About Us

Kim Taylor

CEO

Kim is an accomplished executive with over 40 years of experience transforming companies and creating success stories through people, processes, and innovation.

With his steadfast focus on delighting customers, inspiring employees, and delivering exceptional value, Kim has led five companies to consistently achieve annual growth rates of over 20% and exits totaling hundreds of millions in value. Most recently, he led Innovative Driven, a prominent eDiscovery service for law firms, to a successful outcome. For Kim, developing people in today’s demanding environment is critical. As such, he reinvents the work experience and inspires, incentivizes, and engages everyone to work towards the four pillars of excellence: customer centricity, operational excellence, people development, and process improvement.

Kim earned his MS in Business Operational Excellence from Ohio State and his MBA and BA from Arizona State University (ASU). ASU recently recognized his business achievements by awarding him ‘Sun Devil 100’ honors

James Petersen

President & COO

Jim brings a wealth of experience developing professional services businesses and a genuine passion for solving operational complexities, engaging with customers, and driving results.

Before joining Escalon, Jim served as the President and COO of BlueStar Energy/AEP Energy. Under his leadership, the start-up company experienced exponential growth in customers (residential, commercial, and industrial), geography, and profitability. Before BlueStar, Jim held various leadership roles at Motorola, including leading the rollout of the Android mobile device portfolio with the largest wireless carrier in North America.

Jim is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt (MBB), has earned an MBA from Northwestern University, and has a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign.

Vipul Barbhaya

CFO

Vipul has over twenty years of experience as an investment banker, M&A consultant, and CFO.

Before joining Escalon, Vipul was Managing Director for Riveron, a national business advisory firm, where he provided M&A consulting services to private equity investors, investment banking clients, and corporations. Previously, Vipul held positions with Berkeley Research Group, McGladrey, and FTI Consulting.

Vipul earned an MBA in finance from the University of Western Australia and a M.S. in accounting and finance from the University of Illinois

Karen Greene

VP of Human Resources

Karen is an accomplished people leader with broad strategic, change management, and cultural transformation experience, including a track record of impact-building people programs for top-tier professional services firms.

Karen has over 20 years of experience in talent management, workforce planning, organizational design, compensation, talent acquisition, performance management, and employee relations. Her passion lies in building cultures that attract the best talent, grow careers, and help people love where they work.

Before joining Escalon, Karen was a human resources executive for McKinsey and Co. and PwC. She has also consulted early-stage start-ups and PE-backed firms.

Karen is an active member of SHRM and holds an SPHR certification. She earned her MPA in human resources from Carnegie Mellon University and her M. Ed in Management from the University of Georgia. She also holds degrees in economics and psychology from The University of Pittsburgh. Karen and her husband reside in Tampa, Florida, with their four children and Goldendoodle puppy

Ankur Saxena

Head of India Operations

A qualified Chartered Accountant, Ankur brings over 15 years of experience leading business development, operations, finance, and accounting departments. Most of all, Ankur is deeply passionate and committed to developing and enriching the people around him.

Ankur established and has led Escalon’s India Operations. Starting with a team of 3, Ankur grew Escalon’s India team to over 700 team members, delivering work across finance, accounting, human resources, payroll, and benefits disciplines. A natural team builder, he is involved in all aspects of their performance, ensuring that every element of the India office is optimized for quality work and team efficiencies.

Jedannah Vieira

Lead CFO & Head of Consumer Goods

Jedannah is an accomplished executive with over 15 years of experience in financial services (Ernst and Young, RSA Insurance) and at high-growth consumer brands (Rothy’s, Babylist, ettitude, VSCO). During her time as Consulting CFO at Fullstack Finance and Escalon, Jedannah has supported several brands in a long-term capacity: Humanrace, Orebella, The Outset. Jedannah is a generous leader; she excels at establishing high-performance teams and operating models; at executing strategic and financial planning. Jedannah graduated Cum Laude with a honors Bachelor’s of Business Administration and a graduate diploma in Accounting from Wilfrid Laurier University; received her CPA designation in 2009.

David Horning

Lead CFO & Head of SaaS

David leads our Software-as-a-Service practice at Escalon. He has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, including more than 10 years working as a fractional CFO for venture-backed start-ups. During this time David has helped dozens of companies complete more than $600M in combined equity and debt transactions across a range of industries: SaaS, cleantech, biotech, hardware, transportation and many more. Previously David was an Investment Professional at Palo Alto Investors where he invested in both publicly-traded small-cap companies and private venture-backed start-ups. David began his career as a Mechanical Engineer in the gas turbine industry where he helped developed low-emission combustion systems. David received a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and M.S. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, and his M.S. and B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington. He has been a Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder since 2005.

