Management Profiles

Michael Wright, Chief Executive Officer

Michael Wright is the founder of Striata and a pioneer in the internet industry. In 2002, Michael was awarded the title "Direct Marketer of the Year" by the DMA and was also a finalist in the "IT Personality of the Year" awards. He has spoken at numerous conferences on email, eBilling and the use of the internet as a valuable business tool and customer communication method. Michael is also the founder and executive of the South African Chapter of First Tuesday, the "Global Thought Leadership Network".

Prior to Striata in 1999, Michael was the managing director of VWV Interactive. Michael began his working career with PricewaterhouseCoopers where he became a principal manager in the Consulting & Assurance Services (CAS) and was responsible for both Internet Strategy & Services and Business Information Services.

Michael, who has a B.Com and B.Com Honours from the University of Witwatersrand, is a Chartered Accountant. He served on the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants' (SAICA) information technology steering committee. He is a founding member and past Chairman of the Audit Bureau of Internet Standards (ABIS).

Nic Ramage - Chief Technical Officer

Nic Ramage, as the Chief Technology Officer for Striata, is responsible for Striata's technical excellence, including the development approach, principles and output of the research and development team. Nic joined Striata from VWV Interactive where he held the position of Lead Software Architect and Developer on large Internet projects. His specialty is the designing and building of robust object-oriented server based messaging software.

Nic's professional certifications and licenses include Electrical Engineer (BSc Electrical Engineering, WITS) and Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com Financial Management, RAU).

Jacqui Michelson- Chief Financial Officer

Jacqui Michelson joined the Striata team in 2001. She brought 10 years accounting experience with her, and previously specialised in financial accounting and tax. She came from an American based gas company, Air Products, where she was the Commercial and Financial Accountant.

As the global CFO, she runs a skilled team of accountants and is responsible for all the financial and fiscal management aspects of the company.

Her professional certifications and licenses include an Honours Degree in Finance and Tax from UNISA.

Alison Treadaway - Managing Director, Africa

Alison Treadaway is the Managing Director of Striata's African operations based in South Africa (SA). Alison has 12 years experience in Internet-related positions, including Group Marketing Executive at one of the first Internet Service Providers in South Africa and various positions within global IT services and solutions provider, Dimension Data.

Alison was a columnist for The Star newspaper and online news portal ITWeb for many years, writing about developments in the Web and electronic communication environments.

Her professional certifications and licenses include a Bachelor of Arts (English, German, WITS) and a Post-graduate Diploma in Business Administration (WITS Business School).

Garin Toren, Chief Operating Officer, America

Garin Toren brings more than 10 years of internet, eCommerce, digital marketing and email experience to Striata. Garin runs the New York Regional Head Quarters and heads up the USA, Canadian, Central & South American Striata operations.

Prior to Striata, Garin was eBusiness General Manager at Makro, responsible for the group's Contact Center, Internet Portals and Email strategies. Within just 2 years, Garin's division at Makro launched 6 Contact Centers, 3 Internet portals and delivered many millions of consumer facing emails and mobile messages.

Garin has Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from Pace University in NY, as well as the Nexus Post Graduate Program from the Gordon Institute of Business Science in Johannesburg, South Africa (SA). Garin is also a certified SAP Functional Consultant specializing in SAP CRM & CIC.

Brandon van den Berg, Chief Information Officer

Brandon van den Berg is the Chief Information Officer for Striata. He has an in-depth knowledge of Striata solutions and provides SME support for sales and operations around the world.

Brandon has over fifteen years of IT experience, specializing in applying business-informed, technology-enabled solutions, largely focusing on the financial services industry. He is a key contributor in formulating strategic goals, involved with analyzing and reworking existing business processes, identifies and develops the capability to use new tools, reshapes the enterprise's physical infrastructure and network access, and identifies and exploits the enterprise's knowledge resources.

Prior to joining Striata in 2003, Brandon was the Managing Director of Objectronics, a specialized financial services software development company. Brandon started his working career with Standard Bank as a technical contractor, and later became manager of infrastructure software. Brandon's studies include a BSC degree at the University of Witwatersrand.

Linda Misauer, CTO, America

Linda Misauer is the Chief Technology Officer for Striata America. She currently heads up all technical operations for North, Central and South America, responsible for the Project Management, Support, Production and Data Engineering.

Linda was responsible for the Product Management of the Striata Application Platform before moving across to Striata North America as CTO. In this role she was responsible for internal project management of the product development team, market research & product feature design as well as the product lifecycle management and quality control. Linda has nearly ten years of experience in the IT industry ranging from video streaming solution and website application development to electronic billing and messaging. Prior to joining Striata in 2002, Linda previously held the positions of Chief Information Officer at AfriCam, and IT project manager at Dimension Data.

Linda studied at the University of Natal - Pietermaritzburg and holds a degree in BSc, Majoring in Computer Science and Economics. Linda also has a Diploma in Project Management.

Barrie Arnold, VP of Sales, America

Barrie Arnold is accountable for all aspects of business development for the Americas, reporting to the COO and CEO. He is responsible for thought leadership, sector analysis, new sales, client development and service delivery. Charged with developing Striata's channel partner strategy, he has built a lean, high performance team of internal and external sales executives. He manages the implementation and ongoing management of all strategic alliances.

Barrie is a career specialist in Sales, Marketing and Growth Strategy with extensive experience and success working in the US and UK. He has deep industry knowledge of technology sales including enterprise solutions, eCommerce, eBilling, online and email marketing and consumer-facing technology. He has an excellent understanding of start-ups, new product launches and opening new branch operations and is an expert in leveraging strategic alliances and developing channel / reseller networks. Strengths include strategy design and delivery and efficiency to market. He has considerable experience in marketing optimization, cost reduction programs, business impact analysis, product assessment and decision support.

Barrie majored in Clinical and Industrial Psychology for his undergraduate degree and completed his Post-Grad in Marketing Management at the University of Cape Town Business School.

Keith Russell, Sales Director, Asia Pacific

Keith Russell is the Sales Director of Striata Asia-Pacific. Keith has over 20 years experience in the IT industry, moving from software development and analysis roles into Sales and Account Management.

Keith started his career with British Gas and worked for 8 years in the Billing and Systems departments in Edinburgh and London. Keith moved to Hong Kong in 1995, where he worked for a further 8 years in business development in the Telecoms billing field for KSCL and Convergys.

Prior to joining Striata in 2008, Keith was Asian Business Development Manager for Mobiqa, a mobile-phone ticketing company, and Director of Red Bridge Consulting, an international business development consultancy based in Hong Kong.

Keith has an Honours Degree in Physics from Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, and is a member of Mensa.

Gabriel Gutbezahl, Sales Director, Latin America

Gabriel joined the Striata team in 2008 as Sales Director responsible for the overall management of the Latin America territory.

With more than 10 years experience in selling complex IT services and developing Sales Channel Software, Gabriel works closely with Striata’s new and established channel partners including Distributors, resellers and OEM partners.

Languages are a strong suit for Gabriel, who is fluent in 4 languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese and German. He also boasts a double Bachelor Degree in Marketing & Advertising which he obtained in Buenos Aires (Argentina).