Paul Segre

Chief Executive Officer

Paul is Synamedia’s Chief Executive Officer. He was previously CEO of Genesys for 12 years, where in 2012 he led the $1.6 billion spin-out of Genesys from Alcatel-Lucent (now Nokia) backed by the Permira Funds. He then oversaw the acquisition of 16 businesses and scaled Genesys to become one of the ten largest privately held software companies in the world.

Up to 2012, Paul also served on the Executive Committee of Alcatel-Lucent as President of the Applications Group, a $2.9b division that included Genesys as well as telecommunication carrier software products.

Earlier in his career, Paul held roles at DSC, Bell Labs and AT&T Network Systems in strategy, business development and product management.

Bijal Patel

Chief Financial Officer

Bijal Patel is Synamedia’s Chief Financial Officer and brings over 20 years of experience in international high-tech and software companies as well as private equity backed technology firms. Bijal has extensive experience driving business transformation, integrations and process improvements.

Bijal joined Synamedia from hospitality technology innovator, HotSchedules where he served as CFO for 3 years. Prior to HotSchedules, Bijal was CFO at Aptean and before that he held the position of Vice President of Finance at Finastra and was interim CFO between 2012 and 2014. Bijal spent the early part of his career in a variety of senior roles at IBM.

Ismat Levin

Senior Vice President and General Counsel

Nick Thexton

Chief Technology Officer

As CTO, Nick drives Synamedia’s ambitious agenda of technology innovation and investment, and leads the development and delivery of new system solutions that help customers transform their business models and accelerate their transition to IP. He is in charge of the company’s video platform engineering, product management, architecture and marketing groups.

Nick joined Synamedia in April 2020 following a stint as Group CTO at German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1. His previous positions were Chief Digital & Product Officer at satellite operator Inmarsat, and CTO for UK TV platform YouView.

From 1994 to 2012 Nick worked at NDS, then at Cisco until 2014 in the position of VP and CTO of Cisco’s Service Provider Video Software Solutions. Nick started his career working with UK broadcasters Channel 4 and Thames Television having graduated in engineering from Imperial College, London.

Sue Couto

Executive Vice President and General Manager of Asia Pacific and Latin America

Sue Couto is Executive Vice President and General Manager of Asia Pacific and Latin America. She is responsible for driving growth and expanding customer relationships across both regions, with a remit that covers sales, marketing, partners, and delivery.  Sue joined Synamedia’s executive team at the firm’s inception in October 2018.

Sue brings over 20 years’ experience in senior leadership roles in the TV and broadcast industry in Asia Pacific. Before joining Synamedia she was Senior Vice President of APAC Sales for TiVo, with responsibility for its overall sales strategy for software solutions. Prior to this, Sue was Senior Vice President, Video Software Solutions, APJC at Cisco, and at NDS before its acquisition by Cisco.

Sue has a strong track record in building and leading teams which have been instrumental in winning key customers and enabling them to grow their businesses. Many of these players are now amongst the largest DTH platforms in the world. She holds a deep understanding of the style, approach and mind set required to be successful in regions such as Asia Pacific and Latin America, and applies this expertise to help customers and local talent thrive.

Alok Gera

Senior Vice President and General Manager, North America

Alok Gera is Senior Vice President and General Manager, North America. His remit includes the development of solutions for North American cable, telco and media customers. Prior to this, he spent 18 months as Synamedia’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

Alok has been part of the Synamedia executive team from the start, joining from Cisco, where he was Director and CTO of their Service Provider Platforms and Applications business. He was previously a Senior Engineering Manager at Comcast Cable. Combining deep industry knowledge and technical prowess with strong business acumen, Alok has worked across multiple architecture and market transitions, including migration to the cloud and the transition to IP video.

Yael Fainaro

Senior Vice President, Security

Yael Fainaro is SVP, Security. In her role Yael is responsible for Synamedia’s Security Group as well as heading the Business Operations Group and acting as Chief of Staff for the business. Yael has over 18 years’ experience in the security technology industry in the areas of strategy, M&A, innovation, business development & post-merger integration. 

Prior to joining Synamedia, Yael served as VP Corporate Development of CyberArk Software (NASDAQ: CYBR) where she was responsible for leading the company’s strategy and for generating new growth activities through organic and in-organic initiatives. Prior to that, Yael held the position of Director, Corporate Development and Integration at Cisco, which she joined through the NDS acquisition in 2012. 

Julien Signes

Senior Vice President and General Manager, Video Network

Julien Signes leads Synamedia’s Video Network business. One of the industry’s foremost experts on video processing, Julien advised emerging video technology businesses on financing and helped them scale globally before joining Synamedia in early 2019. He also provided advice to Atlantic Bridge, a global venture capital firm.

Julien founded Envivio in 2000 and as CEO he led the company through private equity financing and a NASDAQ IPO to create the global leader in software-based video encoding. Ericsson acquired the business in 2015. While at France Telecom (now Orange) in the 1990s, Julien led the development of the MPEG-4 standard, resulting in multiple patents for MPEG-4 virtual reality and 3D graphics support.

