Sapiens Leadership

Mike joined Sapiens as Executive Chairman in December 2025. Mike is a globally recognized leader in the enterprise software industry, with over three decades of experience. He is the Executive Chairman of SYSPRO, a leading provider of digital manufacturing technology, recently acquired by Advent. Previously, Mike was CEO of Unit4, a global cloud ERP software vendor, formerly owned by Advent, and President of SAP SuccessFactors, a provider of cloud HCM solutions. 

Mike is an active advisor, board member, and private investor to a number of technology companies. He plays a key role in mentoring startups with scaling and innovating and has significant experience in building teams and championing diversity. He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of the Witwatersrand and a Masters in Finance from London Business School.  

Douglas Hallstrom joined Advent in 2014 and leads the firm’s technology investment team in Europe. He is passionate about driving transformative change and growth in the enterprise technology sector.  

In addition to his experience at Advent, Douglas has supported the executive team at Unit4 (a prior Advent portfolio company)  and run a start-up. Earlier in his career, he worked at Bain & Company in London and Toronto. Douglas received a BSc, with First Class Honors, from the University of St. Andrews. 

Nika Kucifer joined Advent in 2019 and is a Vice President in London. She advises on investments in the technology sector. 

Prior to joining Advent, Nika worked at Hg Capital, where she was an Investment Associate covering software and tech-enabled services opportunities. Before that, Nika worked as an Investment Banking Analyst within the Industrials team at Deutsche Bank, and completed internships in investment banking at Deutsche Bank in both London and Frankfurt. Nika graduated with a First Class Honors degree in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London. 

Paul Wheeler joined Sapiens in December 2025 as Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Sapiens Board. Paul is a global executive, recognised leader and consistent value creator with 30+ years’ experience leading technology businesses, predominantly within the private equity environment. Paul has held previous CFO roles, including at Operative and Trema, and has also held roles as Senior Operating Partner at the private equity fund Francisco Partners, Managing Director at ION Trading and Chief Operating Officer at Efront.  

With significant prviate equity experience, Paul has managed global teams and transformations, including large-scale change. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. 

Guy Bernstein is a seasoned technology executive with extensive experience in leading global software companies.

Guy joined Magic Software Enterprises in 1999 as Chief Financial Officer and was later appointed CFO of Emblaze. In 2006, he led Emblaze’s acquisition of a controlling stake in Formula Systems and was appointed CEO of Emblaze and a director at Formula Systems. In 2008, he became CEO of Formula Systems and subsequently also CEO of Magic Software Enterprises.Under his leadership, the company completed over 100 mergers and acquisitions.

Guy holds a degree in Accounting and Economics from the Academic College of Management and is a certified public accountant (CPA).

Mike joined Sapiens as Executive Chairman in December 2025. Mike is a globally recognized leader in the enterprise software industry, with over three decades of experience. He is the Executive Chairman of SYSPRO, a leading provider of digital manufacturing technology, recently acquired by Advent. Previously, Mike was CEO of Unit4, a global cloud ERP software vendor, formerly owned by Advent, and President of SAP SuccessFactors, a provider of cloud HCM solutions. 

Mike is an active advisor, board member, and private investor to a number of technology companies. He plays a key role in mentoring startups with scaling and innovating and has significant experience in building teams and championing diversity. He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of the Witwatersrand and a Masters in Finance from London Business School.  

Paul Wheeler joined Sapiens in December 2025 as Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Sapiens Board. Paul is a global executive, recognised leader and consistent value creator with 30+ years’ experience leading technology businesses, predominantly within the private equity environment. Paul has held previous CFO roles, including at Operative and Trema, and has also held roles as Senior Operating Partner at the private equity fund Francisco Partners, Managing Director at ION Trading and Chief Operating Officer at Efront.  

With significant prviate equity experience, Paul has managed global teams and transformations, including large-scale change. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. 

James Hannay joined Sapiens in December 2025. James is a global transformation executive recognized for scaling commercial organizations and accelerating revenue growth. With experience leading global GTM strategy, sales, marketing, and P&L operations across the globe, James has built high-performing, customer-centric teams for both multinationals and high-growth VC/PE-backed software companies. 

Previously, he served as Chief Growth Officer at HCL Software, where he was responsible for net new business, existing customers and recurring revenue worldwide. Before that, he served as EVP & GM at Alight Solutions, where he revitalized a declining sales organization to deliver growth and investor confidence ahead of the company’s public listing. Prior to that, he held senior GM roles at Infor, leading cloud transformation and major enterprise SaaS migrations, including record-breaking strategic wins. With a unique blend of international commercial and management experience, James has led enterprise software and cloud functions across Europe, the US and APAC. He is based in the US. 

Dr. Ernesto Marinelli joined Sapiens in December 2025. Ernesto is a global executive who has driven high-impact transformations across sales, services, product and development organizations. With deep HR expertise in his 30-year career, he builds scalable, people-first strategies that fuel growth and innovation. Most recently, Ernesto was Chief People Officer at Aareon, an Advent-backed company, and previously he was Senior Vice President and Head of Global People Success Services at SAP.  

Ernesto combines emotional intelligence, commercial acumen and digital fluency to help organizations navigate change and drive lasting success. He has PhD in German Linguistics from the University of Würzburg. 

Tal Sharon joined Sapiens in 2011. She brings more than 20 years of business and technology experience. Prior to joining Sapiens, Tal worked at TTI Telecom for 11 years and was VP of the Israeli market. Before moving to TTI, Tal was responsible for European customer support and project management for Enigma Europe in Paris, France. She holds a B.Sc. degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and an MA in Education and Computer Science from Tel Aviv University.

Sveta has been with Sapiens since 2016 and brings over 25 years of IT and insurance industry experience. At Sapiens, she has led large-scale transformation programs, complex implementations, and mergers and acquisitions, with a strong focus on customer success and business growth. Before becoming president of the Property & Casualty division, Sveta served as Senior Vice President of the P&C Business and Professional Services Unit, where she oversaw global delivery operations and multi-regional teams. Prior to Sapiens, she held senior roles in leading technology companies, specializing in program delivery and building long-term customer relationships. She has a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Bar-Ilan University.

Glen Ceniza joined Sapiens in January 2026 as Chief Technology Officer. Glen is a global technology executive and accomplished leader with 25+ years of experience leading large scale product, engineering, and cloud organizations within the private equity software space. He is expert in driving highly advanced innovation with cloud-native and AI-first technology platforms across large scale product portfolios, and has significant offshore/nearshore establishment experience across US, India, Israel, and Europe.

Glen joined Sapiens from Operative where he led the technology organization with over 700 engineers and 50+ product leaders. Previous to that, he was Global Vice President, Product and Engineering at JDA/BlueYonder. He has held several other technology leadership positions in software companies. Glen holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Yariv Hasar is a seasoned executive leader with extensive and diversified experience of more than 30 years in technology management. Before joining Sapiens, Yariv served as the General Manager at Pagaya, a public traded fintech company, for which he led AI and ML research, engineering, data, product, and partnerships operations. Prior to that, he was at Amdocs, serving as the Global Delivery Division President, overseeing the company’s transformation projects, with global delivery organization, customer success unit, and account management organization worldwide. Yariv also held various technology and business-focused roles across multiple organizations. Yariv has bachelor’s degree (BSc) and master’s degree (MSc) in computer science from the Technion and Tel Aviv University respectfully, as well as a master’s in business administration (MBA) from Kellogg, Northwestern University.