Get To Know
Our Leadership Team
George Azih
CEO & Founder
A financial authority specializing in technical accounting and accounting research, George has served as an auditor for banks, insurance companies, and brokerage firms. Prior to LeaseQuery, he performed Accounting Research and Technical Accounting for a Fortune 500 company, where he specialized in lease accounting, sale-leaseback transactions, build-to-suit arrangements, debt restructurings (modifications and extinguishments), asset retirement obligations and purchase accounting. His previous experience also includes working as a Senior Auditor at a CPA firm, where he specialized in audits for financial institutions.
George is a leading expert on lease accounting. He has been quoted in Bloomberg multiple times and has spoken about lease accounting for numerous groups, including Georgia Society of CPAs, Institute of Managerial Accountants (IMA), Financial Executives International (FEI), Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), Corenet Global Summit, and the National Conference for the Accounting and Finance Women’s Association (AFWA).
A member of the American Institute of CPAs and Georgia Society of CPAs, George graduated from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia with a BS in Accounting.
Joe Schab
President & COO
Joe brings a wealth of experience to the LeaseQuery team. A “serial operator,” Joe has spent most of his career helping companies transition from startups to full-fledged, high-growth entities. Prior to joining LeaseQuery, Joe served as president of Cardlytics (CDLX), the president of PlayOn Sports, and the Managing Director of LBi (now DigitasLBi).
In his role as Chief Operating Officer and President at LeaseQuery, Joe is responsible for the alignment and prioritizations of LeaseQuery’s investments and ensuring operational excellence across the company.
Joe has a Master of Business Administration degree from the Goizueta School of Business at Emory University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Northeastern University. He resides in Sandy Springs, GA with his wife and two children.
Chris Ramsey
CSO
As Chief Strategy Officer at LeaseQuery, Chris brings 17 years of account management and sales leadership experience to the team. After graduating from the University of Georgia, Chris established himself in the technology sector early on in his sales career, maintaining a top producer status and receiving multiple President’s Club awards.
Prior to joining LeaseQuery, Chris held various sales roles at Canvas Systems, Veeam Software, RES Software, and later served as an advisor at BeaconGrid. He also founded Round 2 Technologies, a provider of eco-friendly electronic disposal services for Fortune 1,000 clients.
As LeaseQuery CSO, Chris has contributed significantly to major sales team expansions, going from one individual in 2016 to more than 50 today. His leadership has also pushed LeaseQuery to achieve 876% year-over-year revenue growth from 2016 to 2017, 708% growth from 2017 to 2018, and over 100% growth from 2018 to 2019.
Joe Gruca
CRO
As LeaseQuery’s Chief Revenue Officer, Joe brings more than 20 years of experience leading high-performing direct sales and channel sales to our company. His track record of business leadership and strategic marketing capabilities will help LeaseQuery acquire new opportunities as we continue to grow.
Before joining the LeaseQuery team, Joe served as the chief revenue officer for MessageGears and has served critical global leadership roles in revenue management and channel partnerships at industry-leading companies including Salesforce, Hootsuite, and Ingram Micro.
Joe attended the State University of New York College at Buffalo. While originally from there, he now lives in Atlanta with his wife and four children.
Jim FitzGibbons
CFO
As LeaseQuery’s CFO, Jim brings with him 30 years of accounting experience in both public and privately-held companies, most within the technology sector. His history of leading business integration and finance operations will help drive LeaseQuery’s financial actions as the company continues to plan for the future.
Before joining LeaseQuery, Jim worked as a CFO for various software and technology companies, where he stepped in to lead finance and accounting functions. Jim’s strategic focus on rebuilding and leading finance processes and implementing new accounting operations has driven his ability to successfully lead a company through continued financial growth.
At LeaseQuery, Jim leads the company’s planning, implementation, managing, and running of all the financial activities.
Jim is a licensed CPA and received his BS in Accounting from the University of Alabama. When he’s not crunching numbers or yelling “Roll Tide,” Jim enjoys spending time with his family, including his three children, two of which have graduated from the University of Georgia and the other preparing for graduation next year.
Karen Marchione
CMO
As Chief Marketing Officer at LeaseQuery, Karen brings a unique blend of customer-centric marketing strategy and an extensive knowledge of compliance software and cloud-based technology. Her experience in demand generation, business development, customer lifecycle, and product marketing yields innovative marketing strategies that deliver results. Prior to joining LeaseQuery, Karen served as the Vice President of Marketing for Sovos, where she led a global team that developed the company’s marketing campaigns and strategy.
As the CMO, Karen leads LeaseQuery’s marketing efforts, including brand awareness, demand generation, and strategy.
