SDxCentral
Join Log In
SD-WAN 5G Edge 1 IoT SDN NFV Containers Cloud Security AI Data Center Storage APM/NPM Open Source

Log In to SDxCentral

Log in with your email? Forgot your password?
  • Newsletters
  • eBriefs
  • Podcasts
  • Webinars
  • Videos
  • Directory
  • White Papers
  • Resources
  • Use Cases
  • Support

Join SDxCentral and get information tailored to your particular interests everyday.

Join
Sponsored:
Dell EMC Citrix Riverbed

Aryaka Hires Three New C-Suite Executives

Aryaka-Hires-Three-New-Executives-to-Its-C-Suite
Ali Longwell
Ali LongwellJanuary 16, 2019
2:46 pm MT
Email LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Reddit Hacker News

Aryaka’s recently appointed CEO Matt Carter is making big changes to the SD-WAN provider’s executive team, adding three new C-level executives to the company. These three appointments include naming Karen Freitag as chief revenue officer (CRO), Michelle Owczarzak as chief transformation officer, and Shashi Kiran as chief marketing officer (CMO).

Freitag is replacing Mike Hoffman as CRO. Hoffman served in the position for a year before departing the company in November to become the CRO at Yotascale, an autonomous cloud operations startup.

Freitag joins Aryaka from Rivada Networks where she served as the executive vice president (EVP) of worldwide sales. Prior to Rivada, Freitag served as the president of Sprint’s global enterprise business unit where she oversaw the provider’s IoT, wholesale, and SD-WAN businesses.

Kiran succeeds Gary Sevounts as CMO. Sevounts left Aryaka in October after three years in the role to serve as the CMO at Kount, a security and fraud prevention firm. Kiran most recently served as the CMO at cloud and DevOps software provider Quali. Prior to that, he acted as CMO of Appcity, which was acquired by A10 Networks, and he held a number of positions at Cisco over the course of nine years.

Owczarzak is filling a new position at Aryaka. Previously, she served as the senior vice president (SVP) of sales at Inteliquent, a cloud-based unified communications provider. Aryaka’s CEO Carter also worked at Inteliquent, where he was the president and CEO. In the role of chief transformation officer, Owczarzak will help Aryaka track, execute, and provide business value as it continues to grow its business and operations.

These are just the most recent hires in a leadership shakeup that began last September, when Aryaka named Carter CEO, replacing former CEO John Peters after only five months in the role. And while Aryaka did not address Peters’ quick departure from the firm, his LinkedIn profile states that Peters provides “Interim CEO/COO and CEO coaching services to venture capital community.”

Aryaka also hired a new SVP of customer success in December of last year. Deepak Kumar joined from a Sequoia portfolio company, [24]7.ai, where he acted as general manager and SVP in the customer experience domain.

Aryaka has a unique SD-WAN that differentiates it from the other players in the market. It has invested in building a global private network. It built this network by buying Layer 2 capacity from Tier 1 and Tier 2 service providers.

In October, Carter spoke to SDxCentral about the future of Aryaka and his plans to turn the firm into a more aggressive competitor in the SD-WAN market. He said that he wanted to take Aryaka to the next stage of growth and noted that this could be as an independent company, a public company, or even as an acquisition.

Newly appointed CMO Kiran wrote in an email to SDxCentral that with these appointments Aryaka is “putting our foot on the accelerator here and coming together as a team under Matt’s leadership to scale the growth engine.”

Related Articles

InvenSense-Deploys-Aryaka-SD-WAN-To-Meet-Growing-Business-Needs
InvenSense Deploys Aryaka SD-WAN to Meet Growing Business Needs
Cato-Networks-Raises-55M-to-Take-On-Legacy-Telcos
Cato Networks Raises $55M to Take On Legacy Telcos
Silver-Peak-SD-WAN-Supports-Multi-Cloud-With-Google-Cloud-Certification
Silver Peak SD-WAN Supports Multi-Cloud With Google Cloud Certification
The-Top-Acquisitions-of-2018
The Top Acquisitions of 2018 in SDxCentral's World
Masergy’s New CEO Is Tasked to Grow Its SDN-Based Offerings
Masergy’s New CEO Is Tasked to Grow Its SDN-Based Offerings
Comcast-Is-Working-on-a-uCPE-That-Runs-Multiple-VNFs-With-Its-SD-WAN
Comcast Is Working on a uCPE That Runs Multiple VNFs With Its SD-WAN
SDxCentral Daily News

Join your Peers! Subscribe to SDxCentral's Newsletter

Article Tags:

Aryaka Networks Breaking News Hirings and Firings SDWAN

Ali Longwell

About Ali Longwell

Ali Longwell is an Associate Editor with SDxCentral. Ali recently graduated from the University of Denver, with a B.S. in Journalism and Studies, and a minor in Marketing. She has previously written for Denver lifestyle publications, 5280 Magazine and Denver Life Magazine.

Have a story? Have a News Tip?

Send it to SDxCentral editors as editors@sdxcentral.com.

Subscribe to Get the Daily News!

About SDxCentral

  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Work With Us
  • Editorial Team
  • Careers
  • Legal
  • Support

Engage With us

This material may not be copied, reproduced, or modified in whole or in part for any purpose except with express written permission from an authorized representative of SDxCentral, LLC. In addition to such written permission to copy, reproduce, or modify this document in whole or part, an acknowledgement of the authors of the document and all applicable portions of the copyright notice must be clearly referenced. All Rights Reserved.

© 2012-2019 SDxCentral, LLC, All Rights Reserved. SDNCentral™, the SDNCentral logo, SDxCentral™, SDxCentral logo, SDxNews™, SDxTech™, SDx™, the SDx logo, and DemoFriday™ are trademarks of SDxCentral, LLC in the U.S. and other countries.

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy