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We’re your trusted partner to provide high-quality data solutions for AI, with a strong focus on large language models (LLMs) and deep learning. Our mission is to empower businesses to harness the full potential of artificial intelligence while upholding ethical principles and creating AI for good.
With a diverse and skilled workforce comprising data scientists, linguists, engineers, and subject matter experts, we offer unrivaled expertise in data collection, annotation, fine-tuning and assurance. We understand the transformative power of LLMs in revolutionizing natural language processing and communication.
What sets us apart is our commitment to ethical AI practices. We believe in the responsible use of AI, ensuring fairness, transparency, and unbiased decision-making. Our stringent processes are designed to mitigate biases and uphold the highest ethical standards, enabling our clients to deploy AI applications that are trustworthy and inclusive.
At Appen, we firmly believe in the potential of AI to make a positive impact on society. Our mission is to drive innovation and solutions that address pressing global challenges. We actively collaborate with organizations and researchers working on socially impactful projects, aiming to leverage AI technology to solve real-world problems, improve lives, and foster a more sustainable future.
Welcome to Appen, where we unlock the power of LLMs and deep learning, driven by our commitment to ethical practices and our mission to create AI for good.
Diversity, experience, and unmatched capabilities—check out the top six reasons why we’re your trusted partner to launch your most innovative AI applications.
We’re a diverse and well-rounded group of innovators from all over the world, each with decades of experience in a variety of backgrounds—from tech solutions and software engineering to online travel and automotive retail. Our list of accomplishments covers everything from co-authoring a bestselling AI book to staffing one of the largest veterinary companies in the US. It’s our broad range of expertise and backgrounds that make us completely unique.
As Chief Executive Officer and President, Armughan leads Appen’s mission to enable our customers to deploy world-class AI solutions. Armughan is a proven business executive with over 25 years of experience is scaling multi-billion dollar businesses and building strong teams.
Most recently Armughan served as the President and Managing partner of Digital at KPMG, a global leader in delivering innovative digital transformation services across industry sectors. Before that he was the Senior Vice President & General Manager at (NYSE:Dell), where he led the company’s Cloud, HPC and Solutions business. He oversaw product, engineering, sales, marketing, services and alliances, growing Dell’s business to multi-billions in revenue. Armughan played a vital role in integrating Dell’s acquisition of EMC data storage, architecting multiple successful multi-cloud platforms, including Microsoft, VMWare, and RedHat. Prior to Dell, Armughan held global executive positions at Hewlett Packard (HP) through the acquisition of 3Com/H3C (NYSE:3COM) a networking and security business, he has held operating roles with tech companies backed by private equity.
Armughan serves on the board of Future Skills Center innovating the future of work with human and machine collaboration. He also serves on the international advisory and school of engineering boards of University of Waterloo. As one of the founding members, Armughan is a passionate promoter of diversity accelerator at CILAR, mental health awareness and ESG social impact programs.
Richard Freudenstein is the Chair of Appen. He was appointed Chair in October 2021 and has been a non-executive director since 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.
Richard Freudenstein is the Chair of Appen. He was appointed Chair in October 2021 and has been a non-executive director since 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.
As Chief Executive Officer and President, Armughan leads Appen’s mission to enable our customers to deploy world-class AI solutions. Armughan is a proven business executive with over 25 years of experience is scaling multi-billion dollar businesses and building strong teams.
Most recently Armughan served as the President and Managing partner of Digital at KPMG, a global leader in delivering innovative digital transformation services across industry sectors. Before that he was the Senior Vice President & General Manger at (NYSE:Dell), where he led the company’s Cloud, HPC and Solutions business. He oversaw product, engineering, sales, marketing, services and alliances, growing Dell’s business to multi-billions in revenue. Armughan played a vital role in integrating Dell’s acquisition of EMC data storage, architecting multiple successful multi-cloud platforms, including Microsoft, VMWare, and RedHat. Prior to Dell, Armughan held global executive positions at Hewlett Packard (HP) through the acquisition of 3Com/H3C (NYSE:3COM) a networking and security business, he has held operating roles with tech companies backed by private equity.
Armughan serves on the board of Future Skills Center innovating the future of work with human and machine collaboration. He also serves on the international advisory and school of engineering boards of University of Waterloo. Armughan is a passionate promoter of diversity accelerator at CILAR, mental health awareness and ESG social impact programs.
As Chief Executive Officer and President, Armughan leads Appen’s mission to enable our customers to deploy world-class AI solutions. Armughan is a proven business executive with over 25 years of experience is scaling multi-billion dollar businesses and building strong teams.
Most recently Armughan served as the President and Managing partner of Digital at KPMG, a global leader in delivering innovative digital transformation services across industry sectors. Before that he was the Senior Vice President & General Manger at (NYSE:Dell), where he led the company’s Cloud, HPC and Solutions business. He oversaw product, engineering, sales, marketing, services and alliances, growing Dell’s business to multi-billions in revenue. Armughan played a vital role in integrating Dell’s acquisition of EMC data storage, architecting multiple successful multi-cloud platforms, including Microsoft, VMWare, and RedHat. Prior to Dell, Armughan held global executive positions at Hewlett Packard (HP) through the acquisition of 3Com/H3C (NYSE:3COM) a networking and security business, he has held operating roles with tech companies backed by private equity.
