Meet our Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors brings together wide experience, deep expertise, and sound judgment to help chart a strong path forward.
Tomas Gorny
Chairman, CEO, & Co-Founder
Tracy Conrad
Chief Amazing Officer, Co-Founder
Bob Beauchamp
Board Member, Advisor, Investor
Alan Black
Founder, Surfspray Capital
John Connolly
Founder/Managing Director at Eaglehead Capital
Stephen Kerns
Managing Director, Goldman Sachs Growth Equity
Karen Walker
Board Member, Advisor
"We believe in the power of people to do amazing things, they just need the tools to realize their vision for the future."
Tomas Gorny
Chairman, CEO, & Co-Founder
Experience
Nextiva
2008 – Present
CEO, Co-Founder
UnitedWeb
2008 – Present
CEO, Co-Founder
Endurance International Group
2007 – Present
Board Member
SiteLock
2008 – 2018
CEO, Co-Founder
IPOWER
2001 – 2007
CEO, Co-Founder
About Tomas Gorny
Tomas Gorny is a Polish-born American entrepreneur and visionary, known for founding several transformative technology companies. He immigrated to the U.S. to pursue his dreams, and his journey reflects perseverance, innovation, and a relentless passion for solving business challenges through technology.
Tomas has built and led a number of impactful companies, including IPOWER, SiteLock, iBoost, iPage, and StartLogic. His entrepreneurial journey began with IPOWER in 2001, which grew into one of the world’s largest web hosting companies before being acquired by Warburg Pincus and Goldman Sachs in a nearly $1 billion deal in 2011. IPOWER later went public, acquiring Constant Contact as part of its portfolio. In 2008, Tomas founded SiteLock, a global leader in website security that protected over 15 million websites before being acquired by ABRY Partners in 2018.
After starting Nextiva in 2008, Tomas continues to lead the company as the co-founder, chairman, and CEO. Today, Nextiva is a leader in unified customer experience management, powering over a million users and billions of interactions each year, helping businesses streamline communication and elevate customer experience.
Tracy Conrad
Chief Amazing Officer, Co-Founder
Experience
Nextiva
2006 – Present
Chief Amazing Officer, Co-Founder
About Tracy Conrad
Tracy is the Chief Amazing Officer and co-founder of Nextiva. He acts as the voice of the customer in the c-suite and is instrumental in building a customer base and establishing Nextiva as one of the top business communication companies.
Tracy began his entrepreneurial career in 1991 when he founded Conrad and Associates. He entered the Internet arena in 1995 when he founded the Blitz Network, a web advertising agency that was subsequently acquired. In 2001, Tracy co-founded IPOWER, the second largest web hosting company in the U.S.
Bob Beauchamp
Board Member, Advisor, Investor
About Bob Beauchamp
Robert (Bob) Beauchamp joined Nextiva’s board in June of 2022. He brings more than 30 years of experience in enterprise software, as well as over two decades of experience gained from serving as a board member of various large and small companies across multiple industries. Most recently, Mr. Beauchamp served as Chairman of BMC Software, after serving as its CEO for over 16 years. Bob has served on the boards of two Fortune 500 companies, Raytheon and National Oilwell Varco, as well other outstanding public and private companies and not-for-profit companies, including TransUnion, Anaplan, Forcepoint, ThoughtTrace, Baylor University, and Memorial Hermann Healthcare Systems. He holds a Bachelor’s of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Masters of Science in Management degree from Houston Baptist University.
Alan Black
Founder, Surfspray Capital
Experience
Nextiva
2023 – Present
Founder, Surfspray Capital
About Alan Black
Alan Black joined Nextiva’s board in May of 2022 bringing more than 35 years of experience as an executive leading public and private software enterprises including IPO experience as CFO at Zendesk (2014 IPO) and Openwave Systems (1999 IPO). In between those companies, Mr. Black was President and CEO of Intelliden (acquired by IBM in 2010). In 2017, Mr. Black founded Surfspray Capital, LLC through which he has advised over a dozen companies including Looker where he served on the Board and was Chair of the Audit Committee (acquired by Google in 2019); Bill.com Holdings (2019 IPO), HashiCorp (2021 IPO), and private software companies including Intercom, Komodo Health, Mattermost, Netlify, Nozomi Networks, and others. He holds a Bachelors of Commerce and a Graduate Diploma in Public Accountancy degrees from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and serves on McGill’s Board of Advisors for the Western United States co-chairing its Bursary Subcommittee. Mr. Black is now retired from active membership in the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario (Canada) and Society of Certified Public Accountants (California), in which professional organizations he was a licensed member for over two decades.
John Connolly
Founder/Managing Director at Eaglehead Capital
Experience
Nextiva
2023 – Present
Founder/Managing Director at Eaglehead Capital
About John Connolly
John has a 30-plus-year track record of innovation, vision, and execution in creating successful businesses as CEO of five different companies, Founder of two, and Chairman, Non-executive Chairman, or Director on more than 35 Boards. Currently Founder/Managing Director of Eaglehead Capital, John also serves as Senior Advisor at Goldman Sachs, Bain Capital Ventures, and Sixth Street Growth.
John’s passion is partnering with CEOs, Management Teams, and Boards to address the strategic and operational opportunities that accelerate their growth and build successful, valuable companies.
Stephen Kerns
Managing Director, Goldman Sachs Growth Equity
Experience
Nextiva
2023 – Present
Managing Director, Goldman Sachs Growth Equity
About Stephen Kerns
Stephen is a managing director in Growth Equity within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. In his current role, he invests in growing private companies in the software and internet sectors. Stephen joined Goldman Sachs in 2011 as an analyst and was named managing director in 2021.
Prior to joining the firm, Stephen worked in the Investment Banking division at Merrill Lynch & Co.
Stephen earned an AB in Economics from Princeton University in 2009.
Karen Walker
Board Member, Advisor
Experience
Nextiva
2024 – present
Board Member
Various companies
2015 – present
Board Member, Advisor
Intel
2019 – 2023
SVP & Chief Marketing Officer
Cisco Systems
2015 – 2019
Chief Marketing Officer
Cisco Systems
2009 – 2015
Global VP, SVP
Hewlett-Packard
1985 – 2009
Numerous technical, operational & marketing roles
About Karen Walker
Karen Walker is a globally recognized chief marketing officer and business leader with over 30 years of experience in companies spanning hardware, software, SaaS, and services.
Since 2023, Karen has advised high-growth companies on business, product, go-to-market, and talent strategies. She is on several boards, including Eli Lilly and Sprout Social, where her contributions have included digital transformation, cybersecurity, compliance, IPO positioning, and recruitment.
Karen was chief marketing officer at Intel and Cisco, transforming the marketing function at each company into a revenue-generator. At Cisco, she achieved a $3B marketing-generated revenue goal.
Karen has been named to Forbes’s “Top 10 Most Influential Global CMO” list twice and received the National Diversity Council’s “Top 50 Women in Business Award.” She holds a BSc in chemistry and business studies from Loughborough University and an honorary PhD in business administration from Sunderland University. Passionate about building the next generation of leaders, she advocates for women in STEM and mentors numerous female executive leaders.