Meet the Leaders

Maria Colacurcio

Maria Colacurcio

Chief Executive Officer

Maria Colacurcio

Chief Executive Officer

 

Maria Colacurcio is a visionary founder and expert on technology’s power to reshape how we value work.

Colacurcio is CEO of Syndio, the leading pay transparency solution that helps the world’s best companies make smart, consistent pay decisions that foster more dynamic workplaces and drive better business outcomes. Prior to Syndio, she co-founded Smartsheet.com, which went public in 2018, and spent four years at Starbucks, one of the first Fortune 50 companies to go public with pay equity results. (For European audiences) She continues to lead the way today, guiding Syndio to be the leading, enterprise-ready solution to help companies comply with the EU Directive on Pay Transparency.

Colacurcio’s leadership and expertise on purpose driven technology has received wide recognition, and she’s been named one of the 100 most exceptional entrepreneurs by Goldman Sachs Builders + Innovators Summit for two consecutive years. A total shoo-in for Hamilton, she holds a BA in History and Political Science from Whitworth University, where she minored in music and studied vocal opera.

A competitive Hyrox athlete who started her career working on congressional campaigns, she is no stranger to the compassionate and competitive attitude needed to spur change. When she's not running races or Syndio, you can find her spending time with her husband and seven kids.

Katie Bardaro

Katie Bardaro

Chief Customer Officer

Katie Bardaro

Chief Customer Officer

Katie Bardaro is one of the country’s leading experts on the intersection of pay equity, data analytics, and labor economics. As Syndio’s Chief Customer Officer, Katie possesses a decade of experience in compensation data, statistical analytics, and public speaking. She has provided pay equity analyses and commentary for the nation’s top business and financial outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Economist, CNBC, CNNMoney, USA Today, Forbes, and Business Insider. She reads these publications voraciously over coffee whenever she’s not traveling to be a featured speaker at international events such as Montreal’s C2, multiple World at Work Pay Equity Symposiums, and the 100% Talent Wage Gap Summit.

Prior to her tenure at Syndio, Katie was the Vice President of Data Analytics at Payscale where she provided groundbreaking thought leadership and research on compensation to media, customers, consumers and research outlets all across the country. Before that, she took it easy and taught macro and microeconomics at the University of Washington.

A passionate economist, data nerd, and mom, Katie is willing to travel far and wide in the pursuit of improving equity in the workplace. She holds a B.A. in Economics from the College of Holy Cross and a Masters of Science in Economics from the University of Washington.

Milan Parikh

Milan Parikh

Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer

Milan Parikh

Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer

As Syndio’s Chief Financial Officer, Milan Parikh brings three decades of private and public company finance and operations experience and an expertise and passion for helping mission-driven, category-creating companies scale and grow.

Prior to joining Syndio, Milan Parikh was Chief Financial Officer at MATRIXX, a global telecommunications software company. Over the course of his career, Milan has served as CFO at leading technology companies at various stages in the entertainment, wireless communications, digital media, and enterprise software industries, managing over $400 million in public and private financings and M&A transactions.

When Milan’s not ensuring companies take a fair and balanced approach to compensation, you can find him spending time with his wife and two daughters, playing tennis, and experiencing live music.

Milan holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from University of California, Berkeley.

Rob PORCARELLI

Rob Porcarelli

Chief Legal Officer &
Chief Strategy Officer

Rob Porcarelli

Chief Legal Officer & Chief Strategy Officer

Rob is the Chief Legal Officer and Chief Strategy Officer at Syndio, and a career-long advocate for workplace fairness. Prior to joining Syndio, Rob served as the VP Assistant General Counsel at Starbucks where he led teams responsible for all labor, employment, and EEO issues, as well as general litigation.

Rob directed and oversaw Starbuck's equal pay efforts since 2005, and was frequently frustrated by the methods of obtaining and analyzing data around pay disparities. He came to Syndio to be a part of the solution.

Prior to Starbucks, Rob was a partner with Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP. He also served in the U.S. Navy JAG Corps, and while on active duty served as a special assistant to the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. He is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland Law School.

Rob knows Syndio's software is a better way to address pay equity, and wants you to know the same.

