LEADERSHIP
A leadership team with proven government cloud software expertise and a relentless pursuit of excellence
Our executive leadership team is aligned in providing a clear and strategic path for Accela, and measurable success for our customers and government software partners. Meet the team leading the company in delivering on the promise every day.
Management Team
Board of Directors
Kara Wilson
Kara Wilson is a strategic advisor for KKR within the technology practice. She has over 25 years of experience in driving go-to-market strategies for both large and medium companies as well as hyper-growth start-ups. She has held marketing leadership roles with some of the technology industry’s most influential companies, including Okta, FireEye, Rubrik, Success Factors, SAP, Cisco, and PeopleSoft. Kara currently sits on the boards of Paychex, Accela, OutSystems, KnowBe4, OneStream, Calabrio, and Corel. Most recently, she was chief marketing officer for Rubrik, where she was responsible for the company's global marketing initiatives. Prior to Rubrik, Kara was EVP and CMO for cybersecurity company FireEye, where she helped launch the most successful security IPO in market history. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.
Jonathan Nuger
Jon Nuger joined Berkshire Partners in 2012 as a Vice President. Jon’s primary Berkshire portfolio company involvement includes Access, a provider of records and information management services, and Masergy, a global provider of innovative hybrid networking, managed security and cloud communications solutions. Representative prior portfolio company experience includes Melissa & Doug and SRS. Previous to Berkshire, Jon was an Associate at Golden Gate Capital, worked at a venture-backed data services company, and was an Associate Consultant at Bain & Co. Jon has an A.B. from Princeton University and a M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Chris Giglio
Chris Giglio is a seasoned technology executive with over 25 years of experience driving transformative growth, both organically and inorganically, at software companies. Over the course of his career, he has built a strong reputation of consistently delivering market leading technology solutions that create compelling differentiators for customers. Chris strongly believes that software is a “people business” and has deep experience broadening solution sets and growing customer relationships for technology and software businesses.
Gary Kovacs
Gary Kovacs is Accela’s Chief Executive Officer and has more than 25 years of enterprise software and mobile technology industry leadership and executive management experience. Prior to Accela, Gary served as CEO of AVG Technologies, CEO of Mozilla, and has held senior executive positions at SAP (Sybase), Adobe (Macromedia), Zi and IBM. Gary is a frequent public speaker and has delivered keynote addresses at TED, the World Economic Forum (Davos & Shenzen), Mobile World Congress, Clinton Global Initiative, F.ounders, All things Digital /Code/ Re/Code, Fortune Brainstorm, among many others. He is a board member for numerous mission-driven technology companies and not-for-profits including Make-A-Wish, Runway Capital, and serves on the advisory boards of Docusign and the University of Calgary.
Edward (EJ) Whelan
EJ Whelan joined Berkshire Partners in 2005 and became a Managing Director in 2012. EJ’s primary Berkshire portfolio company involvement includes Access, a provider of records and information management services, as well as prior portfolio company experience for AmSafe, Mattress Firm, Melissa & Doug, Party City and Skillsoft. Prior to Berkshire, EJ worked in the private equity industry with Summit Partners and Charlesbank Capital Partners. He also served on the management team at Sterling Auto Body Centers, a former Berkshire portfolio company, and began his career at Bain & Co. as an Associate Consultant. EJ holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College and M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Tyler Wick
Tyler Wick has over 18 years of private equity experience and has worked with dozens of privately held healthcare, software and information services companies over the course of his career. In addition to Accela, Tyler also serves on the Board of Directors of CitiXsys (retail management software) and alliantgroup, LP (specialty tax consulting services). Prior starting his private equity career in 1997, Tyler served in the investment banking division of Advest. Tyler graduated cum laude from Amherst College.