Key Executives is pleased to announce The Top 25 Executives of Colorado for 2024. Countless industries, ranging from aerospace to financial services, have found great success in the heart of Colorado, a state known for its adventurous recreation and stunning landscapes. Denver’s basketball team, the golden nuggets, didn’t receive its mascot by coincidence. Colorado represents a convergence of nature, business, and culture, where many Fortune 500 corporations have found a lucrative home and small businesses continue to thrive. This year’s nominees represent the finest talent and strongest expertise leading these organizations to success.
Among this year’s awardees, Richard Scheig, Chief Sales Officer of MeridianLink, stands out for his track record of successfully building, scaling, and leading world-class technology sales teams within the SaaS sector for both public and private companies. Cleber Viana, CTO of ngena, is an experienced senior executive, known for directing the delivery of large-scale enterprise-wide solutions across the telecommunications, finance and public sector industries. And James Trevey, Chief Technology Officer of Forge Nano, combines his engineering and business expertise to oversee Nano’s use of its proprietary technology, allowing manufacturers to engineer their materials, down to the individual atom.
This year’s awardees were selected through a methodical nomination process from hundreds of distinguished leaders. They stand out for their outstanding career track records, depth of industry knowledge, and exemplary leadership. Please join us in recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of the Top 25 Executives of Colorado for 2024.
1. Blake Bostwick
Chief Operating Officer, illumifin
Blake Bostwick is the Chief Operating Officer of illumifin, a revolutionary platform providing third party administration and technology services to individual and group insurers. Illumifin, launched in 2021, blends insurance industry knowledge, technology leadership, and operational execution to prepare insurers for the digital future.
Bostwick joined illumifin following a 20-year career at Transamerica, where he most recently served as CEO of the Individual Solutions division, which included life, annuities and long-term care businesses. Previously, Bostwick was CEO of the workplace solutions division, which comprises Transamerica’s retirement, employee benefits, stable value solutions, and advice businesses. He also served as Chief Operating Officer and has held a variety of other leadership roles across the marketing and technology spaces. Bostwick has a BBA degree in Finance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and was a captain on the soccer team.
2. Matthew Neagle
Chief Operating Officer, Porch
Matthew Neagle serves as Chief Operating Officer of Porch, a vertical software platform built to provide homeowners insurance, leverage unique data for advantaged underwriting, provide the best services for homebuyers, and protect the whole home. As COO, Neagle leads efforts to drive the organic growth of Porch's software and services platform and manages the day-to-day rhythms of the business.
Previously, Neagle served as Porch's Chief Revenue Officer from (2017 to 2020), Chief Customer Officer (2016 to 2017) and Vice President, Operations (2014 to 2016). Prior to joining Porch, Neagle worked at Amazon, leading the rollout of Kindle into retail stores across China, India, and Japan. He also spent time at Google, where he lead teams in helping small businesses to acquire and retain customers online through AdWords. Neagle is a long-time leader, alumnus and supporter of AIESEC, the world's largest student organization. He holds a BA, BSE and MBA from the University of Michigan.
3. Amir Eltabib
Chief Business Development Officer, Ibotta
Amir Eltabib is the Chief Business Development Officer of Ibotta, a leading performance marketing platform allowing brands to deliver digital promotions to over 200 million consumers through a network of publishers called the Ibotta Performance Network (IPN). At Ibotta, Eltabib leads the Business Development and Strategic Partner Management teams, which partner with the nation’s leading retailers and publishers to design, launch, and manage digital offer programs on their apps and websites. Eltabib joined Ibotta in 2016 and helped establish the company’s retail partnerships and affiliate program before transitioning to build out the Ibotta Performance Network – a performance marketing engine that reaches 120 million consumers.
Prior to Ibotta, Eltabib worked in investment banking and private equity. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, and graduated with bachelor’s degrees in finance and political science from the University of Colorado.
4. Richard Scheig
Chief Sales Officer, MeridianLink
Richard Scheig has served as Chief Sales Officer of MeridianLink, Inc. since August 2022. MeridianLink® empowers financial institutions and consumer reporting agencies to drive efficient growth. MeridianLink’s cloud-based digital lending, account opening, background screening, and data verification software solutions leverage shared intelligence from a unified data platform, MeridianLink® One, to enable customers of all sizes to identify growth opportunities, effectively scale up, and support compliance efforts, all while powering an enhanced experience for staff and consumers alike.