Rebecca Scully

Rebecca Scully

VP of Marketing

Rebecca Scully

Vice President of Marketing

Rebecca Scully has spent the last 10 years helping companies find, understand, and adopt technology solutions that use data, machine learning, and advanced analytics to solve strategic business challenges. At Syndio, she regularly leads research efforts across organizations to understand human capital management issues as they relate to workplace equity and how they can be solved through innovative approaches.

Regan-Zeebuyth-Headshot

Regan Zeebuyth

VP of Communications

Regan Zeebuyth

Vice President of Communications

Regan Zeebuyth is a seasoned leader with over 23 years of experience shaping corporate narratives and complex communication strategies. Regan's rich background spans employee communications, learning & development, social media, media relations, analyst relations, and project management. As Syndio's VP of Communications, Regan oversees internal and external communications and advises our customers on their pay transparency communication strategies.

Before joining Syndio, Regan spent seven years at Amazon, where he built the company’s Internal Corporate Communications team communicating to a global, corporate employee population of over 500,000. Prior to Amazon, Regan spent 11 years at Starbucks’ leading communications for frontline and corporate employees. Earlier in his career, Regan drove HR communications at T-Mobile, as well as media and analyst relations at Waggener Edstrom Communications for Microsoft clients.

Regan leverages his enterprise-scale expertise to help Syndio customers communicate with clarity and purpose, making pay transparency an integral part of their organizational culture.

Christine

Christine Hendrickson

VP of Strategic Initiatives

Christine Hendrickson

Vice President of Strategic Initiatives

Christine Hendrickson is a leading expert on corporate pay equity and international pay reporting laws. As Syndio's Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Christine works at the intersection of HR analytics and law, partnering with employers to drive strategic, practical, and cutting edge practices on pay equity, diversity, equity, and inclusion analysis.

Prior to joining Syndio, Christine was a partner at Seyfarth Shaw, an international law firm with nearly 900 attorneys worldwide. There, Christine was a core member of the firm's Labor & Employment People Analytics Practice Group and co-chaired Seyfarth's Global Pay Equity Group, which was named the "Best Firm for Keeping the Glass Ceiling Off" by Above the Law.

Christine is passionate about leveraging data to help organizations revamp their personnel practices to build efficient and practical processes for pay equity, diversity and inclusion, and affirmative action compliance. Christine has worked with employers ranging from startups to global Fortune 100 technology, retail, financial services, professional services, hospitality, healthcare, and manufacturing organizations on pay equity projects and investigations.

Christine received her JD from University of Michigan Law where she graduated Cum Laude and was executive editor of the Journal of Law Reform.  Prior to her law firm experience, Christine was a Skadden Fellow, which has been referred to as the public-interest world's equivalent of a Rhodes Scholarship. Christine has been recognized by Legal 500 for the past three years as a Next Generation Lawyer for Workplace and Employment Counseling.

NimrodVered-AboutUs 1

Nimrod Vered

Senior Vice President of Engineering

Nimrod Vered

Senior Vice President of Engineering

Nimrod Vered is a seasoned technology executive with over 30 years of experience in engineering leadership. He currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Engineering at Syndio, a company specializing in workplace pay equity analysis and strategy.

Prior to joining Syndio in June 2024, Vered was the Chief Technology Officer at Uplevel, an engineering insights startup based in Seattle. During his tenure, he played a pivotal role in securing $20 million in funding to enhance engineering team efficiency.

Before Uplevel, Vered held the position of Chief Engineering Officer at Zipwhip, where he led the expansion of the engineering organization through its $850 million acquisition by Twilio.

His earlier career includes significant roles at Microsoft, Cisco, and Check Point Software Technologies. At Microsoft, he was instrumental in the development of Workplace Analytics, a service that utilizes aggregate user data from Office 365 to identify collaboration patterns impacting productivity.

Vered holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Coventry University in the UK.

Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a strong commitment to modernizing engineering leadership and leveraging people analytics to improve team effectiveness and individual well-being.

Meet the Board

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Byron Deeter

Bessemer Venture Partners

Byron Deeter

Bessemer Venture Partners

 

Byron Deeter is a leading investor in SaaS and Cloud. He’s authored iconic laws on the state of cloud computing, and works closely with many of the best founders in the cloud and mobile worlds. To date, fourteen of Byron’s investments are valued above one $1 billion, including eight IPOs and counting.

