We meet extraordinary challenges with extraordinary talent. These industry leaders are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible when it comes to powering your story.

Kevin Akeroyd
Chief Executive Officer
Kevin Akeroyd oversees the Cision executive management team across operations globally.

He has more than 25 years of experience in reshaping modern digital, social and mobile marketing globally. Prior to Cision he was general manager and senior vice president at Oracle Marketing Cloud. Akeroyd and Oracle created the Enterprise Marketing Platform category and led it from the onset. Prior to Oracle, he held senior leadership positions at several companies, including Data.com, Salesforce.com, RR Donnelley, and Jigsaw.

Akeroyd holds a degree from the University of Washington, Michael G. Foster School of Business and attended the EPSO program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Jack Pearlstein
Executive VP And Chief Financial Officer
With 20 years of financial, operational and strategic planning experience working with technology companies, Jack Pearlstein oversees our finance, accounting, legal, and HR and facilities functions.

Prior to Cision, Pearlstein was CFO of Six3 Systems, Inc., a leading provider of software development, sensor development and signal processing services to the intelligence community. As a CFO, Pearlstein has led three different companies through their initial public offerings: AppNet, DigitalNet and Solera.

Pearlstein is a CPA and received his Bachelor of Science in accounting from New York University. He also holds an MBA in finance from The George Washington University.
Jason Edelboim
President, Americas
Jason Edelboim is President of Cision Americas, where he oversees sales, customer service and operations for the U.S., Canada and Latin America, as well as Cision’s Global Product organization. He is responsible for developing and executing the company’s go-to-market strategy to drive revenue growth and profitability.

Edelboim has served as Cision’s President of the Americas since December 2016. He was named President of PR Newswire in June 2016, and prior to that was a Senior Vice President at the company from June 2013 to June 2016. Edelboim has over 15 years of experience at the intersection of media and technology. He previously worked at Bloomberg LP from 2003 to 2009 where he held progressing leadership roles within the company’s Media Group. He has also worked at Time Warner and Euromoney Institutional Investor.

Edelboim holds an MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University and a BA from Columbia University.
Whitney Benner
Chief HR Officer
Whitney Benner is the Chief HR Officer for Cision. In her role, Whitney is responsible for developing and executing human resources strategy in support of the overall business plan and strategic direction of the organization, specifically in the areas of succession planning, talent management, change management, organizational and performance management, training and development, and compensation.

Whitney was previously Senior Vice President of Human Resources for PR Newswire, where she set and implemented Human Resource strategy in support of the company’s overall business objectives. Before Whitney joined PR Newswire, she held human resources leadership roles at Medialink and MJI Broadcasting.

Whitney holds a Bachelor’s degree from Skidmore College.
Chris Lynch
Chief Marketing Officer
Chris Lynch oversees Cision’s global marketing teams. Serving as Chief Marketing Officer, Lynch is responsible for Cision’s global marketing strategy — spanning communications, product and digital marketing. Previously, he ran product marketing and go-to-market strategy for Oracle’s Marketing Cloud business and also held leadership positions at companies like Badgeville and TIBCO. Based in San Francisco, Lynch attended Northeastern University where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. Follow him on Twitter @cglynch.
Pat Galvin
Chief Revenue Officer, North America
Pat Galvin leads the optimization of Cision’s go-to-market strategy for customer acquisition and retention, improving collaboration and cross-selling across our different sales teams, and driving additional focus and rigor in our sales integration efforts. With nearly two decades of sales leadership experience in the technology, SaaS and services industries, Galvin has held positions at companies including Insidesales.com, Oracle and Marketo

Galvin holds a degree in English and Psychology from San Diego State University.
Michael Piispanen
Chief Process and Operations Officer
Mike Piispanen leads the development, enhancement and optimization of business operations, program and project management, business process engineering and M&A activities. He also oversees business units across geographies to ensure the delivery of operational excellence and best-in-class execution to our diverse, global client base. Piispanen brings nearly 30 years of experience across consumer, software, FinTech, and pharma industries. Over the last 15 years he has served in a number of roles within Nasdaq’s Corporate Solutions business guiding and leading that businesses journey from a small start-up through dozens of acquisitions, mergers and carve-outs. Piispanen holds an MBA from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson and a BS in Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Robert Coppola
Chief Information Officer
Robert Coppola is responsible for managing and enhancing Cision's technology capabilities and security posture on a global basis. Prior to joining Cision, Coppola spent four years with McGraw-Hill Financial as the Chief Information and Technology Officer for S&P Capital IQ and S&P Dow Jones Indices, a leading provider of ratings, benchmarking and analytics in the global capital and commodity markets. There, he was responsible for driving the overarching technology strategy, architecture and development in addition to evolving multiple silo-based teams into one global operating team. He has also held leadership positions with Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg LP. Coppola holds a Bachelor’s in Economics from Rutgers University.
Pritham Shetty
Chief Technology Officer
Pritham Shetty oversees Cision's global teams responsible for engineering and cloud solutions. He is responsible for continuously building out Cision's data and technology offerings. Committed to operational excellence, Pritham provides breakthrough products and leads the company's technology strategy and roadmap.

