DJ Paoni vs Michael Speranza

DJ Paoni

CEO of Certinia

BIO: 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.

Michael Speranza

CEO of Kantata

BIO: Michael Speranza is CEO of Kantata. He has more than 20 years of private equity experience leading several global software and services companies. He specializes in defining compelling product visions and scaling companies from $100 million towards $1 billion in annual revenue. Previously, Michael was CEO of Avolin, a global provider of CRM, e-commerce and IT software solutions formed after the successful divestiture of the business he had previously led at Aptean, a global provider of ERP and Supply Chain software. Under his leadership, the company successfully integrated more than a dozen new products and services into its portfolio and grew to $150 million in annual revenue. Michael began his career working as a systems analyst at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab then moved onto Deloitte Consulting. Later he joined Avero, a successful THLee start-up that pioneered SaaS-based business intelligence for the hospitality industry where he was one of the first ten employees. Michael then embarked on a 20-year career working with leading private equity firms, including Goldman Sachs, SilverLake Partners, Centerbridge Partners and Vista Equity Partners. Michael is originally from New York and earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.