Over the last year or so, we’ve been assembling a “new”
management team here at Palisade as part of our strategy to take the company to
new levels. I say “new” in quotes
because most (but not all) of the team are Palisade veterans. We’ve restructured responsibilities and put
systems in place to support a globally-focused mission of elevating the quality
of decision-making in sectors around the world.
Meet the team!
Erik Westwig, Director
of Software Development
Erik Westwig has worked in software development at Palisade
for nearly 25 years, and leads all the company’s core product software
development efforts.
Erik has long been a key architect behind Palisade’s
flagship product @RISK, which performs Monte Carlo simulation and optimization
in Microsoft Excel. Having written large
portions of the @RISK code directly, Erik has also led development teams
throughout the company’s history. In
addition to @RISK, he has spearheaded the development of PrecisionTree,
Palisade’s decision analysis add-in to Excel, as well as coordinated production
of the company’s fully integrated DecisionTools Suite of analytical tools.
Erik enjoys heavy metal and Broadway show tunes.
Denise Castellot,
Vice President of Global Sales
Denise Castellot has managed sales teams at Palisade for
over 12 years, and now leads the company’s expansion efforts all over the
world.
Denise began at Palisade focusing on Latin America. Under her leadership, the company presence in
both Brazil and the rest of Latin America grew exponentially. She has also led teams in Asia-Pacific and
the US. Having sold directly into these
markets herself, Denise brings a firm understanding of market challenges as
well as a hands-on management style to the role. As VP of Global Sales, she is a unifying
force for the company’s distributed global team, applying best practices and
scaling outreach efforts in exciting new ways.
When not spreading the
gospel of risk management, Denise can be found galloping through the
countryside on one of her horses.
Scott Burch, Vice
President of Finance
Scott Burch joined our team in April 2019 and develops and
executes innovate new financial strategies that directly impact the bottom
line.
Scott’s remit includes financial engineering, systems
improvements, analytics and cash management, all of which further enable the
company to achieve its strategic goals of providing the best possible
decision-making solutions to Fortune 500 professionals worldwide. Scott also works closely with Palisade’s
equity partner Thompson Street Capital Partners to leverage their experience
and expertise.
Prior to Palisade, Scott was corporate accounting manager
for PAR Technologies, controller at XPO Logistics, and Vice President at
Tompkins Financial Corporation. Scott spends his downtime keeping his dog
from eating the paneling off the walls of his
house.
Shannon Kelly,
Director of Marketing
Shannon Kelly has worked in marketing at Palisade for over
20 years, and currently leads the company’s branding, outreach, and demand
generation efforts globally.
Shannon began as the company’s graphic designer and quickly
became the webmaster as well. Over the
years, she has led multiple re-branding efforts, product launch campaigns, and
web site overhauls. She and her team
have produced materials and campaigns in eight different languages. Shannon launched and oversees Palisade’s
global events series, which includes conferences, workshops, and industry
exhibitions all over the world. The
two-day Palisade Risk Conference has become the leading event of its kind in
the risk decision-analysis space. She is
also responsible for Palisade’s marketing analytics efforts, helping to target
our messaging and content to be relevant and useful for our customers. She and her team are focused on understanding
the customer’s journey, in order to build and nurture customer relationships
that last for years.
When not directing global
marketing, Shannon can be found on the dog agility circuit.
Julie Ellis-Grove,
Director of Accounting
Julie Ellis-Grove has worked in accounting at Palisade for
six years, and is responsible for the smooth operation of the company’s
receivables, payables, payroll, cash, tax, and other functions.
Over the years, Julie has revamped AP and AR processes, set
up new reporting systems, and managed cash and tax functions in four different countries. More recently she led the diligence effort
during Palisade’s capital restructure with Palisade’s private equity partners
Thompson Street Capital Partners. Among
her latest challenges is co-leading an initiative to upgrade and overhaul
Palisade’s ERP and accounting software systems, which will provide the company
with greater efficiencies and real-time reporting like never before.
If that weren’t enough to
keep her busy, at 6:00am most mornings Julie can be found at CrossFit.
Gustavo Vinueza,
Director of Custom Solutions
Gustavo Vinueza has worked in the consulting, training, and
custom development area of Palisade for nine years, and is currently
responsible for scoping and producing customized software solutions for Fortune
500 companies around the world.
During his tenure, Gustavo has leveraged his technical and
financial background to understand the varied and unique needs of customers in
many different industries to better formulate solutions tailored for each
client. Having started by providing
training classes and developing spreadsheet models for clients, Gustavo has
since grown to lead a team of consultants and programmers whose mission is to
create robust, bespoke software solutions based on Palisade’s @RISK and
DecisionTools technologies. To date, the
Custom Solutions team has helped Fortune 500 clients in manufacturing,
engineering, defense, utilities, banking, energy, and many other sectors.
Gustavo is an active
street runner and his goal is to, one day, run a marathon.
Randy Heffernan, CEO
That’s me – for over 20 years, I’ve worked in nearly every
department at Palisade, including sales, marketing, operations, and
development. Working closely with sales
and product teams, I’ve had the opportunity to lead product launches, enter new
markets, and establish Palisade offices in multiple new countries. During that time, the company has quadrupled
in size and expanded its reach to become the dominant force in modern
analytical decision-making and thought leadership.
My focus now is to take Palisade to the next level in its
30+ year history. Building on a
marketing-leading product and a world-class sales force, our aim is to lay the
foundation for the next generation of accessible, powerful spreadsheet-based
analytics and to reach segments who don’t yet know the power these tools can
bring.
Besides risk analytics, things that I think are fun include
mountains, English history, and Star Trek.
Learn more
about the team here!