Armughan serves on the board of Future Skills Center innovating the future of work with human and machine collaboration. He also serves on the international advisory and school of engineering boards of University of Waterloo. Armughan is a passionate promoter of diversity accelerator at CILAR, mental health awareness and ESG social impact programs.
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.
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 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.
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.
Stuart has over 30 years’ experience as an international banker with the HSBC Group including roles in Hong Kong, New York, Taiwan, India and Australia.
Most recently he was CEO of India for the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (2009-2012), CEO and Executive Director for HSBC Bank Australia Limited (2002-2009) and CEO HSBC Taiwan (1999-2002).
He was a member of the Australian Bankers Association from 2002 to 2009 and Deputy Chairman from 2006 to 2009.
Stuart holds a LLB from Adelaide University and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Stuart has over 30 years’ experience as an international banker with the HSBC Group including roles in Hong Kong, New York, Taiwan, India and Australia.
Most recently he was CEO of India for the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (2009-2012), CEO and Executive Director for HSBC Bank Australia Limited (2002-2009) and CEO HSBC Taiwan (1999-2002).
He was a member of the Australian Bankers Association from 2002 to 2009 and Deputy Chairman from 2006 to 2009.
Stuart holds a LLB from Adelaide University and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
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.
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.
Lynn joins the Appen Board bringing experience as an ASX non-executive Director, a technology and SAAS company Board Advisor and experience gained as a transformational leader of both Fortune 500 companies and high growth SAAS companies.
Lynn is currently a non-executive Director of ASX listed Altium Limited (ASX: ALU), where she Chairs the HR Committee and serves on the Audit and Risk Committee. Previously Lynn was Head of Business Optimisation at Atlassian Inc, VP Finance at Citrix Systems and held various global and operational roles at Adobe Systems and Apple Computer.
Lynn has many years of experience in digital transformation and brings valuable skills to the Appen Board in building agile, scalable business platforms for operational efficiency, introducing new GTM and cloud-based business models. She is also well versed in finance and accounting, corporate planning and reporting, data governance and M&A Integrations.
Lynn holds a BSc (with Honors) in Mathematics from the University of Southampton in the UK and an MBA in Business Management from St. Edwards University in the US.
Lynn joins the Appen Board bringing experience as an ASX non-executive Director, a technology and SAAS company Board Advisor and experience gained as a transformational leader of both Fortune 500 companies and high growth SAAS companies.
Lynn is currently a non-executive Director of ASX listed Altium Limited (ASX: ALU), where she Chairs the HR Committee and serves on the Audit and Risk Committee. Previously Lynn was Head of Business Optimisation at Atlassian Inc, VP Finance at Citrix Systems and held various global and operational roles at Adobe Systems and Apple Computer.
Lynn has many years of experience in digital transformation and brings valuable skills to the Appen Board in building agile, scalable business platforms for operational efficiency, introducing new GTM and cloud-based business models. She is also well versed in finance and accounting, corporate planning and reporting, data governance and M&A Integrations.
Lynn holds a BSc (with Honors) in Mathematics from the University of Southampton in the UK and an MBA in Business Management from St. Edwards University in the US.
Mini is currently the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Doma (NYSE: DOMA), a real estate technology company that is disrupting a century-old industry by building an instant and frictionless home closing experience for buyers and sellers. Previously, Mini was the CMO at Elementum (a Lightspeed company) and Ambra Health (acquired by Hg’s Intelerad).
Mini spent 12+ years at cloud-pioneer company NetSuite (NYSE: N), from its early stages through to its IPO and beyond. She helped drive product growth as Vice President of Product Management, then went on to lead a global team as Vice President Worldwide Marketing that delivered go-to-market scale from US$100 million to US$750 million.
Mini has many years of experience in managing global teams and all forms of product and marketing functions including go-to-market strategy, product management, product marketing, demand generation and partner marketing.
She holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan.
Mini is currently the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Doma (NYSE: DOMA), a real estate technology company that is disrupting a century-old industry by building an instant and frictionless home closing experience for buyers and sellers. Previously, Mini was the CMO at Elementum (a Lightspeed company) and Ambra Health (acquired by Hg’s Intelerad).
Mini spent 12+ years at cloud-pioneer company NetSuite (NYSE: N), from its early stages through to its IPO and beyond. She helped drive product growth as Vice President of Product Management, then went on to lead a global team as Vice President Worldwide Marketing that delivered go-to-market scale from US$100 million to US$750 million.
Mini has many years of experience in managing global teams and all forms of product and marketing functions including go-to-market strategy, product management, product marketing, demand generation and partner marketing.
She holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan.
Providing excellent customer services from nine offices and various locations around the world.
We believe in giving back to our community by supporting numerous international nonprofits.
Andrea Clayton joined Appen in February 2022 as CPO and is responsible for leading the people operations function for the company. Andrea has over 20 years of progressive experience in building innovative people programs, leading people operations teams, and transforming company cultures. Andrea has served in a variety of global HR leadership roles, in listed and unlisted companies, lived and worked in five countries, and has experience leading HR in 30+ countries.
