ON24 Executive team

Sharat Sharan

Co-founder, President and CEO

An experienced internet executive and passionate entrepreneur, Sharat Sharan is the Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of ON24 Inc. He leads a global team of more than 500 employees on a mission to help businesses of all sizes and across industries succeed in the era of digital engagement. Through ON24 webinar, virtual event and multimedia experiences, ON24 provides a system of engagement for audiences to choose and accelerate their own journeys. ON24 customers then turn that engagement and interest into actionable insights, which enables businesses to scale personalization, conversions and pipeline to drive revenue growth. Previously, Sharat served as Vice President of Hearst New Media and Technology, as well as the Group Vice President of Hearst New Media Group, where he co-founded Hearst’s internet media business and built some of the first and largest B-to-C internet media businesses. Before Hearst, Sharat was in executive roles at AT&T Wireless Systems during mobility’s nascent stage and began his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Steve Vattuone

Chief Financial Officer

Steven Vattuone has more than 25 years of experience in leading financial and operational organizations at enterprise software, SaaS, and technology companies which were both publicly traded and privately held. Prior to becoming ON24’s CFO, Steve served at ON24’s V.P. of Finance, the CFO of Composite Software, the CFO of Electric Cloud, and held leadership roles at industry leading companies such as Micromuse, Macrovision, Organic, Inc., Brio Software, and Grass Valley LLC. Steven started his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers and is a CPA (inactive) in the State of California. Steven is a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and holds an MBA from Santa Clara University.

Jim Blackie

Chief Revenue Officer

As Chief Revenue Officer, Jim Blackie is responsible for driving ON24’s revenue growth strategy and execution. He has more than 20 years of experience leading and building world-class sales organizations across a variety of industries. Jim has led large national sales teams at both Gartner and TriNet and built a global sales and marketing team at LRN. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Santa Clara University.

Jayesh Sahasi

Chief Technology Officer

With more than 20 years of experience, Jayesh Sahasi is a pioneer in the development of applications for streaming media over the internet. In his role as Chief Technology Officer, Jayesh is responsible for ON24′s overarching product vision, strategy, usability and design. As CTO, he manages the development and execution of the product road map and supervises the Engineering organization. Jayesh has an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of Business, a master’s in Artificial Intelligence and a BS in Computer Science.

Steven Long

Chief Information Officer

Callan Young

Chief Marketing Officer

Callan Young is a fundamental catalyst for growth. As an accomplished executive, she brings more than 12 years of experience in the B2B software industry, taking SaaS leaders turning them into category creators, while scaling revenue teams. In her role as Chief Marketing Officer, Callan leads ON24's world-class marketing organization. She is passionate about making those she works with, and her customers, better marketers and leaders. She previously held marketing leadership positions at Experity, Anaplan and SAS Institute.

Alex Saleh

Chief Operations Officer

Alex Saleh has over 20 years of experience leading Sales, Pre-Sales, and Operations teams in enterprise software, services, and SaaS companies. His tenure includes leadership positions at both private and publicly traded companies in a variety of industries. Alex’ previous positions include Vice President of Sales at Convergys Learning Solutions, Vice President of Global Sales Operations at Successfactors, and COO of Cloud Sales at SAP. Alex holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Tufts, and MS in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.

Mahesh Kheny

Vice President, Engineering and Chief Systems Architect

Mahesh Kheny joined ON24 in 2003 and oversees design and development of strategic products. With over 20 years of experience in architecting and managing development of B2B applications for communications, airline, and technology companies, he brings strong leadership and valuable technical expertise to ON24's flagship products. Prior to ON24, he worked at AT&T Bells Labs, American Airlines (Sabre), and Digital Generation Systems. Mahesh earned a MS in Computer Science from Monmouth University and a BS in Computer Science from Bangalore University.

Mike Badgis

Vice President, Global Human Resources

Mike Badgis brings more than 25 years of broad-based international and domestic experience leading Human Resources strategies in software, financial services and utility companies. Prior to joining ON24, Mike served as Vice President and Advisory Board Member at Espresa, an early-stage, venture capitalist-backed employee programs and services company where he advised leading technology organizations on culture, recruiting and retention strategies. Mike also led Human Resources teams at iPass, Visa and Pacific Gas & Electric Company. Mike studied Human Resources at Portland State University and holds two professional certifications from Stanford University.

