Appen Strengthens Leadership Team with Key Executive Hires to Support Continued Growth
SYDNEY, Aug. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Appen, a leader in the development of human-annotated training data used to build and continuously improve the world's most innovative artificial intelligence systems, announces the hiring of two executives to its leadership team. Jon Kondo, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing; and Roc Tian, Senior Vice President of China, will support Appen's rapid growth as a result of the strong demand for high-quality training data.
"Jon and Roc solidify our executive team," said Appen CEO Mark Brayan. "Both bring tremendous expertise and experience to our company and will be instrumental in shaping Appen's future."
Jon Kondo brings over 30 years of sales and marketing experience and a strong track record of revenue growth from global big data companies and SaaS-based start-ups. As Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, his responsibilities include leading Appen's global sales and marketing teams and ensuring strong alignment to deliver continued customer value and revenue performance. Jon brings an extensive background in data, technology, and customer-focused leadership to Appen.
Before Appen, Jon was co-founder and CEO of OpsPanda, a leading application for sales resource management that was acquired by Xactly. Jon's additional leadership roles include Chief Revenue Officer at Replicon and CEO of Host Analytics, which posted record-breaking customer growth every year. Before Host Analytics, Jon was Group Vice President at Oracle and SVP & GM, Americas at Hyperion. Jon received his BA from UC Santa Barbara as well as his MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
"AI and machine learning are transforming the way organizations deliver value to their constituents, and Appen's quality offerings combining market-leading technology and crowd are unmatched in the industry," said Kondo. "It's such an exciting time to join Appen — the organization has proven its leadership position in a hyper-dynamic market while maintaining the core values that make it a great company. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to help lead the company to the next level of success."
Roc Tian comes to Appen with over 20 years of sales, consulting and management experience. As Senior Vice President of China, Roc is responsible for Appen's business strategy, sales, marketing, delivery, operations and government relationships in the China region to ensure continued growth and high client satisfaction. Roc brings a wealth of sales, consulting, delivery, and management experience to Appen, with a track record of success in scaling technology organizations.
Most recently, Roc was senior partner of IBM where he led the client services, public sector, and enterprise application service lines across the mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan markets with remarkable business performance and achievements. Before that, Roc was also a core leader responsible for the growth of IBM's global delivery center in China from 4,000 to over 10,000 people. Before IBM, Roc was a business quality director for HP's global delivery center in China and a key leader responsible for helping HP grow from a start-up to over 3,000 people across China. Roc was also the founder and CTO of a technology startup that grew to over 100 people before joining HP.
He received his Master's and PhD in Computer Science from Shanghai Jiao University.
"Artificial intelligence is booming in China and is one of the most critical country-level strategic plans (called Next Generation AI development plan) announced by the State council. There is no doubt that China will be more open and proactive in accelerating digital transformation for the enterprise across all industries," said Tian. "It's extremely exciting to join Appen to support these initiatives for clients across China."
About Appen
Appen collects and labels images, text, speech, audio, and video used to build and continuously improve the world's most innovative artificial intelligence systems.
With expertise in more than 180 languages, a global crowd of over 1 million skilled contractors, and the industry's most advanced AI-assisted data annotation platform, Appen solutions provide the quality, security, and speed required by leaders in technology, automotive, financial services, retail, manufacturing, and governments worldwide.
Founded in 1996, Appen has customers and offices around the world.
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