Prior to joining Appen, Andrea served as Chief People Officer at Thrive Pet Healthcare, one of the largest and fastest growing veterinary companies in the United States. Through the introduction of industry first programs, flexible policies, and achievement of significant gender diversity at all levels of leadership, Thrive was recognized as the #1 company in the industry for women by InHerSight. Andrea was also a global HR leader at General Electric Financial Assurance (now Genworth) for 11 years, including HR Director for Genworth Australia through its IPO in 2014.
Andrea has a Bachelors in International Management and Masters of Business Administration from Texas A&M University.
Saty Bahadur joined Appen in March 2023 as Chief Technology Officer, responsible for the Company’s technology strategy, expanding product offerings, and leading the next phase of AI growth.
Saty brings with him a deep history of experience. In his role as CTO at Upwork, he led the global engineering organization, expanding their product portfolio. As General Manager at Amazon, he led the Alexa artificial intelligence group and built the platform on which all of Alexa runs. He was also the General Manager of Consumer Trust & Safety for Amazon.com. Earlier, Saty served in multiple engineering leadership positions at Microsoft and Intel.
Saty holds an M.S. in computer science from Clemson University, a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology & Science in Pilani, India, and has numerous patents in mobile and operating systems.
Ryan Kolln is our Chief Operating Officer, an expansion of his current role as SVP of Strategy and Innovation. During his 5 year tenure at Appen, Ryan has embodied the best of our culture, technical expertise, a learn-it-all mentality, and empathetic leadership. In this role as COO, he will oversee Delivery and Crowd. Prior to joining Appen he worked as a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, in corporate strategy and Telstra, and various global engineering roles.
Ryan has an MBA from NYU Stern and a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Central Queensland University
Andrew Ettinger joined Appen as Chief Revenue Officer in May 2023 overseeing the company's revenue strategies and driving growth in the field of AI. He joined Appen with more than 25 years of sales experience in sales and services in the technology industry. He will expand his responsibilities to encompass both Sales and Marketing organizations. Aligning these functions will support our innovative brand efforts with our highest value revenue-driving opportunities. This strategic alignment will further enhance our focus and bolster our competitive advantage.
Andrew's expertise extends to harnessing the power of data to drive insights and optimize processes. As the Chief Revenue Officer at Astronomer, he successfully grew the adoption of their open-source data solution, leading to a remarkable increase in monthly downloads and revenue. His strategic initiatives resulted in a 600% growth in customer count and a 75% win rate.
Prior to joining Astronomer, he served as the VP of Sales at Pivotal Software, where he helped grow the business from zero to $100 million in annual recurring revenue in a single year leading up to Pivotal’s initial public offering, and up to $500 million thereafter. Under his leadership, the company achieved three consecutive years of 50% revenue growth, fueling digital transformations for Fortune 500 companies in various sectors.
Andrew holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Marketing from The Ohio State University.
Roc Tian comes to Appen with over 20 years of sales, consulting, and management experience from Fortune 100 companies. As SVP and GM of China, Japan, and Korea, Roc is responsible for Appen’s business strategy, sales, marketing, delivery, operations, and government relationships in the regions 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.
Mike Davie is the Chief Product Officer at Appen, in addition to SVP of Quadrant. Mike brings a strong background of experience in location data and location-based business solutions that are fit for purpose, easy to use, and simple to organize.
Prior to Joining Appen in 2021, Mike was the founder and CEO of Quadrant, growing the business’s mobile location data services to a portfolio of more than 450 million unique devices per month, enabling companies to see and understand movement patterns in the real world. With Quadrant he also developed a proprietary platform, “Geolancer”, which provides authentic, accurate, and up-to-date Point-of-Interest data, manually verified on the ground. Previously, Mike provided leadership and strategy to the Advanced Mobile Product Strategy team at Samsung where he developed GTM strategies for cutting edge technologies there.
Mike has a Masters Degree in Database Management and Business Intelligence from Boston University and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University.
Eric de Cavaignac joined Appen in November 2021 and is responsible for driving programs to scale operations and delivery, and support revenue growth. He brings over 25 years of experience in partnering with investors and management to transform businesses, and to deliver lasting growth and profit improvement.
Before joining Appen, Eric worked across a number of industries, including TMT, ecommerce, health, financial services, and luxury, where he helped drive digital transformation, international expansion, strategic M&A, and business restructuring. Eric has worked in New York, London, and Sydney including, 10 years as an advisor with McKinsey and running a strategy and capital advisory business, and a number of executive positions reporting to the CEO of multinational companies executing a turnaround or transformation.
Eric has a BA (Hons) in International Affairs from Trinity College, and an MBA (Beta Gamma Sigma, Dean’s List) from Columbia Business School.
Justin Miles joined Appen in 2016 and is the Deputy Chief Financial Officer. He is responsible for the finance and accounting functions at Appen. Prior to joining Appen he worked in senior leadership roles in ASX listed businesses, and various roles within public practice.
Justin has a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) from Western Sydney University and is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.