Leadership

John Theler

Chief Financial Officer

Riverbed Technology

John Theler was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Riverbed Technology in August 2023. Theler brings almost 30 years of experience as a finance professional across a broad spectrum of technologies, including software, hardware, and SaaS solutions. He has served as a finance executive at large publicly traded companies as well as mid-sized private equity-owned enterprises.

Prior to returning to Riverbed, Theler served as the CFO of MarkLogic from 2021 to 2023; CFO of Avetta from 2019 to 2021 and CFO of Riverbed from 2015 to 2019. He also served in finance executive leadership roles at several technology companies, including 11 years at Lam Research (NASDAQ: LRCX), which included over four years as Corporate Controller. Theler began his career with Ernst & Young, LLP, where he completed his CPA. During his career, he has been involved with over a dozen M&A transactions and worked across all major geographies.

Theler received a B.S. degree in Accounting and Information Systems from Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management.

Jim Gargan

Chief Marketing Officer

Riverbed Technology

Jim Gargan is Chief Marketing Officer at Riverbed, responsible for guiding the strategic direction of the Company’s marketing efforts and positioning Riverbed’s platform for unified observability and optimization to customers and stakeholders. Gargan oversees global demand marketing, product and industry marketing, marketing operations, and brand and corporate communications.

 

Gargan brings over three decades of experience in building prominent global brands with significant roles at Oracle and IBM. He played a crucial role in introducing numerous groundbreaking innovations that have shaped today’s landscape of cloud and on-premises technologies. In his most recent tenure at Oracle, Gargan served as Senior Vice President, overseeing Cloud, Hardware, and Industry Marketing. Gargan spent nearly 15 years at IBM, holding various leadership positions including: Vice President of IBM Consulting in Shenzhen, China; VP, Demand Generation; and VP, Business Line Executive for the Servers, Networking and Storage division.

 

Gargan holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of New Hampshire and earned an MBA from New Hampshire College.

Fernando Castanheira

Global Chief Information Officer

Riverbed Technology

Fernando Castanheira is Riverbed’s Global CIO responsible for all aspects of IT including digital transformation, Cyber/IT security, infrastructure, operations and business platforms. In addition, Fernando leads the SaaS Business strategy function partnering with the customer facing teams on new approaches centered on providing ongoing customer value and delightful experiences.

 Prior to joining Riverbed, Fernando worked at JPMorgan Chase in various senior IT roles, most recently as a Managing Director and CTO.  Fernando led various IT infrastructure and business aligned Application Development organizations with high impact roles at large scale with focus on digital transformations, increasing efficiencies, improve productivity and security. Fernando has built and led large organizations with specific focus in Digital Workplace technologies, End User Services, Multimedia/Telecom, and Corporate Technology functions.

Early in his career, Fernando held engineering and application development roles at Deloitte & Touche and Teledyne Brown Engineering.

 Fernando holds a B.S in Computer Science from NJCU and a Master’s degree in Technology Management from Stevens Institute of Technology (magna cum laude).

Richard Tworek

Chief Technology Officer, Riverbed

Riverbed Technology

Richard Tworek is a Chief Technology Officer of Riverbed Technology where he leads the product management, engineering, and data science teams in building and enhancing the Riverbed unified observability portfolio. His position includes developing and delivering the Riverbed Unified Observability Platform and next-generation services such as SaaS-delivered Riverbed IQ, and industry-leading end-user experience, application, network and infrastructure monitoring solutions. He also leads strategic technology relationships, leading innovation to create and bring to market new products leveraging Riverbed’s robust and unique sensor technology.

Tworek is an experienced technologist in rapid product innovation, realignment and delivery including developing and bringing to market new product offerings, technology vision, and strategic relationships for ML/AI. He has enabled strategic go-to-market and technology partnerships such as Microsoft, Google, Salesforce, Slack, and Amazon (AWS) Cloud platforms, and has a successful record of transforming and innovating in large complex organizations with the delivery of highly successful software and collaboration products.

Prior to joining Riverbed in 2022, Tworek held various executive leadership roles running within the technology and communication sectors, most recently at Mitel where he served as CTO and VP of Mitel Innovation Labs and Advanced Technology and then General Manager and VP of Next Generation Unified Networks at Nortel Networks. He also has served as a Founder and CEO of a number of technology start-ups including Qovia, Inc., which was sold to Cisco; ZebraPass, which was sold to Softcoin; and Merex that was sold to Infodata, Inc., after which he then joined Infodata as EVP and CTO. Tworek began his professional career as a U.S. Navy officer serving as a Lieutenant Commander on a U.S. nuclear submarine.

Tworek holds an MS in Nuclear Engineering from the Naval Nuclear Power school and a B.S. of Mathematics and Physics from Eastern Michigan University.

Kris Luhrsen

Chief Revenue Officer

Riverbed Technology

Kris Luhrsen is Chief Revenue Officer of Riverbed Technology, responsible for driving the Company’s growth and sales strategy, and oversees global sales across all GEOs, channel and alliances, renewals and customer success, consulting architects, professional services, and sales operations.

With decades of experience as a senior revenue generator, Luhrsen is particularly adept at building processes that allow organizations to be more predictable, more consistent and with improved productivity. Luhrsen has a proven track record of scaling organizations to increase sales, ramping go-to-market strategies and building high-quality teams at global technology companies.

Luhrsen most recently served as Chief Revenue Officer of cybersecurity firm Venafi, which was acquired by CyberArk, and before that, served as President of North America Sales at SUSE, a pioneer in open source infrastructure software. He also held senior sales leadership positions at VMware and Cisco.

Luhrsen holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University.

Manny Blackner

SVP, Human Resources

Riverbed Technology

Manny Blackner is Senior Vice President, Human Resources at Riverbed Technology. Blackner’s responsibilities include all worldwide HR and operations for employees in 28 countries, including recruiting, human resources business partner activities, diversity and inclusion, benefits and compensation, immigration, HR systems/shared services and learning development.

Blackner joined Riverbed in 2013, and previously led the Riverbed HR business partner, HRIS, HROPS and talent acquisition teams globally. He has a proven track record for attracting and retaining top talent, nurturing employees, championing career development and has a passion for diversity and inclusion. Prior to Riverbed, Blackner worked in retail sector supporting several national brands.

Blackner is a graduate of University of Maryland, College Park and also currently serves on the Board of Directors for The Arnold Foundation, a non-profit focused on making the world a better place by providing or improving education, economic, energy and health conditions for those in need.

Chalan Aras

SVP and GM, Acceleration

Riverbed Technology

Chalan Aras joined Riverbed in January 2024 as Senior Vice President and General Manager for Riverbed’s Acceleration business. He is responsible for the entire Acceleration portfolio and business, overseeing engineering and product management.

Aras brings over three decades of experience in B2B technology, including leading product organizations and divisions at renowned companies such as Deloitte, Citrix Systems, Cisco, and Polycom. Aras most recently served as Chief Product Officer and Managing Director for Deloitte’s Cyber Security Services. Prior to Deloitte, he spent nine years at Citrix in VP and GM roles leading products that included Cloud Network and Security Services, SD-WAN and WAN Optimization.

Aras holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Middle East Technical University, a master’s degree in computer engineering from North Carolina State University; an Executive MBA in Strategy and Marketing from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School; and a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from North Carolina State University.