Prior to Meridian Link, Scheig was Chief Revenue Officer at Upland Software. Scheig’s career spans more than 20 years in various sales leadership roles. He has successfully built, scaled, and led world-class technology sales teams within the SaaS sector at both public and private companies. Scheig holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Colorado State University.
5. Laurence Trifon
Chief Business Operations Officer, Contentful
Laurence Trifon is the Chief Business Operations Officer of Contentful. Contentful is an intelligent, composable, content platform that unlocks an organization’s digital content to deliver impactful customer experiences and make content a strategic business asset. Trifon builds and leads teams across the full customer lifecycle for B2B software companies.
Before joining Contentful, Trifon served as Vice President of Emerging Businesses at Twilio, a San Francisco-based cloud communications company, where he was responsible for leading new product initiatives. Prior to Twilio, Trifon helped scale SendGrid, an email marketing platform, from startup through IPO in several leadership roles including Vice President of Revenue leading sales, customer success and professional services and Vice President of Strategic & Corporate Development.
Before SendGrid, Trifon led business development and go-to-market strategy for Bloomspot, an ecommerce startup that was acquired by JP Morgan Chase. Trifon holds a BA in Public Policy from Stanford University.
6. Deborah Surrette
Chief Commercial Officer, Veho
Deborah Surrette is the Chief Commercial Officer of Veho, an organization reinventing delivery and returns for the e-commerce era by combining modern technology and innovative logistics with a customer-centric focus. Veho powers fast, transparent, and personalized next-day delivery and returns for e-commerce companies so they can increase customer satisfaction and drive customer lifetime value.
Surrette has more than 25 years of experience driving innovation and growth across Supply Chain, eCommerce, and Customer Experience software companies, enabling enterprises to adopt transformative technologies for market leadership and expansion. At Veho, she is responsible for accelerating strategy around market growth and business development as the company disrupts the legacy shipping industry.
Surrette joins Veho from GreyOrange, a provider of automated robotic fulfillment and inventory optimization software, where she led commercial strategy, focusing on sales and customer success to drive growth and increased market share in current and new markets. Prior to this, she served as VP of Sales at Oracle, where she oversaw the company’s North American sales operations, with a focus on large and medium-sized retail businesses throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Earlier in her career, she was VP of North American Sales for IBM, spearheading sales for its Smarter Commerce and Watson Customer Engagement Business Unit. Surrette graduated from Rutgers University.
7. Chris Rothe
Chief Technology Officer, Red Canary
Chris Rothe is the Chief Technology Officer of Red Canary, a leader in cybersecurity MDR (managed detection and response). Red Canary serves companies of every size and industry, focusing on finding and stopping threats before they can have a negative impact. As the security ally for nearly 1,000 organizations, they provide MDR across their customers’ cloud workloads, identities, SaaS applications, networks, and endpoints.
For 20+ years, Rothe has been building products, teams, companies, cultures, and processes. He comes from an engineering background but has used systems thinking to deliver business results across engineering, product, sales, marketing, and operations while building amazing teams and mentoring dozens of incredible teammates throughout his career.
Previously, Rothe was an entrepreneur and security engineer at Kyrus Tech, preceded by his role as VP of technology at Solidyn Solutions, Inc. Earlier in his career he worked with Mercury Interactive Freshwater Inc. as an IT specialist. Rothe earned an undergraduate degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder.
8. David Samuels
Chief Commercial Officer, Pie Insurance
David joined Pie Insurance as its first Chief Commercial Officer in April 2022 and is responsible for setting the firm’s operational strategy and overseeing all premiums generated from their insurance agents and brokers. Pie Insurance is reshaping how small businesses buy and experience commercial insurance, leveraging technology to make buying insurance affordable and as “easy as pie”.
With over 25 years of experience in sales leadership, customer success, business development, and product marketing within the B2B enterprise and SMB markets, David is adept at leading sales teams to win and guiding organizations to deliver on customer success strategies that accelerate retention and growth.
