Leadership changes designed to position company for next growth phase

INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 5, 2018 – Sharpen Technologies, developers of the agent-first omni-channel cloud contact center platform, has strengthened its leadership team to position the company for its next growth phase.

The changes include the addition of Mike Simmons, who fills a newly created role as executive chairman and president. Simmons has been on Sharpen’s board of directors since 2014. He brings with him 25 years of experience leading fast-growing technology companies serving in roles ranging from co-founder and CEO, to managing director and chairman.

“I’m excited to be part of this next chapter in Sharpen’s growth,” Simmons said. “Between our board of directors and advisors, we’re backed by more than 100 years of tech industry experience. These seasoned veterans intimately understand the contact center industry and the problems our customers need us to solve. This kind of domain expertise will ensure we’re solidly positioned to accelerate growth while laying the foundation for long-term success.”

Sharpen has also created a new chief operating officer role filled by Pam Hynes, who previously served as the company’s vice president of client experience. Hynes brings with her 30-plus years of experience helping technology companies develop and maintain industry-leading customer programs. Prior to joining Sharpen she served for 21 years in various senior services roles at publicly-traded global technology company Interactive Intelligence (acquired by Genesys).

In addition, Sharpen welcomes Ashley Vukovits as its new consulting chief financial officer. Vukovits brings with her 26 years of accounting, finance and leadership experience. She is the former CFO for Interactive Intelligence (acquired by Genesys). Since leaving Interactive Intelligence/Genesys, Vukovits has served as a consultant and board member for multiple technology companies.

Sharpen has also hired Kevin Schatz as its new chief technology officer. Schatz has 13 years of experience leading transformational customer experience and technology projects within the contact center market. He has served in senior engineering, professional services and technology roles with a specialty in the development and strategy of cloud and artificial intelligence solutions.

Adam Settle, the company’s former director of SharpenU, has been promoted to vice president of SharpenU, which is a newly created role. Settle will apply his 10 years of training experience within the technology industry to his new role overseeing customer-facing training and the Sharpen University product, which includes inline training and agent coaching modules.

Sharpen’s sales team is led by veterans Steve Kaplan and Mike Rudow, who together bring more than 40 years of sales experience in the technology industry.

These changes build on the company’s many milestones already achieved, including a 60-plus percent increase in contact center seats this year alone, and its first $1 million-plus customer contract. “Positively positioning our company for growth means we can maximize our investment in our platform and expand our service and support resources,” Hynes said. “For our valued customers and partners, this means they’ll continue to enjoy the most innovative cloud contact center platform available, delivered with the highest level of expertise and care.”

About Sharpen Technologies

Sharpen Technologies is a cloud-based customer experience technology provider that offers an agent-first omni-channel contact center platform. Its solutions address decades-old agent issues responsible for poor customer experiences. Sharpen’s proprietary Agent Experience Score (AXS) gives contact centers a new way to measure and track not only performance, but overall agent well-being. The company’s unique omni-channel approach gives agents a single interface for communicating across multiple channels. A global, cloud-native platform eliminates scalability issues while delivering mathematically unbeatable voice quality. Sharpen was named among the Best Places to Work in Indiana. The company is also a recipient of the Stevie American Business Awards and was named by Nemertes Research as a 2018 “Top Rated” provider of contact center solutions. Sharpen was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind. Visit www.sharpencx.com or call 855.249.3357.

©2018 Sharpen Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. Sharpen Technologies and the Sharpen logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Sharpen Technologies. All other company names and logos may be registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies.

Contacts:

Investor Relations
Mike Simmons
Executive Chairman and President
Sharpen Technologies
msimmons@sharpencx.com
317.296.7455

Media and Analyst Relations
Christine Holley
PR Account Executive
Sharpen Technologies
cholley@sharpencx.com
804.256.8149