Leadership

Robert Dvorak

Chief Executive Officer and President

Robert Dvorak serves as Chief Executive Officer and President. He brings to SilkRoad over 30 years of executive leadership positions in strategic sales and marketing, most recently with Forsythe Technology, Inc (recently acquired by Sirius Computer Solutions). Bob ran KillerIT (a subsidiary of Forsythe) since 2011 as Founder and President. KillerIT is a Gartner-recognized digital SaaS platform for driving IT Effectiveness and Digital Business Transformations. Robert served on the Board of Directors of Forsythe Technology, Inc. as well as the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Bob holds an MBA and BA Physics, BA Economics from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management and Lake Forest College, respectively.

Kate O’Neill

Chief Financial and People Officer

Kate O’Neill is responsible for SilkRoad’s financial and people operations. Prior to joining SilkRoad, she held leadership positions at private and publicly held technology companies in Chicago and London, UK. Kate spent the first ten years of her career at Deloitte, where she served global clients in the US, Europe and Africa. She holds a MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

Lilith Christiansen

Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy and Product Officer

Lilith Christiansen brings more than 20 years of consulting experience to SilkRoad, having established a reputation as an industry expert, author and speaker. At SilkRoad, Lilith’s focus is on defining SilkRoad’s long-term growth plans and product innovation are in alignment with our overall goal of enabling people to thrive within a changing workplace. Lilith works with SilkRoad’s clients and partners to ensure software capabilities and roadmaps are prioritized and aligned with business strategies. Prior to joining SilkRoad, Lilith served as Vice President of the Organizational Development Practice group at Kaiser Associates, co-leading deep analytical and business performance perspective projects to help leading companies succeed against organizational development challenges. She co-authored the best-selling business book “Successful Onboarding.” It is one of the first books to outline methodologies for creating strategic onboarding programs on a global scale to unlock hidden values from talent bases.

Patrick Zelten

Senior Vice President, Global Client Services

Patrick Zelten serves as Sr. Vice President of Global Client Services. He is responsible for our ability to consistently deliver exceptional implementation results and fully leverage our clients’ investment in our solutions. This includes making sure we remain operationally efficient and our Professional Services Consultants are well-equipped and predictably positioned for success at each engagement.

Before joining SilkRoad, Patrick was the Professional Services lead for the America and the Asia Pacific regions at Forescout Technologies where he was responsible for the sale and successful delivery of professional services projects centered around their cybersecurity products. Previously, he grew and matured the Professional Services organization at Forsythe Technology (now Sirius Computer Solutions), leading an organization of skilled consultants and engineers spanning strategy, security and infrastructure domains. Patrick spent the first 14 years of his career at Accenture, where he held a variety of management positions in the Chicago communications and high-tech practice areas.

Patrick earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Notre Dame and previously served as an adjunct professor for Northwestern University’s Masters in Information Technology program capstone course focused on the CIO/CTO’s agenda and enterprise application integration.

Michael Lloyd

Managing Director, International Sales

Michael Lloyd leads the International business for SilkRoad and has built out a highly successful and passionate team bringing great experiences and solutions for SilkRoad clients all around the world.

Michael has spent over 15 years in the Software, Technology and Consulting industries with a particular focus on the success of global organisations. Michael and his team appreciate the cultural, language and economic factors governing the complexity of rolling out successful technology programs that reduce risk and provide ROI back to businesses no matter where they are located.

Michael holds a BTech in Optoelectronics from Macquarie University, Sydney and is an active board member of several grass roots sporting organisations.

Colin Larter

Senior Director, EMEA

Colin Larter is SilkRoad Technology’s EMEA Senior Director and is responsible for leading sales and operations for the region. Prior to SilkRoad, Colin initiated two staffing startups from a one man operation through to significant revenue prior to business exits. He brings 20 years of sales experience, partnering with CHROs and HR Directors in the technology, financial services and professional services industries. Colin is focused on solving complex problems for clients around their global talent challenges. He enjoys fundraising for organizations such as Prostate Cancer UK, Alzheimer’s Society and Victim Support.

Karl Fruecht

Senior Vice President, Operations, Business Development and Marketing

Karl Fruecht is responsible for Business Development, Marketing and driving operational efficiency. Prior to joining SilkRoad, he held executive roles in Sales, Marketing, E-Commerce, Technology and Management and created award-winning programs to drive team-based improvement in sales, process and performance. He brings experience in turn-arounds, start-ups, modernization, and expansion into new markets. Karl is co-founder of Uncharted Learning NFP, which delivers entrepreneurial and coding curriculum in high schools throughout the United States. He serves as President of The DASH to Cure Diabetes, Inc., and has served with Hospice of Northwest Chicago, Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital, Barrington Area Community Foundation and is a Sustaining Board Member of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He holds a BA in Communications from Northern Illinois University.