At the core of his experience, David brings a passion for strengthening customer relationships, leading teams and setting high-performance standards. Before joining Pie, David was the chief customer officer at SAP, where he led the Customer Engagement Center and SAP Concur’s Global Client Development organization. David holds a BSBA from American University - Kogod School of Business.
9. Sudhir Dubey
Chief Operating Officer, Vigilant
Sudhir Dubey is the Chief Operating Officer of Vigilant, bringing 26 years of experience to the table. Founded in 1999, Vigilant is a global company with deep experience in both traditional and disruptive technologies. They are headquartered in Troy, Michigan and have offices in Toronto, Canada, and Hyderabad, India. Vigilant is the Preferred and Trusted Oracle and Microsoft Technology Partner in North America, delivering comprehensive solutions across application, automation, infrastructure, data and analytics, security and networking, and application modernizations.
Before joining Vigilant, Dubey was an SVP of global operations at IT Convergence, and before that, a director of fusion middleware and BI at CedarCrestone. Earlier in his career he worked with GE Access as a system analyst. Dubey graduated from Gujarat University - DDIT Collage of Engineering with a master’s in computer application and from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda with an undergraduate degree in physics, chemistry, geology and mathematics.
10. Betty Wageman
Chief Commercial Officer, Ingenovis Health
Betty Wageman has nearly 25 years of successful leadership roles with the nation’s largest healthcare staffing agencies and now serves as Ingenovis Health’s Chief Commercial Officer. Ingenovis Health is a powerful new force in healthcare, combining the strength of comprehensive, industry-leading workforce solutions and a technology-forward approach to advance delivery of critical healthcare providers.
Wageman brings a unique understanding of both sides of the staffing business to Igenovis. She has executive experience leading account management, business development and client services teams, resulting in an awareness of the complex dynamics hospitals face to achieve optimized productivity.
Previously, Wageman was a VP of the permanent placement division at CompHealth. Earlier in her career, she worked with AMN Healthcare as a senior account manager. Wageman earned an undergraduate degree in communications from UC San Diego.
11. Michael Boord
CFO and Chief Operating Officer, ServiceCore
Michael Boord is currently the Chief Operating Officer at ServiceCore. In this role, Boord oversees the finance, accounting, customer experience, and payments functions at ServiceCore. ServiceCore creates intuitive QuickBooks-compatible software that helps companies in the liquid waste industry and roll-off rental companies easily manage their schedules, routes, customers, and inventory to save time and maximize profit. The company was founded in 2017 and based in Lakewood, Colorado.
Prior to joining ServiceCore, Boord spent 5 years at Traub Capital, a boutique consumer Private Equity fund in NYC. During his time at Traub, he was exposed to start-up and hyper growth companies,sparking his entrepreneurial passion and inevitably leading him to ServiceCore. Prior to Traub Capital, Boord spent 3 years doing Investment Banking, first at Suntrust and then at Barclays. Boord received his undergraduate degree in finance and accounting from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University.
12. Tim Chilson
Chief Sales Officer, Datassential
Tim Chilson is the Chief Sales Officer of Datassential. Datassential is the data insights platform guiding the biggest names in food and beverage on trends, innovation, and sales intelligence. Through a suite of software and research solutions, customers rely on Datassential to know what's next for the industry and how to stay ahead of it. Chilson has more than 30 years of experience in the food and beverage industry. He has been with Datassential since February 2020, most recently as Senior Vice President of Sales & Success, where he led the sales team to record company growth.
Prior to Datassential, Chilson was a Global Sales Manager at PROS and an Executive Vice President at AFS Technologies, a now unit of Telus. He has also worked closely for more than 20 years with two major food and beverage industry organizations, IFMA (International Foodservice Manufacturers Association) and IFDA (International Foodservice Distributor Association) to help members utilize technology to optimize their performance. Chilson graduated from Boise State University with an undergraduate degree in management information systems.
13. Cleber Viana
Chief Technology Officer, ngena
Cleber Viana is the Chief Technology Officer of ngena. ngena has created the most advanced global service orchestration platform in the market, providing secure networking and digitization managed services globally, focusing on simplifying the partner and customer experience in defining, delivering, and operating integrated connectivity and business solutions with accelerated time to revenue.
