COUPA LEADERSHIP Supporting, Not Managing Our Employees and Our Business.
What It Means to be Upside Down
At Coupa, leadership starts at the "bottom" where – like a tree – every leader supports (not manages) their employees. With a strong foundational “trunk”, our leaders support their teams who make up the functional “branches” around the organization. The entire tree is bound by a common set of core values that guide us every day. It is this belief and model that nurtures the tree so it can flourish and grow.
We've featured our executive team and some key leaders on a rotational basis in our tree of leadership below.
See Our Leadership Tree
Sameer Areff
Chief Transformation Officer
Sameer Areff is Coupa's Chief Transformation Officer. He brings the organization more than a decade of experience leading business transformations and operations. His diverse leadership roles include time as the chief of staff to the co-CEO and senior vice president of global transformation and growth initiatives at Ceridian. He's also held operational executive roles at SAP and Accenture.
Sameer holds a master’s degree (cum laude) in international relations from the University of Stellenbosch and a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Witwatersrand majoring in law, political science, and international relations.
Mike Schanker
EVP, Strategy
What is the most interesting item or service you have seen sourced through Coupa?
Jaw Crushers
Michael Schanker is Executive Vice President of Strategic Insights at Coupa, supporting Coupa's go-to-market strategy, product marketing, segment marketing, and customer marketing teams. He has spent more than 20 years in enterprise software across Marketing, Sales, and Services leadership roles after starting his career in Finance. Common threads across all his work experience are a passion for leading new market categories, and a focus on creating customer value by applying technology to hard problems. He received an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BSBA degree from Washington University in St. Louis.
Kevin Iaquinto
EVP, Chief Marketing Officer
Kevin Iaquinto has a 25+ year proven track record of success in transforming and scaling leading private and public SaaS software companies as a four-time CMO at category leaders including Blue Yonder, CommerceHub, Software AG, and Deltek.
Kevin is a metrics-driven, award-winning marketing and culture leader who has built high-performing teams and created leading brands, enabling these companies to achieve significant growth, IPOs, and strategic acquisitions.
As Chief Marketing Officer, Kevin is responsible for the company’s brand awareness and recognition through integrated advertising, public relations, analyst relations, social media, content marketing and events. He is also responsible for building demand and sales pipeline through effective performance and account-based marketing, product marketing, customer marketing, and partner marketing.
Kevin and his teams have won multiple industry awards and he was recently named Marketing Executive of the Year by PR World News. He is a previous Board member of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from Franklin and Marshall College.
Michael Van Keulen
Chief Procurement Officer
What is the most interesting item or service you have seen sourced through Coupa?
Dolphin medication
MVK is the Chief Procurement Officer at Coupa, where he is responsible for driving best-in-class procurement practices across the company, supporting business development, and being a trusted advisor to fellow procurement leaders looking to (digitally) transform Procurement.
Before joining Coupa, MVK served as the Global Procurement leader at lululemon athletica where he led procurement transformation and digitized the Business Spend Management process with Coupa. Prior to that, MVK led the global procurement transformation at VF Corporation, a Fortune 300 global leader in lifestyle apparel and a Coupa customer. At both companies, MVK helped create significant shareholder value, implement best practices, and supported high growth. MVK also spent 4 years as the European Controller at Foot Locker Inc. and held finance positions at Nuance and Sterling Commerce. He began his career in Management Consulting with Arthur Anderson.
MVK is a procurement evangelist and fanatic, who is frequently invited to speak at procurement conferences and provides thought leadership through publications, blog posts and webinars. He holds a BS degree from the University of Amsterdam and currently resides in Vancouver, BC.
