About Relias

Jim Triandiflou is the Chief Executive Officer at Relias. Prior to taking the role in 2012 he was previously President and CEO of ServiceCEO, a field service software company with more than 6,000 customers around the world. Prior to ServiceCEO, Jim was Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Centive, a sales performance management software company. He also served as COO of Stryker Orthopedics’ largest independent distributor, Surgi-Care. Jim has a BS in Marketing from State University of New York College at Oswego and an MBA from the Arizona State University Carey School of Business, which included coursework at the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird). In December of 2017, he was named Business Person of the Year by the Triangle Business Journal.

Jim is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Special Olympics of North Carolina, is an Advisory Board member of Band Together, a nonprofit that uses live music as a platform for social change, a member of the Board of Directors of Navex Global, a Portland, OR based provider of ethics and compliance software, as well as Dude Solutions, the leading asset management software company. Jim was a “Wish Grantor” for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Massachusetts and he had the privilege of granting six children’s wishes.

Jim trains for marathons between school events for his four children.

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.

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.

Tina serves as Chief People Officer at Relias. Her responsibilities include leading the HR organization, as well as the company’s Client Care department. In her dual roles, she seeks to optimize everyone’s experience with Relias, whether they be employees or clients.

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 deepwater 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 BS in Chemical Engineering from Florida State University, and an M.B.A. 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.

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.

Gary serves as the Chief Technology Officer at Relias, where he oversees the development, hosting, and scalability of all the Relias applications around the world. He joined Relias in 2013 as the Director of Engineering. Gary has more than 25 years of experience in enterprise software development, hosting, and IT with a focus in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) large scale solutions. He has held technical leadership positions with IBM, Railinc, and Deutsche Bank in business areas such as supply chain management, finance, and security prior to joining Relias.

Gary lives in Cary, NC and enjoys spending time on the water with his two children and getting a round of golf in here and there. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Management of Information Systems from the University of Cincinnati.

Ben serves as General Manager of the Population Health Business Unit. Prior to his current role, Ben was the Chief Product Officer of Relias from July 2015 through May 2019. He joined Relias in March 2012 as VP of Engineering during the company’s formation by Vista Equity Partners. He previously served six years as CIO of Essential Learning, an education technology company that delivered innovative training solutions to behavioral health and intellectual and developmental disabilities agencies. Prior to that, Ben spent 10+ years in a variety of technology and management roles focused primarily on developing EMR and medication management systems. He has more than 20 years of experience in web technologies, product development, and general management for software companies focused on the healthcare and human services markets.

Ben is passionate about using technology to promote lifelong learning that empowers individuals and improves society. He volunteers with the Utah Education Network, Boy Scouts of America, and the Methodist church. Ben graduated summa cum laude from UC Berkeley and holds MS and MBA degrees from Columbia University and the University of Utah.

Stacy West, 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 ecommerce. Stacy comes to Relias with more than 25 years of strategic marketing, sales and management experience, most recently at SolarWinds MSP, where she served as VP of Marketing.

Prior to joining SolarWinds, Stacy served as Vice President, Marketing & Communications of SciQuest, an enterprise SaaS software company. She has also held senior marketing positions at Canon USA and Hewlett-Packard, overseeing the go-to- market strategies and execution for both. In addition, Stacy has significant editorial and publishing experience as well as extensive financial marketing expertise.

Stacy attended Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA for her undergraduate degree but is a loyal Big Ten Iowa Hawkeyes fan. Go Hawks!

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.

Brian Shannon is the Vice President of Sales at Relias. Prior to joining Relias in 2018 he served as Vice President, Hospital and Health System Sales at Premier Healthcare Alliance for nearly six years. Brian has also held the position of President at Healthcare Finance Partners, as well as various sales roles at Boston Scientific, AT&T and EMC.

Brian was born and raised in Ohio and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from DePauw University in Greencastle, IN. He lived in Chicago, IL for ten years before moving to North Carolina, where he lives with his wife and two children. In his free time, he enjoys playing basketball with his kids, relaxing at the pool and vacationing with his family.

Hatham Al-Tarafi is Managing Director at Relias (UK) Ltd. Based in London, Hatham brings over 19 years’ experience in clinical solutions and health technology in the NHS and private health industry. Hatham comes most recently from a role as Sales Director for the UK and Nordics for caresyntax – specialising in operating theatre optimisation through actionable surgical data, utilising a combination of IoT and data analytics technologies. Prior to that he worked with Smith & Nephew for 11 years, his last role for S&N was as European Sales Director for their value-led digital SaaS solutions division.

Hatham is a passionate advocate of patient-centric medical innovation, with a specific focus on training and sharing best practises, to power transformation in healthcare and produce better patient outcomes.

Stefan Herm is the Country Manager, Germany 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.