Leadership

Justin Winter

CEO

Mr. Winter is responsible for leading AST’s strategic direction, inspiration and growth. He is an accomplished global consulting executive with more than 25 years of regional and global experience, focused on selling and delivering results in solutions, software and professional services across technologies and industries.

Before joining AST, he spent 15 years at Hitachi Consulting, 6 years at Oracle, and several years at IBM and other Houston-based consulting companies.

Mr. Winter holds a BS in Geographic Information Systems from Texas State University.

Shaji Zechariah

President

Mr. Zechariah is responsible for AST’s financial performance and service delivery. Prior to joining AST, Mr. Zechariah was a senior member of Oracle’s Applications Consulting practice in the North Central region and a Senior Consultant at Tata Consultancy Services.

He brings over 25 years of industry experience in operations, project management, and ERP implementations in the service, government, manufacturing, and insurance sectors. He has served in various capacities throughout his career, including account and practice management, service delivery leadership, application solution architect, and as a functional implementer. He continues to play a key role in customer relationships and service delivery for AST.

Mr. Zechariah holds a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bombay (VJTI), India.

Scott Scaff

CFO

Mr. Scaff is responsible for the finance, accounting, and treasury functions at AST. He has extensive experience in professional, business, and technology services providing leadership, financial and operational guidance, including more than a fifteen years working at private-equity-backed organizations.

Prior to joining AST, Mr. Scaff served as VP of Global Business Operations with ISG, a leading global technology research and advisory firm. Prior to his tenure at ISG he was CFO for three privately owned firms (Alsbridge, NBS, and Aurum) and spent more than eleven years with EDS. Within these roles, Mr. Scaff has been a key member of numerous executive leadership teams, providing oversight to Finance, Accounting, Investor & Creditor Relations and IT functions.

Mr. Scaff holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Pittsburgh.

Stephen Engel

CRO

Mr. Engel leads AST’s global go-to-market strategy, guiding worldwide sales and other go-to-market operations to meet and accelerate growth. Prior to joining AST, Mr. Engel spent 18 years at Hitachi Consulting where he held multiple leadership positions, including SVP of Strategic Accounts, Strategic Solutions, and Managed Services Sales.

Mr. Engel brings a rather unique perspective to sales, with experience as a supply chain practitioner, delivery leader, and keynote speaker. He has also worked for Arthur Andersen and in the aerospace industry for Boeing and Bombardier.

Jennifer Mascari

SVP, Public Sector

Ms. Mascari leads AST’s business development and strategic business alliance efforts. She joined AST after 15 successful years at Oracle and has extensive experience in public sector information technology business development and sales. Ms. Mascari has worked in the Federal, U.S. State & Local, and Canadian public sector markets.

Ms. Mascari has over 25 years of experience in information technology business development and sales. She has served in various capacities throughout her career, including project management, software solution development and presentation, and sales management.

Ms. Mascari holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from James Madison University.

Vidya Khedekar

SVP, India Operations

Ms. Khedekar leads AST’s Offshore Delivery Center (ODC) in Pune, India. She has more than 20 years of experience driving transformational initiatives and building high-performing teams to support technology. Ms. Khedekar previously held management roles with Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Symantec, Cummins ABO, and Philips Inc.

With her experience incubating new practices and working with emerging markets, Ms. Khedekar has built a highly-resourceful delivery team and has established policies to ensure seamless services and support from the ODC. In addition to supporting AST’s North American teams, Ms. Khedekar’s team also completes large stand-alone projects, and engages directly with clients to support a broad spectrum of SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS solutions.

Ms. Khedekar holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics from the College of Engineering, Pune University and a Master of Business Administration degree in Management Science from Pune University, Pune, India.

Teresa Stanula

VP, Human Resources

Ms. Stanula is responsible for AST’s global people strategy and culture within the organization. Her role includes leading all of the Human Resources functions: talent acquisition, diversity & inclusion, compensation & benefits, compliance, leadership development, and employee relations. An accomplished Human Resources professional with a passion for people development, Ms. Stanula drives continuous process improvement, operational efficiencies, and the establishment of best practices.

Ms. Stanula has over 20 years of leadership experience in IT professional services. She is an 18-year veteran of Unisys Corporation and has recruiting, demand planning, and project staffing experience in the Commercial, Federal, and U.S. State and Local government sectors.

With a Master of Business Administration degree from DePaul University in Chicago, IL and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Eastern Illinois University, Ms. Stanula also has certifications in Coaching Leaders and Organizational Design, as well as Professional Human Resources certification.

Ajit Sathaye

VP, Pre-sales

Mr. Sathaye leads AST’s Pre-sales efforts focused on cloud solutions in the public and private sectors. He serves as the principal cloud solutions architect and strategist driving AST’s sales activities for key clients and engagements.

Mr. Sathaye is a seasoned veteran in the Oracle applications industry and has focused on the public sector for more than 35 years. As the former President and founder of Strategic Information Solutions, Inc., he led and supervised Oracle ERP implementations for over 50 large- to mid-size State and Local Governments and K-12 Districts prior to the firm’s acquisition. Mr. Sathaye subsequently spearheaded the acquiring firm’s Cloud transition, led business development activities, and formulated Cloud implementation methodologies, strategies, and best practices designed for Oracle Cloud implementations.

Mr. Sathaye holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago.

Melissa Sider

VP, Marketing and Communications

Ms. Sider oversees projects, both internal and external, which promote communications between AST employees, partners, and customers. Ms. Sider previously worked as a Practice Director for DARC Corporation, leading its change management and education services division, DARC Academy.