Paul Meyer

Lead CFO & Head of Life Sciences

Paul Meyer is an experienced finance executive with a 25+ year track record in senior roles at start-ups and Fortune 500 technology companies. He has significant experience in fundraising, including angel and venture capital, leasing/debt financing, and initial public offerings.

Before Escalon, Paul was the CFO of Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc., an early-stage medical device company. He was also the General Manager of their plastic consumables manufacturing business, BioMolded Products LLC. During much of his career, Paul was with Interlink Electronics [NASDAQ: LINK], a developer of intuitive interface technologies for business and home applications, serving sixteen years as CFO and Executive Vice President. He joined Interlink as CFO when it was a start-up with 25 employees. He managed its transition through an IPO and oversaw its growth for over ten years as a public company to more than 200 employees worldwide, establishing offices in the US, Japan, China, and Taiwan.

He is an avid participant in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of greater Los Angeles, including being the incoming President of Tech Coast Angels (Central Coast chapter), the Vice Chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Santa Barbara, a Technical Advisor for the Ventura Ventures Technology Center (V2TC) tech incubator and more.

Shannon O'Neill

Lead CFO & Head of Diversified

Shannon is a versatile finance and operations executive with a unique blend of experience, including launching high-growth digital platforms at Comcast and Golf Channel, leading the Media and Entertainment vertical for EY Consulting, and managing finance and operations for the highly successful Scripps Networks portfolio. O’Neill is celebrated for his keen business transformation skills, financial and performance management, and customer relationship management.

Shannon has a long history of building and growing new businesses, which started in 1999 when he co-founded vcmVertical – a proprietary artificial intelligence platform for capturing, filtering, and tagging financial information on the web. Before Escalon, Shannon was Managing Director at Scripps Networks Interactive, serving as the Finance and Operations lead for its $2.5B domestic business – HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel, DIY, Cooking Channel and Great American Country.

Shannon graduated from the University of Delaware, holds a CPA, and completed an executive management program at Harvard Business School. Shannon lives with his wife and daughter in Denver, CO.

John Schenk

Lead CFO & Head of Media, Entertainment, and Web3

John has 20+ years of finance and operations experience working for global media brands including Sony BMG Entertainment, Capitol Records, and Tickets.com. John has served as CFO for a number of early-stage high growth tech companies, and most recently for an early-stage cryptocurrency / blockchain company called Make Sense Labs. John has an MBA in finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business, and a BS degree from Indiana University. He is also an actively licensed CPA in the state of California.

Yair Segev

Lead CFO & Head of Non-Profit

Yair joined Escalon in 2014. He is a business and financial leader known for his ability to develop and deliver strategic company-wide financial policies and procedures. He has hands-on experience assisting non-profits in corporate development, continuation planning, and workforce retention.

As an astute leader, Yair adds value through proactive decision-making, business process reengineering, proven global leadership, and mentoring and coaching skills. Before joining Escalon, Yair was the Vice President of Finance for Nielsen Social (a Nielsen McKinsey company) and managed various finance responsibilities within Nielsen Online. Yair also served as CFO of a chemical trading company and treasurer of a multinational telecom company.

Yair has a BA in Accounting and Economics from Tel Aviv University and was a member of CPA Israel.

Ankush Sharma

Lead Controller & Head of Private Equity

Ankush is a highly impactful accounting professional with over 18 years of experience servicing diverse industries. A trusted business partner, he is Six Sigma certified and offers substantial experience driving process improvements across accounting and operations.

Ankush has worked with emerging businesses in the health/fitness, marketing advertising, manufacturing, e-commerce, and technology sectors, delivering measurable results focusing on client satisfaction. He provides a full range of financial services, including revenue recognition, sales tax returns, monthly financials review, ERP solutions (NetSuite) implementation, and designing OTC, P2P, and R2R processes. Inspired by the innovative products and services of Escalon clients, he is deeply committed to helping them succeed.

Ankush holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Panjab University. In his free time, he enjoys reading biographies and volunteering to raise money for multiple charities.

Hugh Alexander

Head of Tax & Compliance

Hugh is an accomplished tax executive and licensed attorney with over 27 years of experience providing business tax services to a broad array of clients in varying industries, with a focus on technology-based SMB’s.

Before joining Escalon, Hugh was a Tax Partner for KPMG, LLP, a Big Four global public accounting firm. He also served as the Tax Risk Management Partner for KPMG’s Pacific Southwest and Northern Pacific Business Units.

Hugh received his Juris Doctor degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law and his Bachelor of Science from The University of Texas at Austin. He is also an active member in the Tax Sections for both the State Bar of Texas and the State Bar of Arizona.