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Executive Management
- Udo Eberlein Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
- Jürgen Kurz Chief Operating Officer (COO)
- Jeffrey Wahba Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Senior Management
- Kris Barton (Executive Vice President of Global Products)
- Jürgen Dumont (Senior Vice President, Finance)
- John Tafoya (Senior Vice President, Business Development)
- Hyder Rabbani (Senior Vice President, Worldwide OEM Sales)
- Hiroi Nishimatsu (General Manager Nero APAC, Global Operations Projects)
- Richard Carriere (Senior Vice President, Global Channel Sales and President, Nero Inc.)
- Chris Chen (General Manager, China)
- Narine Galstian (Senior Vice President, Marketing)
- Simone Hoefer (General Manager of Technology)
- Daniel Benz (Vice President, Sales, EMEA)
Executive management
Udo Eberlein, CEO and chairman of the company’s board of directors, has transformed the Nero brand by building on its reputation as a high-grade CD and DVD burning software company, to become one of the industry’s premier digital multimedia solution providers. His proven track record at Nero, combined with his unique global perspective will be instrumental in ushering in the next phase of the company’s growth.
Prior to being appointed CEO, Eberlein served as both president for Nero Inc. and chief operating officer of Nero AG. During his tenure, he has solidified critical OEM agreements and technology partnerships with global brands. He also played a key role in the company’s consistent year-over-year growth and in the establishment of its Liquid Media vision for content creation anytime, anywhere and on any device.
Previously, Eberlein was an executive at ABX Logistics, a leader in global logistics, overseeing product development, sales, and marketing. His international experience spans Europe, Asia and the United States.
Eberlein holds a master’s degree in logistics and business administration from The Academy of Business in Stuttgart, Germany.
Jürgen Kurz, chief operating officer and member of the company’s board of directors, is responsible for managing Nero’s worldwide products, Research & Development, Quality Management, Customer Support and IT organizations. Previously, Kurz served as senior vice president of Business Line PC and Consumer Electronics for Nero. During his tenure he oversaw worldwide product management and development of the company's award-winning digital media suite.
Prior to joining Nero in January 2008, Kurz spent over 11 years at Quark Inc., where he served as senior vice president of Worldwide Products. During his tenure, he oversaw product management, research and development and quality assurance for all of Quark’s market leading desktop and enterprise publishing products, including a staff of 400 in the U.S., Germany and India. He also spent five years in the German publishing industry pioneering print, Web and multimedia products for multiple German publishing companies.
Kurz holds a media design degree from the MediaDesign Hochschule, Munich, and a degree in marketing communications from the IHK, Munich (staatl. gepr. Werbekaufman).
Jeffrey Wahba joined Nero in September 2009 as its CFO and is responsible for the overseeing all aspects of Nero’s financial organization globally. Previously, he served as CFO of HireRight, the leading global provider of SaaS employment background screening solutions. He helped lead HireRight in its successful IPO in 2007 and its eventual sale.
Previously, he served as the CFO of the Henry Group of Companies, a multi-national manufacturer of building products as well as a national distributor of premium wines. Prior to the Henry Group of Companies, Wahba served as Chief Financial Officer of Vault Corporation, a computer software security firm.
Wahba holds bachelors and masters degrees in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management from Stanford University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Southern California.
Senior Management
Kris Barton – Executive Vice President of Global Products
Kris Barton, executive vice president of Global Products, is charged with the global development for all Nero products. Barton oversees product management, engineering, quality assurance and overall product strategy. Most recently, he served as senior vice president of the Business Line Online group for Nero, where he managed worldwide online initiatives for the online community, Web services and general Web development.
Prior to joining Nero in 2006, Barton held senior posts at several industry-leading software and Web companies; including Microsoft, where he managed teams for the worldwide development of the Microsoft's Windows Live, MSN Portals and Microsoft Office products. He also has years of technology industry experience with several companies including Novell and numerous Web start-ups.
Barton holds degrees from Brigham Young University in business administration and marketing communications.
Juergen Dumont – Senior Vice President, Finance
Juergen Dumont, senior vice president of Finance and Controlling for Nero AG, leads the accounting and controlling teams and its foreign subsidiaries in providing quality financial reports to stakeholders and executive management.
Prior to joining Nero in January 2008, Dumont served as senior manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, providing audit and business advisory services to multinational and medium-sized corporations from various industries. He excelled at leading the German Desk Practice at PwC Tokyo from 2001 to 2006, gaining in-depth experience with companies and organizations operating in an international environment.
Dumont holds a master’s degree in business administration from Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg and is qualified as a certified tax consultant and certified public accountant in Germany.
John Tafoya – Senior Vice President, Business Development
John Tafoya, senior vice president of Business Development, is responsible for Nero’s global alliances and driving new business initiatives. Since joining Nero in April 2002, he has established key partnerships positioning the company for growth while establishing new revenue sources. As one of Nero’s early executives, Tafoya led efforts to expand the company’s strategic relationships and implement new business initiatives.
