Meet our leadership team

As the chief people officer for Emburse, Danielle guides the strategic direction for the company’s employee development, performance management, talent acquisition, and employee experience initiatives.

Danielle has over 15 years of experience in human resources, working in various industries. She began her career with Emburse working for Certify and continued to build her team and her role through several mergers and acquisitions.

Danielle holds a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Education from Clark University. She also holds the Senior Certified Professional designation from the Society of Human Resources Management and is a graduate of the K1 Advanced Management Program.

What’s your why?

Watching people (whether it be employees, family, or friends) grow and improve their lives is something that brings me great joy. I have naturally taken on the role of confidante, mentor, and mediator in my life and with this role I’m also able to translate that into my work. Being able to use creativity and care in providing employees with the tools they need to further develop their own talents and find fulfillment in their careers is incredibly rewarding.

Where is the best place you’ve traveled to?

Right after my husband and I bought our first house and paid for our wedding, we had limited funds for a honeymoon. We planned a budget trip to Ireland where we rented a small stick shift car and drove around the southern half of the island staying at inexpensive B&Bs. While I know there are more exotic and luxurious places to travel, this was my favorite as we had a true adventure without an itinerary.

What did you want to be as a kid?

When I was a child, I wanted to be a news anchor. I loved to get in front of audiences and talk. Being one of the first people to know something and to have the responsibility of crafting that message to the masses was incredibly intriguing to me. Getting people excited about good news and showing empathy for news that may be perceived negatively are two things I have translated into my current career.

What do you do to relax?

I love to go to the outdoors to clear my mind. In the warm weather months, I enjoy running, paddle boarding, wake surfing, and hiking. In the less friendly New England winters, I try to get out on the mountain for downhill skiing or hit the trails with a pair of snow shoes.

As the Chief Technology Officer for Emburse, David leads the strategic direction across technology, technology operations / IT, and information security for the company.

David has more than 20 years of experience in software engineering and has led large initiatives spanning travel, marketing, financial technology, and security. He came to Emburse after more than 6 years at Amazon and has previously worked at companies such as Disney and Expedia.

David holds a BSE with a double major in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Duke University.

What’s your why?

I realized a long time ago that as a leader, I am not successful unless my team is successful. Nothing is more satisfying to me than enabling and empowering people with the right opportunities to learn, grow, and achieve their dreams. At the end of the day, we are measured by what we deliver, but I find that when people experience consistent growth and recognition for that growth, they are more motivated to deliver and do so at higher quality and efficiency. An amazing side effect is that this improves morale and respect across the organization. Empathy, transparency, and realizing that people are your most important assets are key tenets of mine.

What did you want to be as a kid?

I was writing code as early as third grade, so it was a bygone conclusion that I would do something in the world of computers. However, I always had a dream of being a professional basketball player. I was pretty awkward and non-athletic in high school, so that did not work out so well. I live out that dream by regularly playing basketball as my main form of exercise and do so 3 - 4 times per week typically.

What fact about you would surprise people?

On a Myers Briggs scale, I am very much an ENTJ, but what would surprise people is that I am an introvert at heart. I have learned throughout my life how to become more extroverted, particularly in a work environment, but I highly value time to myself to recharge. I believe this has helped me learn how to relate to a wide variety of people, which is key to another tenet of mine as a leader that there is no such thing as one size fits all management. Diversity is an amazing thing, and it is important to realize that not everyone can or should be led the same way or are as they may appear on the surface.

What do you do to relax?

Relaxing for me can take on a lot of forms. I love hiking to waterfalls and alpine lakes and in general just enjoying the outdoors, which is easy to do in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Playing basketball or going for a run is therapeutic and energizing. I collect Batman original comic art and can spend hours getting lost in it, talking about it with fellow collectors, or walking around a comic convention and conversing with artists who create the art I love. And if I really want downtime, nothing beats a good movie and a delicious meal.

As CEO of Emburse, Eric drives the overall strategic direction of the organization, from new market growth through to product direction.

Eric has 30 years of experience driving growth for software companies. Prior to Emburse, he was Global Head of Commercial, SMB and Growth Markets for Marketo, a division of Adobe. Before joining Marketo, he was SVP and General Manager for SAP’s North American mid-market and ecosystems division. Earlier in his career, Eric had sales, technical, and general management leadership positions at SAP Concur, Business Objects, and Information Builders.