Viana is an experienced and results-driven Senior Executive with 20 years experience and substantial success in directing the delivery of large-scale enterprise-wide solutions primarily in Telecommunications, Finance and Public Sector environments. Viana demonstrates comprehensive experience in sales, service management, IT Strategy, Digital solutions, CRM, IT Operations, Infrastructure, and Telecommunications and applies clear direction and strong technical and commercial acumen in translating strategy into the delivery of solutions, integrating strong leadership and sound management capabilities.
Previously, Viana was a managing director of cloud and digital transformation at Accenture, and before that, a system engineer at RISCManagement. Earlier in his career, he worked with Banco Boavista as a new technologies project coordinator. Viana earned an MBA in marketing from Fundação Getulio Vargas and an undergraduate degree in computer science from UVA.
14. James Trevey
Chief Technology Officer, Forge Nano
James Trevey is the Chief Technology Officer of Forge Nano, a company changing the way that materials are made., Nanouses its proprietary Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) technology to allow manufacturers to engineer their materials, down to the individual atom, in a way that is scalable and cost saving.
Trevey oversees operations and leads technology development for Nano. And his degrees in Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, and Engineering Physics give him the unique ability to “connect the dots” with respect to technological developments. He is an expert in electrochemistry, focusing in solid-state batteries, and has authored numerous publications and patents. His leadership and organizational management abilities have enabled Forge Nano to grow rapidly and effectively since beginning as a co-founder in 2013.
Trevey graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a PhD in materials science, a master’s in mechanical engineering and an undergraduate degree in engineering physics.
15. Jerry Schloffman
Chief Commercial Officer, Valencia
Jerry Schloffman is the Chief Commercial Officer of Valencia. Valencia Technologies is a neuromodulation company transforming the standard of care for bladder dysfunction. The coin-sized electroceutical,“eCoin®”, is a radically small neurostimulator that automatically provides safe and effective treatment for Urge Urinary Incontinence.
Schloffman has 24 years of corporate experience in implantable medical devices. Previously, he was a President of Sycle, a leading SAAS practice management solution for audiologist and hearing aid retailers, and before that, he was a senior director of consumer sales at Cochlear. Earlier in his career, he worked with the University of Miami as a faculty instructor and clinical audiologist. Schloffman graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with an MA in audiology and an undergraduate in communication disorders.
16. Havish Vinnakota
Senior Vice President of Technology, Inspirato
Havish Vinnakota is currently a Senior Vice President of Technology at Inspirato and is responsible for driving the company's digital transformation and technological innovation in the luxury travel industry. Inspirato is revolutionizing how discerning travelers experience high-end vacations, leveraging cutting-edge technology to make luxury travel more memorable and personalized.
With over two decades of experience across diverse industries, Havish excels in scaling high-performance teams and architecting enterprise-grade, cloud-native solutions that set new market standards. He has a strong track record of leading complex product portfolios, scaling global engineering teams, and delivering business value at scale for companies that have redefined multi-billion dollar markets. His leadership philosophy centers on building winning teams with strong, people-focused cultures. Havish is passionate about fostering innovation, driving operational excellence, and aligning technological advancements with business outcomes.
Before joining Inspirato, Havish held key leadership roles at Liqid, Automox, SolidFire (acquired by NetApp), and Hewlett Packard consistently driving significant growth and technological advancements. He is currently pursuing a CTO Executive Program at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and holds a Master's degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
17. Bennet Crosby
Vice President of Business Development and FP&A, Care Options for Kids
Bennet Crosby began his professional career 6 years ago. Today, he is the Vice President of Business Development and FP&A at Care Options for Kids. Care Options for Kids is a hospital and healthcare company that offers occupational, physical, and speech therapy. COFK began operating in Dallas in 1999 and was one of the earliest providers of pediatric home health therapy in Texas.
