Leadership
Platform9 was founded by early VMware engineers with deep expertise in virtual infrastructure and open-source innovation, powering private clouds for the world’s largest enterprises.
Executive Management
Ravi Jacob
Chief Executive Officer
Ravi Jacob
CEO
Ravi Jacob is the Chief Executive Officer of Platform9. Before taking over as CEO in October 2023, he was the CFO of the company.
Prior to joining Platform9, Ravi was the corporate vice president and treasurer of Intel Corporation, managing its capital structure, cash and investments, debt & equity capital markets activity, currency and other financial risks, retirement assets, and insurance matters. Before that, as Vice President, M&A, he led a global team responsible for structuring and executing Intel Capital’s acquisitions, divestitures, and strategic investment transactions.
Sirish Raghuram
Co-Founder, Chief Growth Officer
Sirish Raghuram
Co-Founder, Chief Growth Officer
Having experienced virtualization, IaaS and cloud-native industry transitions first hand, Sirish believes that there is a new digital divide emerging with the advent of cloud computing – the cloud-native-divide. With the exception of a few elite technology companies, most enterprises are struggling to realize the benefits of cloud-native. Sirish is passionate about empowering enterprises to cross that divide so they can thrive and grow.
As Chief Growth Officer, Sirish focuses his efforts on growth engineering initiatives that help accelerate time-to-value for our customers. Previously, Sirish was Founding CEO at Platform9 and led the company from its inception through several team, product, revenue and fundraising milestones.
Prior to founding Platform9, Sirish was an early engineer at VMware who went on to technical and management roles. His work at VMware led to several products, features and patents.
Outside Platform9, Sirish follows cricket, makes his kids laugh, and builds his collection of fast lenses and unprocessed photos. His favorite books include the Harry Potter series, Crossing the Chasm, Blue Ocean Strategy and Innovator’s Dilemma.
Madhura Maskasky
Co-Founder, Chief Product Officer
Madhura Maskasky
Co-Founder, Chief Product Officer
Madhura leads Product Management at Platform9. Before co-founding Platform9, Madhura spent 7 years at VMware Engineering, where she grew to be technical lead for several key products including vCloud Director, Update Manager and ConfigControl.
Madhura helped spearhead vSphere’s transformation into a policy driven product suite, working broadly across groups to pull together the vision. Madhura holds a M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University, specializing in databases and distributed systems.
When she isn’t sweating the details on product, Madhura can be found rock-climbing, swing dancing and exploring San Francisco.
Roopak Parikh
Co-Founder & CTO
Roopak Parikh
Co-Founder & CTO
Roopak envisioned the technology powering Platform9, and now leads our Engineering wizards in the quest to realize this vision. Roopak likes to work with customers in designing solutions and solving technical challenges. He also leads incubation projects within the organization and loves talking about everything from latest javascript frameworks to blockchain technologies.
Before co-founding Platform9, Roopak was a technical lead at VMware, where he helped architect and ship major vSphere products: Update Manager and vCloud Director. Before VMware, Roopak was an early engineer at an early stage Mobile computing startup.
Outside of work, Roopak is a fan of audiobooks, likes cooking, following sports, and keeping up with his kids on the soccer field.
Emilia A’Bell
Chief Revenue Officer
Emilia A’Bell
Chief Revenue Officer
Emilia comes to us with a fantastic track record of success from some of the industry’s most respected enterprise organizations. A wide and varied experience from start-ups like Portal Software and TOA Technologies to large globals including SAP, Nokia and Oracle, leading GTM teams with SaaS and on-prem solutions. Her focus and drive, combined with a highly personable style, has led to consistently driving teams to deliver significant growth.
Emilia leads Sales and Marketing at Platform9 with a focus on accelerating growth and launching new products into the market. She adopts a customer-centric approach, aiming to build long-term engagements with our customers. Her role involves developing effective Go-To-Market (GTM) strategies and ensuring structured accountability within her team. Through these efforts, Emilia helps to drive performance and achieve Platform9’s business objectives.
Emilia holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of South Australia.
Married to Nathan, with two spirited children Seraya and Ezra you will most likely find them enjoying outdoor adventures on weekends.
Vishwa Kapadia
Chief People Officer
Vishwa Kapadia
Chief People Officer
Vishwa spearheads people-centric programs that will build upon Platform9’s entrepreneurial culture, while supporting its rapid growth in the cloud-native market where retaining and recruiting top talent is key for success. She is focused on fostering a high performing work culture, to help people feel connected with the company and the brand.
Vishwa has 2 decades of HR experience, including leadership positions at multiple global technology companies like Intel, Dell, Infineon, and GE John F. Welch Technology Center. She has led various business practices, including talent management and HR business partnering, in addition to establishing several people and employee development programs. At Intel India, she was instrumental in institutionalising the Diversity and Inclusion charter.