Eric has a BBA in Management Information Systems from the University of Iowa.

What’s your why?

As a company, our charter is to “humanize work.” We have a team of more than 750 who collectively work together to achieve our goal of making people’s business lives much easier and giving them back their precious time so they can focus on the important things at work, at home, and in their communities. As individuals, each person can contribute significantly, but as a group, we can achieve exponentially more. As a father of three, I try to teach my three children exactly the same approach: by collaborating with each other, they can achieve far more than they ever could on their own. It’s a very useful life lesson.

What’s your favorite movie?

It has to be The Usual Suspects. With its unexpected ending, it’s one of the few movies that I actually wanted to watch over and over again. Every time I see more clues about Keyser Soze’s real identity that I completely missed first time around.

What do you do to relax?

I love both road and mountain biking, and Colorado is a great place to live for that. It gives me two extremes: riding up a long hill on my road bike gives me a great opportunity to think with no distractions. On the other hand, going down a rough mountain trail requires 100% concentration or you end up with a broken bone – or far worse! Both types of biking are therapeutic… in their own way. I also thoroughly enjoy watching and coaching our three kiddos in just about every sport you can imagine from soccer to flag football to Taekwondo to skiing.

Where’s the best place you visited?

My wife and I took a bike tour around Andalucia with some friends. Going from village to village at such a slow place gave us a real opportunity to actually get to know the region and meet local residents. In a car you simply can’t get that level of intimacy with an area.

As COO, Eric is responsible for our customer experience, and has financial responsibility for our business units.

Eric has a broad range of technology leadership experience. In his 20+ years at Trimble, Eric led multiple business units, as well as a joint venture with Caterpillar. At Emburse, he previously led the Nexonia and Tallie brands. After a stint at Axcient, he returned to Emburse in 2019 to lead Chrome River.

Eric holds a BA in Geography from the University of Kansas, an MA in Geography from Kansas State University and an MBA from Santa Clara University

What’s your why?

My wife and two daughters. My Father grew up in poverty and worked his way to become a University Dean. He taught me to love meaningful work, and demonstrated how it leads to a better life - for me, and for others. Modeling his lessons for my daughters is important to me. Also - we’re solving real problems here, and that’s fun!

Where is the best place you’ve traveled to?

Cambodia’s Angkor Wat is a pretty amazing place to visit, but for me, home always wins the day.

What’s your favorite book?

For me, it’s Sapiens: a Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. But I also love anything by Roald Dahl that I can share with my children.

What did you want to be as a kid?

I loved to play basketball, so my dream was to be a shooting guard for the Kansas State Wildcats and then the Golden State Warriors. I had it all planned out - my Hall of Fame induction was going to be really fun!

As chief marketing officer, Grant leads global marketing for Emburse, overseeing marketing strategies, programs and tactics designed to increase market leadership, generate demand and enhance customer advocacy.

Grant has a storied history working in senior marketing roles for some of the best-known brands in technology, including FileNet/IBM, Symantec and Toshiba. Before joining Emburse, Grant was CMO of cybersecurity company Cylance (acquired by BlackBerry). Prior to that, he was the CMO of Kofax and CMO of Pegasystems.

Grant holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University.

What’s your why?

I’ve had the same “why” since I became a marketer in my twenties: “Move others to action.” It’s well suited to a marketing leadership role, since good communication and inspiring others are both essential for engaging effectively with customers and prospects as well as leading teams.

Where is the best place you’ve traveled to?

Living in Salamanca, Spain, was the best place because I spent a month immersed in a very different culture than my native LA. I got to fully experience mid-afternoon siestas precipitated by late lunches and lack of sleep, as well as a vibrant Plaza Mayor that truly comes alive at night.

What did you want to be as a kid?

Like many kids growing up in LA, I wanted to be a movie director. There is something magical about getting transported via sight, sound and motion into a temporal world that is the moviegoing experience. In my chosen profession, I make very few, short movies, but the storytelling craft is as important for success in business as in Hollywood.

What do you do to relax?

I like watching almost any sport, but mostly I enjoy playing competitive tennis. I regularly compete in USTA tournaments on weekends. For me, tennis is the ideal combination of exercise and fun, and winning consistently requires figuring out how to best exploit your opponent’s weaknesses while maximizing your own strengths.

