Skip navigation United States: Change Communities Login Contact Us Products Solutions Services & Support Partners Company How to Buy Home Company News@NetApp Executive Biographies and Photos +1 877 263 8277 Contact Sales News@NetApp Press Releases Press Coverage Awards Image Gallery Executive Bios E-mail twitter facebook linkedin google-plus Executive Staff Tom Georgens President and Chief Executive Officer JPEG (242.2 KB) JPEG (245.8 KB) JPEG (264.6 KB) JPEG (248.1 KB) JPEG (320.4 KB) JPEG (296.9 KB) Tom Georgens is president and chief executive officer and a member of the Board of Directors of NetApp. Previously, Tom served as president and chief operating officer responsible for all product operations and field operations worldwide from February 2008 to August 2009. Tom joined NetApp in October 2005 as executive vice president and general manager of Enterprise Storage Systems and was named executive vice president of Product Operations, serving in that role from January 2007 to February 2008. Before joining NetApp, Tom spent nine years at Engenio, a subsidiary of LSI Logic, the last two years as CEO. He also served in various other positions, including president of LSI Logic Storage Systems and executive vice president of LSI Logic. At Engenio, he built the business into a successful OEM storage provider for companies such as IBM, NCR, StorageTek, Silicon Graphics, and Sun Microsystems. Prior to Engenio, Tom spent 11 years at EMC in a variety of engineering and marketing positions. Tom holds a bachelor of science degree and a master of engineering degree in computer and systems engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as well as a master of business administration degree from Babson College. Mark Jon Bluth Senior Vice President, Operations JPEG (3.9 MB) Mark Jon Bluth joined NetApp in 1997 as director of Manufacturing. He was promoted to vice president of Manufacturing Operations in August 1999 and to senior vice president of Operations in April 2001. He is responsible for providing NetApp with a competitive operations capability with respect to installed quality, delivery performance, and total cost. He has led the expansion of NetApp's global operations presence and the evolution of the operations model. Prior to joining NetApp, Mark served as director of New Product Introduction, Manufacturing Engineering, Test Engineering, and Operations for Synoptics/Bay Networks and was senior Manufacturing Engineering manager for MIPS/Silicon Graphics. He also had a 13-year career at Hewlett-Packard Company in a variety of engineering, marketing, and manufacturing management roles. He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and a BSEE from the University of the Pacific. Rich Clifton Executive Vice President, Customer Success Operations JPEG (1.7 MB) Rich Clifton leads the team focused on NetApp’s corporate value of enabling customer success. His team is responsible for customer listening, corporate quality, services across the lifecycle, and clustered Data ONTAP® optimization—all of which increase business value and architectural transformation for our customers. A 14-year NetApp veteran, Rich most recently led the Solutions and Integration Solutions Group in Product Operations, where he focused on technical partnerships, joint development, and product creation. Rich has a long history of leading new business initiatives for NetApp. Under his leadership, NetApp launched business units targeting enterprise applications, SAN and iSCSI, and storage for virtualized servers. He has also led a number of major functional organizations, including all primary storage protocols, technology enablement for technical field teams, and solutions. Prior to joining NetApp, Rich was vice president Database and Application Competence at Data General, where he was named a Data General fellow. Previously he was director of Silicon Valley Development at Control Data, where he also served in a variety of engineering and management-level positions. Rich has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and business administration from Indiana University. Matthew Fawcett Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary JPEG (1.0 MB) Matthew Fawcett serves as senior vice president, general counsel, and secretary for NetApp. Matthew leads the worldwide legal team and reports to Tom Georgens, president and CEO of NetApp. In his role, Matthew is responsible for all legal affairs worldwide, including corporate governance and securities law compliance, intellectual property matters, contracts, and mergers and acquisitions. Throughout his career, Matthew has advised several leading technology companies on a variety of legal issues, including mergers and acquisitions, patent programs, litigation, and intellectual property. Before joining NetApp, he spent 11 years as senior vice president and general counsel of JDS Uniphase Corporation, where he built a worldwide legal organization, managed dozens of acquisitions and strategic transactions, and oversaw a patent program with thousands of issued and pending patents. Prior to working at JDS Uniphase, Matthew was corporate counsel at Fujitsu America, and before then he held positions at two large international law firms. David Hitz Executive Vice President and Founder JPEG (1.9 MB) JPEG (1.8 MB) JPEG (1.9 MB) JPEG (1.7 MB) JPEG (1.5 MB) As executive vice president, David Hitz is responsible for the future strategy and direction of NetApp. Dave Hitz and James Lau founded NetApp in 1992 with a desire to simplify storage the