Leadership.

Tiago Paiva is Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Talkdesk. Over the past ten years, he scaled Talkdesk from 10 employees to more than 1,500 and crossed major industry milestones, including reaching 100 million calls. Paiva received a Master of Science in Computer and Electrical Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico.

Tony Barbone is responsible for leading all Talkdesk global sales, channel, sales development representatives, solution engineering, and customer experience (CX) strategy teams. With more than 20 years of experience in enterprise software sales, Barbone was previously Senior Vice President of Talkdesk Global Sales, responsible for the execution of the company’s direct and indirect sales strategy teams. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, he studied finance and marketing at the University of British Columbia and is a Chartered Professional Accountant.

As International Chief Operating Officer (COO), Marco Costa is responsible for oversight and operations for all aspects of Talkdesk’s global expansion. Costa’s tenure with Talkdesk, most recently as General Manager of Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), has been instrumental in establishing the company as an innovation powerhouse in the region. He holds a Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of Coimbra and a Global Executive MBA from INSEAD.

Raoul Felix was Talkdesk’s first hire and currently serves as the company’s Chief Technology Officer. His main objective is to empower engineering teams to build solutions that emphasize quality, simplicity, and reliability. Felix holds a Master of Science in Distributed Systems and Software Engineering from the Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon.

Chad Gaydos has more than 20 years of software experience, most recently in key customer-facing executive roles at Skillsoft as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO), and as SAP’s COO of Regulated Industries. Gaydos has served customers globally in both the private and public sectors across 15 different industries. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Kennesaw State University.

Kathie Johnson has more than 20 years of international marketing experience, most recently in executive marketing positions at Salesforce, Demandware, and Dassault Systemes. Johnson’s work has been recognized through both domestic and international awards, including the European Excellence Award, the Communicator Award, IMA Impact Award, and Telly Award. She received a Master of Business Administration in International Business and Marketing from Babson College, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Michigan.

Charanya (CK) Kannan has vast experience bringing innovative products to market for enterprise customers. Prior to Talkdesk, Kannan held product leadership and management positions in Model N, Oracle Corporation, and AT&T. As Chief Product Officer, Kannan oversees product strategy, product management, product design, product partnerships, engineering, technology, operations, and marketplace.

Kieran King has more than 25 years of B2B enterprise software experience and extensive expertise in helping organizations unlock value and transform their businesses. As Chief Customer Officer (CCO), she is responsible for Talkdesk’s global customer strategy and services. King’s deep understanding of and passion for customer success have further elevated Talkdesk’s global reputation as the five-star standard for white-glove customer service. She holds a degree in marketing communications from the University of Delaware.

David Middler is Talkdesk’s first Chief Legal Officer (CLO), bringing more than 20 years of corporate legal experience within the software technology space to the company. Before joining Talkdesk, Middler spent 15 years at cloud software provider Ariba, most recently as executive vice president and general counsel. Middler helped build the legal and governance team at Ariba from startup through Initial Public Offering (IPO) and eventually led its sale to SAP. Most recently, Middler served as general counsel and CLO for more than six years at Cloudera, also steering the company from startup to IPO and continued growth as a public company.

As the first U.S. employee at Talkdesk, Shauna Geraghty helped scale Talkdesk’s marketing team, infrastructure, and activities from the ground up. In 2016, she was tapped to build Talkdesk’s talent acquisition function and since then has helped scale Talkdesk to more than 1,500 employees worldwide. Geraghty has a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and has applied foundational knowledge from the field of psychology to help propel Talkdesk along its hyper-growth trajectory.

Amy Shultz has more than 20 years of experience in revenue and corporate strategy, most recently serving in executive leadership roles with SAP. In her position with Talkdesk, Schultz is responsible for evolving the company’s revenue operations and sales enablement processes, tools, and workflows, and driving best practices. She studied business administration and management at West Virginia University.