Officers

John Clough

John Clough is currently interim Chief Executive Officer of CDC Software. Clough became Special Advisor to General Atlantic LLC in 1999. Before joining General Atlantic, Clough gained over 25 years of management experience in the IT industry. Clough was Co-Founder and Managing Director of the CSSL Group in Asia for 16 years. CSSL was one of the largest mid-range software distributors and hardware resellers in Asia. CSSL was formed in 1983 in Hong Kong and had offices in China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand with over 380 Staff and annual revenues of US $180million. Clough was a Director of Synon Asia Ltd., Kapiti Asia Ltd., and, Director and Chairman of Cargonet/Arena Ltd.

Prior to the formation of CSSL, Clough held the position of General Manager JBA in Asia, which was an Australian based worldwide mid-range software distributor. Clough’s international experience includes working as a consultant in the areas of ERP and Finance in the UK and Europe.

Monte Ford

Monte Ford is currently the President of CDC Software. Ford is widely-regarded as a leader in the field of information technology. Prior to CDC Software, Ford served as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at American Airlines and its broader parent company, AMR. In that role, he was responsible for all aspects of the Company’s information, Operations Research and all business analytics functions. Prior to AMR, Ford held executive management positions with The Associates First Capital Corporation and Bank of Boston. Ford has served on the boards of two public corporations and is currently on the Board of Directors of Oncor, one of the country’s largest and leading energy transmission and distribution companies. Ford has a long history of significant community involvement in both Dallas and Boston. Ford earned his B.S. in Business Administration from Northeastern University in Boston.

Stephen Dexter

Mr. Dexter is chief financial officer (CFO) of CDC Software. Prior to this role, he served as chief accounting officer at CDC Software. Mr. Dexter brings 20 years of domestic and international accounting and finance experience to the company. Recently, he served as vice president, corporate controller and principal accounting officer, for S1 Corporation, a NASDAQ-listed global financial services provider. He also has held a variety of financial management positions for Mynd Corp, formerly Policy Management Systems, Corp., a $600 million provider of insurance software, Safety-Kleen Corp., a more than $1 billion international environmental services company and American Tire Distributors Holdings, the largest tire distributor in the U.S. with more than $1 billion in revenue. A certified public accountant (CPA), Dexter holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Clemson University.

Les Viszlai

 Les Viszlai is Chief Information Officer (CIO) of CDC Software. Mr. Viszlai is a global senior executive with extensive technology, leadership, management and consulting experience. Mr. Viszlai brings his experience in Governance, Data Center operations, Marketing technologies, Operational IT/Business integration via M&A, SaaS/Cloud Computing, and Corporate Real Estate Facilities management to CDC Software.

Prior to Joining CDC Software, he has served in various management and Information technology roles with companies that included General Electric’s Energy Services Engineering division, Accenture, Cap Gemini Americas and various Software development and Consulting companies.

Mr Viszlai holds a B.S. Degree in Information Technology Systems & design and has studied Project Management at Harvard.

Chris Wolfe

Mr. Wolfe is Senior Vice President of Acquisitions and Integrations. For the past two years, he has been responsible for helping the M&A team evaluate prospective targets and then leading the overall integration of acquired companies into CDC Software’s business. Mr. Wolfe also serves as Chief Operating Officer for several of CDC Software’s business units such as CDC eCommerce, CDC Tradebeam and c360.

Since 2004, Mr. Wolfe has served in several key leadership roles within CDC Software. He most recently served as Vice President and General Manager of c360, which supplies add-on products, solutions and development tools for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform. Mr. Wolfe also spent more than five years in CDC Software’s Professional Services organization serving in a number of different leadership roles, including Vice President of Technical Services where he managed the Services operations for the ERP and CRM product lines across North America, India and China. Prior to joining CDC Software, Mr. Wolfe served as Director of Sales & Professional Services for Software Works. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems from Clemson University.

Mark Sutcliffe

Mark Sutcliffe is president of CDC Factory, a packaged manufacturing operations management solution.

Sutcliffe is an acknowledged authority on continuous improvement and change management practices, centered on technology. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences in Europe and the U.S. on the subject of deploying technology to leverage “human capital” and achieve “breakthrough performance” across the whole enterprise.

After an outstanding career in enterprise software sales, Mark formed MVI technology in 1991 to provide leading-edge improvement technology to the food & beverage manufacturing sector. In the fourth quarter of 2006, MVI was acquired by CDC Software and the product line has posted consistent record sales quarters.

