Leadership Team

Bob Conlin

Chief Executive Officer

Bob leads the executive team and serves as chairman of the board of directors. He leverages more than 25 years of senior management experience in operations, sales, marketing, product management and business development to champion NAVEX’s vision, strategy and execution. 

Bob began his tenure at NAVEX as President and Chief Operating Officer. Under his leadership, NAVEX has grown organically and through multiple acquisitions to become one of the largest and most respected brands in the GRC space. Prior to joining NAVEX, Bob held executive operations and marketing positions at a number of enterprise software companies including Accero and Centive, where he led the successful transformation of the company from on-prem to a SaaS provider.   

In 2016, Bob was named “Technology Executive of the Year” by the Technology Association of Oregon; and recognized by USA Today as a “top CEO” in 2020. 

Sean M. Thompson

President, Chief Operating Officer

Sean leads NAVEX’s Product Development, Sales, Marketing and Strategy functions, and is also a member of the company board of directors. 

His career began with 10 years at Deloitte Consulting where he was one of the firm’s youngest practice leaders in ERP. He then moved on to technology startups, most notably pre-IPO Drugstore.com. This was followed by nearly 10 years with Microsoft, with a variety of roles including group product manager for Microsoft’s $8 billion Database business and managing director of global strategic partnerships. Sean then co-founded the natural language processing and artificial intelligence company, Nuiku, which was sold to Nortek (NASDAQ: NRTK) in 2016. Next on to SAP, where he quickly rose to executive vice president of SAP’s Business Network, the world’s largest B2B and supply chain marketplace. 

Sean earned an MBA from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Business Administration with high honors from Gonzaga University. He is also a CPA in the State of Washington. 

Andrew Bates

Chief Financial Officer

Andrew is responsible for NAVEX finance, accounting and financial risk management, and plays a principal role in the company’s mergers and acquisitions activity. With more than 20 years in senior finance roles, Andrew has a disciplined, data-driven approach to decision making. As an experienced SaaS finance executive, his focus is on customer acquisition, retention and ARR growth.

A former NAVEX executive, Andrew served in a number of finance positions, culminating in vice president of finance. In 2019 he left to become the CFO at Viewpoint Software; returning to NAVEX in 2022. His career also includes service as the corporate controller at Pixelworks and time as a CPA in public accounting. Andrew is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, with a degree in economics.

Steve Chapman

Chief Customer Officer

As chief customer officer, Steve Chapman is responsible for customer success efforts including professional services, implementation services, data services, customer support, operations and customer success management teams. With more than 24 years of experience, he has successfully led customer-focused teams driving growth, retention and exceptional customer experiences. In additional to Customer Success, Steve oversees NAVEX’s Global Contact Center and Telecom operations. 

Prior to NAVEX, Steve worked as a change management consultant with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), where he specialized in the implementation of enterprise software products and solutions. Steve also founded and contributed to the successful startup of Aon Safetylogic.com, a SaaS provider of integrated risk control management solutions for Fortune 2000 corporations, loss prevention firms and the insurance carrier markets. 

Bob McCarter

Chief Technology Officer

Bob leads NAVEX’s information technology and hosted operations teams focused on globally creating and delivering innovative products and services. He brings over two decades of experience developing and delivering information systems and products. 

Previously, Bob was chief technology and innovations officer for Global Compliance Services, which became part of NAVEX in 2012.  Prior to that, Bob held a succession of positions at Pinkerton’s consulting and investigations division. Prior to his career in consulting, he held roles at AT&T. 

Bob earned an MBA from Duke University in 2003, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from University of California, Berkeley in 1996 and a degree in mechanical engineering and mathematics from the University of North Carolina in 1994.  

Carrie Penman

Chief Risk & Compliance Officer

As one of the earliest ethics officers in the industry, Carrie previously served four years as deputy director of the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association, now ECI. A scientist by training, she developed and directed the first corporate-wide global ethics program at Westinghouse Electric Corporation between 1994 and 1999. Carrie now leads NAVEX’s risk management processes and oversees its internal ethics and compliance program.  

Carries has extensive client-facing risk and compliance consulting experience, including more than 15 years as an adviser to boards and executive teams. Carrie was recently awarded the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Compliance 2020 by Compliance Week magazine. In 2017, she received the ECI’s Carol R. Marshall Award for Innovation in Corporate Ethics for an extensive career contributing to the advancement of the ethics and compliance field worldwide. 

