senior Vice President North America Strategic Customers, and Regional Vice President of Sales.

Additionally DJ is currently a Director at GENYOUth Foundation, which delivers impact through a range of national initiatives including in-school programs which promote student nutrition security, physical activity, and leadership.

DJ graduated from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communications and earned an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Robert Cesafsky

Chief Operating Officer

As Chief Operating Officer at Certinia, Robert Cesafsky brings two decades of expertise in high-growth enterprise software businesses. Before joining Certinia, he served as both CFO and COO at AutoAlert, overseeing finance, legal operations, and customer service.

Robert’s diverse background includes various finance and operational roles in software companies across different industries and markets. Additionally, he was an operating partner at the growth equity firm JMI, where he collaborated with management teams to help them achieve their growth ambitions.

Robert earned his Bachelor of Science in Finance from Marquette University.

Raju Malhotra

Chief Product & Technology Officer

Raju Malhotra has a distinguished career leading product and engineering teams as a Chief Product & Technology Officer (CPTO) for several high-growth, publicly-listed, and private companies.

He joins us from PAR Technology, a B2B SaaS company, which he joined through the acquisition of Punchh, a startup based in the bay area. Prior to that, Raju was the Senior Vice President and General Manager for Marketing Cloud at Salesforce. He served as CPTO at a private equity portfolio company and held numerous leadership roles during his 12-year tenure at Microsoft.

Raju holds an undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra (India), and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Todd Kisaberth

Chief Customer Officer

Todd Kisaberth is Chief Customer Officer at Certinia and is responsible for all Customer Operations and comes with deep experience across all of the CCO disciplines of Customer Success, Post Sales Support, Professional Services, Renewals, Training and Communities. Todd brings over 20 years of experience serving in executive leadership roles in global B2B technology companies.

Most recently, Todd served as Chief Customer Officer at Plex Systems, where he was responsible for the entire Plex customer experience, including professional and education services, customer success management, and customer support. Additionally, Todd has IPO experience from his time heading up customer operations at Tenable. He also has extensive professional services experience responsible for $130M in services revenue and overseeing operations both domestically and internationally (Japan, Mexico and Brazil).

Todd is a graduate from The University of Toledo, OH.

Michelle Mathis

Vice President of Strategic Planning

Michelle Mathis is the Vice President of Strategic Planning at Certinia and is responsible for driving the company’s planning cycles and business reviews, cross-business initiatives, and licensing and pricing strategy.

Michelle joined Certinia with over 18 years of leadership experience, including seven years at Microsoft Corporation in the Dynamics Business Application division. Prior to Microsoft, Michelle spent over 16 years in the telecommunications industry. She held various roles, including several strategic pricing positions, at Ericsson, BellSouth (now AT&T), and Nortel Networks.

Michelle holds a Bachelor of Science in Management from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

John Tully

Chief Revenue Officer

John Tully brings more than 25 years of sales experience to the Certinia CRO role. Most recently, John was the Sr. Vice President and Managing Director of Sales at SAP.

John specializes in building high-performance, people-centric cultures that drive customer success. Industry analysts and media frequently cite John for his perspectives on how technology is transforming industries where organizations are deriving value from digital transformation projects.

John graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Economics.

Erin Sawyer

Chief Financial Officer

As Chief Financial Officer at Certinia, Erin Sawyer brings over 20 years of financial and operational experience with 10 years in the software industry. Most recently, Erin was the CFO of Wowza and Deputy CFO at Vertafore.

Erin specializes as an executive strategist focusing on financial and operational discipline through business partnership, value creation and operational excellence.

Erin graduated from North Carolina State University with her MBA and Arizona State University with a degree in Accountancy.

Kris Kildahl

Chief People Officer

As Chief People Officer, Kris Kildahl leads the people strategy and team at Certinia, fostering an environment where employees can thrive personally and professionally to deliver great outcomes for our customers and the business.

With over 25 years of Human Resources Management experience in enterprise software, banking, manufacturing, private practice consulting, public sector and non-profit organizations, Kris brings a broad perspective on practices that optimize employee engagement and operational excellence. Prior to joining Certinia, Kris was Chief People Officer for Syntellis Performance Solutions.

Kris graduated from the University of San Diego with a Bachelor of Business Administration and earned an MBA in Human Resources Management from San Diego State University.

Allen Seto

Chief Legal Officer

Allen Seto is Chief Legal Officer at Certinia and is responsible for all legal, regulatory, and compliance matters. Allen will leverage his 20+ years of corporate legal experience as he further develops, leads, and scales the legal organization in support of the company’s growth.

Allen was Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Silver Peak, where he guided the company through its sale to Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company for $925 million.

Prior to that, he was Vice President and General Counsel at ShoreTel, where he led the worldwide legal function, resulting in the sale of the company for $530 million to Mitel Networks Corporation, and he served as Associate General Counsel at Taleo, where he advised the company through its $1.9 billion sale to Oracle Corporation. He has also held Corporate Counsel positions at Oracle and SYNNEX Corp.

Drew Chapin

Chief Marketing Officer

Drew Chapin is the Chief Marketing Officer at Certinia. He has deep expertise in team building, marketing strategy, demand generation, lead and pipeline management, product marketing, sales alignment and B2B branding.

Prior to Certinia, Drew held various top-level leadership positions at Hyland, SAP North America, Computer Associates and Hewlett Packard, and was a captain in the U.S. Army.

Drew is also an avid Cleveland sports fan, and when he’s not working he enjoys golfing, running and spending time with family.

Sarah Shorett

Vice President, Global Corporate Communications

Sarah Shorett is the Vice President of Global Corporate Communications at Certinia. She is responsible for shaping and executing Certinia’s corporate communications strategy and serves as a trusted advisor to Certinia’s C-Suite.

Previously, Sarah held various roles at Google, including leading communications for the Government Affairs and Trust & Safety organizations, and leading workplace communications for Google Cloud. Prior to Google, she spent several years at SAP North America and supported tech sector clients at public relations agencies FleishmanHillard and Burson-Marsteller (now BCW).

In 2019, Sarah was recognized by PR News as a Rising PR Star 30 & Under.