Sal Alswafta
VP, Revenue Accounting
Sal is Vice President of Revenue Accounting at Coupa and is responsible for managing order-to-cash cycle, which includes billing, collections, revenue accounting, contract negotiation support, and revenue related SOX. Sal Joined Coupa in 2015 and led the process of establishing revenue processes and procedures and building a strong revenue team. During his tenure, Sal has helped in the Company’s IPO, managed the adoption of ASC 606, and supported numerous M&A transactions. Sal has more than 20 years of finance and accounting experience with a focus on revenue recognition for the last 15 years. Sal oversees the Company’s revenue recognition policy, revenue operation, revenue system, processes and procedures, research, and evaluation of revenue recognition treatment and interpretation of accounting guidance. Prior to Coupa, Sal held various revenue management positions at NetSuite, Nanometrics, and Taleo. Sal holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from University of Jordan and dual MBA degrees in finance and accounting from California State University. Also, he holds CMA and CFM certifications and is a California CPA.
Ron Chang
SVP, Sales Operations
Ron is the Senior Vice President of Global Sales Operations at Coupa, supporting Coupa’s Sales transformational initiatives, go-to-market strategy, performance management, and Sales process and productivity. Ron has more than 20 years of enterprise software industry experience across Finance, Sales, and Operations. Ron is passionate about Sales optimization, change management, unlocking big GTM opportunities and building teams and infrastructure to ensure Customer success. Prior to joining Coupa in 2022, Ron served as the Global Head of Sales Strategy and Analytics at Atlassian where he was responsible for scaling strategic Enterprise Sales growth that resulted in 400%+ growth in just under 4 years. He has also held various leadership roles at Adobe in Sales Operations, License management and FP&A.
Ron received an MBA from USC Marshall School of Business and a BS Engineering degree from University of California, Irvine.
Fang Chang
EVP & Chief Product Officer
What is the most interesting item or service you have seen sourced through Coupa?
An airplane
Fang is the Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer at Coupa Software, driving product strategy and roadmap for various products across the portfolio, including Procurement, Contracts, and Expenses.
With over 25 years of experience in the software industry, Fang has held leadership roles at Intuit, Macromedia, and Adobe, building products that incorporate human-centered design and bring consumer-like experiences to enterprises.
Prior to Coupa, he served as the Vice President of Product Marketing & Management at Syncplicity, acknowledged as a leader for enterprise file synchronization & sharing in Gartner MQ evaluations. In this role, he directed product strategy, roadmap, and outbound product marketing.
Fang is a graduate of UC San Diego and holds Master of Business Administration and Master of Engineering Management degrees from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Rajiv Ramachandran
SVP, Product Management
What is the most interesting item or service you have seen sourced through Coupa?
Hyperloop Components
Rajiv Ramachandran is the product executive responsible for the overall strategy, management, and engineering of Coupa’s B2B payment platform - Coupa Pay.
With over 20+ years of experience in the enterprise software industry, Rajiv has deep knowledge and experience on SaaS solutions, Cloud and On-Premise based integrations of financial platforms, and streamlining B2B payment experiences and processes across the enterprise.
Before joining Coupa, Rajiv held technology and business leadership roles at Prolifics, a premier IBM Business Partner managing business process management and enterprise integration lines of business. In 2013, Rajiv joined Coupa, leading the cloud integration strategy and technical services organization. Over the last four years, he has spearheaded the launch, growth, and adoption of Coupa Pay, marking one of Coupa's most successful product launches for all its customers.
With an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Business, Rajiv is a constant innovator actively seeking to disrupt the B2B payments space, with multiple pending patents under his name.
Susan Tohyama
Chief Human Resources Officer
Susan Tohyama is Chief Human Resources officer at Coupa. Susan is responsible for designing and driving the global people and culture strategy, including talent development, recruiting, diversity, compensation, benefits, and employee engagement.
Susan has more than 20+ years of HR leadership experience. Prior to joining Coupa in 2023, Susan held leadership roles at some of the world’s best-known multinational-brands across six continents, including Ceridian HCM, Vice Media, Starbucks, the NBA, and Disney.
Susan has built a reputation as a trusted advisor and strategic business partner who champions a people-centric culture built on diversity, equality, and opportunity. She is most passionate about building collaborative, innovative organizations that are rewarding places to work.