COFK provides services for children who exhibit moderate to severe developmental delays and disorders. Services include medical grade speech, physical and occupational therapies, as prescribed by the child’s primary care physician. At Care Options for Kids, they are looking to disrupt pediatric home healthcare with a focus on nursing and therapy services. They focus on providing all of the tools and resources to their clinical team so they can focus on what they do best, which is to provide exceptional care for the families they serve. Their team is actively looking to grow to meet the immense need for quality pediatric healthcare services, having expanded from a single service line and state to 7 services across 13 states and 5,000+ families since 2021.
Crosby first got his start in 2018 as an investment banking associate at William Blair, his most recent position prior to joining Care Options for Kids. Crosby graduated from Indiana University - Kelley School of Business with an undergraduate degree in finance.
18. Joshua Cummings
Executive Vice President, Technology, Paladin
Joshua Cummings is the Executive Vice President of Technology at Paladin, one of the largest complex systems integrators in North America. As a leader in the design, deployment, optimization, management, and maintenance of communication and digital networks, Paladin excels in meeting the needs of clients on an international scale, while providing local support. Cummings has over 15 years of security technology experience, with expertise rooted in solutions, core, infrastructure and technical integration/applications.
At VTI he leads a national organization of Security Design Engineers who serve to ensure client investments function according to performance expectation. Additionally, Cummings serves over 240 colleagues with training programs for a full suite of manufacturer technologies, is called upon by the sales organization to ensure technical acumen is applied towards major client projects, and is the bridge between the logical, cyber, and physical arena at VTI.
Cummings is an Adjunct Professor at the SecureSet Cyber Academy – the country’s first cyber university – shares his first-hand expertise with industry panels like Cloud+. Cummings sits on PSA’s Cyber Security Committee, and he recently received both his Certified Information Systems Security Professional and Physical Security Professional certifications as well. Cummings graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver with an undergraduate degree in psychology.
19. Kim Moller
Senior Vice President of Sales, MiMedx
Kim Moller joined MIMEDX in August 2020 and brings significant sales leadership experience, clinical knowledge and understanding of the Advanced Wound Care marketplace to her role as Senior Vice President of Sales. MIMEDX is a pioneer and leader focused on helping humans heal. With more than a decade of helping clinicians manage chronic and other hard-to-heal wounds, MIMEDX is dedicated to providing a leading portfolio of products for applications in the wound care, burn, and surgical sectors of healthcare.
Moller carries more than 25 years of experience in sales roles and has managed national sales teams and executed on strategic growth initiatives for leading healthcare companies, including 3M and its subsidiaries Acelity and KCI. Moller holds a BS in Nursing (BSN) from the University of Phoenix and an MBA from Colorado Christian University.
20. Nancy Schoemann
Senior Vice President of Operations, Optera
Nancy Schoemann is the Senior Vice President of Operations at Optera, the ESG software created for bold climate action. Built on decades of sustainability expertise, Optera helps corporations worldwide reduce their environmental impact by providing credible carbon accounting for Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, actionable insights and forecasts, and tools to collaborate with supply chain and investment partners.
At Optera, Schoemann oversees human resources, manages business operations, and has worked across sectors to help purpose driven organizations scale and increase their impact. Prior to Optera, Schoemann worked with Natural Habitats and the Obama administration. Schoemann earned an MBA from the University of Colorado Boulder and an undergraduate degree in child development from Vanderbilt University.
21. Michael Fidler
Senior Vice President of Sales, One
Michael Fidler began his professional career 32 years ago. Today, he is the Senior Vice President of Sales for One Inc., a unified and frictionless payment network, modernizing the insurance industry. Focusing exclusively on the insurance industry, One Inc. helps 260+ carriers transform their operations by reducing costs, increasing security, and optimizing customer experience.
Fidler is an extraordinary business development leader, excelling in competitive engagement through solution selling, thought leadership, and sales management expertise. He also has extensive fintech payments and SaaS healthcare integration technology experience.
Fidler first got his start in 1992 as a manager of ISO/MSP and agent bank recruiting and relationship management at U.S. Bank. From there, he went on to First Data Corporation, before eventually rising to VP and head of partner business development in North America at U.S. Bank, his most recent position prior to joining One. Fidler graduated from Iowa State University with an undergraduate degree in accounting and finance.
