MariaDB Leadership

Paul O’Brien, CEO of MariaDB plc, is a technology executive with broad operational expertise both launching and running startups as well as in venture capital and Fortune 500 firms. He first joined MariaDB in March 2023 to guide the global field operations team. Prior to joining MariaDB, he served as VP, Operations at NetApp, Inc., a storage and data management company and VP, Business Intelligence and Operations at Symantec Corporation, a security company. Prior to that, O’Brien held various management positions at EMC Corporation, a storage and data management company, and HP Inc. (then Hewlett-Packard Company), a technology company, and also served as a partner at Prism Venture Partners, a venture firm. In all these roles, Paul was responsible for successfully guiding companies in their evolution from on-prem deployments and perpetual license software to subscription and cloud-based models.

Jonah is CTO at MariaDB plc. Most recently, he served as the Director of AI/ML at ParshipMeet Group. Previously, Jonah held key leadership positions, including CTO and VP of Software & Systems Architecture at NASDAQ-listed The Meet Group. During this time, he played a crucial role in overseeing the technology organization, strategic acquisitions and consolidations of Skout, and driving the company’s growth and market presence. Earlier, Jonah led Oracle Database Compatibility and Performance initiatives as an early Sr. Software Architect at EnterpriseDB. Additionally, Jonah is a long-time user, developer, and contributor of open-source databases, including PostgreSQL, Redis, and others.

Conor McCarthy has over 30 years of experience as a CFO in areas such as corporate strategy and corporate finance including capital raising. Conor most recently served as the CFO of Ideanomics, a NASDAQ listed cleantech company, where he developed the revenue models for vehicle-as-a-service and charging-as-a-service products. He was also CFO of OS33, a private equity backed FinTech SaaS platform for compliance and productivity enablement for the wealth management industry. Prior to that, he served as the CFO of Intent Media from May 2016 to July 2018, the CFO of Convergex Group from June 2014 to July 2015 and the CFO and Finance Director of the Americas for GFI Group, Inc., a NYSE listed fintech wholesale money broker with revenues of almost $1 billion (now part of BGC Partners, NASDAQ: BGCP), from March 2005 to June 2014. Conor holds a CA from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. He started his career as an auditor with KPMG in Ireland before transitioning into financial services, working as CFO, treasurer, and in other executive finance roles, with trading and brokerage firms, as well as high growth technology companies supporting the SaaS industry.

Roya Shakoori is the Company’s General Counsel with over 17 years of legal experience. Roya has significant law firm restructuring experience and experience in-house working with Silicon Valley start-up technology/sustainability companies. Prior to joining MariaDB, Roya was General Counsel for a sustainability-focused/electrification company helping it through a significant growth phase, organically and through multiple acquisitions. Prior to that, Roya led the in-house legal efforts for ChargePoint, Inc. transitioning it from a private company to a public company through deSPAC. Roya resides in beautiful Silicon Valley, California.

Tom leads the field sales, inside sales, sales engineering, sales development, customer success, consulting, support and training teams globally at MariaDB plc. He has an impressive background as a sales and operations executive, coupled with extensive experience building and leading high-performance teams for both private and public SaaS companies. He was most recently CRO at Bringg, a SaaS delivery management platform. Prior to that, he was chief sales officer at Fuze, a cloud communications software company and VP of worldwide sales operations at PTC, a global software company. He has also held sales leadership positions at EMC and BMC Software. Siegel has successfully driven accelerated growth for SaaS companies through a combination of go-to-market strategy, sales leadership and adherence to key performance metrics, with demonstrated ARR growth from $50 million to $100 million.

Kurt Haberkamp brings two decades of leadership in database, open source and technical selling. Kurt is responsible for leading our global Customer Success organization including functions in support, managed services, professional services, and training/enablement. Previously Kurt led the technical field for presales and services in both the Americas and Asia. Previous experience includes time in various leadership and individual roles at Red Hat, Apptio, Oracle, and CME Group as well as other consumer facing companies.  Kurt holds a bachelor’s degree in applied sociology and political science from Lewis University and resides in the Chicago Metro area.

Iris Herrera Whitney has over 15 years of experience working in communications and marketing across high tech B2B companies and government agencies. While she can keep up with all the industry lingo (DBA, API, RDBMS, oh my!), she would rather dream up a creative angle that cuts through the noise. As VP of marketing at MariaDB plc, she oversees all of marketing and brand. She also works closely with executives and senior leaders to ensure meaningful stories are being told. Previously, Iris worked at a public relations agency building awareness and defining new industries for clients in the tech sector. She started her career in California state politics where she believed (naively?) she could help change the world, giving voices to people and organizations at the place where laws were being made. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and philosophy at the University of California, Davis. Iris is a lifelong resident of the SF Bay Area where she lives with her family, including two kids who are always testing boundaries.

As VP of HR, Bill Munger has 30 years of experience in the HR world working for large public technology companies as well as several technology startups. Prior to joining MariaDB, Bill led the HR team at ChargePoint, Inc. as they transitioned from a pre-IPO company to going public in early 2021. Bill holds a bachelor’s degree in HR and an MBA from Kellogg’s Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.