Leadership

Anurag brings Escalon’s clients a unique blend of hands-on operational experience and strong analytical and strategic capabilities. His experience, comprised of over 15 years in Silicon Valley, encompasses finance, controllership and operational functions.

Over his career Anurag has set up and run supply-chain, outsourced operations, finance and accounting functions and managed a $200M P&L for HP. He has delivered product direction and implemented strategic selling techniques for startup software vendors. Anurag has led several large cross-functional teams to deliver and deploy new technologies, products and services to diverse markets.

Anurag has an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, with an emphasis in Finance, and a BS in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Punjab Engineering College, India.

Sarah has 25 years of experience in the financial industry. Starting as an accountant, Sarah has worked her way up to co-founder, president, and CFO. She has served both private and public companies, building complex budgets, managing strategic plans, and implementing patent strategies for intellectual property.

Prior to founding Carzetta, a strategic financial advice service that merged with Escalon, Sarah was the VP Finance & Administration at MAP Royalty and Cendura Corporation. In this role, she was responsible for overseeing the reporting and administration of 1,700 investors and managing all tax and regulatory requirements.

As the Senior Director of Finance at Mercury Interactive, Sarah developed a business model used for strategic planning and acquisitions, integrating companies with 200+ people and 50+ million in annual revenue.

Sarah has an MBA in Business Administration & Finance from the University of San Francisco, where she was awarded the McLaren School of Business Fellowship. A native of Norway, Sarah is fluent in Norwegian and enjoys swimming in her free time. She is a master swimmer, having swam across the Bay from Alcatraz to San Francisco.

Ruby is a seasoned entrepreneur. He has successfully started and managed or exited 4 companies and has held strategic and operating roles at GE and McKinsey & Company. Escalon was born out of Ruby͛s experience bootstrapping a company and the frustration that came from working on back-office tasks in an inefficient manner.

As the COO of Ketera Technologies (a Kleiner Perkins funded American Express spin-off), Ruby created the first ͞on demand͟ provider of Spend Management solutions and increased the revenue by 10x. He also served as the COO of Verticalnet Solutions, where he built the division up to 300 employees and over $12 million in revenue in less than a year.

Ruby earned an MBA in Strategy & Economics from the University of Chicago and has a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering from SUNY at Buffalo. In his free time, Ruby volunteers at the Tech Museum of Innovation, where he coaches a team of middle school students in the Tech Challenge competitions.

Gina is a senior financial executive with a diverse background in wireless networks, medical devices, software, and semiconductor industries. Prior to joining Escalon as our Director, Controller Services, her client and employer base included Tesla Motors, Carrier IQ, Serus, Tropos Networks, Applied Imaging, and Siliconware USA.

As a controller for local and international startups, public, and private companies, Gina has produced extensive budgets, forecasts, board presentations, and SEC reporting. She has managed audits, implemented accounting systems, developed policy and procedures for revenue recognition, and led SOX compliance initiatives.

Gina is widely recognized as an agent for positive change through her strong leadership and partnership with sales, operations, and management teams. She has a BS in Accounting and an HR Certification from the Employers Group.

Peter is a highly accomplished operations and technology executive.   For nearly 15 years, he was an executive with Booz-Allen and Capgemini and worked with some of the leading companies in the world in the design, development and execution of mission-critical programs.

It was this passion around innovation and driving measurable results that prompted Peter to dive into the start-up world in 2008, where he co-founded a successful venture-backed SaaS company that provides education and AI-driven decision-support for healthcare and insurance benefits for employer groups.   During this time, Peter and his company leveraged Escalon services for their essential business services, seeing first-hand the power of their one-stop shop value proposition.  Through this experience, his desire to help fellow entrepreneurs was born and he’s been working with and advising start-up ventures ever since.

Peter started his career in the high-tech space, holding various sales and systems engineering management roles with eLoyalty, Echelon, ROLM and IBM.  He regularly speaks on the topics of CRM, customer loyalty and technology strategy.  Peter earned his MBA and MA from Stanford University and a Bachelors in Ecosystem Analysis from UCLA.   Of Peter’s many interests are education, community volunteer work, youth sports development, music, tennis and travel.

Yair is a business and financial leader known for his ability to develop and deliver strategic company-wide financial policies and procedures. He has distinguished, hands-on experience in driving corporate development activities, assisting startups, reorganizing financially distressed companies, and managing acquisition and integrations.

An astute leader, Yair adds value through proactive decision-making, business process reengineering, and proven global leadership coupled with mentoring and coaching skills. Prior to joining Escalon, Yair was the Vice President of Finance for Nielsen Social (a Nielsen McKinsey company) and he 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 an BA in Accounting and Economics from the Tel Aviv University and was a member of CPA Israel

Pankaj has 30 years of experience as a CPA, both in India and the US. Focusing on accounting, taxation, and finance, Pankaj provides specialized business service with expertise in startups, FATCA compliance, and high net worth individual taxes to over 100 companies in the Bay Area.

With extensive experience in corporate tax returns for startups, Pankaj often handles complicated foreign investments and foreign subsidiaries, multi-state tax returns, international reporting, state franchise taxes, FBAT filings, and tax planning and tax consulting. He is a strong communicator and manager.

Pankaj has earned degrees from the University of Mumbai, India and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Zain is an insurance industry veteran, responsible for a series of industry firsts. In the early 1980s, he created the first true travel insurance product. Zain was the first online travel insurance aggregator in 1996 and he established the first site that sold online event liability insurance.

Currently the CEO of Insure123.com (All Lines All States), an Escalon company, Zain is also a mentor and advisor to numerous entrepreneurs all over Silicon Valley. He is a TiE Silicon Valley Charter Member, an OPEN Silicon Valley Charter Member, and a member of the Board of Advisory at Rand Corp Center for Asia Pacific Policy.

Benjamin is a dedicated HR professional with 17 years of experience managing a full spectrum of human resource programs, services, and functions. He has strong command of full cycle recruitment processes, employment law, and compliance issues in a variety of industries.

An expert in providing superior customer service, Ben also is known for developing and maintaining strong working relationships with executives, management, community organizations, and team members.

Ben holds a BA with a concentration in Sociology from the University of California – Santa Barbara. He also holds a certificate in Human Resource Management from the University of California – Berkeley.