Byron first raised a Series A with Bessemer Venture Partners back in 2000, as CEO and founder of Trigo Technologies. His company grew to be one of the first global SaaS companies, reaching profitability and was successfully sold to IBM. Byron foresaw that cloud computing would not only change the way people built new technologies but also how The Cloud would systematically run the world. In 2005, Byron returned to Bessemer, this time to lead the fund’s global cloud practice.

He graduated with honors from The University of California, Berkeley, where he met his then
college sweetheart and now wife. Although he’s a four-time Rugby Collegiate National
Champion and Ironman finisher, nothing competes with being a father of three children.

Talia

Talia Goldberg

Bessemer Venture Partners

Talia Goldberg

Bessemer Venture Partners

 

Talia Goldberg is a partner in Bessemer’s San Francisco office and invests across early and growth stage software and internet.

Talia joined Bessemer in 2013 and has since become the youngest elected partner in firm history. She has partnered with ServiceTitan, Shippo, Papaya Global, Discord, Dashlane, Toss (Viva Republica), Newfront Insurance, Pinterest, and Stubhub/Viagogo among others. She was featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 for Venture Capital and recognized on Business Insider’s Rising Stars list.
Prior to joining Bessemer, Talia worked at Foursquare and Simple Finance. Talia graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. She grew up in Portland, Oregon and will forever be a Blazers fan.

Fern Mandelbaum

Fern Mandelbaum

Managing Director of Venture Investments, Emerson Collective

Fern Mandelbaum

Managing Director of Venture Investments, Emerson Collective

 

Mandelbaum is an entrepreneur, coach, investor, and educator and currently serves as a Managing Director at Emerson Collective, where she leads early-stage investing in mission-driven startups. In addition, she is a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she created and teaches courses such as “Entrepreneurship from Diverse Perspectives,” “POWer—Building the Entrepreneurial Mindset,” and “Equity by Design—Building Diverse and Inclusive Organizations.” Prior to Emerson Collective, Mandelbaum was the co-founder of Vista Venture Partners, an early stage venture firm, and of Skyline Products, a toy invention firm that was acquired by IDEO.

For over 25 years, Mandelbaum has worked with CEOs to help them be inclusive leaders, refine their business concepts, recruit and develop their management teams, and build more diverse and inclusive organizations.

Robert

Bob Perille

Calvello Investments

Bob Perille

Cavello Investments

 

Bob Perille currently invests in private companies through Calvello Investments, LLC and he is an advisor to LA based Frontier Venture Capital. Bob spent 23 years with Bank of America in commercial and investment banking and was co-managing partner of a $700 million private equity and mezzanine investments fund.

Today, Bob serves on the boards of three private companies, Lawrence University and the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. Bob graduated from Lawrence University in 1980 with a degree in biology and earned an MBA in finance from Babson College.

5

Diane Fraiman

Voyager Capital

Diane Fraiman

Voyager Capital

Diane Fraiman is a Managing Director at Voyager Capital and invests in early stage enterprise software companies in the Pacific Northwest. Diane has over 25 years of experience in the technology industry in operational roles leading sales, marketing, strategy and business development, and as a venture investor since 2007.

Orlando Ashford

Orlando Ashford

Member Board of Directors

Orlando Ashford

Member Board of Directors

 

Orlando Ashford is a board director, strategic advisor, investor and author. He serves as Board Chairman for Perrigo Company and also serves on the boards of directors for Amerant Bank, Azamara Cruises, Array Technologies, Inc., as chair of the compensation committee, Hershey Entertainment & Resorts, as chair of the compensation committee, ClubCorp (Invited, Inc) and State Farm, as a member of the fire and life advisory boards. He also served on the Board of ITT, Inc from 2012 to 2022 and was chair of the compensation committee. In addition, Ashford volunteers on the board of Streetwise Partners and in 2022 he joined the Orange Bowl Committee of South Florida.