Tafoya has more than 25 years of high-technology consumer software and hardware experience, holding key positions at both start-ups and established global corporations. As vice president of Sales and Marketing at CeQuadrat, he ran the U.S. operations. He was instrumental in establishing CeQuadrat as a leading supplier of CD/DVD recording applications. Under his direction, CeQuadrat was acquired by Adaptec’s Software Product Group (spun off as Roxio). He then joined Adaptec as the director of Business Development. Early in his career, Tafoya also held key positions at leading hardware providers, Philips Electronics and NEC Electronics.
Hyder Rabbani - Senior Vice President, Worldwide OEM Sales
Hyder Rabbani, senior vice president of worldwide OEM sales, will oversee all worldwide OEM sales efforts, including the centralization of the regional OEM sales teams. With more than 20 years of leadership experience in the technology industry, Rabbani has held senior positions responsible for worldwide revenue generation efforts, business development, as well as the day-to-day operations of the company’s field sales team.
Rabbani formerly served as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales at DivX Inc. where he grew the company’s international OEM sales team and delivered partnerships with every major consumer electronics manufacturer in the world.
Rabbani brings extensive OEM sales knowledge to this position, having built and led successful teams at Intel, Musicmatch, Archos, and Brickfish.
Hiroi Nishimatsu – General Manager Nero APAC, Global Operations Projects
Hiroi Nishimatsu, general manager for Nero APAC, oversees global operations projects for Nero. Before joining Nero in 2007, Nishimatsu served as the chief operating officer at Cyber Laser, Inc. and prior to that, he was the vice president and head of the Technology, Solutions and Operations Group at Lucent Technologies Japan.
Nishimatsu received a MBA from Stanford University and a bachelor of engineering in mineral science and technology from Kyoto University in Kyoto, Japan. Before joining Nero in 2007, Nishimatsu served as the chief operating officer at Cyber Laser, Inc. and prior to that, he was the vice president and head of the Technology, Solutions and Operations Group at Lucent Technologies.
Richard Carriere – Senior Vice President, Global Channel Sales and President, Nero Inc.
Richard Carriere, Senior Vice President, Global Channel Sales and President, Nero Inc. has responsibility for worldwide end-user sales and oversees global retail, direct and enterprise channels.
Before joining Nero in 2007, Carriere was general manager at Corel Corporation, a publicly-traded application software company based in Ottawa, Canada. During his tenure, he drove significant impact by repositioning the company’s productivity software business line, highly contributing to Corel’s profitability and turnaround.
Previously Carriere also served as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, where he was a member of the media and telecommunications practices and was a leader of the firm’s broadband initiative. Additionally, Carriere has worked for Ernst & Young in Montreal, Canada.
Carriere earned an MBA from The Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College. He also studied at the London Business School and graduated from the Université de Montréal with a bachelor of commerce degree.
Chris Chen – General Manager, China
Chris Chen, general manager for China, leads the China development center.
Prior to joining Nero in 2007, Chen was director of video product at ArcSoft and has more than 10 years of coding experience in embedded system, main frame bank system and Microsoft Windows application. He also has five years of experience as a manager within the multimedia software industry, specifically focusing on video editing products, TV-related technologies, codecs and BD and HD DVD related technologies.
Chen holds a master’s degree in laser physics with the China Institute of Metrology.
Narine Galstian - Senior Vice President, Marketing
Narine Galstian, senior vice president of Marketing for Nero, is responsible for worldwide marketing, public relations and events. Galstian handles corporate brand development and global brand awareness, product marketing for all Nero product lines and corporate communications for Nero worldwide.
With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Galstian’s expertise spans diverse sectors including technology, apparel, real estate, consumer goods and services. Prior to Nero, she served as vice president of Marketing at a full-service advertising agency, during which she expanded the service offerings, increased revenue and managed diverse accounts. Galstian’s results-driven approach to marketing initiatives was also leveraged during her tenures in management at Shuwa Investments and the California Market Center.
Galstian received an MBA in international business from Woodbury University and holds a bachelor degree in marketing management from California State University, Los Angeles.
Simone Hoefer – General Manager of Technology
Simone Hoefer, general manager of technology at the corporate headquarters for Nero AG, is responsible for the development of the core technologies at Nero AG and the implementation of an effective R&D process lifecycle ensuring that the business lines and the office of the CTO, as well as remote teams in China work efficiently in a distributed environment via a market driven approach.
Prior to joining Nero in January 2006, Hoefer had more than 17 years of experience in the IT industry from a technical and business perspective, having held various positions in software development, customer training, and product management for companies specializing in various technological areas. She has also been instrumental in the development of innovative companies in the broadband networking and VoIP markets, starting 2001 as an executive director.
Ms. Hoefer studied mathematics and physics at the University of Karlsruhe in Germany and holds a degree in business administration.
Daniel Benz – Vice President, Sales, EMEA
Daniel Benz, vice president of Sales for Nero in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), oversees all retail, volume licensing, and online sales activities within the region.
During his nearly ten year tenure with Nero, Benz held a variety of sales positions within the company, in which he successfully developed a number of new markets and channels. Key accounts and programs under his supervision delivered a consistent and reliable revenue stream.
Benz’s previous responsibilities included the managing and expansion of Nero´s Retail and Volume Licensing channel and marketing activities in EMEA and the Asia Pacific Region outside of Japan.
Benz holds a master´s degree in international business studies and culture from the University of Passau in Germany.