In the past 20 years, Andre has founded and grown a number of successful software companies. 

Andre founded Durand Communications in 1993. The company pioneered the first online photograph database and Windows NT client/server bulletin board. In 1998, the company was sold to Webb Interactive. 

Jabber was founded by Andre in 2000 where he commercialized the Jabber instant messaging open source platform, creating the Jabber Software Foundation in the process. Today Jabber is used around the world by hundreds of thousands of businesses. Jabber was sold to Cisco in 2008.  

In 2002 Andre founded Ping Identity with a vision of securing the Internet through identity. Among his many contributions to the identity and security industry, he founded and chairs the identity industry conference, Identiverse, now in its 10th year. 

Andre holds a BA in Biology and Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara and lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife Kim and two daughters, Parker and Samantha.

Kris comes to Ping after a 30-year-long proven track record spanning engineering, operations and sales, during which he built and led fast-moving technology organizations with a specific focus on revenue growth and organizational scaling. For global brands like Apple, Portal Software (acquired by Oracle) and Vindicia (Amdocs), he's held senior leadership positions in both venture-backed and public companies from pre-revenue to $4.5B in annual sales, and from early funding to in excess of $10B in market capitalization. Kris has run global businesses providing diverse enterprise software and SaaS solutions to multiple industries including media and entertainment, enterprise, manufacturing, financial services and telecom. Kris earned his MBA from San Jose State University and his Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems at Penn State University. In his spare time, you can catch Kris enjoying his family, spreading his car fanaticism or finding any excuse to spend time outdoors.

Prior to joining Ping, Raj served as CFO of Florida-based systems integration firm AVI-SPL. During his AVI-SPL tenure, he worked to grow and manage the company through its successful sale, earning him recognition as 2016 CFO of the Year by the Tampa Bay Business Journal in the Large Private Company category. 

Raj has also held senior financial positions within technology services companies like Flextronics, Jabil Circuit and TeleTech. He began his career with PwC, serving in the audit and transaction advisory practices for over nine years, and his global experience spans both public and private companies, including long-term assignments in Switzerland and Italy. Raj received a bachelor's degree in business administration from Emory University and a master's degree in accounting from the University of Florida. He is an actively licensed CPA.

Aaron joined Ping after most recently working in the telecommunications industry at DISH Network. There, he led a national human resources team that supported almost 20,000 employees. Aaron's broad HR experience spans talent acquisition, leadership development, employee advocacy, total rewards and HR strategy. He's held HR positions with EchoStar Communications and multiple healthcare companies in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, and his roles focused on building centers of excellence for various HR functions. Aaron grew up in the Minneapolis area and received a Bachelor's of Business Administration with an emphasis on Human Resources from the University of Minnesota.

Lauren joined Ping Identity in 2010 as its sole attorney, and now she leads a legal department of four. Prior to Ping, Lauren managed legal efforts at Collective Intellect, Inc. as their Corporate Counsel, and she also worked as an associate in Cooley LLP's corporate group. Lauren earned her law degree from the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, Order of St. Ives. She also holds a master’s degree from Florida State University and a bachelor’s degree from Duke University. As a mother of three girls, Lauren finds peace by being an avid early morning runner and fitting in two cups of coffee before getting to work.

Bernard joined Ping by way of the Elastic Beam acquisition, where he was the founder and CEO. Elastic Beam built the first hybrid cloud solution that used advanced AI techniques to deliver deep visibility into API activity and stop cyberattacks. Most recently he was Chairman, President and CEO at Atlantis Computing (award-winning storage optimization software) and the CEO of Green Border which was acquired by Google. Bernard was also the Chairman of Booshaka acquired by Sprinkler, Chairman of Norskale acquired by Citrix, Chairman of BorderWare acquired by WatchGuard, Board Member at Sygate Technologies acquired by Symantec. Bernard earned a MS in Engineering Management from Stanford University and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of California Irvine where he was inducted into the Engineering Hall of Fame.