In her last assignment, Vishwa was an HR leader at Maxim Integrated (a wholly owned subsidiary of Analog Devices Inc.) for its India and Singapore markets where she engaged with a matrix stakeholder group, across numerous international locations, spearheaded the translation of business objectives to people strategies, and implemented change management initiatives.
An avid supporter of social and environmental causes, she has also been an active participant on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) committees throughout her career. She is also a member of the DELA Advisory board (DTUI.COM)
Jeremy Miller
VP of Customer Operations
Jeremy Miller
VP of Customer Operations
Jeremy is a seasoned leader and technologist with a proven track record of delivering operational excellence and driving innovation across diverse industries. As the Vice President of Customer Operations, Jeremy combines deep technical expertise with strategic leadership to ensure exceptional customer experiences and successful outcomes.
With a career spanning roles from Senior Core Network Engineer to Principal Software Engineer and Director of Solutions & Consulting Services, Jeremy has built and led high-performing teams, designed and implemented scalable infrastructures, and guided clients through complex transformations. His expertise includes network and systems engineering, DevOps, cloud architecture, and end-to-end solutions delivery.
Driven by a deep curiosity for learning new things, Jeremy is passionate about DevOps principles and best practices, championing continuous software delivery, operational efficiency, and cross-functional collaboration to accelerate innovation. His leadership philosophy blends a hands-on approach to technical problem-solving with a commitment to empowering teams and fostering collaboration.
Outside of work, Jeremy channels his creativity and love for craftsmanship into woodworking, hiking, and sailing. He also enjoys collecting and working with tools, finding both relaxation and inspiration in hands-on projects and exploring the outdoors.
Board Members
Sriram Viswanathan
Founding Managing Partner, Celesta Capital
Sriram Viswanathan
Founding Managing Partner, Celesta Capital
Sriram is the Founding Managing Partner of Celesta Capital , a leading Silicon Valley based technology venture fund that focuses on investing in and scaling companies with disruptive technologies globally. Prior to Celesta Capital , Sriram was the founder of IndusAge Partners, a cross border Venture Firm investing in innovative companies in the US-India Technology corridor. Earlier in his career, Sriram spent nearly 20 years at Intel Corporation in various senior management roles, including Vice President of the Intel Architecture Group (IAG), Vice President of Intel Capital and General Manager of Intel’s Incubation and Innovation Group.
Bobby Yazdani
Founder and Partner, Cota Capital
Bobby Yazdani
Founder and Partner, Cota Capital
Bobby Yazdani is Founder and Partner of Cota Capital, a San Francisco-based firm investing in private and public U.S.-based modern enterprise technology companies. Bobby works full time on the development and support of entrepreneurs through Cota Capital and is well-known for his active, impactful approach in building and engaging with portfolio companies.
Before forming Cota Capital, Bobby spent over 20 years investing in technology companies. Founder gf Signatures Capital in 2006, Saba Software (“Saba”) in 1997, Bobby was ranked #1 out of 2000
angel investors for successful follow-on funding by CB Insights, in 2014.
Bobby has endowed the American Legacy Fund in partnership with U.S. Soccer, the Berkeley Changemaker Endowment and the Signatures Innovation Fellowship at University of California, Berkeley; the Maryam Mirzakhani Endowed Professorship at Mathematical Sciences Research Institute; and the Yazdani Family Endowed Scholarship, the Parivash Yazdani Research Fund, and the Maker Space at University of Southern California. Bobby serves on the President’s Leadership Council at University of Southern California.
Born in Tehran, Iran, Bobby completed high school in England and received a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Bhaskar Gorti
Global software executive, Former President of Nokia Software & CDO
Bhaskar Gorti
Global software executive, Former President of Nokia Software & CDO
Bhaskar is a global software executive who brings decades of experience in building innovative and passionate dream teams focused on accelerating growth through customer-centricity, digitalization, and automation. Bhaskar held top industry positions including Senior Vice President at Oracle Corporation, President of Nokia Software and Chief Digital Officer.
Upal Basu
General Partner/North America Head, NGP Capital
Upal Basu
General Partner/North America Head, NGP Capital
Upal has been an investor and operator in the technology industry for over 25 years. At NGP Capital, Upal leads its North American investments, and Enterprise software theme globally. He has led over 20 investments over 14 years with 7 significant exits.
Prior to NGP Capital, he was Founder and CEO of Mformation Technologies, the world’s largest mobile device management company which grew to $50M annual revenues, and acquired by Nokia. Previously he was a strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company in New York and London. Prior to McKinsey, Upal led Product Management activities for Risk Management Solutions (RMS), a leading provider of insurance software technologies. Upal has an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MS in Engineering from Stanford University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Imperial College, London.