22. Jeremy McNamara
Senior Vice President of Sales, Infiniti HR
Jeremy McNamara, Senior Vice President of Sales for INFINITI HR, a leading Professional Employer Organization (PEO), brings more than 22 years of experience to the role. With a proven track record and reputation of developing and implementing effective client HR solutions, McNamara is leading national expansion initiatives for INFINITI HR from the company’s new Denver office and reports to CEO Scott Smrkovski.
The INFINITI HR PEO platform provides full regulatory compliance management, on-demand HR guidance, real-time payroll/tax filing, POS integration, and access into industry-leading True-Group Master Policies for Workers’ Compensation, Employment Practices Liability Insurance, and other operational business coverages.
McNamara’s previous experience and leadership roles include co-founder of Dallas-based TrueHR, Regional Vice President of Sales at SOI (Strategic Outsourcing Inc.), and Regional Vice President of Sales at Payroll Solutions. McNamara is also a small business entrepreneur, having served as co-founder, owner, and manager of The Meatball Kitchen from 2017 to 2019 and owner of VIIfifty34 since 2016. McNamara graduated from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas with an undergraduate degree in communications and public relations.
23. Amanda Boenisch
Vice President of Commercial Operations, Eptura
Amanda Boenisch is the Vice President of Commercial Operations at Eptura, a global worktech company that provides software solutions for people, workplaces and assets, enabling everyone to reach their full potential. With 16.3 million users across 115 countries, they are trusted by over 16,000 of the world’s leading companies to realize a better future at work.
Boenisch has robust experience in SaaS and private equity and excels in steering commercial operations and revenue enablement toward growth and efficiency. Her approach is about translating complex challenges into actionable strategies, ensuring their company not only meets but exceeds its goals.
Before joining Eptura, Boenisch was a VP of operations at Keet Health, and before that, a head of sales enablement at Clinicient. Earlier in her career she worked with Cbeyond as a team lead and senior sales executive. Boenisch graduated from the University of Denver with a master’s in professional studies and from the Metropolitan State University of Denver with an undergraduate degree in chemistry and biology.
24. Cody Cook
Vice President of Technology and Partnerships, ProofID
Cody Cook is the Vice President of Technology and Partnerships at ProofID, a global identity security partner, integrator and service provider. As a proven identity specialist, ProofID is committed to delivering pain-free, secure and seamless digital user experiences, however complex the project. ProofID is trusted by tier-1 enterprises and mid-market businesses around the world to design, deliver and manage IAM and IGA services.
Cook is an industry expert on the design and implementation of enterprise-grade IAM deployments across a variety of industries and brings 19 years of experience to the role. As a founding member of the ProofID US team, Cook is a thought leader in cloud identity security and assists in defining the strategic vision for the company. He oversees technical partnerships and ensures that the company stays abreast of IAM and complimentary technologies.
Previously, Cook was a director of security solutions at PEGRight, and before that, a security architect at Seros Inc. Earlier in her career, she worked with Williams Communications as a project engineer. Cook earned a master’s in engineering management from the University of Colorado Boulder and an undergraduate degree in computer engineering from Oral Roberts University.
25. Sean Mueller
Vice President of Business Development and Solutions, Symbia Logistics
After spending more than 20 years in the logistics industry, Sean Mueller could help a new client perfect its supply chain with a blindfold on. As Symbia’s Vice President of Business Development, Mueller takes great pride in his ability to bring innovation and winning supply chain solutions to businesses of all shapes and sizes. His colleagues and clients marvel at his ability to deliver top quality results, while maintaining a positive attitude, even in the face of adversity.
As a privately held family business with over 150 years of combined experience, the Symbia Logistics team has provided facility-based supply chain support to a variety of industries including aerospace, chemical, dry grocery, health and beauty, industrial goods, kitting, and business-to-consumer fulfillment services.
Previously, Mueller was a co-founder at Detroit Fulfillment Initiative, and before that, a director of customer solutions at Evans Distribution Systems. Earlier in his career he worked with Metropolitan State College of Denver as a leadership development facilitator. Mueller earned a master’s in supply chain management from Michigan State University - Eli Broad College of Business and an undergraduate degree in psychology and digital media from Metropolitan State University of Denver.