Ms. Sider’s responsibilities include traditional marketing channels, such as websites, collateral, social media, newsletters, and tradeshows. She has more than 20 years of experience managing and directing projects, ranging from business process design to large-scale training programs. She is an arbiter of organizational change management and training solutions in the Oracle ecosystem.

Ms. Sider is active in the Oracle User Group community, currently serving as an OAUG Meetings & Conferences Chair, NCOAUG Board of Directors Chair-person, and as a Collaborate Conference Chair. Ms. Sider also sits on the Board of Young Naperville Singers, a not-for-profit organization.

Ms. Sider holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Communications from Illinois State University in Normal, IL.

Jason Kuchera

VP, Commercial Sales

Mr. Kuchera is the Vice President of global Commercial Sales at AST. He oversees Commercial go-to-market sales strategy and execution, and provides executive sponsorship of AST’s key accounts and partnerships.

Mr. Kuchera has 19 years of sales experience, including 14 years in IT services sales of Oracle and Salesforce with companies such as Oracle and TEKsystems. Mr. Kuchera began his career providing workforce planning solutions to large Fortune 500 companies, ultimately with a specific focus on ERP implementations and advisory services.

Mr. Kuchera has served in sales leadership roles in the IT industry for the past six years.

Prasad Nettem

VP, ERP

Mr. Nettem leads a team of over 200 seasoned consultants in AST’s ERP practice. He is responsible for growing and managing AST’s ERP services, specifically in the area of Cloud ERP. He previously served as Director of ERP at Cook County and Director of Enterprise Financial Systems at Chicago Public Schools.

With more than 19 years of industry experience, Mr. Nettem is actively involved in the delivery, management, and quality assurance of AST’s ERP projects. He has been immersed in Chicago public sector ERP projects for more than 15 years, and has worked closely with business users in defining and implementing technology strategies to meet or exceed their business objectives. His career includes 15 years in the public sector and K-12 industry sectors. He has a proven track record in leading successful implementations of Oracle E-Business Suite, OBIEE, Hyperion, document imaging and content management, Oracle Fusion Middleware, and database technologies.

Mr. Nettem holds a Master degree in Industrial Engineering from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM.

Sachin Ganorkar

VP, CRM

Mr. Ganorkar oversees AST’s CX practice and is responsible for building competencies around the Oracle Cloud Customer Experience Suite and Salesforce Platform. Prior to joining AST, he served as Lead Solution Architect at iGate-Patni, responsible for managing architecture and delivery for large enterprise engagements.

Mr. Ganorkar has more than 22 years of experience with information technology strategy, architecture, development, and project management for the delivery of CX solutions for small, medium, and large corporations, such as Polycom, Gilead Sciences, Fidelity Investments, Church & Dwight, AT&T, and others.

Mr. Ganorkar is PMP Certified and holds a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance, as well as a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer Science from the University of Pune, India.

Shyam Kumar

VP, Technology Services

Mr. Kumar oversees the delivery, management, and quality assurance of AST’s Technology practice. He is responsible for sales support and program governance for large programs, and works as a solution architect on enterprise projects. Mr. Kumar previously worked at Wipro Technologies as a Program Manager.

With more than 15 years of experience in Oracle Technologies, Mr. Kumar’s experience includes management of global IT projects for Fortune 100 companies, driving and motivating a global team to meet critical business objectives. He is an Oracle Certified SOA consultant and Oracle (Sun) Certified Enterprise Architect, with a focus in architecture and design, consulting, implementation and delivery, project management, and planning of enterprise applications deployment.

Mr. Kumar holds a Bachelor of Production Engineering and Management degree from the National Institute of Technology in Jamshedpur, India.

Patrick Callahan

VP, EPM and Analytics

Mr. Callahan oversees AST’s Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) and Analytics practices. He is actively involved in the delivery, management, and quality assurance of AST’s EPM and Analytics projects. Prior to joining AST, Mr. Callahan was employed by the BI, Data Warehouse, and EPM practices at AmberLeaf and TUSC.

Mr. Callahan has more than 15 years of experience with information technology strategy, architecture, development, and project management. He recently designed a solution for an AST customer which was later awarded the North America Oracle Partner Network Partner Solution of the Year Award.

Mr. Callahan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL.

Subhasis Ganguly

VP, Managed Services

Mr. Ganguly is responsible for managing next-generation growth of the Managed Services practice at AST. He oversees all aspects of delivery, methodology, and strategic direction for this team. Mr. Ganguly previously held leadership positions at Cognizant, PWC, IBM, and Deloitte Consulting, which included multi-million-dollar portfolios and a substantial client base.

Mr. Ganguly has more than 20 years of experience in information technology management, including project delivery, strategic consulting, and industry solution development. He has experience across multiple industry sectors, such as Healthcare, Life Sciences, Communications, and Media & Entertainment.

Mr. Ganguly holds a Master of Business Administration degree in Strategy & International Finance from Leicester Business School, UK.

Tracy Kleinschmidt

VP, PMO

Ms. Kleinschmidt leads AST’s Project Management Office and is responsible for project engagement quality. She ensures that consistently great customer experiences are driven through excellence in all phases of the project lifecycle.

Ms. Kleinschmidt has more than 20 years of experience managing complex, global IT and business transformation projects in M&A and Governance/PMO environments. She has worked with companies such as Zebra Technologies, Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling and Harley-Davidson Financial.

Ms. Kleinschmidt holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, IL and is a graduate of University Of Wisconsin-Madison’s E-Business Consortium Executive Program.