Bill Weesner

General Counsel

As General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and Compliance Officer, Bill oversees legal affairs globally for ON24. Before joining ON24 in 2012, Bill served in various roles at public and private technology companies. Bill also practiced law at Latham & Watkins. He has a J.D. from UC Davis School of Law and a B.A. from UCLA.

Byron Bardy

Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategic Alliances

Byron Bardy is responsible for driving the company’s corporate development strategy and leading strategic alliances and technology partnerships. He has over 25 years of experience in enterprise software corporate development, strategic alliances, and investment banking. Prior to joining ON24, Byron was Vice President of Corporate Development at Medallia and Vice President of Business & Corporate Development at Lithium Technologies. Earlier in his career, Byron held various corporate development, business development, and operational positions with Adobe, EMC, and Commerce One after beginning his career in investment banking. Byron has an MBA in Strategy from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a BBA in Finance from the University of Michigan.

Tessa Barron

Vice President, Marketing

Tessa Barron is the VP of Marketing at ON24 and leads the company's brand, digital and demand generation campaign strategy. She brings with her a wealth of marketing expertise from both in-house and agency experiences. In 2019, she was named to DMN's "Top 40 Marketers under 40" list and is a founding member of the Women in Revenue Marketing organization in NYC.

Mark Bornstein

Vice President, Content Marketing and Chief Evangelist

As VP, Marketing and Chief Evangelist for ON24, Mark brings over 20 years of marketing & account management experience with leading brands including Cisco, GE Access (now Avnet) and Compatible Systems. Mark is the world’s leading voice for webinar & digital experience marketing and presents at conferences around the globe.

Matt French

Vice President, Financial Planning and Analysis

As Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis Matt is responsible for strategic planning and operational alignment around ON24’s financial goals. During his 9 years at ON24, Matt has also held senior leadership roles in Customer Success and Sales Operations. Prior to ON24, Matt spent 5 years in various corporate finance roles at Cisco Systems and 4 years in Enterprise Software Development at Allstate Insurance. Matt has an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, MS in Computer Science from DePaul University, and BSE in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Daniel Harrison

Vice President, APAC and Japan

Daniel has been in the technology industry for over 25 years with specialities in growing Asia-Pacific commercial teams for US technology companies. Daniel began his career at Oracle as a consultant within their database technology team. His deep technical skills took him to Europe where he worked on a number of high profile projects, most notably leading the technical team in the National Health Service. Coming back to Australia, Daniel joined RightNow Technologies where he was part of the team during their IPO. During his time at Oracle, Daniel held a number of positions, culminating as General Manager of the Customer Experience Division. He has a B.Commerce, majoring in Information Systems from Western Sydney University.

Cheri Hulse 

Vice President, Strategy and Research

Cheri is the Vice President of Strategy and Research at ON24 and leads the Center for Marketing Transformation. She is a recognized thought leader in the field of marketing, in-person, hybrid and digital events, and marketing technology. Previously, she was a Principal Analyst at Forrester and SiriusDecisions covering physical and digital events, martech, b2b marketing strategy and agencies.

Tom Milne

Vice President, Sales Development

Tom is the Vice President and head of ON24’s Global Sales Development team. Tomhas spent 9+ years in SaaS working directly within Sales or leading SDR teams and organizations. He is passionate about pipeline, scaling teams, and professional growth. Coaching and developing talent and watching people grow and achieve their personal goals is what drives him. Tom previously held leadership positions at Anaplan and Experity.

Michael Newman

Vice President, Demand Generation

Michael Newman is the VP of Demand Generation at ON24 and leads the company's global demand strategy. With a background in analytics and operations, he defines data-centric strategies that incorporate continuous learning and improvement to drive efficiency and accelerate growth. Michael's previous marketing roles include Tipalti, SAP Ariba, and Adobe.