Jason Rushforth

Jason Rushforth is Senior Vice President, North American Sales, worldwide Marketing and Strategic alliance and President of CDC Front Office business for CDC Software. He is responsible for North American CRM Sales, worldwide marketing and its Strategic Alliances channel sales program, as well as the operations for the Front Office product business.. Previously, Mr. Rushforth was CDC Software's Global Vice President of Financial Services, responsible for the long-term global strategy of the financial services vertical of the company's Front Office solutions, which include Pivotal CRM, CDC Respond, CDC MarketFirst, and Saratoga CRM. Since 2000, Mr. Rushforth has played an instrumental role in the growth of the CDC Software's Front Office products. His deep industry knowledge has guided the company in the development of industry-specific tools for institutional asset management, mutual fund wholesaling, wealth management, capital markets, and commercial banking. As a visionary expert in the application market, especially in the CRM segment, Mr. Rushforth is known for his keynote speaking engagements for such events as the Wealth Management Forum and feature webcasts with Wall Street & Technology and TowerGroup, and he frequently contributes to industry articles in publications such as CRM Magazine, Financial Services Technology, CRM Advocate, Windows in Financial Services, and Commercial Lending Review.

Paul Plaia III

Mr. Plaia is President of CDC gomembers, CDC Software’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) enterprise applications business that specializes in the non-profit and government markets. 

Plaia holds more than 20 years of management experience in finance, accounting and Information Technology.  He’s a seasoned entrepreneur who founded gomembers in 1996 where he served as President and CEO of the company.  Under his leadership, the company grew dramatically and was eventually sold to CDC Software in 2009.   Prior to founding gomembers, Mr. Plaia was Treasurer of Orange Technologies, a software company based in the Washington D.C. area, and was founder and Managing Partner of Plaia & Company, Certified Public Accountants and Consultants. Mr. Plaia began his professional career with Grant Thornton, an international assurance and management consulting firm. His tenure at Grant Thornton lasted six years working in the New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. offices.

He is a certified public accountant and holds a bachelor’s in Accounting and Information Technology from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta.

Niklas Rönnbäck

Niklas Rönnbäck is Senior Vice President and President, CDC Supply Chain, Europe. He is responsible for the CDC Software product sales throughout Europe’s Nordic region.

Since 1997, he has served in a variety of management roles at CDC Software including Vice President, Operations at CDC Supply Chain and Senior Vice President, Services responsible for all customer service, across all product lines in EMEA.

Mr. Rönnbäck brings more than 15 years of enterprise software experience, specifically in the implementation of ERP, order management and warehouse management systems. Earlier, he was President at Öhrwall & Rönnbäck, a privately held logistics and supply chain firm.

Paul Elswood

Paul Elswood has served as Managing Director, United Kingdom and Ireland for CDC Software International since January 2009 and is President of CDC Respond, the company’s enterprise complaint management and feedback management business. Mr. Elswood is responsible for CDC Respond’s global business  and the operational activities in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Prior to this role Mr. Elswood served as Vice President, EMEA, for the CDC Respond business of CDC Software with responsibility for all client facing activities. Mr. Elswood joined CDC Software in February 2007 as Vice President, Services for EMEA, within the CDC Respond business of CDC Software. Mr. Elswood brings more than 17 years of enterprise software experience across many industry verticals including, Financial Services, Government, Healthcare, Retail and Fast Moving Consumer Goods. Prior to joining CDC Software, he worked within Oracle’s Retail Global Business Unit from November 2005 to January 2007 and Accenture from November 1992 to October 2004. Mr. Elswood holds a Bachelor degree of engineering from the University of Birmingham, U.K.

Thomas Zanzinger

Thomas Zanzinger is Managing Director, DACH (Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz) for CDC Software. Mr. Zanzinger is responsible for managing the operations of CDC Software’s Germany, Austria and Switzerland regions. He brings more than 20 years of experience in successfully building and driving international business via direct and indirect sales channels. Earlier in his career, Mr. Zanzinger worked at DELL Computer, where he helped implement this leading PC company’s well-known direct marketing concept in Germany. Previously, he held a variety of management roles at Novell including managing their midmarket division in Germany. At Mitsubishi Electric, he served as Director and General Manager for the company’s PC business unit in Germany. He also was responsible for building the channel and direct sales operations of Software AG where he served as Vice President and General Manager. Previously, he built the international business from scratch for datango AG where he also achieved significant growth. Most recently, Mr. Zanzinger managed international sales for Attensity Group where he built their international business and achieved significant client wins in global blue chip accounts. He holds a degree in Business Administration from Berufsakademie Stuttgart.

Nicolas Cron

Nicolas Cron is Managing Director of CDC Software France and Vice President for Southern Europe. As such, he brings his strong experience in the fields of CRM, high-tech sales and Management, to manage the operation of CDC Software’s French subsidiary and coordinates activities in the Southern Europe territory.

