Management

Patrik Sallner
CEO

Patrik joined SkySQL in 2012 after running the Content Cloud business at F-Secure where he was also leading the Professional Services function. Earlier, Patrik built up and led the Hosting Line of Business in Nokia Siemens Networks. Patrik has a long background with Nokia where he held various management positions in mobile phone product development, strategy and innovation, including running a cross-functional Corporate Strategy unit called Insight & Foresight. He also worked several years in management consulting with McKinsey & Company in their Paris and Helsinki offices.

Patrik has a MSc degree in Technology Management from Helsinki University of Technology as well as an MBA from the Wharton School and a MA degree in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. In his pastime, Patrik plays the bassoon and renovates the hundred year old villa in Helsinki where he lives with his family.

Ivan Zoratti
CTO

Ivan is a computer science and IT veteran with 30 years of experience in hardware and software development. He started his career at Digital Equipment Corporation, following his passion for the kernel of the PdP 11 machines, RSX and later with VAX/VMS Macro programming, Ethernet and Parallel I/O boards. Entrepreneur since 1988, he set up and managed several IT startups and subsidiaries in Europe. He has been an independent journalist and author of technical books for 15 years. Since the early 90s, he has been Chief Technical Architect and Chief Technical Officer for non IT companies in sectors like telco, manufacturing and retail.

Ivan joined MySQL in 2005 and led the European Pre-Sales team for the Software Infrastructure Group at Sun Microsystems. At SkySQL, he is responsible for the vision of the company and the evolution of new database solutions and services.

A native of Italy, Ivan has lived in Windsor, UK since 2000.

Kaj Arnö
VP Collaboration

Kaj joined MySQL AB in 2001 after 14 years as an entrepreneur. His first position was VP Training, launching MySQL AB’s training department. Since then, Kaj has been VP Professional Services, VP Services, and VP Engineering at MySQL, before assuming his last pure-MySQL role of VP Community Relations in 2005. With MySQL AB being acquired by Sun and then Oracle, Kaj decided to give in to his entrepreneurial urges once again. He joined SkySQL as EVP Products in October 2010 and is VP Collaboration since September 2012.

A native of Finland, Kaj has lived in Munich since 2006.

Michael Carney
Vice President of Sales

Michael joined MySQL in 2003 after 10 years as an entrepreneur. He initially lead sales in France and then went on to lead the MySQL® sales efforts in Southern Europe for Sun and very briefly Oracle before leaving in the summer of 2010. He joins SkySQL as Vice President of Sales with global responsibility.

A native of northern England, Michael received his BSc from Bordeaux University and due to a weakness for fine wines and cheeses has never achieved escape velocity from France in the 20 years since he graduated.

Dean Ellis
Vice President of Technical Support

Dean joined MySQL Support in 2003, after several years as a software developer and DBA deploying MySQL® for enterprise applications alongside Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle. Initially a support engineer and developer, he moved into management for the Americas-based support team and eventually served as manager for the entire global support organization, earning a reputation for passionate customer advocacy.

A native of the USA, Dean lives near Nashville, Tennessee.

Matt Fredrickson
Director Sales North America

Matt was one of the first volume sales reps for MySQL covering North America, UK and Ireland. The team was relatively small in 2002 but grew quite rapidly along with the popularity of MySQL®. Matt grew and led a team of sales representatives mostly covering the eastern US and Canada, including Federal and renewal business. Matt successfully led his team through two major acquisitions by Sun Microsystems and then Oracle. He has over 10 years of experience in direct software sales and software sales management. He joins SkySQL as Sales Director of North America.

Matt received his BA from Western Washington University and is a native of the Pacific Northwest, living near Seattle, Washington.

Boel Larsen
Sr. Director HR

Prior to joining MySQL early 2002 Boel was CEO and co-founder of a consulting company, mainly focused on organizational development. Boel managed global Human Resources throughout her tenure at MySQL, with the company growing from 30 employees to 425. After the acquisition by Sun Microsystems Boel stayed with Sun as a Sr. HR Business Partner until joining SkySQL in 2010.

Boel lives in Uppsala, Sweden, and holds a Certificate in Law from the University of Uppsala.

Max Mether
Director Field and Training Services

Max joined MySQL in 2001 starting as a consultant and instructor. He went on to create the MySQL training program and manage the curriculum for MySQL AB and later for Sun. Prior to joining MySQL Max did some business development work at an innovation company for mobile technology.

A native of Finland, Max received his M.Sc (Eng) in Physics and Maths from Helsinki University of Technology. Max is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Magnus Stenberg
Vice President of Sales EMEA

Magnus joined MySQL in 2003 after 15 years in leading Sales and Management positions with Digital Equipment, Cognos, Informix and Precise Biometrics. Magnus went on to lead the MySQL sales in Nordic, Benelux and Israel for Sun Microsystems and Oracle. Many large and strategic business contracts were managed by Magnus at MySQL, and he made his MySQL sales team the most sucessful region during multiple years at MySQL AB.

A native of Sweden living near Uppsala, Magnus joins SkySQL as Vice President Sales EMEA.

Tom Callway
Director, Marketing

Tom has been working for high growth, B2B technology start-­ups for about ten years, most recently with a focus on enterprise systems management, virtualization and the Cloud.

Before joining SkySQL in 2013 Tom ran the marketing team at Opsview, a global IT monitoring vendor, where he developed global marketing programs covering brand management, digital marketing, social marketing, product strategy and pricing, events and corporate communications. He was also responsible for building an end-to-end sales and marketing automation platform using Drupal, Loopfuse lead scoring and email nurturing and Salesforce. Launched in 2011, his platform was presented at Cloudforce Reading 2012 and reviewed by MarketingSherpa.

Based in London, Tom holds a Masters degree from the University of Kent.