European Leadership
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Tom Needs
Chief Executive Officer, Applied Systems Europe
Tom Needs, Chief Executive Officer of Applied Systems Europe is responsible for leading the company’s UK and Ireland strategy, operations and regional growth mission. Tom brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in the B2B technology sector serving multiple industries, including the European Insurance industry. Most recently, he served as Chief Operating Officer of Node4 Ltd., a leading private equity backed technology services company comprising private and public cloud services, connectivity, and collaboration solutions, where he was responsible for driving customer growth and retention and for scaling operations. His experience leading rapid organizational growth and transformation will provide great value to our employees, customers, and the broader insurance ecosystem as we continue to scale our operations and deliver world-class technologies and services.
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Dave Chapman
Chief Revenue Officer, Applied Systems Europe
Dave Chapman, Chief Revenue Officer, Applied Systems Europe, is responsible for leading Applied’s Sales & Marketing teams in Europe. Prior to Applied, Dave worked in the insurance technology industry for over 18 years at SSP where he was responsible for the Broker business, as well as all client relationships throughout Europe, the U.S. and the Caribbean. Prior to this role, Dave held a number of positions within Sales & Account Management, having joined the business as a Sales graduate in 2002.
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Darren Fegan
Finance Director, Applied Systems Europe
Darren Fegan, Finance Director, is responsible for the financial function at Applied Systems Europe and ASE Software Ireland. Darren joined Applied in 2016. He started his career in practice with PKF-FPM, where he completed his Chartered Accountants Ireland professional exams. He then moved into the industry gaining experience in retail, property management, recycling and logistics. Darren holds a post graduate and a master’s degree from the University of Ulster.
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Stephen Murphy
Senior Director of Customer Experience, Applied Systems Europe
Stephen Murphy, Customer Success Director, Applied Systems Europe, is responsible for the overall client experience and satisfaction of Applied Europe’s strategic customers. A customer champion, Stephen leads a team of Customer Success managers and works in collaboration with Sales, Services, Support, Development and Product Management, placing customer experience at the centre of all operations. He joined Applied in March 2020 and works across both broker and insurer channels ensuring our customers gain the most value possible from their investment in Applied technology. In his previous role at Accenture, Stephen worked in Management Consulting where he specialised in insurance consulting, managing teams across Europe and Asia Pacific to deliver large scale transformational projects for larger insurers in the UK and Ireland.
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Chris Kitchener
Vice President of Product Management, Applied Systems Europe
Chris Kitchener, Vice President of Product Management, Applied Systems Europe is responsible for defining the product strategy for Applied in Europe and leading the product team. Prior to Applied, Chris has worked across a number of industries as a product leader focussed on delivering value to his customers, including time at organisations like Adobe Systems and Thomson Reuters. Chris has nearly 20 years of experience building strong customer focussed product teams and creating predictable and scalable delivery engines in partnership with the rest of the business. Chris joined the business in September 2022.
Global Leadership
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Taylor Rhodes
Chief Executive Officer
Taylor Rhodes, Chief Executive Officer, leads Team Applied and is responsible for the company's overall strategy and operational execution. Rhodes joined Applied in 2019 after serving as chief executive officer of SMS Assist, the leading cloud-based software platform for multi-site property management. Previously, he was CEO of Rackspace, where he led the Company’s growth from a cloud pioneer to an industry leader with more than two billion dollars in revenue, while establishing the company as a mainstay on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For®. Prior to Rackspace, he served as a leader in enterprise, financial and corporate strategy roles at Electronic Data Systems Corporation. Mr. Rhodes is a former United States Marine Corps infantry officer and holds a MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He serves on the board of directors for Applied, Zenoss and Liquid Web, LLC.
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Graham Blackwell
President and Chief Financial Officer
Graham Blackwell, President and Chief Financial Officer, has responsibility for our Strategic Growth Business Units, including Ivans, EZLynx and Applied Pay, and Applied’s corporate financial functions including acquisitions, partnerships and strategic planning. Graham joined Applied in 2020 from SMS Assist, where he led the company’s sales, marketing and strategy functions as Chief Revenue Officer. Prior to SMS Assist, Graham spent almost eight years with Bain Capital’s Private Equity operating team where he worked closely with the boards and management teams of Bain Capital’s portfolio companies. Before that, Graham was an associate partner with McKinsey & Company and a consultant with Accenture. He holds an MBA degree from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and BBA degree from Ohio University.
