Oren Michels, CEO
Oren Michels brings more than 15 years of experience to his job as CEO of Mashery. Michels has a proven track record with experience across multiple industries. Previously, Michels was vice president of business development at Feedster, where he negotiated partnerships with AOL, Real Networks and Mitsui, and oversaw the company's activities in China. Prior to Feedster, Michels was president of Colt HR, a leading provider of outsourced benefits administration software and services to the mid market. He also co-founded WiFinder, an international provider of directory services for wi-fi public access hotspots; served as president of winebid.com, where he managed the company's growth and helped establish it as a leading online wine auction market; served as COO of two manufacturing companies; and as CEO of The Groundlings, an entertainment production company in Hollywood.
Michels began his career as a software designer for Hughes Aircraft and has been a consultant to companies in the management, financial, marketing and information technology industries. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from MIT and an MBA in finance and entrepreneurial studies from UCLA's Anderson School.
Ajay K. Arora, Vice President of Products and Services
Ajay Arora is Vice President of Products and Services. Prior to Mashery, Ajay served as Vice President of Products and Solutions at newScale, Inc. where he was responsible for driving new products and strategy, including spearheading newScale's SaaS and Open Source initiatives. Ajay's core expertise is in software product management, marketing and strategy with a heavy focus on execution and operations.
Prior to joining newScale, Ajay led Product Management and Marketing for Centrata (Lontra) and was a key architect of Centrata's Service Delivery Management Suite. Prior to Centrata, Ajay led Product Management at Euclid (Metrikus). Ajay has also held key product management, software engineering and consulting roles at Corio (acquired by IBM), Oracle and Lockheed Martin. Ajay holds a Masters Degree in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Laura Merling, Vice President, Sales & Marketing
Laura Merling, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, came to Mashery from Krugle, where she was Vice President, Marketing. Previously, Laura spent four years as the CEO of SDForum, a non-profit developer community.
Prior to SDForum, Laura was Vice President, Marketing and Services, at Intershop Inc., a leading e-commerce platform provider. While at Intershop, she was instrumental in developing the company's product and marketing strategy. Prior to joining Intershop, Laura held managerial positions in product marketing at a variety of companies, including two Silicon Valley startups and Sybase, Inc. Laura also brings experience from corporate IT including Pepsi Cola North America and Ford Motor Company. Laura's experience living and working overseas has helped her develop insight into the business practices and working styles within the global market.
Clay Loveless, Chief Architect
Clay Loveless is alpha geek and co-founder of Mashery, Inc. Prior to Mashery, Loveless was senior software engineer for Feedster, where he played a key role in developing applications and API for Feedster's partners.
Previously, Loveless was vice president of technology for Eruptor Entertainment, a twenty-something focused entertainment production company in Los Angeles; led Killersoft, an enterprise PHP-focused consulting firm; developed HTML for America Online; and has written numerous articles on PHP development. Clay's most recent contributions include four chapters in O'Reilly's PHP Cookbook, 2nd Edition (2006).
Loveless received his BA from New York University's Gallatin Division and has been programming online applications since 1995.
Kirsten Spoljaric, Co-Founder
As co-founder and director of human resources for Mashery, Kirsten Spoljaric brings strong operational experience and a proven track record of success in staffing organizations. Before joining Mashery, Spoljaric was director of human resources for Feedster where she created a human resources department and implemented an aggressive hiring plan that tripled the staff size within the first quarter. Previously, Spoljaric was a human resources manager for Spear Technologies where she managed staffing plans for both the U.S. and the U.K.
Spoljaric holds a Bachelor of Science in psychology with a minor in business administration from the University of Oregon. She also holds a PHR (Professional in Human Resources) credential through the HRCI.