CCO
Founder & CEO
Lauren Kelley is the founder of OPEXEngine. After 25 years in fast growth high tech companies, she founded OPEXEngine to solve the problem that high tech companies lack good quality benchmarks from a neutral provider — especially operational benchmarks — to reduce risk and improve efficiency and growth. Lauren is also a big believer that data and benchmarks level the playing field in decision-making, reducing all sorts of biases that can cloud management decision-making, affecting efficient growth.
Prior to OPEXEngine, Lauren led WW revenue and operations for internet and ecommerce pioneer, ATG, as SVP of WW Sales and Strategic Development, from start-up through ATG’s IPO (with one of the highest market valuations in the industry). ATG was later acquired by Oracle. Before ATG, Lauren managed part of Borland Software’s European business from Paris, France; and helped build Compaq’s East European business from Munich, Germany.
Lauren has a BA from Tufts University and M.I.A. in political economy from Columbia University. Lauren’s professional career started as an international economist in the Office of Computers in the US Department of Commerce, where she represented the US supercomputer industry in trade negotiations in Japan and Europe. Lauren’s entrepreneurial career started in elementary school when she created tie dyed wastebaskets and enlisted her friends to help her sell them by calling numbers in the phone book with similar phone prefixes – an early, manual version of direct marketing.
CFO
Sherri is a seasoned finance and operations professional with deep experience in the operations and financial structures of emerging growth companies. Sherri began her career on Wall Street with Salomon Brothers and then became an equity research analyst with Adams, Harkness & Hill, a Boston based investment bank where she covered information technology services companies. After leaving the capital markets, Sherri became a Managing Director at Internet Capital Group (ICG), an Internet venture capital organization with 80 business-to-business e-commerce companies in its portfolio.
Sherri has spent the last 15 years working with start-ups in the information services and consumer goods markets in a variety of financial and operational roles. Most recently, she was the CFO of JOOS, LLC where she helped to build JOOS into the largest fresh-pressed, organic fruit and vegetable juice provider in New England. She joined OPEXEngine to be a part of a rapidly growing high tech Company that has an impact on how financial professionals make day to day operating decisions.
Sherri is President, Columbia College Women and Board Member of Columbia College Alumni Association. Sherri has a BA in Economics from Columbia University and an MS in Finance from MIT Sloan School of Management.
COO & General Counsel
Rich is a successful SaaS technology executive with a unique background including roles as COO, CFO and General Counsel in a variety of B2B and B2C organizations. He leverages his operational, finance, legal and business expertise to transform business outcomes and build shareholder value for start-up and growth companies, including as CFO at OLB Inc., FISC Solutions (acquired by WAUSAU Financial Systems), and Relevant Equity Systems (a Thomson Financial portfolio company). He joined OPEXEngine for the opportunity to work with leading SaaS companies and to leverage his skills in helping to build out the OPEXEngine benchmarking product offering.
In his various leadership roles, he has driven financial operational and business strategy, scaled organizational infrastructure, raised outside capital and arranged financing, implemented financial reporting, customer care and KPI driven process improvement, accelerated product innovation, and expanded operations into global markets. His industry expertise includes technology, media, financial services, and consulting.
Rich resides in Boston and holds Master’s Degree in Finance from McCallum Graduate School of Business at Bentley University and a J.D. from New England Law Boston.