Mike Porter

Chief Sales Officer

Mike brings extensive international sales strategy and management experience to his role as NAVEX’s chief sales officer. Over the last 20 years, he has helped numerous technology companies transform their businesses, accelerate growth and enable sustainable success. 

Mike previously led sales, marketing and customer success as senior vice president of global field operations at Backstop Solutions. As vice president of Americas at Progress software, he assisted in rebuilding the organization and go-to-market plans to achieve the strategic objective of becoming a leading PaaS vendor. Earlier in his career, Mike spent 14 years at Microsoft in a variety of leadership roles including U.S. Central Region general manager, Asia Pacific sales director and enterprise sales and partner manager for Gulf States District.  Mike is a graduate of Purdue University.   

A.G. Lambert

Chief Product Officer

A.G. Lambert is chief product officer at NAVEX, where he is responsible for driving the company’s product vision and strategy. Helping NAVEX further its product innovation and leadership, A.G. is expert at optimizing product strategy to meet current and future needs of customers, partners and the industry. 

Prior to joining NAVEX, A.G. served as chief product strategy officer at SAP Concur. He has also held positions leading product management and marketing teams at Saba, Infor, Extensity and Autodesk. A.G. earned a degree in physics and English literature from Washington University, and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.  

Roger Akers

SVP, Global Contact Center Operations

Roger brings more than 23 years of contact center leadership experience to NAVEX’s operations in the United States, Europe and Central America. Throughout his career, he has served the third-party service provider space across multiple industry verticals with inbound, outbound and business-process outsourcing services. He brings more than 15 years of international experience to NAVEX call center operations, having previously opened and operated contact centers in both India and the Philippines. 

Roger earned a degree business administration from The Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, Boulder. 

Giles Newman

Managing Director, International

As managing director for NAVEX’s international business, Giles is responsible for the consolidation and expansion of the organisation’s presence across the EMEA, MENA and APAC regions. With almost thirty years’ experience in driving international growth, he has successfully led teams internationally within the SaaS, data, and media and telecom sectors. 

Giles was previously managing director at CoStar Europe, where he delivered high growth and expansion into multiple new territories. He has previously fulfilled executive roles at Informa, Thomson Reuters and Sungard. Giles is a graduate of Exeter University in the United Kingdom, and holds a degree in pure mathematics and statistics. He is a graduate of the Thomson School of Executive Leadership. 

Shon Ramey

General Counsel

Shon has focused his legal career on corporate law and regulatory and compliance matters. In more than 25 years of practice, he has managed corporate law departments and counseled multi-national corporations on transactional and compliance matters. As NAVEX’s general counsel, he is responsible for the legal department, and provides direction and oversight to the human resources and global privacy functions. 

Shon previously served as general counsel for various publicly traded and private companies, with concentrations in technology and energy. Shon has also been a partner or senior counsel in some of the world’s largest law firms, including Baker & McKenzie and SNR Denton (now Dentons). Shon is a graduate of Park University and the University of Virginia School of Law. 

Cindy Raz

SVP, HR and Organizational Development

Leading both the HR and organization development functions, Cindy brings more than 20 years’ experience leading human resources functions and business operations within rapid-growth organizations. Since joining NAVEX, Cindy has led several change initiatives associated with the merger and acquisition of multiple companies, including enhancing existing cultural programs, reducing undesired employee turnover and establishing people programs and strategies as a critical contribution to business success. 

Cindy has been nominated for the Portland Business Journal’s HR Leadership Award, and has served as a featured presenter at multiple industry events. A graduate of Portland State University, she is certified as a senior certified professional with the Society for Human Resources Management and a senior professional in human resources with the Human Resources Certification Institute. 

Haywood Marsh

General Manager, NAVEX IRM and NetClaim

Haywood leads the NAVEX IRM businesses unit, where he brings experience in operations, marketing, strategic planning, product management and sales to his role. 

Prior to NAVEX, Haywood led marketing, strategic/product planning and an inside sales team for a division of Danaher. He previously served in the Pentagon as a military strategy consultant and team lead for Booz Allen Hamilton, and ran a live military intelligence mission while serving as a soldier in the U.S. Army, among other roles. 

Haywood earned an MBA from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a degree in international business from Virginia Tech.