Dave Packer brings more than 20 years of high-tech software experience to Ping Identity, spanning leadership roles in sales, field operations, alliances, professional services and support. In his current role as Senior Vice President of Field Operations, Dave oversees the global team responsible for worldwide sales, channels, customer success, operations and enablement.Prior to Ping, Dave spent 11 years in top sales leadership positions at E2open and Borland Software. He also spent two years at PeopleSoft as the managing director for their Western region after they acquired JD Edwards where he began his career.Dave holds a Master of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management. He lives in Denver, Colorado.

Ed joins Ping with 37 years of proven track record under his belt, working with blue chip, private equity and venture capital financed companies across several countries. He's an energetic technology business leader who's held diverse strategic roles including Advisor to Techstars, Advisor and Board Member at DRINKS Holding, CEO at Collective Intellect, Advisor to the Bahrain Economic Development Bank and others. Ed's early accomplishments include building kernel mode applications in assembler code for manufacturing, telecommunications and defense industry customers. His diverse technology and business-building experience enables him to quickly develop and execute strategic and operational priorities that produce the greatest impacts. Ed holds an MBA from the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver, and he studied electrical and mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado. Outside of work, he enjoys motorsports, combat shooting, martial arts and digital and underwater photography.

Kevin joins Ping with more than 20 years of global marketing leadership experience in the technology sector. His passion for strategic marketing combines storytelling and partnerships across brand leadership, demand generation, digital marketing and transformation and corporate communications. Prior to Ping, Kevin served as chief marketing officer at Avnet, where he oversaw the company’s business-to-business strategies and orchestrated significant digital transformation efforts across the entire marketing organization. He also held multiple leadership positions at Intel, where he led the historic re-branding that took Intel beyond its core personal computer market. Kevin has been recognized in the industry as one of B2B Magazine’s Top Digital Marketers, and he’s won multiple Cannes Lions, as well as ADDY and Effie awards for creative excellence. He holds a BA in Finance and an MBA from Brigham Young University. Outside of work, Kevin enjoys live music, running outdoors and traveling the world with his wife and four grown children checking things off his bucket list—next stop: scuba diving in the Red Sea.

Prior to joining Ping in 2013, Adriana was the Global Controller at TeleTech where she managed multinational accounting and shared service operations. Adriana also spent 12 years in the assurance practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC), where she served large multinational clients in technology, information and communications, aerospace and defense, as well as high-growth technology startups. She also has significant experience in M&A transactions, debt offerings and fraud investigations. Adriana received her BBA in Finance from Texas A&M University and MMAS in Accounting from the University of Texas at Dallas. She is also a certified public accountant licensed in Colorado and Texas. Out of the office, you’ll find Adriana spending time in the mountains with her husband and two young children.

Candace joins Ping by way of Amazon Web Services (AWS) where she served as Director of Enterprise Strategists and Vertical Marketing, managing the development of AWS messaging and marketing plans for industry and C-level business decision makers. She also spent 19 years with McAfee (and Intel Corporation during acquisition) where she held roles ranging from General Manager of the Endpoint Business Unit to VP of Product Marketing and Chief Technical Strategist. Candace brings a wide range of skills in product management, customer engagement, cross-functional collaboration, product and business strategy and P&L oversight. Candace holds a Bachelor of Science in Management from Oregon State University and an MBA from Marylhurst University. She lives in Oregon on a hazelnut farm with her husband and two black labs, and outside of work you can find her checking off her travel bucket list and spending time in her flower and vegetable gardens.

I know what you’re all thinking. Wait, that guy works for Ping Identity now? Not exactly. But I am helping Ping spread their message to the world. See, Ping and I share a common belief that you should be able to embrace your unique identity, fully and confidently, whether you’re an individual or an enterprise. And in the digital world, your uniqueness shouldn’t slow you down. It should be what gives you an edge and sets you free. That’s what it means to champion identity. How can we champion you?