About Us
Confidence to Deploy World-class AI
Appen at a Glance
Experience working in
170+ countries
located in nine offices
around the globe
of over 1 million
flexible contractors worldwide
judgments made and 3 million
images and videos collected in 2020
with leading global
technology companies
Our Leaders
Board of Directors
Chris Vonwiller
Non-Executive Chairman
Chris is the Non-Executive Chairman of Appen having formerly served as Appen CEO from 1999-2010. Prior to joining Appen, Chris served for 20 years in senior executive positions with the Australian telecommunications carrier Telstra Corporation Limited, playing a leading role in the development and deployment of innovative internet services, multimedia, and pay television. Chris is a former Chairman of the Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering at The University of Sydney.
Chris holds degrees in science and engineering, with honors, from The University of Sydney and an MBA from Macquarie University. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2007.
Mark Brayan
Managing Director
Mark joined Appen in July 2015 as CEO and is responsible for the company’s leadership, strategy, and culture. Mark has over 25 years’ experience in technology and services. Prior to joining Appen, Mark was CEO of MST Global, a provider of technology solutions to the resources sector. Before that he was the CEO of Integrated Research Limited (ASX:IRI), an international software company listed on the Australian Stock exchange. Mark was also COO of the HR outsourcing company Talent2 (ASX:TWO) and CEO of Concept Systems (ASX:CSI) before its merger with Talent2.
Mark has an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management and Bachelor of Surveying with 1st Class Honours from the University of NSW.
Richard Freudenstein
Non-Executive Director
Richard Freudenstein was appointed non-executive director of Appen on 12 August 2021. Richard is a director of Coles Group Limited, REA Group Ltd and Cricket Australia, and is a member of the Afiniti Advisory Board. Previously, he was Chairman of REA Group Ltd and a director of Ten Network Holdings Ltd, Foxtel and Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad. Richard has held the roles of Chief Executive Officer at Foxtel, News Digital Media and The Australian, and was Chief Operating Officer at British Sky Broadcasting. He is currently Deputy Chancellor and Fellow of the Senate at the University of Sydney.
Richard has a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney.
Steve Hasker
Non-Executive Director
Steve Hasker has been a non-executive Director of Appen since April 2015. He is President and Chief Executive Officer of Thomson Reuters, a global company providing its customers with critical news, information and technology, effective March 15, 2020.
Previously, Steve served as senior advisor to TPG Capital, a private equity firm, chief executive officer of CAA Global, a TPG Capital portfolio company, and global president and chief operating officer of Nielsen, an information, data and measurement firm. He spent more than a decade with McKinsey as a partner in the global media, information and technology practice.
Before joining McKinsey, Steve worked in several financial roles in the United States, Russia and Australia. He started his career with PwC, where he qualified as a chartered accountant.
Steve is a non-executive director of Appen Limited and a member of the Australia and New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants. He received an MBA and master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University.
Robin Low
Non-Executive Director
Robin Low has been a non-executive director of Appen since 30 October 2014. Her other directorships include AUB Group Limited (AUB), CSG Limited (CSV), IPH Limited (IPH), Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation, and she is the deputy chairman of the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board. Previously Robin had a 28 year career at PricewaterhouseCoopers where she was a partner specializing in assurance and risk, mainly in financial services. Robin is also involved with not-for-profit organizations and serves on the boards of Public Education Foundation and Primary Ethics.
Robin has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Deena Shiff
Non-Executive Director
Deena Shiff has been a Non-Executive Director since May 2015. Deena has enjoyed a distinguished business career covering senior roles in the legal profession and in corporate positions. She was a partner in the leading law firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques before rejoining Telstra Corporation where she rose to Group Managing Director. She holds several other non-executive director roles, including Chairman of BAI Communications and director on the board of Infrastructure Australia. She was previously a director of the Citadel Group Limited (ASX:CGL).
Deena holds a degree in law from Cambridge University and a degree in economics from the London School of Economics, both with honors. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Vanessa Liu
Non-Executive Director
Vanessa was most recently the Vice President of SAP.iO, the early stage venture arm of SAP which invests in and accelerates startups in enterprise technology. She oversaw SAP.iO’s North American Foundries.
Before SAP, Vanessa was the Chief Operating Officer at Trigger Media Group, a digital media incubator. In her role, she co-founded, incubated and oversaw business operations and strategic initiatives of Trigger’s portfolio companies: InsideHook and Fevo.
Previously, Vanessa was an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company’s Media and Entertainment Practice, based in Amsterdam, London and New York. She was responsible for serving clients in a variety of media and high-tech sectors on issues of digital strategy, emerging market strategy, growth and innovation.
Vanessa graduated magna cum laude highest honors with an AB in psychology from Harvard University and cum laude with a JD from Harvard Law School. She was a Fulbright Scholar at Universiteit Utrecht in the Netherlands. She serves as President of the Harvard Alumni Association.
2021
Named the 7th largest language service provider in the world in The 2021 Nimdzi 100 Ranking.
2021
Winner of the 2021 BIG Innovation Award for our partnership with Translators without Borders on TICO-19 to enable COVID-19 terms translations to 37 languages.
2017 - 2020
Recognized by Common Sense Advisory (CSA Research) as a global leader in the language services industry.
2017 - 2019
Three-time recipient of the Deloitte Asia Pacific Technology Fast 500™.
2012 - 2019
2019
2019
2019
Named Growth Company of the Year in the 2019 Australian Growth Company Awards.