Karen has a Masters of Business Administration from Northeastern University and a Bachelor of Arts from Brandeis University. Originally from Boston, Karen lives in Atlanta with her husband and son.
Andrew Larson
CTO
In his role as Chief Technology Officer at leaseQuery, Andrew brings over 20 years of experience building software across banking, finance, insurance, e-commerce, aviation, stock and energy trading, weather, and warehouse logistics.
Prior to LeaseQuery, Andrew served as CTO for Fabric.com, an Amazon subsidiary where he was responsible for collaborating with stakeholders on strategy, and leading the definition and implementation of the technology roadmap and infrastructure needed to fulfill that strategy. Andrew also held various engineering and development roles that allowed him to lead teams in the creation of weather analytics products, weather-focused mobile applications, and other technical architectures.
As LeaseQuery’s CTO, Andrew is responsible for the technology strategy and software development. He is focused on driving technology, capabilities, and speed into products, insights, and solutions LeaseQuery provides to customers and partners.
Andrew received his BS in Management Computer Systems from the University of Wisconsin. Although originally from there, Andrew now lives in Atlanta with his wife.
Brendan Kapsimalis
Chief Architect
A graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology with a BS in Software Engineering, Brendan has over 10 years of experience in software development and consulting. He is a former Senior Systems Web Developer for Graphic Packaging International where he led development teams to improve business process automation for the finance, human resources, and customer service departments.
In 2015, Brendan was nominated for a President’s Award for his leadership in developing an automated credit debit approval system. He also led a team to develop an inventory management system that is used in over 350 locations. Prior to that, he worked as an IT Consultant for Technology Consulting Associates and BlueWave Computing. Brendan has led the Technology team at LeaseQuery since 2013.
Jeff Dernavich
VP of Product
As VP of Product, Jeff brings 20 years of SaaS leadership to the team. His experience in designing, building, managing, and improving both the product and product teams is integral in leading the product strategy at LeaseQuery.
Prior to joining LeaseQuery, Jeff has played key roles in software development and product management at Accenture and at multiple start-ups across various software categories and industries. Jeff also served as the Vice President of Product at Silverpop where he led the product transformation from email marketing to a digital marketing platform. This transition drove significant company growth leading to Silverpop’s acquisition by IBM. Finally, Jeff holds two patents for his innovative work.
At LeaseQuery, Jeff serves as the VP of product, leading both the Product Management and User Experience teams, working to provide accountants with the best and most accurate software experience of their career.
Jeff graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Wake Forest University. He later moved to Atlanta where he still resides today with his wife and two children.
Haley Wood
VP of People & Culture
Haley, LeaseQuery’s VP of People & Culture, has more than a decade of experience supporting the people organization, predominantly in the FinTech space.
Before leading the people & culture team at LeaseQuery, Haley served on the talent acquisition team at Nasdaq, and Director of People Strategy at eVestment. Managing a team of global recruiters, Haley improved the company’s talent and acquisition efforts to include strategic candidate generation, effective branding, pipe-lining, and talent identification and attraction.
In her role as VP of People & Culture at LeaseQuery, Haley leads the company’s vision, strategy, development, and execution of organizational effectiveness to enhance business results. As a team builder, her passion is recruiting and sustaining incredible talent, and cultivating an award-winning environment for LeaseQuery’s associates to thrive in.
Haley received her Bachelor’s degree in Health and Human Development from Penn State University.
Michelle Walker
VP of Operations
As LeaseQuery’s VP of Operations, Michelle Walker brings more than 16 years of agency and brand-side experience leading high-impact business transformation initiatives and process design overhauls. Her expertise in using innovative solutions and effective change management strategies to solve complex business problems helps LeaseQuery’s implementation and business enablement teams to deliver exceptional onboarding and training experiences for its customers while also enabling more efficient processes for the company’s cross-functional teams.
Prior to LeaseQuery, Michelle was the VP of Transformation at Ansira and she held numerous leadership roles during her six-year tenure at BrightWave. In these critical leadership roles, she led the charge in spinning up net new teams, developing highly-effective leaders, and enabling scalable growth across the organization.
Michelle holds a Master’s degree in Digital Media Marketing with a specialization in Project Management from Florida State University, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Auburn University.
Kenny Stevens
VP of Sales & Revenue Operations
As LeaseQuery’s VP of Sales, Kenny Stevens brings nearly a decade and a half of qualified experience including technology and C-level suite sales. He leads the external sales strategy at LeaseQuery, focusing primarily on customer acquisition. He also works to build and maintain the company’s revenue operations, including process definition/creation and revenue reporting.
Kenny’s agile workability enables him to thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative environment. He also has a deep understanding of what it takes for organizations to pioneer new technologies and processes that revolutionize the way they do business.
Kenny holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from North Carolina State University.