Ritu Maheshwari
Product Manager and Release Coordinator

I’ve been an Interactive Intelligence employee since 2006 and am currently responsible for
identifying emerging technologies that are vital to the company’s mission of continuous
innovation. I’m focused on our SIP-based IP telephony products, and participate in design,
strategic development and marketing. I hold a Master’s degree in Computer Science
from Purdue University.
Peter Nees
Product Manager

I’ve worked at Interactive Intelligence for four years and have a total of 12 years’ experience
in the software industry as an applications, sales and support engineer. A primary objective for
me – and one of the most fun and challenging aspects of my job – is to use market feedback to help
create simple solutions that add the most value for a diverse set of customers. I currently focus
on finding ways to improve our recording and quality monitoring software, but have also taken over as
manager of hardware, including several of our SIP components. On the personal side, people say I look
like Jim from the NBC show “The Office”. I’m not sure what to say about that. I did grow up in New Jersey
not too far from Scranton, PA. Most importantly, the world’s greatest sport is definitely soccer, and I
make sure to correct all those who mistakenly call baseball our greatest pastime.
Tim Passios
Director of Solutions Marketing

I began working for Interactive Intelligence in 1998 and have a total of 20 years of experience in the
telecommunications and software industries. I also worked in contact centers as an agent, supervisor,
field trainer and manager for eight of those 20 years. In my current role at Interactive Intelligence I
have constant interactions with customers, prospects, the media and industry analysts, which all help me to
understand many different perspectives related to the contact center, enterprise IP telephony and messaging
markets. When I’m not working I like to spend time with my beautiful wife, and nine-year-old daughter and
seven-year-old son who I adore more than chocolate-chip cookies!
Joe Staples
Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing

I was fortunate enough to join Interactive Intelligence in January of 2005 as senior vice president of worldwide marketing
(an overly long title that barely fits on one line of my business card) and since that time have managed our
corporate and product marketing/management groups, as well as our public relations efforts. I spend the majority
of my time in the world of branding, advertising, lead generation, product strategy, and media/analyst relations.
I’ve been at this for more than 25 years with experience in technology and marketing, including assignments in
the areas of contact centers, computer telephony, unified messaging, mobile wireless, computer networking,
and computer-based education.
Tom Fisher
Systems Engineering Director

Almost 8 years ago I joined Interactive Intelligence as a Presales-Systems Engineer after seeing the architecture on
a napkin and being amazed by the capabilities and simplicity. Since that time I have held multiple positions
including Systems Engineer and IP-Telephony Product Specialist. Currently I serve as the Systems Engineering
Director for Interactive Intelligence focused on our large scale client rollouts. In this role my team and
I provide architecture, routing and other guidance to Interactive Customers and partners to architect solutions
which meet their business requirements. Prior to Interactive I was an Applications Consultant at Cisco Systems
and Andersen Consulting (Accenture) specializing in large scale contact center design and implementations.
Brad Herrington
Senior Manager, Solutions Marketing

As a Manager in the Solutions Marketing Group, Brad is responsible for the product direction and marketing strategy of the
suite of products offered by Interactive Intelligence. Solutions Marketing is also the outward facing delivery team for webinar,
seminar, analyst and media presentations as well as prospect and end customer demonstrations. His experience includes more than
20 years in the contact center and telephony industry, including the past 11 years with Interactive Intelligence focused on both
the traditional and IP telephony markets.
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Matt Taylor
Group Manager, Product Management

I began working at Interactive Intelligence in 1997 and have enjoyed collaborating with great people
in my multiple roles, including technical sales, information systems, business development and,
currently, product management. My focus for the past six years has been on our outbound and blended
dialing, multi-site call routing and general telephony products. Through many interactions with
customers, partners, prospects, trade associations and other vendors, I continue to learn about the
constantly changing landscape of outbound dialing, teleservices, collections and customer service. Prior to
joining Interactive Intelligence I spent 10 years in software development, architecture, and large-scale
database consulting. I love history, theory, and travelling, and enjoy seeing how my teenage kids make
use of the latest social networking and communications technologies.
Rachel Wentink
Senior Director of Product Management

I joined Interactive Intelligence in July 1999 as Manager of Technical Support for the America’s, then had
the good fortune to move to the South of France to manage our Technical Support and Education division for
Europe, Africa, and Middle East (and yes, the South of France truly is wonderful!) I’ve also acted as a
project manager in our Professional Services division helping customers deploy our software, and I’m currently
focused on providing overall product specifications and enhancements based on frequent on-site customer visits
and other forms of customer interactions. Prior to Interactive Intelligence I served as a technical support agent,
knowledge manager, manager of an IT team administering a CRM system for a Fortune 500 corporation, and provided
best practices consulting services for contact centers. I’ve been involved in contact centers in one role or another
for the past 19 years. A little known fact about me: My career actually started in public radio, where I announced
classical music and produced radio dramas. And yes, I love The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy!
Todd Zerbe
Development Group Manager

I began working for Interactive Intelligence in 2000 as a developer for our desktop softphone called Interaction Client®.
A couple years later I developed our Interaction Supervisor™ application and eventually expanded my role to manage our
entire client group. As Development Group Manager, I oversee several application areas, including our Interaction
Client®, Interaction Supervisor™, Interaction Administrator®, Interaction Attendant®, and reports. I also manage our
Web and mobile client teams, as well as team members who work on third-party application programming interfaces (API’s)
and our Session Manager™, a server-side software component. I graduated from Purdue University and have a total of 14 years
of experience developing software.
Troy Plott
Product Manager

I joined Interactive Intelligence in April 2009 as Product Manager for Interaction Optimizer™,
the company’s workforce management application. I have 15 years of contact center and workforce management experience,
both on the business and technical side. The majority of my career has been with Fortune 100 and 500 companies,
including six years at American Express, two years at Prudential and three years at Wachovia where I was responsible
for implementing contact center processes and technologies for workforce and performance management to improve service
levels and customer satisfaction. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Bridgewater
College in Virginia where I grew up. I enjoy travelling and try to get to a beach at least once a year for some
down-time.
Abi Chandra
Pre-Sales Engineer

My career in telephony has unintentionally mimicked the life cycle of contact center solutions. In the 1990's, I was working
on Rockwell's legacy ACD systems after which I then used server board-based systems at Aspect Solutions. Now, for the past five years,
I have been working on IP systems for Interactive Intelligence. My primary background is in Cisco Systems data and voice
networking and integrations. At Interactive Intelligence I am responsible for designing and architecting large-scale
contact center solutions for strategic customers. I also regularly train our channel partners in systems engineering
design methodologies. In my spare time, I enjoy making movies and the creative arts.
People are surprised to hear that I am an avid Jazzerciser.
Jason Alley
Solutions Marketing

Jason has both a broad and deep background in the area of customer interaction. He served as a product manager and strategist for the
first six years of his career with companies such as Nortel, Aspect and Hipbone (a web collaboration company acquired by Kana). Jason
spent the next ten years of his career consulting with enterprise customers and suppliers for Vanguard Communications and a company he
later founded, SmartContact Consulting. Jason now serves on the solutions marketing team at Interactive Intelligence. His unique blend
of end-user and supplier experience equips him with a fresh, comprehensive perspective – something he strives to infuse in every project.
Jason holds a bachelor’s degree in business economics from UCLA.
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