way Cisco simplified networking. Dave and James believed that general-purpose computing systems were too complex, so they built dedicated devices called appliances. These appliances were designed to handle one thing well: storage. Prior to 1992, Dave worked as a senior engineer at Auspex Corporation, an enterprise storage solutions provider, where he was responsible for file systems and microkernel design. He also held engineering positions at MIPS Computer, focusing on file system and I/O subsystem design for the System V kernel development effort. Before his career in the computer industry, Dave worked as a cowboy, getting valuable management experience by herding, branding, and castrating cattle. Dave documented these and other formative business experiences in his autobiography, "How To Castrate A Bull, Unexpected Lessons on Risk, Growth, and Success in Business." Dave holds a bachelor's degree in computer science and electrical engineering from Princeton University. Jay Kidd Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer JPEG (37.2 KB) Jay Kidd leads the Chief Technology Office at NetApp with responsibility for overall technology direction, architecture, advanced development, technology evangelism and technology standards. He is also a member of the executive staff. Jay has extensive cross-functional experience in storage, networking, software, and high-performance systems. Before holding this role, Jay was a senior vice president in NetApp product operations with responsibility for engineering of NAS, SAN, data protection, and management products. He previously held the role of chief marketing officer at NetApp and also ran the Emerging Products Group. Prior to joining NetApp, he held the positions of chief technology officer and vice president of Product Management at Brocade, where he was vital to developing and implementing the Brocade product road map, including infrastructure and strategic evangelism. Before joining Brocade, Jay was vice president of Marketing for Omneon Video Networks, Inc., a supplier of storage and networking equipment for video broadcasters; and Multigen, a real-time 3D simulation software company. Prior to working at Multigen, Jay spent seven years at Silicon Graphics (SGI), where he directed product management and marketing efforts for the graphics workstations, servers, and SGI Web systems business. He spent ten years at Hewlett Packard, where he held key engineering and product management positions in the Information Networks Group. Jay holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University. He is married with three children and lives in California. Jonathan Kissane Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer JPEG (353.3 KB) Jonathan Kissane serves as the Chief Strategy Officer at NetApp, and reports to Tom Georgens, president and CEO of NetApp. In this role Jon oversees Corporate Strategy and Corporate Development and is focused on driving the company-wide strategic planning process and identifying opportunities for technology collaboration and targeted strategic relationships. Most recently prior to NetApp, Jon was at CA Technologies, where he was responsible for identifying opportunities to improve the company's competitive position and portfolio of IT management solutions. He led the mergers and acquisitions process across CA businesses, and achieved over $1B in successful transactions. Jon started his career as a design and development engineer, and later led business development at an early-stage mobile software startup that was eventually acquired by SAP. He also worked at The Boston Consulting Group, and in early-stage venture investing at Centennial Ventures, where the portfolio included Compellent Technologies (acquired by Dell), Inflow (acquired by Sungard), and Telephia (acquired by Nielsen). Jon received his MBA from INSEAD based on studies in Singapore and France, and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Harvard Law School. He holds dual undergraduate degrees in history and engineering from Stanford University. He is married with four children and lives in California. George Kurian Executive Vice President, Product Operations JPEG (1.8 MB) George Kurian is the Executive Vice President for Product Operations at NetApp. He is responsible for overseeing the strategy and development of NetApp’s Product and Solutions portfolio. Kurian was previously Senior Vice President of the Data ONTAP group at NetApp since December 2011. In this role, he oversaw the product roadmap and engineering execution of the Data ONTAP Operating System, the world’s most widely deployed storage operating system, and the associated On Command Storage Management product portfolio. He was previously Senior Vice President of the Storage Solutions Group at NetApp where he oversaw the NetApp solutions portfolio and joint partner technology integration roadmaps. He joined NetApp in April 2011. Prior to joining NetApp, Kurian was Vice President and General Manager of the Application Networking and Switching Technology Group at Cisco Systems. In this role, he was responsible for Cisco products for the Modular Campus LAN Switching and WAN Application Delivery markets. He also led Cisco’s successful development of products and solutions to enable Ethernet-based Converged Networks for Video, Voice and Data. Prior to Cisco, Kurian was the Vice President for Product Management and Strategy at Akamai Technologies, a Management Consultant with McKinsey and Company and led Software Engineering and Product Management