Executive Management
Meet the people who lead SolidWorks—and are leading CAD into the 3D future.
Click on the names of the executive members to learn more about their backgrounds:
- Jeff Ray, Chief Executive Officer
- Michel Gros, Executive Vice President, Europe
- Fielder Hiss, Vice President, Product Management
- Richard E. Morgan, Vice President, Human Resources
- Ved Narayan, Vice President, Asia Pacific Operations
- Mark Neil, Vice President and General Counsel
- Austin O'Malley, Executive Vice President of Research and Development
- Bertrand Sicot, Executive Vice President of Sales
- Rachel Simone, Vice President, Enterprise Applications and Technology
- David Stott, Chief Financial Officer
- Christine Washburn, Vice President, Marketing
- Richard Welch, Vice President, Worldwide Customer Services
Jeff Ray, Chief Executive Officer
Jeff Ray brings more than 30 years of experience in global technology sales, management, and operations to SolidWorks Corporation. As CEO, Jeff will steer the company toward continued market leadership and profitability, ensuring that SolidWorks delivers software that helps customers around the world design better products. Previously, Jeff served as the chief operating officer for SolidWorks, responsible for expanding the company’s sales, distribution, and marketing infrastructure. Jeff joined SolidWorks in 2003 from business software vendor Progress Software Corporation, where he was responsible for all customer-facing field operations in dozens of countries as vice president of worldwide field operations. Previously, he served as vice president of global solutions at Compuware Corporation, where he launched the company’s integrated software/services practices and grew annual sales from zero to $100 million. Jeff began his career at IBM, where he held numerous management positions over a 17-year period. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Texas A&M University.
Michel Gros, Executive Vice President, Europe
In this role, Michel is responsible for the overall business management of SolidWorks throughout Europe. Prior to joining SolidWorks in 1996, Michel served as the director of Europe for Tecnomatix and the director of Southern Europe for Parametric Technology Corporation. Michel holds an engineering degree from Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers, and a master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley.
Fielder Hiss, Vice President, Product Management
In this role, Fielder is responsible for providing direction in the development of the company’s software. He began his career at SolidWorks as a technical support engineer providing support to customers, resellers and solution partners. Previously, Hiss held positions at CADD Edge, Inc. (a DS SolidWorks reseller), Intelligent Quotations, Inc. and Textron Automotive Company. He has spoken at Moldmaking Southeast, Total Design Solutions West, SolidWorks World and the New England SolidWorks Users Group. Hiss earned a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from the University of New Hampshire.
Richard E. Morgan, Vice President, Human Resources
As vice president of human resources, Dick has worldwide responsibility for all of the human resources activities at SolidWorks, as well as reseller sales training and recruitment efforts. Prior to joining SolidWorks in 2005, Dick held vice president of human resources positions at e-learning software vendor THINQ Learning Solutions, semiconductor switch maker CP Clare Corporation, and the Timberland Company. Earlier, he was an executive director at the Russell Reynolds Associates recruiting firm and a human resources manager at Lotus Development Corporation. Dick holds a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of New Hampshire and a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Tufts University. He is a member of the advisory board of Longfellow Benefits, a benefits consulting firm based in Boston.
Ved Narayan, Vice President, Asia Pacific Operations
Ved brings more than 18 years of experience in the IT industry to SolidWorks. In this role, Ved manages the Asia-Pacific operations for SolidWorks, and is responsible for revenue and growth of the products within the commercial and educational markets. Prior to this promotion to vice president, Ved was the director of SolidWorks Asia Pacific operations. Previous to SolidWorks, he held positions in both Asia and the United States at companies such as DEC, PTC, Software Emancipation, and Synchronicity. While at DEC, he managed ISV relationships for CAD/CAM/CAE partners such as Computervision, Unigraphics, and SDRC. While at PTC, he was the country manager and major account manager, working in India and Singapore. He earned a bachelor’s of engineering degree in computer science from BIT Mesra India.
Mark Neil, Vice President and General Counsel
Mark and his team are responsible for the legal affairs of Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation, including litigation, licensing, contracts, corporate matters, anti-piracy, and compliance. Prior to joining DS SolidWorks, Mark held positions of increasing responsibility in the IBM Law Department, most recently as associate general counsel, IBM Software Group, where he and his team provided legal support for IBM’s Lotus and Rational software brands. Mark holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a bachelor’s degree from Santa Clara University.