2019
2019
2014 - 2019
2018
2017
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2014
2008
Global Coverage
Providing excellent customer services from nine offices and various locations around the world
Giving Back
We believe in giving back to our community by supporting numerous international nonprofits. Read more about our commitment to doing business responsibly.
Mark Brayan | CEO
Mark joined Appen in July 2015 as CEO and is responsible for the company’s leadership, strategy and culture. Mark has over twenty-five years’ experience in technology and services. Prior to joining Appen, Mark was CEO of MST Global, a provider of technology solutions to the resources sector. Before that he was the CEO of Integrated Research Limited (ASX:IRI), an international software company listed on the Australian Stock exchange. Mark was also COO of the HR outsourcing company Talent2 (ASX:TWO) and CEO of Concept Systems (ASX:CSI) before its merger with Talent2.
Mark has an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management and Bachelor of Surveying with 1st Class Honors from the University of NSW.
Kevin Levine | CFO
Kevin Levine joined Appen in January 2016 as CFO and is responsible for the financial operations and IT of the company. Kevin is a Chartered Accountant with more than 25 years’ experience in executive operations and financial roles, in listed and unlisted companies, with particular exposure to startup, high growth, and distressed companies in the services and technology sectors. Prior to joining Appen, Kevin was the CEO and CFO of Rubicor Group Limited (ASX:RUB), one of the largest networks of specialist recruitment businesses in Australasia. Before that Kevin was the CFO of Trade Wind Communications Limited, an Australian public technology company previously listed in Canada and the USA.
Kevin has a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Accounting from the University of Witswatersrand, South Africa. Kevin was admitted as a Chartered Accountant in 1989 in South Africa and in 1995 in Australia.
Wilson Pang | CTO
Wilson joined Appen in November 2018 as CTO and is responsible for the company’s products and technology. Wilson has over 17 years’ experience in software engineering and data science. He co-authored the book Real World AI: A Practical Guide to Responsible Machine Learning which hit the bestseller list on Amazon in March 2021. Prior to joining Appen, Wilson was Chief Data Officer of CTrip in China, the second largest online travel agency company in the world where he led data engineers, analysts, data product managers, and scientists to improve user experience and increase operational efficiency that grew the business. Before that, he was senior director of engineering in eBay in California and provided leadership to various domains including data service and solutions, search science, marketing technology, and billing systems. He worked as an architect at IBM prior to eBay, building technology solutions for various clients.
Wilson obtained his Masters and Bachelor’s degrees of Electric Engineering from Zhejiang University in China.
Kerri Reynolds | SVP, Crowd Sourcing Operations & HR
Kerri Reynolds joined Appen in March 2017 as SVP of Crowd Sourcing Operations & HR. With over 20 years of experience in global talent acquisition and across several human resource functions, she is responsible for the attracting and building of our global crowd of professionals and the Human Resources function for the company. Before joining Appen, Kerri was the Senior Director of Staffing Strategy at Microsoft where she developed and implemented global talent acquisition strategies for the 50,000+ person Sales, Marketing & Services Groups (SMSG). Prior to that Kerri spent her career with MasterCard Worldwide, The Gap, and Citibank.
Kerri has an MBA in Finance and International Business from Iona College, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Fairfield University.
Sujatha Sagiraju | SVP, Product
Sujatha Sagiraju joined Appen in September 2021 as SVP of Product and she is responsible for the product strategy. She is a technology pioneer with over 20 years of broad experience in building disruptive large-scale online services and AI/ML and data platforms. She joined Appen from Microsoft where she held leadership roles in several groups including Bing and Azure AI Platform.
Sujatha has an MBA in Technology Management from University of Washington, Seattle, MS in Petroleum Engineering from University of Texas, Austin and BS in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, India.
Tom Sharkey | SVP, Client Services
Tom Sharkey joined Appen in July 2018 as SVP of the Content Relevance division, providing high-quality, structured data for artificial intelligence and machine learning-based search and social media platforms at scale. Tom has over 25 years’ experience in technology services and outsourcing, with extensive knowledge in sales and account management, technology service capabilities expansion, and industrialized, efficient delivery models.
Before joining Appen, Tom was SVP at Arvato, providing a range of large-scale services for a global technology leader with foundations in delivery excellence and automation. He also was a Managing Director at Accenture for over nine years supporting a wide-ranging portfolio of fortune 500 companies in Technology Services, Outsourcing and M&As across all industries.
Tom has a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering Technology from Arizona State University and an Associate of Science in Aviation Technology where he made the National Dean’s List and was a Scholastic All American.
Roc Tian | SVP, China
Roc Tian comes to Appen with over 20 years of sales, consulting, and management experience from Fortune 100 companies. As Senior Vice President of China, Roc is responsible for Appen’s business strategy, sales, marketing, delivery, operations, and government relationships in the China region to ensure continued growth and high client satisfaction. Roc brings a wealth of sales, consulting, delivery and management experience to Appen, with a track record of success in scaling technology organizations.
Most recently, Roc was senior partner of IBM GBS where he led the client services, public sector, and enterprise application service lines across the mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan markets with remarkable business performance and achievements. Before that, Roc was also a core leader responsible for the growth of IBM’s global delivery center in China from 4,000 to over 10,000 people. Before IBM, Roc was a business quality director for HP’s global delivery center in China and a key leader responsible for helping HP grow from a start-up to over 3,000 people across China. Roc was also the founder and CTO of a technology start-up that grew to over 100 people.
Roc received his Master of Computer Applications and his PhD of Computer Software from Shanghai Jiao University.
