Who’s Who?
Putting the success of customers before your own is not a learned skill. You either have it or you don’t. Click on the pictures below to learn more about the team leading Veeva to achieve unprecedented levels of customer success.
Peter Gassner
Founder, President & CEO
Peter is responsible for the overall direction and management of Veeva Systems. In 2010, Peter was named to the PharmaVOICE 100, which recognizes the 100 most influential people in the life sciences industry. Peter is a twenty year veteran of the software industry.
Prior to founding Veeva, Peter was Senior Vice President of Technology at salesforce.com where he had responsibility for building the salesforce.com platform including product, marketing and developer relations. During Peter’s tenure, salesforce.com completed its public offering and grew the technology into the most successful SaaS platform in the industry.
Before salesforce.com, Peter was with PeopleSoft for 9 years as both Chief Architect and General Manager of PeopleTools. Peter led a team of over 450 professionals who provided the development, strategy, marketing and customer support for PeopleSoft’s technology platform. PeopleTools was widely regarded in the industry as the best application platform of its day.
Peter began his career with IBM in relational database development and research at IBM Silicon Valley Lab and then at IBM Almaden Research Center where he had the privilege of working closely with some of the inventors of relational database technology.
Peter holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Oregon State University.
Matt Wallach
Co-founder, Chief Strategy Officer
Matt is responsible for strategy, marketing, alliances and business development at Veeva Systems. In 2007, Matt was named to the PharmaVOICE 100 which recognizes the 100 most influential people in the life sciences industry.
Before founding Veeva, Matt held various executive roles at small healthcare technology companies in product management, marketing and business development.
Prior to his small company forays, Matt was the General Manager of the Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology division at Siebel Systems, which has since been acquired by Oracle. During his time at Siebel, Matt was responsible for building this global division which grew from its inception to over $140 million under his leadership capturing greater than 80% market share in the pharma CRM and clinical trial management (CTM) markets. At one point, nearly half of all pharma sales reps on earth used the products created during his tenure at Siebel, though that is rapidly changing these days.
Matt currently serves as a Senior Advisor to SeventySix Capital, a leading early stage venture capital fund and is on the Advisory Board at Crossix, an innovator in the healthcare analytics arena. Matt received his MBA from the Harvard Business School, with honors, and his B.A. in Economics from Yale University, cum laude.
Tim Cabral
Chief Financial Officer
As CFO, Tim is responsible for all aspects of financial management and G&A operations. He brings over 20 years of technology finance background and nearly 10 years of software finance and operations background.
Prior to joining Veeva Systems, Tim served as CFO/COO for Walsh Wireless, a wireless solutions and services company and as CFO/CoFounder of Agistics, a start-up focused on employee management services. Tim also spent more than 7 years at PeopleSoft, Inc., where he held various positions, including VP of Products & Technology Finance and Senior Director of Corporate FP&A. During his tenure as VP of Finance, Tim created and built the Operational Controller team and developed an influential business partnership model with General Managers who owned business units driving upwards of $250m in revenue.
Prior to PeopleSoft, Tim served in finance positions at Chiron Corporation and LSI Logic. Tim holds a MBA in Finance and a Bachelors degree in Finance from Santa Clara University.
Frank Defesche
General Manager, North America
As General Manager, North America, Frank is responsible for ensuring that our customers achieve the highest levels of success with Veeva Systems. Frank has been involved with over 200 CRM implementations and brings a wealth of knowledge on how cloud applications should be best evaluated, delivered and supported.
Before joining Veeva Systems, Frank spent 8 years at salesforce.com where he was one of the first consultants and went on to hold various product management and sales positions, always engaging directly with customers to understand their individual needs. During his time there, Frank worked with some of salesforce.com’s most strategic and successful customers and was consistently recognized as a “Peak Performer.”
Prior to his time at salesforce.com, Frank worked at Dell and Trilogy Software, both in Austin, TX. Frank graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and holds a Bachelors degree in Business Economics.
Dan Goldsmith
General Manager, Europe
As General Manager, Europe, Dan is responsible for Veeva’s European operations. He is an experienced executive with nearly 15 years of life sciences CRM experience from IBM/PricewaterhouseCoopers and Accenture.
Dan has driven and delivered global CRM strategies and solutions for most of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies and he is a trusted advisor to many executives at these organizations. He has deep experience implementing sales force effectiveness solutions and has architected and implemented industry leading solutions in the areas of mobility, medical information, master data management, digital channel execution and marketing. He has managed executive teams, sales teams and delivery teams in excess of 200 people.
Dan has won multiple industry awards for innovative solutions and delivery. He holds a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rochester.
Takashi Okamura
General Manager, Japan
Tak Okamura, General Manager for Japan, has responsibility for all Veeva’s Japanese operations including sales, marketing, professional services and customer support. He has an extensive experience in working in the Japanese and global IT industry for more than 18 years with more than half in the CRM vertical across various industries.
Most recently Tak was Vice President at SAP Japan responsible for Small-Medium Enterprise Business where he led his team to double-digit growth year after year. He was also a leader of SAP Japan’s CRM Business since 2007.
Before joining SAP Japan, Tak held various management positions in major software companies including Country Manager at MicroStrategy Japan and Sales Director at Siebel Japan where he assisted major pharmaceutical companies in their CRM projects.
Tak started his career at NCR Japan (currently Teradata) as an expert of datawarehouse/CRM in early ’90. During that period, Tak spent 2 years in London, UK, as the youngest international assignee with NCR Financial Group HQ.
Cindy Zhang
General Manager, China
As General Manager of China, Cindy is responsible for Veeva’s operations in China. She brings over 13 years of experience in enterprise software industry.
Before joining Veeva, Cindy spent 12 years at Oracle where she held various management positions in product development and product management. She delivered enterprise software products, defined global product strategy, engaged with customers and partners around the world to facilitate solution implementations and supported marketing and sales in greater China.
Cindy graduated from Peking University, China, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science. She also holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Southern Methodist University and a MBA from Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley.