Austin O'Malley, Executive Vice President of Research and Development
As one of the original developers of SolidWorks® 95 software, Austin brings more than 20 years of product development experience to the CTO role. In this capacity, Austin is responsible for charting the company’s future product and technology strategies. As the vice president of product development, he directed the planning and implementation of the last four SolidWorks releases. Prior to working at SolidWorks, Austin was employed with Computervision, now PTC, where he held the positions of principal software engineer, senior manager, and senior technology consultant. Austin earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Boston University.
Bertrand Sicot , Executive Vice President of Sales
As executive vice president of sales, Bertrand directs the global growth strategies for SolidWorks by ensuring that the regional sales, education sales, and VAR development teams have the resources they need. Bertrand joined SolidWorks in 1997 as the regional sales manager for France, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. He significantly increased business in these regions and earned a promotion to country manager for Western Europe in 1999, where he was responsible for all sales operations in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Spain, and Portugal. In 2004, he was promoted to vice president, North American sales and was promoted into his current position in 2007. Bertrand began his career at IBM France, and was a branch sales manager for Computervision France before joining SolidWorks. Bertrand holds an engineering degree from Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers.
Rachel Simone, Vice President of Enterprise Applications and Technology
With more than 15 years of senior-level IT management expertise, Rachel directs DS SolidWorks technology and business systems operations. In her role, she develops strategies to build scalable processes and systems to support the company’s explosive growth. Prior to joining SolidWorks, Rachel directed IT operations at Myteam.com, a direct marketing services provider for amateur sports organizations. Rachel joined Myteam.com from MRO Software, where she instituted a common business system worldwide. Rachel earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston University and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Business Administration at Suffolk University.
David Stott, Chief Financial Officer
Dave brings more than 25 years of experience in finance and business to the role. As chief financial officer, Dave is responsible for all financial and legal activities, as well as several administrative functions at the company. In his previous roles at SolidWorks, Dave implemented two financial systems, managed the change from U.S. dollars to international currencies in billing, worked with resellers to finance growth initiatives, and helped build the finance team. Prior to SolidWorks, Dave spent 20 years in various positions at Polaroid. He worked in finance supporting manufacturing and marketing, and later as the associate director of finance, where he redesigned and streamlined the corporate financial reporting process. As the division controller of worldwide marketing planning and analysis, Dave led the redesign effort of a forecast and budget. Several of his years at Polaroid were spent supporting business development in Asia Pacific – he oversaw business and financial operations in China and Russia; led finance, logistics, and MIS in China, Korea, and Taiwan; and managed a corporate five-year planning process for the entire region.
Christine Washburn, Vice President, Marketing
Christine Washburn brings 20 years of marketing experience to SolidWorks, including the creation of online customer communities that helped drive significant business growth. Most recently, Christine served as Vice President of Marketing for QUMAS, a compliance software company ranked #1 by Forrester Research in the Governance, Risk, and Compliance space. Prior to QUMAS, Christine held the position of Vice President of Marketing at SilverBack, a managed service provider software platform, ultimately acquired by Dell Computer on the strength of its channel program. As the Vice President of Corporate Marketing for Concord Communications (now Computer Associates), Christine branded Concord as the leader in the network reporting and analysis market, helping to position Concord for a successful IPO in 1997. Christine began her career in politics, serving as a legislative assistant, and later press secretary, to the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance. Christine holds a Master of Public Policy Degree from Georgetown University as well as a B.S. in telecommunications and political science from Indiana University.
Richard Welch, Vice President, Worldwide Customer Services
Rich brings nearly 25 years of information technology software development, service, and support experience to SolidWorks. He is responsible for all of the company’s customer-facing organizations, including license administration, call center, manufacturing, shipping, consulting services, education services, and technical support. Prior to joining SolidWorks in 2005, Rich spent two years as vice president of customer support global services at Netegrity, where he oversaw a nearly 40-percent increase in customer satisfaction. He also held senior executive positions at ATG and Parametric Technology Corporation. Rich began his career at Stone and Webster Corporation and Prime Computer, where he was responsible for many aspects of mechanical design software development. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