Pritham joined Cision from GuideSpark, a leader in employee communication software, where he served as senior vice president of product and engineering. Prior to GuideSpark, he held a 15-year tenure at Adobe holding a number of executive level positions including vice president of product development. During his time at Adobe he contributed to more than 30 patents, managed a global team and led product strategy and execution for various offerings including Adobe Core Services, Adobe Audience Manager and Adobe Primetime for the Adobe Digital Marketing Cloud.

Pritham holds a Bachelor’s from University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering and a Master’s in Computer Science from University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
David Barker
President, Data Solutions and Innovation
As President, Data Solutions and Innovation, David Barker oversees the company’s earned marketing cloud vision through use of integrated data within Cision’s technologies and across our partner ecosystem. With experience in driving go-to-market sales and strategy for small to large-sized ad-tech and digital marketing enterprises, David is responsible for driving Cision’s new and innovative product offerings. Additionally, David oversees Cision’s partnerships and alliances.

David has led Cision’s data solutions and innovation since 2016. Prior to Cision, he was Vice President of Data, Media and Ad Tech Sales at Oracle Marketing Cloud and has held positions with Turn, Accenture and Adobe.

David holds a Bachelor’s in Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from Columbia University.
Rainer Mathes, Ph.D.
President, Cision Insights
Dr. Rainer Mathes is president of Cision Insights, overseeing a team dedicated to evaluating campaign effectiveness through customized intelligence, reporting and industry expertise. Mathes is committed to delivering value to Cision customers by providing them with the industry's strongest solutions for communication measurement and insights.

Mathes founded PRIME Research in 1988, which was later acquired by Cision in 2018. He developed PRIME Research into a leading global research organization with locations in Europe, the United States and Asia. Mathes transformed the business over time, focusing on digital competences, including PRIME.com.

Mathes is a member of the International Communication Association (ICA), International Association for Mass Communication Research (IAMCR) and German Communication Association (DGPuk). He holds a Master’s and PH. D from Johannes Gutenberg University.
Yujie Chen
President, Asia-Pacific
Yujie Chen, President, Asia-Pacific, is responsible for Cision's strategic direction and its expanding business operations across the region.

Chen joined PR Newswire in late 2003 to lead its efforts in developing its media distribution network in China. His role steadily expanded to include sales and marketing, editorial and customer services, product development and innovation. Working with his team, Chen pioneered the commercial newswire industry in a market where few believed it had any future and helped establish the company as the dominant player in providing news distribution, financial disclosure as well as media intelligence and monitoring services to customers. He was promoted to head of the company’s business for the entire APAC region in 2013 and currently leads a team of some 200 professionals working out of over a dozen offices across the region, serving thousands of global and local customers with their communications needs.

Prior to PR Newswire, Chen had worked in many sectors of the media and publishing industry and held various positions at CNBC Asia, Deluxe Global Media, Beijing Television, among others. Chen holds an MBA degree from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.
Abe Smith
President, EMEAI
Abe Smith is the President, EMEAI of Cision responsible for orchestrating the connected go-to-market strategy for this broad region. He is committed to delighting the customer, developing employees and increasing top line revenue while promoting operational excellence.

A Silicon Valley veteran, Smith has spent the past 17 years with US-based high growth, enterprise SaaS companies focusing on market transformation. His expertise is accelerating business internationally, particularly in the Emerging Markets of JAPAC, India and Latin America. Having led teams of scale at mature technology companies such as Oracle and Cisco, Abe has also built startups to maturity at companies such as WebEx where he was part of the core leadership team that drove the rapid ascent from IPO to $400m in revenue and ultimate $3.2b acquisition.

Smith graduated with highest honors from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a degree in Political Science and certification in International Relations.
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