Before joining CDC Software, Nicolas Cron was Country Manager for France at Torex, a company selling enterprise software for retail, food outlets, petrol stations shops and fast food restaurants. Nicolas Cron started his career in 1984 at Groupe Danone where he spent 12 years in various sales roles before taking on the responsibility of the CRM activities for the group. Other roles include the Bongrain group as Key Account Manager; European Sales Manager for Dendrite, a company specialised in CRM software development; Managing Director France and North Africa at SSA Global, a company specialising in enterprise solutions – ERP, SCM, BI, CRM; and Kobeo, a company Nicolas founded, specialising in the development and implementation of vertical enterprise solutions.

Nicolas Cron received an Executive MBA from Liverpool University in the United Kingdom.

Sherri Rodriguez

Sherri Rodriguez is President of CDC Software’s Ross Systems. In this role, Ms. Rodriguez is responsible for the sales and operations of the company's ERP applications for Life Sciences, Food & Beverage, Chemicals and other key process manufacturing verticals. Ms. Rodriguez has more than 15 years of experience in technology solution selling, sales management, and regional account management. Since joining the company in 2003, Ms. Rodriguez has held several other positions throughout the organization including Director of Sales and Senior Account Management and Team Lead.

Prior to CDC Software, she served more than six years at Computer Associates in various roles selling ERP, Supply Chain, and business intelligence tools. She also worked in IT management and Sales roles at Cray Systems Autofile. She obtained her initial manufacturing industry experience while working more than four years in a Textron automobile manufacturing parts facility.

Brian Holder

Brian Holder is general manager for the Australian and New Zealand operations of the company. Mr. Holder brings nearly 20 years of experience working at Microsoft Corporation in a variety of management roles, recently as sales director for Microsoft Dynamics in Australia. Prior to joining CDC Software, Mr. Holder drove the business development activities in Microsoft’s Corporate Online Services business in Australia including management of direct sales and partnerships. Earlier, he served in various management and engineering roles with companies that included NEC Australia, Hewlett-Packard Australia and ICL U.K. and Australia.

Donald L. Novajosky

Donald L. Novajosky is Vice President and General Counsel for CDC Software.  He also serves as Associate General Counsel of CDC Corporation.   Mr. Novajosky joined CDC Corporation as Corporate Counsel in November 2006. From 2005 to 2006, Mr. Novajosky held positions with the law firms of Reed Smith LLP and Hutchison Law Group PLLC, where his practice focused on general corporate, securities, mergers and acquisitions and other corporate matters. From June 2003 to July 2005, Mr. Novajosky was the Director, Legal of Cytogen Corporation, a publicly-traded biopharmaceutical company in Princeton, New Jersey. Prior to that, Mr. Novajosky held positions with the law firms of Hale and Dorr LLP (now Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr) and Buchanan Ingersoll Rooney PC. Mr. Novajosky received a Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude, from New York Law School, where he was a member, editor and published author of the New York Law School Law Review. Mr. Novajosky also received a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Pennsylvania State University.

Hilton Law

Hilton Law is Managing Director of China and Asia/Pacific for CDC Software. He is responsible for channel partner development, strategic planning, corporate development and management of the company in Greater China and its Southeast Asia operations. Mr. Law also is CEO of Integrated Solutions Ltd., a business unit of CDC Software.  

With more than 20 years of experience in the information technology industry, Mr. Law has served in a variety of senior management roles throughout China and Asia/Pacific.  Previously, he was General Manager of SOLAR Inc. Limited, the joint venture of PCCW Limited and Computer Associates International, Inc. At, SOLAR, Hilton successfully developed and brought into the market a series of Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions, which included Finance Solution, Human Resources and MPF Solution for the small and medium-size enterprise (SME) market that resulted in a solid customer base being formed immediately. Mr. Law serves as a Council member of the Information and Software Industry Association.

Edmund Lau

Edmund Lau is senior vice president, Greater China. He is responsible for sales, services and business development in Greater China (Hong Kong, Taiwan and China).

With more than 20 years of senior management experience, Lau has earned a formidable reputation for his track record in transforming and growing established and start-up businesses while building solid relationships with customers. Most recently, he served as president of Viador, Inc., a leading provider of web-based Business Intelligence (BI) solutions based in Northern Califiornia, US. There, he also served in senior sales positions that included vice president of worldwide sales and vice president of international sales, where he expanded company sales in Europe and Asia Pacific, especially the Greater China area.  Under the leadership of Lau, Viador sales increased dramatically in Greater China through direct sales and strategic OEM partnerships with China-based vertical market-focused ISVs (Independent Software Vendors). Lau also established Viador’s new outsourcing operation in that country.  Earlier, Lau served as general manager of China/Hong Kong region for Hamilton/Brighton Technology Ltd., a U.S.-based IT company.  Prior to that, he served in a variety of technical management positions for California-based IT companies.