She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Western University, in London, Ontario.
Gina Tesla
VP, Sustainability & Social Impact
Gina leads Coupa’s Environmental, Social, and Governance team, spanning sustainability, social impact and diversity, equity and inclusion. She is passionate about the intersection of business and society, creating innovative partnerships, and building strong, diverse teams. She is also the Executive Chair of Empower, an employee resource group focused on working smarter together to unleash the power of women, and their allies to #breakthebias and build a more inclusive world.
Prior to Coupa, Gina was at Microsoft, where she conceptualized the Sustainability Service Line for Microsoft Consulting Services. Additionally, as a leader at IBM in Corporate Responsibility for 10 years, Gina’s portfolio spanned multi-million-dollar investments driving social impact across education and skills, health, gender equity, and community resiliency. She also led global sustainability, covering employee engagement, environment, human resources, public policy, supply chain, and governance. Gina also spearheaded IBM's employee volunteerism initiatives, overseeing the acclaimed Corporate Service Corps. Under her leadership, the program engaged 4,000 employees from 60 countries in executing 1,500 social impact projects spanning 40 countries.
Gina holds an MBA from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. She also served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama. Her successful career began in advertising, including roles at Young and Rubicam, Ogilvy and Mather, and McCann Erickson.
Ronan Kerouedan
SVP, Global Value Solutions Consulting
What is the most interesting item or service you have seen sourced through Coupa?
Clowns
Ronan Kerouedan is Senior Vice President of Global Value Solutions Consulting, leading all functional and technical presales resources globally at Coupa. The Value Solutions Consulting team is responsible for helping prospective clients understand how our technology can help them transform their organizations and generate sustainable value.
Ronan has over two decades of experience in the software industry, starting initially with the implementation of SAP systems in the discrete manufacturing industry in the UK before moving to presales roles at early e-procurement pioneers Commerce One and Ariba.
Ronan has a real passion for the environment, launching in 2007 a Carbon Management cloud-based software startup, Hubsphere, raising venture capital, and developing the business across key markets in Europe. After successfully helping thousands of schools and businesses mitigate their environmental impact, Ronan joined Coupa in 2012 to help kickstart its operations across EMEA. Ronan is a keen believer in mixing technology innovation with a rigorous KPI-based value framework to help businesses generate sustainable value. He works relentlessly with the global sales team to optimize how organizations of all sizes are joining our ever-growing community and adopting our Value as a Service solutions.
Mark Riggs
Chief Customer Officer
What is the most interesting item or service you have seen sourced through Coupa?
Cars
Mark is the Chief Customer Officer (CCO) at Coupa where he champions, orchestrates, and advances the customer experience across Coupa’s ever-more-complex range of customer interactions. With more than 25 years of experience, Mark has a consistent track record of creating and scaling customer-facing teams across organizations while delivering optimal success to internal and external stakeholders. Prior to Coupa, Mark worked as the Chief Customer Officer and General Manager for Bazaarvoice during a period of rapid revenue growth and was also part of the team that led the company through its initial public offering (IPO).
Previously, Mark was Senior Vice President of World-Wide Customer Success for Endeca Technologies where he helped grow the company from early stage through its acquisition by Oracle for $1.1 billion. Before Endeca, Riggs served as Vice President of Global Services for Business Objects where he helped grow the company from $400 million to $1.6 billion in annual revenue. Business Objects was acquired by SAP for $6.8 billion.
Mark is an Advisory Board member for Conscia, the Toronto based Interactive Management Platform company. He earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Computer Information Systems, Magna Cum Laude, from Northern Arizona University. Mark also took engineering classes of distinction at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).
