Leadership
Carlton Baab is Algolia’s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Information Officer, and currently the company's interim CEO. He plays a key role in managing the financial strategy, global finance organization, procurement, and mergers/ acquisitions and integrations. He also ensures that Algolia has the right systems in place to execute its business strategy.Prior to joining Algolia, Baab shepherded Lithium, CKS Group and Alfresco through periods of explosive growth in revenue and customer acquisition as well as managed the IPO of CKS Group, with Goldman Sachs as the lead underwriter. A Harvard Business School and University of Southern California graduate, Baab brings significant M&A experience having managed the sale of five companies and seven acquisitions.
As the President, Field Operations of Algolia, Michelle is responsible for driving revenue at scale through worldwide alignment across sales, marketing, revenue management, and business development. She most recently served as SVP of Sales for the Americas at Dropbox, where she led direct sales, marketing, channel and customer success to grow its business by 10X in under four years. Prior to Dropbox, Adams was Global Head of Sales for IBM Watson, taking it from inception to nearly half a billion dollars in sales.
Adanech is our General Counsel/Registered In-House Counsel in CA. Adanech leverages her vast experience in negotiating complex commercial transactions, securities laws compliance, corporate governance, international expansion, protection of IP rights and HR matters to lead Algolia’s legal and compliance operations. Before Algolia, Adanech served as the Assistant General Counsel of Fastly, Inc./Registered In-House Counsel in CA and, before that, as General Counsel of Response Genetics, Inc. (RGDX). Before going in-house, Adanech represented corporate and commercial clients through her affiliation with Berger Legal LLC and as a corporate and financial services associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. Adanech holds a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She is a member of the New York State Bar and registered as in-house counsel in California.
Xavier boasts a decade of experience in engineering software projects, having led numerous initiatives in this domain. He became an integral part of Algolia's journey from its early days when the team comprised only four members. As the most seasoned software engineer, Xavier has played a pivotal role in the continuous evolution of Algolia's Search platform. In addition to his contributions at Algolia, he serves as a trainer at Pollen, where he indulges his passion for imparting knowledge and equipping individuals with the essential skills required for the challenges of the modern economy. Xavier holds a BSc in Computer Science and engaged in various projects during his studies at EPITA (École Pour l'Informatique et les Techniques Avancées).
As the Senior Vice President of People at Algolia, Rachel assumes the crucial role of defining and supervising the implementation of Algolia's comprehensive people and workplace strategy. Previously, she held the position of VP of People & Workplace Operations at EZ Texting, where she spearheaded the company's evolution into a fully remote organization, transitioning its function from operational to strategic. Rachel brings extensive experience from her tenure as Senior People Business Partner at Dropbox and Evernote, as well as from various leadership positions within the education sector.
As the Chief Ecosystem Officer of Algolia, Piyush oversees alliances with leading software and services companies to drive transformational digital experiences for customers. He has years of experience and broad market perspective, previously serving as global head of SapientNitro’s CMS business as well as head of global Adobe Practice for CapGemini, where he drove triple-digit growth. He also managed global alliances for OpenText and assisted with expansion into North America for French DXP company Jahia.
As the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Algolia, Laura oversees the creation and execution of marketing strategies, as well as the development of innovative campaigns aimed at driving revenue growth and establishing competitive advantages. Before joining Algolia, Laura held various leadership positions in revenue marketing within SaaS, Security, and Technology sectors across diverse industries. Notably, she played a pivotal role in boosting pipeline growth at SailPoint Technologies, a prominent Enterprise identity security provider.