teams at Oracle Corporation. Kurian holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degree from Princeton University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University. James Lau Executive Vice President and Founder JPEG (81.1 KB) James Lau cofounded NetApp with Dave Hitz in 1992 and was vice president of Engineering until 1995. He was chief technology officer from 1995 to 2000. James established the Chief Strategy Office in 2000 and was chief strategy officer until 2010. He now collaborates with the Chief Strategy Office on NetApp’s product innovation and business strategies with a focus on creating opportunities to fuel future growth. Prior to starting NetApp, James served as director of Software Development at Auspex Corporation, a file server manufacturer, where he was instrumental in defining product requirements and the architecture of that company's high-performance NFS file servers. Prior to working at Auspex, he was group manager of PC products at Bridge Communications, now known as 3Com. James received a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master's degree in Computer Engineering from Stanford University. Gwen McDonald Executive Vice President, Human Resources JPEG (34.1 KB) Gwen McDonald is the executive vice president of Human Resources at NetApp. She is responsible for creating the company's strategic vision for worldwide staffing, employee relations, training, organizational development, compensation, and benefits. Gwen also works to preserve NetApp's unique cultural values and principles, which have enabled the company to be ranked #1 on FORTUNE magazine's 100 Best Places to Work. Gwen has extensive experience in Human Resources. Prior to joining NetApp, she worked at 3Com Corporation for 14 years, serving in a variety of positions, such as senior vice president of Corporate Services, vice president of Worldwide Product and Supply Operations, and director of Human Resources for the Business Connectivity Company. Gwen also was the Human Resources manager for LSI Logic's Santa Clara operations and served at Fairchild Semiconductor for 12 years in various Human Resources positions, including as the senior Human Resources manager for the Linear division. Gwen holds a bachelor of science degree in human resources and organizational behavior from the University of San Francisco. She currently is on the board of directors for the California Strategic Human Resource Partnership, a collaborative network designed to leverage learning relationships between executives of leading California companies and to maximize their information exchange. Tom Mendoza Vice Chairman JPEG (1.3 MB) JPEG (1.3 MB) Tom joined NetApp in 1994 and was responsible for sales until becoming president in 2000. In 2009 he became vice chairman. Tom has given talks on the power of corporate culture and leadership all over the world to people in such diverse organizations as the U.S. Marine Corps, West Point, CIO forums, Oracle's Leaders Circle, and Stanford University. In 2009 he was the corecipient with NetApp Chairman Dan Warmenhoven of the Morgan Stanley Leadership Award for Global Commerce. Tom holds a BA degree from the University of Notre Dame and is an alumnus of Stanford University's Executive Business Program. In September 2000 Notre Dame renamed its business school the Mendoza College of Business after an endowment made by Tom and Kathy Mendoza. Nick Noviello Executive Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer JPEG (218.0 KB) JPEG (248.9 KB) Nick Noviello is executive vice president, Finance and Chief Financial Officer. In this role, he oversees the company’s finance, customer leasing, workplace resources, and investor relations functions. In his previous role as senior vice president, Finance and Global Controller at NetApp, he was actively engaged in decisions around the company’s business model, financial strategy, capital allocation, and mergers and acquisitions. He also led NetApp’s global finance and accounting operations, including financial planning and analysis, tax, leasing, corporate accounting, and financial governance. Nick joined the company in 2008 as vice president, Finance and Corporate Controller. Prior to joining NetApp, Nick spent eight years at Honeywell International, where he was CFO of two global multi-billion dollar business units, ran investor relations, and was a leader on the corporate mergers and acquisitions team. Prior to Honeywell, Nick led mergers and acquisitions for Monarch Dental Corporation, and before that spent seven years at the accounting firm of PriceWaterhouse Coopers in mergers and acquisitions transaction services, tax, and audit. Julie Parrish Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer JPEG (548.5 KB) JPEG (662.6 KB) Julie Parrish is the senior vice president and chief marketing officer (CMO) at NetApp. In her role as CMO she is responsible for driving the company’s global marketing strategy to create preference, awareness, and demand of the NetApp brand. She leads the NetApp’s Global Marketing, Corporate Communications, and Product and Solutions Marketing groups. Before becoming CMO, Julie was senior vice president of Global Partner Sales at NetApp from 2008 – 2012, responsible for shaping the strategic vision and execution of the worldwide channel program. Her responsibilities included global channel sales revenue, overall go-to-market channel strategy, developing and leading channel programs worldwide, and the global NetApp Partner Program. Under her leadership, NetApp’s