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Anupam Gupta
Chief Product Officer
Anupam Gupta, Chief Product Officer, is responsible for the company's product vision and product management teams. Formerly CPO at 4C Insights, a sophisticated Data & Analytics SaaS provider to the AdTech/MarTech industries, which was acquired by Mediaocean, the mission-critical platform for omnichannel advertising with more than $200 billion in annualized media spend managed through its software, connecting the ecosystem of agencies, brands, media, technology, and data. As CPO of the combined companies, he spearheaded their product transformation to the cloud, adding new products fueled by data and intelligence infused in the core workflow. Previously, he’s led product organizations for several tech companies, including at Vubiquity, Mixpo, and Microsoft among others.
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Trevor Bunker
Chief Customer Officer
Trevor Bunker, Chief Customer Officer, leads Applied’s customer experience organization, including the strategic direction for the company’s services, support, and customer success programs. Trevor joined Applied in 2020 with more than 20 years of customer service leadership experience. In his last role, he served as CCO at RealPage, a vertical SaaS company serving the real estate market, where he oversaw a team of 1,000 responsible for all post-sales customer experience functions. Prior, Trevor spent 13 years at CA Technologies where he rose to be Senior Vice President of Product Success, Customer Adoption and Software Subscription Renewals.
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Bridget Penney
Chief People Officer
Bridget Penney, Chief People Officer, is responsible for all human resources functions across the company as well as overseeing the development and execution of human capital strategies. She is an operational and strategic leader with expertise in building business through talent management, leading operational and organizational excellence. Prior to joining Applied, Penney served as Vice President of Talent & Diversity at Kohler Co., where she was responsible for the organization’s keen focus on talent and culture, playing a significant role in Kohler’s quest to retain and engage the best talent. Penney holds a master’s degree in Leadership and Organizational Behavior from Benedictine University, a master’s degree in Social Work from Loyola University, and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Marketing from the University of Illinois. In addition, she is a Certified Executive Coach, from the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business.
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Jeffrey D. Purdy
Chief Revenue Officer
Jeffrey D. Purdy, Chief Revenue Officer, is responsible for the strategic direction of Applied's sales organization. Purdy began his career in the company’s Canadian operations in 1989 and has held various executive positions in Canada and the USA, including running our international operations prior to taking on the executive sales role. He has led Applied’s global expansion and entry into the United Kingdom and Ireland markets. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario.
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Rich Belanger
Chief Technology Officer
Rich Belanger, Chief Technology Officer, leads the Product Development, Product Management and Quality Assurance teams for Applied Systems. Previously, Rich led ProQuest, a global SaaS company with over 100 million users, through a complex migration to a modern cloud architecture and deployed world-class software development processes. As a result of his leadership, ProQuest achieved significant improvements in performance and reliability, as well as meaningful improvements in the speed and quality of new product development. Rich also held prior leadership roles at Target Software and Forrester Research.
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Courtney Rains
Chief Marketing Officer
Courtney Rains, Chief Marketing Officer, is responsible for Applied’s global marketing strategy. Rains has held a number of leadership positions at Applied and led the Company’s brand transformation, helping to position Applied as the technology company revolutionizing the insurance industry. With more than 10 years of experience in technology marketing and crisis communications, her expertise and unrelenting commitment to growth ensure that she brings the best out of those around her for the success of the team and broader company. She has prior marketing experience at big tech companies like Qualcomm and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame.
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Rich Cohan
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Rich Cohan, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, is responsible for the legal and corporate governance activities of Applied. He joined Applied in 2019 and brings more than 20 years of experience in legal and business roles, including in both the software and insurance industries. Prior to Applied, Cohan ran European Operations for Workiva Inc., a SaaS provider of corporate reporting solutions. Previously he was General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Athene USA (formerly Aviva USA), a leading provider of life insurance and annuity products. Previous experiences include a corporate attorney at the law firms of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Katten Muchin & Zavis, as well as a CPA with Price Waterhouse. Cohan received his law degree from the University of Chicago and his bachelor’s from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.