Tzvi Gerstl

Senior Vice President, Engineering

Tzvi Gerstl is Senior Vice President of Engineering. In this role, Tzvi is responsible for the Video Platform Engineering including Infinite, Foundation, cloud DVR and Advanced Advertising. Tzvi is an energetic and dynamic leader who has over 20 years’ experience in the digital pay-TV industry in senior and executive roles. He brings extensive and intimate knowledge of technical leadership in large-scale development programs, building world-class software. 

Tzvi joined Synamedia from Cisco where he was Head of the Infinite Home Engineering Group, an advanced cloud software solution for the pay-TV market. Prior to Cisco, Tzvi held the positions of Director and VP of Engineering, leading the Consumer Device Department at NDS.

Tzvi holds a PhD in Scheduling Algorithms and is an author of more than 20 papers on Algorithms in high-ranked journals. He is a Dean Fellow at the Business School of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Jean-Francois Pigeon

General Manager and Senior Vice President, EMEA

Jean-Francois joined Synamedia’s executive team in December 2020 to drive growth and expand customer relationships across EMEA with overall responsibility for sales and delivery.

A telecoms industry stalwart, Jean-Francois has extensive experience in developing and growing technology businesses in North America, Asia Pacific and EMEA. He spent over 20 years in executive positions at Nokia/Alcatel-Lucent, most recently leading a global account in the Middle East and Africa region. Prior to that he was responsible for the integration of the global sales organization following the merger between Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent.

Jean-Francois brings a rich set of experience including the sales and delivery of major projects as well as roles spanning strategy, business development, marketing, sales operations, and corporate transformation.

He began his career at Newbridge Networks in Canada.

Dr. Abe Peled

Chairman of the Board

Dr. Abe Peled is a Senior Adviser to the Permira Private Equity TMT Group, Chairman of the Board of TeamViewer, and on the Operating Committee of Metalogix, both Permira portfolio companies. Abe is also the Senior Independent Director on the Board of Inmarsat Plc. And a Partner at CyberCloud Ventures, a Consulting and Investment Company. From 1995, Dr. Peled served as CEO of NDS Group Ltd, and lead the company until its acquisition by Cisco in 2012.

Paul Segre

Chief Executive Officer

Paul is Synamedia’s Chief Executive Officer. He was previously CEO of Genesys for 12 years, where in 2012 he led the $1.6 billion spin-out of Genesys from Alcatel-Lucent (now Nokia) backed by the Permira Funds. He then oversaw the acquisition of 16 businesses and scaled Genesys to become one of the ten largest privately held software companies in the world.

Up to 2012, Paul also served on the Executive Committee of Alcatel-Lucent as President of the Applications Group, a $2.9b division that included Genesys as well as telecommunication carrier software products.

Earlier in his career, Paul held roles at DSC, Bell Labs and AT&T Network Systems in strategy, business development and product management.

Bijal Patel

Chief Financial Officer

Bijal Patel is Synamedia’s Chief Financial Officer and brings over 20 years of experience in international high-tech and software companies as well as private equity backed technology firms. Bijal has extensive experience driving business transformation, integrations and process improvements.

Bijal joined Synamedia from hospitality technology innovator, HotSchedules where he served as CFO for 3 years. Prior to HotSchedules, Bijal was CFO at Aptean and before that he held the position of Vice President of Finance at Finastra and was interim CFO between 2012 and 2014. Bijal spent the early part of his career in a variety of senior roles at IBM.

Richard Sanders

Partner, Co-Head of Technology, Permira

Richard is a Partner. He is Co-Head of the Technology Sector team and a member of the Investment Committee. He spent the first nine years at Permira based in the London office, before relocating to the United States in 2008 to set up the Menlo Park office. Richard returned to London in 2011. He has worked on numerous transactions including Allegro Group, ABS, Freescale Semiconductor, Genesys, Inmarsat, Intelsat, NDS, TeamViewer and Teraco.

Prior to joining Permira, Richard worked for Morgan Stanley in London in the M&A and High Yield Capital Markets divisions.

Ryan Lanpher

Principal, Permira

Ryan is a partner and focuses on investment opportunities in the Technology sector. He has worked on a number of transactions including Genesys, Informatica, and Metalogix. He is currently a Non-Executive Director at Genesys, Informatica and Metalogix.

Prior to pursuing his MBA, Ryan worked in Permira’s Menlo Park office for three years. Before that, he worked at Bank of America in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group.

Fraser Stirling

Group Chief Product Officer, Sky Group

Fraser joined Sky as Group Chief Product Officer in June 2019 from Sky’s parent company Comcast. He joined Comcast in 2014, rising to Senior Vice President of Digital Home, Devices and AI overseeing product developments including the company-wide effort to become all IP and the launch of the first voice-controlled remote control. Prior to his time at Comcast, Fraser held roles at Verizon, Intel Media and Sky.