About Relias

For Kay, the use of emerging technology is an essential link in the value chain of 21st century learning, employment and recruitment. Before founding the Bertelsmann Education Group, he played a key role in building BMG from a start-up to a leading company in the music industry. Before joining BMG’s Executive Board, he implemented Bertelsmann’s portfolio adjustment between 2006 and 2008.

Prior to Bertelsmann, Kay was a partner at Deloitte. Other experiences include a period with Deutsche Börse AG and private equity firm Beteiligungsgesellschaft Neue Länder. Kay compares entrepreneurship to endurance training: in spite of the ups and downs, the objective is to remain focused on the long-term goal.

Jarek Gabor is the Chief Operating Officer at Relias. Prior to joining Relias, Jarek had a distinguished career at Bertelsmann, joining in 2006 as Vice President, Mergers and Acquisitions. In the following years, he supported several major transformation projects such as the sale of various Direct Group businesses, BMG’s numerous acquisitions, and the merger of Penguin and Random House into the world’s largest book publishing group. At Penguin Random House he was jointly responsible for the integration of the two publishing groups. He has served as CFO of the Bertelsmann Education Group since 2015.

Prior to his work with Bertelsmann, Jarek lived and worked in Germany, holding positions at the utility company Eon and at Deloitte.

Tina serves as Chief People Officer at Relias, ensuring that Relias’ more than 800 employees are well-equipped to achieve strategic business goals, while fostering a culture of collaboration, inclusion, and continuous improvement.

Before joining Relias in August of 2016, Tina was a partner at ScottMadden Management Consultants and led their HR practice, focusing on strategy development and planning as well as comprehensive operational transformation across a variety of industries, including energy, defense and aerospace, technology, automotive, transportation, and healthcare. Tina started her career in engineering, where she worked for Shell Oil on international and deep-water oil projects.

Tina serves on the Board of the Tammy Lynn Center, a Raleigh-based organization that empowers families and enriches the lives of children and adults with developmental disabilities through education, community, and support services.

Tina holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Florida State University, and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, and can be found frequently at volleyball matches and soccer games.

Mike Mutka is the Chief Product Officer at Relias. Mike returns to Relias after founding Straightaway Health Careers in 2017. He remains part of the leadership team at Straightaway, which, like Relias, is also part of the Bertelsmann Education Group. He served as the Chief Strategy Officer at Relias from 2013 prior to that. Previously he was the Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Relias, and served as President of Silverchair Learning Systems, LLC, which is now part of Relias, from 2005 to 2012.

Mike also served as Silverchair’s Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing from 2005-2009. During that time, he built the sales and marketing organization from just two people to a team of 20+ professionals with an impressive track record of growth. Prior to Silverchair Learning, Mike worked for the Hill-Rom Company, Berchtold Corporation, and Briggs Healthcare, all leaders in their markets, and gained extensive experience in new product development, sales and marketing management, strategic planning, and Kaizen continuous improvement methodology.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business and an MBA in Marketing from Indiana University‘s Kelley School of Business.

Anne Chaconas, Vice President of Marketing at Relias, is responsible for the oversight, strategy, execution, and results of the global marketing organization, including: strategic marketing, events and trade shows, demand generation, digital marketing, and e-commerce.

With more than 15 years in marketing, previous roles at Relias include Director of Digital and Demand Generation and Director of Strategic Marketing. Prior to Relias, Anne served at Solarwinds, a leading provider of IT infrastructure management software, where she led social media strategy and content marketing. She is also an accomplished entrepreneur, having owned and operated a boutique digital marketing agency focused exclusively on authors.

Anne is a graduate of Yale University (Go, Bulldogs!) where she focused on history of art and classical civilizations and added Ancient Greek and Latin to her repertoire of languages (which includes Spanish and Italian). She has four dogs, two kids, and one cat (but no partridge in a pear tree). Outside of work, you can find her cooking, reading, gardening, or working up a sweat in spin class.

Philipp serves as the Chief Financial Officer at Relias. His responsibilities include oversight of the finance, legal, and IT groups. Before joining Relias, Philipp was a Senior Vice President for investments and strategy at Bertelsmann. Previously, Philipp worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and as an investment professional at Allianz Capital Partners. Philipp holds a Master’s degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a joint Master’s degree in Computer Science and Business Administration from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany.

An avid sportsman, Philipp and his wife have two young children and live in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Maria Samot is the Vice President of Content Development at Relias. She joined Relias in 2013 as Instructional Design Manager and has since served as Director of Curriculum Design before taking on her current role. Prior to joining Relias, Maria worked most recently at Georgia State University as Associate Director of the Best Practices Training Initiative. She has spent more than 20 years in education and training, beginning as an international magnet school teacher and later serving as a curriculum specialist and director of a statewide educational non-profit. Relias provides an optimal environment for her to leverage her instructional design skills and love for teaching and learning.

