Board of Directors

Chairman of the Board
Arun Sarin
Mr. Sarin served as Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone Group Plc from 2003 until his retirement in 2008. Mr. Sarin began his career at Pacific Telesis Group in 1984. He progressed through various management positions there and at AirTouch Communications Inc., which Pacific Telesis spun off in 1994, and was named president and chief operating officer of AirTouch in 1997. After AirTouch merged with Vodafone in 1999, he was appointed chief executive officer of Vodafone’s U.S./Asia-Pacific region. He left Vodafone in 2000 to become Chief Executive Officer of InfoSpace, Inc., and from 2001 until 2003, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Accel-KKR Telecom. After his retirement in 2008, he served as a senior advisor to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for five years. Mr. Sarin currently serves as a director at The Charles Schwab Corporation and Accenture plc. He previously served as a director of Safeway, Inc. from 2009 to 2015 and Blackhawk Network Holdings, Inc. from 2009 to 2018; and Cisco Systems Inc. from 2009 to 2020. Mr. Sarin holds M.B.A. and Master of Science (Engineering) degrees from University of California-Berkeley and a B.S. from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, India.
Director
Thomas Beaudoin
Tom Beaudoin has been a member of the Cerence Board of Directors since the company’s inception in 2019. As Cerence’s Chief Financial Officer from May 2022 until 2024 and as the former head of Business Transformation at Nuance Communications leading the spin-out of Cerence, Tom has an extensive track record with Cerence and the automotive and software industries. He previous roles include Chief Transformation Officer of Qualifacts as well as Chief Financial Officer for SimpliVity, where he helped orchestrate its successful sale to Hewlett Packard Enterprise. He also served as Executive Vice President and CFO at Nuance for seven years, where he led all financial, IT and administrative functions. He earned both his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration degrees from Babson College.
Director
Marianne Budnik

Marianne Budnik is an accomplished technology industry leader with extensive marketing and cybersecurity expertise. Ms. Budnik has served as Chief Marketing Officer for Talon Cyber Security since March 2022.  Previously, Ms. Budnik served as Chief Marketing Officer for CrowdStrike from December 2020 through March 2022, where she also oversaw the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. From May 2017 through December 2020, Ms. Budnik served as Chief Marketing Officer for CyberArk, a leader in Privileged Access Management and Identity Security solutions. Her previous experience includes leadership roles with SimpliVity, Acme Packet, CA Technologies, and EMC Corporation. Ms. Budnik earned an M.B.A. from Boston University and holds a bachelor’s degree from Babson College. She also serves on the Board of publicly traded F5, and as a member of F5's audit and risk oversight committee.

Director
Davis
Mr. Davis is a renowned and respected leader within the automotive, autonomous driving and IoT industries, having had an impressive 35-year career at Intel Corporation. Mr. Davis most recently served as Senior Vice President of Intel’s Automated Driving Group, where he formed the company’s automated driving business, established Intel as a leading supplier of chip technology for autonomous vehicles, and led the company’s acquisition of Mobileye. He has deep relationships with nearly every automotive OEM, automotive technology innovator, and Tier 1 supplier. Mr. Davis has a range of board experience and is currently a director for Oshkosh Corporation and for Verra Mobility. Mr. Davis holds a M.B.A. from the Arizona State University W.P. Carey School of Business and a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from New Mexico State University.
 
Independent Director
Director
Sanjay Jha
Mr. Jha has served as a General Partner at Eclipse Ventures since 2019. Mr. Jha was Chief Executive Officer of GlobalFoundries Inc. the world’s second-largest semiconductor foundry business from 2014 to 2018. Prior to joining GlobalFoundries, Mr. Jha was Chief Executive Officer for Motorola Mobile Devices from 2008 to 2012, a role he held until the company’s acquisition by Google. Before joining Motorola, Mr. Jha was at Qualcomm for over 14 years, ending his tenure at Qualcomm as the Chief Operating Officer (2006 to 2008) and President of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (2002 to 2008). Mr. Jha was a member of the board of directors of the Semiconductor Industry Association and also served as Chairman of the Global Semiconductor Alliance. Additionally, he is a member of the board of trustees of UC San Diego and the Salk Institute and serves of the board of several private start-ups. Mr. Jha holds a Ph.D. (2001), and D.Sc (Hon) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Strathclyde. He was inducted into the US National Academy of Engineering in 2018.
Director
Klevorn
Ms. Klevorn is a known and respected automotive and mobility industry leader, having spent 35 years at Ford Motor Company. During her tenure, she held varying executive and leadership roles within the company’s information technology organization, including global Chief Information Officer (CIO) and, previously, CIO of Ford Motor Company in Europe. Ms. Klevorn also served as EVP and President of Ford Mobility, where she oversaw Ford Smart Mobility LLC and its acquisitions and other investments that accelerated the company’s plans to design, build, grow, and invest in emerging mobility services. In this role, she also chaired the board of Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC. Ms. Klevorn most recently served as the Chief Transformation Officer of Ford Motor Company, where she accelerated Ford’s transformation efforts by refining its corporate governance and fostering adoption of process improvements and agile teams. She also led partnerships with key technology partners and played a critical role in the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Ms. Klevorn currently sits on the Boards of Directors of Northern Trust Corporation and Humana and on the Provost Advisory Committee at the University of Michigan. She holds a bachelor's degree in business from the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business.
Director
Kristi Ann Matus
Ms. Matus has been an executive advisor to Thomas H. Lee Partners since 2017. From 2014 to 2016 Ms. Matus served as the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer at athenahealth, Inc. From 2012 to 2013, Ms. Matus served as Executive Vice President and Head of Governmental Services at Aetna, Inc. Prior to Aetna, she held several senior leadership roles at United Services Automobile Association, including Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 2008 to 2012. She began her career at Thrivent where she held various financial and operational roles for over a decade. Ms. Matus currently serves as a director at AXA Equitable Holdings, Inc. and AllianceBernstein Holding L.P.
Director
Alfred Nietzel
Mr. Nietzel has been an independent consultant since 2017. From 2014 to 2017, Mr. Nietzel served as the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President at CDK Global, Inc. Prior to CDK’s spin-off, Mr. Nietzel was with Automatic Data Processing, Inc. since 2001 and served as Chief Financial Officer for the Dealer Services Division, Chief Financial Officer for the Employer Services Division and ADP’s Corporate Controller. Prior to joining ADP, Mr. Nietzel served for 17 years with Proctor & Gamble Inc. in numerous financial management roles in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Mr. Nietzel holds a B.S. degree from Eastern Illinois University.
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Stefan Ortmanns
Stefan Ortmanns, Ph.D. is the chief executive officer of Cerence, the global industry leader in conversational AI for mobility. An accomplished voice and automotive technology executive, he most recently led Cerence’s Core Products business as executive vice president & general manager following the company’s separation from Nuance Communications in 2019. Ortmanns joined Nuance in 2003 and served in a variety of senior management and engineering roles, including executive vice president & general manager of the company’s Automotive Division. Prior to that, Ortmanns held positions at Philips Speech Processing, Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, and the University of Technology Aachen. Ortmanns holds degrees in mechanical engineering, computer science and a Ph.D. in computer science from RWTH Aachen University.

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