Gregory Mark
SVP, Customer Value Management
Gregory Mark, SVP of Global Enterprise Customer Value Management, supports a team of Value Directors tasked with helping Coupa customers achieve increased realization of value through their existing entitlements. Greg has over 25 years experience in the BSM space having held the positions of Chief Executive Officer at Hubwoo, Chief Revenue Officer at Perfect Commerce, Chief Customer Officer at Zycus, and and VP Marketplace Strategy at Commerce One. Greg is based in both Kansas City and Philadelphia.
Arjun Ramaratnam
EVP & Chief Development Officer
Arjun is the Senior Vice President at Coupa Software, overseeing software development in key areas such as Mobile, Analytics, Supply Chain Design & Planning, Suppliers, Risk, Travel & Expenses, both in core and power applications for the Coupa enterprise cloud platform.
He is a proven technology leader with over 20 years of experience, specializing in the execution of high-value Enterprise and Consumer technology programs. Arjun possesses expertise in scaling technology and building global software teams.
Previously, he was with WalmartLabs, where he led the architecture and development of Walmart.com's search, cart, checkout, grocery, payment, tax, and customer account platforms.
Vilas Madapurmath
SVP, Engineering
As the Senior Vice President of Engineering, Vilas Madapurmath supports the engineering teams responsible for the CWM product, global quality, and PMO.
Vilas has 30+ years of enterprise software development experience, blending hands-on software development expertise with customer-facing skills. Prior to joining Coupa, Vilas held senior engineering leadership positions with Oracle, Portal Software, CA Technologies, and VeriFone, building software solutions spanning revenue management, payments, and applications monitoring. Vilas joined Coupa in 2014 and has been instrumental in establishing the engineering development practices for Coupa.
Vilas earned a BS in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from BITS at Pilani, India, and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix.
Stéphane Pelchat
SVP, Development
What is the most interesting item or service you have seen sourced through Coupa?
Rocket parts
Stephane, Vice President of Platform Engineering, joined Coupa in 2011 and is supporting common business objects, application frameworks, pipelines, and services leveraged across Coupa's entire suite. He also leads the Application Security, Integration and Performance programs within the engineering organization.
Prior to Coupa, Stéphane held technical and leadership roles at several consumer and enterprise companies.
Stéphane holds a Bachelors of Engineering from the UQAC in Canada, where he studied Computer, Electronics, and Information Engineering.
Ken Ricketts
Chief Information Security Officer
What is the most interesting item or service you have seen sourced through Coupa?
PPE, during the Covid pandemic
Ken is Chief Information Security Officer, supporting Coupa’s security and compliance mission. He has spent the last 25 years in the Silicon Valley leading teams and helping them scale and innovate.
Ken has a passion for security, quality, and operational excellence. Ken has worked in a variety of roles throughout his time in large enterprise organizations aand also at start-ups. His experience in large enterprises honed his skills in building customer-centric organizations driven by results. His time innovating in start-ups, taught him the importance of hiring high performers and being laser focused on achieving the most impactful outcomes for customers. Prior to joining Coupa, Ken built a world class Security, Quality, and Infrastructure Engineering function to support SurveyMonkey’s rapidly expanding consumer data business.
Ken is passionate about giving back to others and is an executive sponsor for the Coupa Cares organization.
Ken Ricketts holds a BS degree from the University of California at Riverside and currently resides in the Bay Area.
Supporting the tree
Leagh Turner
CEO
Leagh Turner is CEO of Coupa and a member of the company’s Board of Directors. Leagh oversees the end-to-end operations and strong execution that are fundamental to Coupa's growth. Prior, Leagh served as co-CEO of Ceridian.
Leagh has been a leader and innovator in the software industry for more than 20 years, previously serving in senior leadership roles at SAP and Oracle and has twice been recognized by the Women’s Executive Network as one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women.
Leagh is a member of the boards of directors at Manulife, a leading international financial services group, and Plan International Canada, a global not-for-profit that focuses on improving the lives of children around the world. She is a strong advocate for the advancement of women in leadership and a champion of diversity, equity, and inclusion within the workforce.
Leagh is a graduate of Western University in London, Ontario.