Jeroen van Velzen joined Emburse in 2021 when it acquired Roadmap, a leading mobile-based travel technology company he co-founded. As SVP, Solutions Strategy, Jeroen is responsible for delivering a superior end-to-end travel experience for customers, overseeing the company’s Travel & Mobility Solutions group. 

A winner of BTN 2015 Innovator Award, Tech.eu “hottest startups” in 2017 and a Skift’s Corporate Travel innovator in 2019, Roadmap was Jeroen's third consecutive venture and combined his passion for travel and building human-centric organizations. 

Before starting Roadmap, Jeroen was CEO of Sound of Data, which created customer happiness solutions for the customer care, travel and broadcasting industries until a successful exit in 2015. He previously served as CCO and co-founder of mobile payment and sales platform, Mobile2Pay.

Jeroen holds a Master’s degree in Economics, Marketing Management and Information Management from the University of Amsterdam.

What’s your why?

Making work not feel like work. Strange things go on in workplaces that do not make sense. Why would I be someone different at work than I am among friends? So I enjoy creating work environments that feel safe to be in and welcoming of our full selves. 

 What is the best place you’ve traveled to?

Los Roques, Venezuela. I’m not sure it was the best but it for sure was one of the most beautiful - It’s where they shoot all the tropical island commercials. I love to travel to South America. If you have never been there, start in Ecuador. It has the entire continent in one country: jungle, mountains, desert and beaches.

What’s your favorite book? 

The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama. I always had some resistance to esoteric matters until I came across this book. It led to a profound change in my lifestyle and got me to meditate daily.

What did you want to be as a kid?

 An ambassador. Shaking hands and visiting a lot of parties felt like my dream job.

As chief financial officer of Emburse, Katherine is responsible for financial strategy, accounting, treasury, financial reporting, planning and analysis.

Katherine has more than 20 years of accounting and finance experience. She has deep experience in both private equity-backed and publicly-traded organizations. She earned her CPA at PwC and held a range of senior accounting and finance roles at Fairchild Semiconductor and WEX, Inc. In addition, she was VP of Finance at CashStar, a leading provider of prepaid commerce solutions, which was acquired by Blackhawk Network. Prior to the Chrome River and Certify, Inc. merger which formed Emburse, Katherine was CFO at Certify, Inc.

Katherine holds a BS in Accounting from Boston College.

What’s your why?

Ever since I was young, I’ve always enjoyed working with numbers and making sense of data – identifying patterns and trends that may not immediately be apparent. As CFO I get to dig into numbers to understand what drives the company, using performance metrics to understand where are we strong and where there are issues that need to be resolved. It’s very satisfying to know that the insights that my team and I provide can have a meaningful impact in shaping the overall strategy and direction of the company.

Where is the best place you’ve traveled to?

As a child, my family spent a week every summer at a cottage on a lake in Maine. It wasn’t fancy, but simple and rustic, and some of my best memories are from there. As an adult, I return every summer with my husband and children, my parents, siblings and their families. There’s no TV or Wi-Fi, and we all just slow down and enjoy one another’s company. It is, and always has been, one of my absolute favorite places to be.

What’s your favorite book?

I’ve always been a voracious reader, so it really it's hard to pick a favorite. I enjoy all genres, but especially like novels that provide an escape in reading them. Between my family and a time-consuming job, I find that have very little time to read now. Instead, I’ve started to listen to audio books during my commute to and from work. Recently I’ve been on a Stephen King kick, listening to both his older and newer books.

What do you do to relax?

Since I spend most of my day in an office, I enjoy getting outside to relax. In the winter months, I spend most weekends skiing in North Conway, New Hampshire with my family.

As president of Emburse, Nord oversees the organization’s operations and business units, ensuring overall customer success and satisfaction, high levels of product innovation, and operational excellence.

Nord has over 30 years of technology and operations experience. He joined Emburse after serving as the chief digital officer of Cotiviti, and prior to that ran AlixPartners’ Americas digital practice.

Nord holds a BA in Mathematics and Economics from Bowdoin College.

What’s your why?

At this stage of my life and career, it is about providing others opportunity – my colleagues, my children, and other in my community. Emburse is focused on enabling our customers to be able to spend more time and resources on pursuing their opportunities. In looking across our customer base, we see future cures for previously incurable diseases, new ways to combat climate change, a more just society, and exciting technology breakthroughs. Our work will allow our clients to pursue these critical efforts.