channel program grew to 82% of the company’s total business. Julie is a 27 year veteran of the IT industry. Prior to NetApp, she was vice president of the global channel office at Symantec. In this role she developed and executed Symantec’s global channel strategy, led the worldwide partner organization, and delivered best-in-class enablement programs to support Symantec’s global partner ecosystem. She has also held other senior leadership roles in marketing and sales at 3Com, Veritas, and Nokia. Julie has served as a guest lecturer for both Stanford and UC-Berkeley MBA and Executive Leadership programs to help teach channel mechanics to business leaders around the world. Julie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Decision Information Science from Santa Clara University. Rob Salmon Executive Vice President, Worldwide Field Operations JPEG (332.2 KB) JPEG (320.8 KB) JPEG (436.6 KB) Rob Salmon is the executive vice president of worldwide Field Operations for NetApp. Rob is responsible for the strategy and execution of all sales and services operations, including our entire ecosystem of go-to-market channel and alliance partners. Rob joined NetApp in 1994 as one of the first members of the sales organization. Since 2004 he has led global field operations. Prior to joining NetApp, Rob held various sales positions at Sun Microsystems and Data General Corporation. He holds a bachelor of science degree in Computer Science from California State University, Chico. Outside of NetApp Rob enjoys supporting his community and focusing on programs that promote education and wellness. Cynthia Stoddard Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer JPEG (469.0 KB) JPEG (397.9 KB) JPEG (544.7 KB) Cynthia Stoddard is the senior vice president and chief information officer (CIO) at NetApp. In her role as CIO, she is responsible for providing a long-term technology vision that supports and is aligned with the company’s strategies and goals, business plans, operating requirements, and overall efficiencies. She provides leadership to the Global IT organization to enable delivery of worldwide business solutions and infrastructure that support the company's growth. Additionally, she acts as the primary advocate of NetApp to external markets to promote further awareness of the NetApp on NetApp initiative. Cynthia has over 25 years of business experience and IT expertise leading large global organizations in supply chain, retail, and technology companies. Before joining NetApp, in 2010, she was group vice president, Information Technology, at Safeway Inc. Other positions she has held include group CIO for NOL Group, the parent of APL Ltd., a global transportation and logistics company; as well as executive and technical IT roles in both U.S. and global companies. While she was CIO at NOL Group, the organization was named in the Top 100 of Information Week’s Top 500 innovative users of technology for four successive years Cynthia holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Western New England University, from which she graduated cum laude; and an MBA from Marylhurst University. Dan Warmenhoven Executive Chairman JPEG (366.8 KB) Dan Warmenhoven is executive chairman of the Board of Directors NetApp. In his executive role, Dan is responsible for building and expanding NetApp’s relationships with key strategic partners, including major system integrators, service providers and technology partners, and is a member of NetApp’s strategic planning and development team. Previously, Dan served as chief executive officer of NetApp from 2005 to 2009 and president and CEO from 1994 to 2005. Under Dan ‘s leadership, NetApp grew to become a multibillion-dollar company and a recognized market leader in networked storage, a concept the company pioneered. Dan led the company's initial public offering in November 1995. NetApp is consistently listed in the top 20 of FORTUNE magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work for in America. NetApp is also included in FORTUNE magazine's "World's Most Admired Companies" and "America's Largest Corporations" lists as well as in Forbes magazine's "400 Best Big Companies in America" list. NetApp is included in both the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ 100 indexes. Dan is a director of Bechtel Group, Inc. and Aruba Networks, Inc. He is also vice chairman of the board of the Tech Museum of Innovation as well as a trustee of Bellarmine College Preparatory, both in San Jose, California. In August 2009, Dan received the Morgan Stanley Leadership Award for Global Commerce In June 2007, Dan received an honorary degree from Santa Clara University for his dedication to global business and technology leadership and in 2006 was named one of the "50 Most Powerful People in Networking" by Network World. In 2004, he won the prestigious "National Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year" award, and in 2001 BusinessWeek named Dan one of its "Top 25 Managers" for the year. Previously, Dan served as chairman, president, and CEO of Network Equipment Technologies (N.E.T.), a telecommunications manufacturer. He is a veteran of Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP), where he held senior management positions, including general manager of the Information Networks group. Prior to working at HP, Dan was employed for 13 years at IBM Corporation. Dan holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering, with honors, from Princeton University. 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