Maria earned a Master’s of Education in Divergent Learning from Columbia College, and a Bachelor’s in Psychology from NC State University. She enjoys family time traveling with her husband and two daughters.

Prior to joining Relias, Darius served as Vice President of Operations at Bertelsmann based in New York, New York. Additionally, he serves as the Chief Information Officer for the Bertelsmann Education Division. Darius is a seasoned professional with several major acquisitions and business transformations within Bertelsmann’s operating company portfolio. Prior to joining Bertelsmann, Darius was a management consultant at Deloitte and performed engagements in operational restructuring, financial process redesign, target screening, operational due diligence, and M&A program management.

Darius holds a Masters of Business Administration from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. When Darius isn’t working, he enjoys traveling, enjoying outdoor activities with his three children, and training for triathlons.

As Vice President of Engineering at Relias, Raghav Pavaman is responsible for the overall vision and strategy for Engineering. His role spans the company’s Product Development, Enterprise Architecture, Systems Engineering, and Application Support organizations as they continue to lead the market with innovative healthcare learning solutions.

Prior to joining Relias in 2020, Raghav held engineering leadership positions at Yahoo, Optum and more recently was responsible in building a high performing engineering culture for a new business unit at Cengage, a learning and education company. He is also an entrepreneur in the fitness and well-being space and is a certified fitness trainer. Raghav is an avid reader and has a passion for developing leaders and building a collaborative culture across the organization.

Raghav has a B.S. in Medical Electronics from Bangalore University in India and has participated in several executive skill development programs from prestigious universities in the U.S.

Stephen Snook currently serves as Senior Vice President of SaaS Business at Relias. In this capacity, he leads five strategic teams including Enterprise Sales, SMB Sales, Sales Operations and Enablement, Alliances, and the newly formed Solutions Group.

His prior roles at Relias have included Vice President of Sales, as well as Director of Account Management with a strategic focus on the client engagement process.

Prior to joining Relias in 2014, Stephen was part of Brainware, a Vista Equity Partners organization acquired by Perceptive software. While at Perceptive Software, he led the build out of Perceptive Software Asia while living in Beijing.

Stephen holds B.A. in Political Science from the University of South Florida and an MBA from NOVA Southeastern University.

In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and young sons, boating, wake surfing, and playing tennis. Stephen is also an active volunteer with the Special Olympics of North Carolina.

Candace serves as Vice President of the Relias Solutions Group, a strategic arm of Relias’ enterprise sales organization. The Solutions Group is comprised of industry and technology experts from across the healthcare continuum. In addition to providing industry insight, they are responsible for delivering professional services, such as clinical consultation and population health management.

Having joined Relias in 2013, Candace has led several key teams including Client Success, Support, and Professional Services. She has a true passion for Relias’ clients and enjoys using complex data to provide effective solutions.

Prior to joining Relias, she worked as an archaeologist in the environmental compliance industry and holds a bachelor’s degree in Archaeology and Religion from Baylor University.

In her free time, Candace enjoys traveling with her husband and spending time with her son and bulldog, Lucy.

Shawn Barber serves as Vice President of Product Management, leading strategy and execution for the Relias platform.  He comes to Relias with over 25 years of experience leading the strategic development and delivery of software in global markets, most recently at Broadvine, where he served as Chief Executive Officer.

Prior to joining Relias in 2019, Shawn held various software company leadership roles, addressing a broad range of business and consumer needs including web applications, mobile network infrastructure, content licensing and distribution and business intelligence technologies. Starting his career as a Civil Engineer, Shawn’s passion has always been to build new products and introduce new technologies that make the world a better place.

Shawn holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Rhode Island and currently resides in Wake Forest, NC.  When Shawn isn’t thinking about building impactful software, you can find him exercising his passion as a soccer and fitness coach or on the water with his wife and two children.

Stefan Herm is the General Manager, Europe at Relias. Recognized as a global healthcare IT industry expert, Stefan joined Relias following his role as Managing Director International Healthcare Solutions at Nuance Communications. Prior to that, he had executive leadership roles at Siemens, McKesson and GSD. He has worked with McKinsey as an external advisor for Healthcare IT and has done consulting in large hospital IT tenders and implementations in the Middle East.

He recently worked throughout Central and Eastern Europe with Penta Hospitals International, a large private hospital chain, developing and implementing the IT strategy.

Sarah Zhang, MD is the General Manager, China for Relias. She holds a MHA from Tulane University, and a medical degree from Peking University. Previously, she worked for Parkway Pantai (the largest healthcare group in Asia) as the CEO of North China and Hong Kong, and Bupa (the largest health insurance provider in Europe) as its China Chief Representative and BD Director. Before that Sarah was a doctor of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Peking University People Hospital in Beijing. Sarah has nearly 20 years’ healthcare experience in China and globally, is very experienced with new market entry, government relations, as well as managing different types of healthcare business.

Sarah lives Beijing with her husband and two children. She is a tennis fan and plays regularly.