Where is the best place you’ve traveled to?

The absolute best trip was to Rome, Italy, to visit my girlfriend – who is now my wife of almost 30 years. Rome is magical in itself, and this trip was especially magical as it was my first time traveling outside North America, and my future wife, a classics scholar, was my tour guide.

What’s your favorite book?

I love A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Every holiday season my children patiently endure my reading it aloud. It is an amazing reminder to celebrate our good fortunes and support those who are less fortunate.

What did you want to be as a kid?

I really wanted to be a professional whitewater kayaker. Little did I realize, at the age of 12, that this is an oxymoron, as it is with most Olympic sports.

As head of corporate strategy and business development at Emburse, Omar is responsible for global strategic partnerships and M&A across all brands.

Omar has more than 10 years' experience in B2B software. He joined Emburse in 2018 via the acquisition of Abacus, where he served as co-founder & CEO. Before his current role, he spent a year as GM of the Abacus business. Prior to Abacus, Omar spent five years in private equity, investing in financial technologies companies.

Omar pursued his MBA at The Wharton School and studied Computer Science at Wake Forest University.

What’s your why?

To risk more, so that I may fail and learn faster. Too often, we conflate the outcome of failure with our own identity, when it’s in fact a critical series of steps en route to success. One of the most powerful ways we can help others achieve more than they believe they’re capable of is removing the possibility of blame.

Where is the best place you’ve traveled to?

In 2011, my wife and I both had that rare opportunity in life between work and grad school where together, we set off for a few months backpacking around Southeast Asia. In Thailand, I discovered my passion for sailing, diving and eating obscene quantities of Penang curry chicken.

What’s your favorite book?

I hold a special place for Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist. It’s the perfect antidote to when you just get too lost in the weeds and lose sight of the big picture. It’s also a great optimistic reminder that the forces of the universe will conspire to help you if you just let them.

Who is your greatest inspiration?

My parents immigrated to the United States almost 40 years ago, just over a year before I was born. They had very little money and no friends or family within 6,000 miles. The courage to persevere in those conditions reminds me that any risk I can take in life just pales in comparison, so I better get on with it.

In his role as General Manager, Ryan is responsible for the performance, strategy and execution of the Chrome River business.

Ryan has more than 20 years of experience in Employee Spend Management. He joined the organization in 2019 and previously held roles such as VP of Implementation, VP of Extended Services and VP of Growth & Strategy at SAP Concur.

Ryan holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Management Information Systems from The University of Notre Dame.

What’s your why?

I am passionate about creating order out of chaos, facilitating career growth for employees, and enjoying strong business relationships with customers. I look to build teams of high achievers, engineer efficient processes, and leverage well designed systems to make it quick and easy for clients to onboard their users and get the most value out of our solutions. It gives me real joy to be able to coach employees in their pursuit of career objectives and witness their happiness through well-earned job satisfaction as well as provide financially for their families, loved ones, and charities. And, as someone who loves to speak very openly with customers, I get so much enjoyment out of learning how we can help our clients achieve their goals and be part of their successes.

Where is the best place you’ve traveled to?

My favorite destination is Prague – I love the history and the buildings. During about 40 years of Communist rule, everything was painted gray, and after the fall of Communism, the city decided on a beautiful color palette that has resulted in such an impressively coordinated look. Prague is one of the only European cities not to have been destroyed in wars so there is so much preserved history there.

What’s your favorite movie of all time?

Master and Commander tops my list. In the thick of the Napoleonic wars, Captain “Lucky Jack” (Russell Crowe) leads the crew of the Royal Navy’s HMS Surprise in outmaneuvering against and eventually pursuing a much faster and nimble French vessel off the South American coast. I’m a fan of pre-modern warfare period pieces in general and this movie has a lot of creative problem solving and challenges with morale. Great movie.

What do you do to relax?

Every year, I go on a hiking, biking, or paddling trip with a group of my friends - some from college and a couple who were high school friends of those college friends. We’ve seen the northern lights from the Michigan Upper Peninsula, we’ve been caught in a blizzard while paddling canoes down the Batchawana River in Canada, and we’ve rafted the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, just to name a few. There is nothing that recharges my batteries more than disconnecting from digital technology and spending days laughing with friends while tackling a wilderness challenge.