Prior to his numerous board roles, Ashford served as president of Holland America Line, leading the award-winning cruise line's brand and business, including its fleet of 14 premium vessels carrying more than 900,000 guests annually to all seven continents. Ashford oversaw Holland America Line’s sales and marketing, revenue management, deployment and itinerary planning, public relations, hotel operations and strategy. Ashford was widely credited in the industry for re-energizing the brand, innovating the guest experience and transforming the corporate culture to embrace inclusion, diversity and creativity.

Meet the Strategic Investors & Advisors

Strategic Investors

Ryan Nece

Ryan Nece

Managing Partner, Next Legacy Partners

Steph Curry

Steph Curry

NBA Athlete, Entrepreneur, Investor, Producer

Sean Mendy

Sean Mendy

Partner, Westbound Equity Partners

Candace Parker - About Us

Candace Parker

WNBA Legend, Businesswoman, Mother

Alexi Robichaux

Alexi Robichaux

CEO & Co-Founder, BetterUp

Rachel Romer Carlson

Rachel Romer Carlson

CEO, Guild

Mallun Yen

Mallun Yen

Founder, CEO & Managing Partner, Operator Collective

Anita Lynch Headshot

Anita Lynch

Board Member and Angel Investor

Mike Gamson

Mike Gamson

Managing Partner, Permanent Capital

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff

Co-founder and Chair of Pacaso, Queue, and 75 & Sunny Ventures

Bruce Chizen

Bruce Chizen

Operating Partner and Senior Advisor, Permira

Qiana Patterson - About Us

Qiana Patterson

Venture Capitalist

Jeff Epstein

Jeff Epstein

Operating Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Bryant Barr Headshot

Bryant Barr

Managing Partner, Penny Jar Capital

Rich Scudellari Headshot

Rich Scudellari

Managing Partner, Penny Jar Capital

Strategic Advisors

Zev-Color

Zev Eigen

Founder; Advisor

Laura Dholakia

Laura Dholakia

Executive In Residence, Bessemer Venture Partners

Christina Hall

Christina Hall

Chief People Officer, Instacart

Daniel Kramer

Daniel G. Kramer

CEO, Opsmatix Systems Limited

Arik Armstead

Arik Armstead

Professional Athlete, Jacksonville Jaguars

Marc Maloy

Marc Maloy

President, Wisq

Jennifer Aaker

Jennifer Aaker

General Atlantic Professor, Stanford Graduate School of Business

Tama Smith

Tama Smith

Head of Women Living a Richer Life, Brighton Jones

Cindy Guerra Robbins

Cindy Guerra Robbins

Board Member of YearUp, ActiveCampaign, Appfire

Frits Dirk van Paasschen - Strategic Advisor, Syndio

Frits Dirk van Paasschen

Former CEO and Author of The Disruptors’ Feast

Suzi LeVine

Suzi LeVine

Former US Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein; Sr Fellow, Brown University

Kevin Susman

Kevin Susman

Strategy & Innovation Advisor, GTM Consulting

Anita Lettink

Anita Lettink

Future of Work speaker and Partner at Strategic Management Centre

Birgit Neu

Birgit Neu

Senior DEI Advisor

Angela Grady

Angela Grady

Board and Executive Advisor

Matthew Guss

Matthew Guss

Growth Company Talent Builder, Investor and Advisor

Lucy Hur

Lucy Hur

Advisor, Board Member, Former Chief People Officer & HR Executive

Liat Ben-zur

Liat Ben-Zur

Board Member, Advisor, Former CVP, Microsoft

Meg Bear

Meg Bear

Board Member, Investor, Advisor, Ex-President, SAP SuccessFactors

Guillermo Miranda

Guillermo Miranda

AI Adoption & Digital Transformation Leader

Erik_Darby

Erik Darby

Vice President, BetterUp

Beth Simonetti

Beth Simonetti

Executive Advisor and retired Chief Human Resources Officer

Joe Militello

Joe Militello

Chief People Officer, Advisor, and Investor

Corey duBrowa

Corey duBrowa

CEO, Burson

Headshot of Samira Rafaela

Samira Rafaela

Co-architect of the EU Pay Transparency Directive, Former Member of European Parliament

WHY JOIN OUR TEAM?

We are a fast-growing software startup with ambition. We're passionate about workplace equity and we are devoted to each other, our company, and our customers. We value transparency, hustle, clarity, truth, and vulnerability.

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