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Management Team

Jorn Lyseggen

Jorn Lyseggen

CEO and Founder

Meltwater | In 2001, with only $15,000, Jorn founded Meltwater News, a B2B media search engine company offering business intelligence services, which has now grown into the Meltwater Group. As CEO, he leads the expansion of Meltwater with new ventures in the Software as a Service (SaaS) market. Jorn also founded the non-profit Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), designed to provide training and mentoring to young African entrepreneurs aspiring to launch new, Ghana-based software companies.

Home | Palo Alto, Calif., since 2005, with his family that includes two daughters, ages 12 and 9.

Play | An avid reader of ancient history and Viking sagas, Jorn enjoys fishing for salmon in the Norwegian fjords near the town of Grong and the peace and quiet of Trysil, his hometown in Norway. He played clarinet in several orchestras and competed at various levels for more than 15 years, recently reigniting his interest in music with the purchase of a saxophone.

Work | A Norwegian entrepreneur and patent holder with four start-ups, Jorn has two trade sales and one IPO to his credit. The most rewarding aspect of Jorn's career continues to be helping young people develop into confident and capable managers, which makes him proud of Meltwater and gives him continued motivation.

School | A Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Bergen Ingeniorhogskole in Norway, a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering with specialization in digital signal processing and artificial intelligence from Iowa State University, and training in entrepreneurship from Harvard Business School.

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Ashish Sharma

Ashish Sharma

Executive Director, Technology

Meltwater | Leads Meltwater's global technology, innovation and product strategy. Under Ashish's leadership, Meltwater has dramatically scaled its infrastructure and broadened its offerings, all while maintaining a culture of strong innovation. His background uniquely prepares him to continue Meltwater's dedication to web intelligence and the semantic web with a focus on speedy deployment and cost-effectiveness.

Home | Fremont, Calif., Married—his wife is a doctor specializing in liver disease—with two daughters, a 14-year-old artist-at-heart with ambitions of becoming a doctor or lawyer and a 7-year-old adventure seeker.

Play | Ashish loves to spend time with his two young daughters, adventure traveling—did we mention camel racing?—and volunteers to support environmental, literacy, scouting and other causes.

Work | Before Meltwater, Ashish served as CTO of Orkash, where he was responsible for overall technology leadership, business consulting and SaaS-based delivery platforms. He also was vice president of technology for International Asset Systems, where he led the development of strategies and products leading to top-line growth in global markets, and was director of Production and Technology at ThinkBox.

School | Graduate of the MBM Engineering College with a Master's degree in Computer Applications from JNV University, India. Accelerated Management Program (AMP) from the Indian School of Business (ISB).

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Niklas de Besche

Niklas de Besche

Executive Director, Meltwater Drive and Buzz

Meltwater | Leads sales, strategy and employee development for Meltwater's innovative cloud computing and social media monitoring services. Niklas has risen through the Meltwater ranks, opening the company's first international office in Stockholm and playing an integral role in building the Nordic operations. He spent several years in the U.S., setting up offices all over the country as an area director while simultaneously managing the Nordic region.

Home | Stockholm, where he lives with his wife. Considering the number of places Niklas has lived in the last four years, it's no wonder his favorite song is "Highwayman" by the Highwaymen.

Play | A born competitor, Niklas thrives on adventure sports, including powder skiing, windsurfing and snow mobiling.

Work | One of Niklas' most memorable moments at Meltwater happened six months after starting with the company in 2004. Every employee in the newly started Stockholm office hit their full quota and those colleagues, whom he now considers close friends, have now moved on to develop a number of different initiatives throughout the company worldwide.

School | Master of Science in Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, and a Bachelor's degree in Business and Administration from the Stockholm University School of Business and NUS Business School in Singapore.

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Paal Larsen

Paal Larsen

Executive Director, Meltwater News

Meltwater | Oversees sales, strategy and employee development globally for Meltwater News. With Meltwater since October 2004, Paal rose quickly through the ranks to become area director of the UK. Since then, he has helped to launch the company into new markets including Cape Town, Dubai, Amsterdam and Sydney.

Home | Bergen, Norway, also known as "the gateway to the Norwegian fjords"—not surprising that he's a fan of fishing.

Play | Passion for new rock and indie music, especially discovering new bands and going to live shows (Paal's favorite live band is Wilco). Despite his love for hiking and snow skiing, Paal's favorite vacation was a trip to Florida where he enjoyed soaking up the sun on those white sandy beaches.

Work | Before Meltwater, Paal was in business school, he worked in the music industry traveling the U.S. with a management company that represented bands signed to major labels.

School | Master's degree in Economics and Business Administration degree from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (NHH). Also studied law at the University of Bergen.

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Kevin Lorenz

Kevin Lorenz

Executive Director, Meltwater Press

Meltwater | Leads Meltwater Press' global operations in sales, strategy and employee development. Kevin joined in January 2006 and was instrumental in breaking ground in the German-speaking market, Spain and France. In January 2009, he assumed responsibility as executive director for Meltwater News in Continental Europe until taking over Meltwater Press in April 2010.

Home | Born in Bonn, Germany, Kevin lived in Bulgaria and Russia in the 1980s-1990s and studied in southern Germany, Argentina and Berlin. He now resides in Berlin.

Play | Travel to exotic destinations is the perfect hobby for the man who is fabled to speak 27 languages. Whether crossing the Patagonian Andes from Chile to Argentina on foot and horseback, or traveling between Meltwater's offices around the globe, Kevin has had many opportunities to hone his photography skills and feed his addiction for buying the latest tech gadgets at airport electronic retailers.

Work | Kevin's proudest moment at Meltwater was in Spring 2008, when he contributed to setting up the Barcelona and Bordeaux offices. Initially hosting these groups in Berlin created an inspiring multicultural experience between all of the teams present.

School | Studied economics with a focus on economic development and political economies at Universität Passau, Universidad del Salvador Buenos Aires and Freie universität Berlin, where he attained the degree of Diplom Volkswirt (Economist).

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Jonas Oppedal

Jonas Oppedal

Executive Director, Meltwater Reach

Meltwater | Leads sales, strategy and employee development for Meltwater Reach. Starting with Meltwater in September 2003, Jonas was a critical force in developing Meltwater News in its infancy in both Europe and North America. After opening the first U.S. office in Silicon Valley, he served as executive director of Meltwater News for North America until taking over as Executive Director of Meltwater Reach in March 2010.

Home | Born in Norway. Jonas now calls San Francisco home and the most amazing place on earth.

Play | A bacon advocate of the highest order, Jonas is a passionate cyclist, windsurfer and marathon runner who loves the outdoors. Not a bad tennis player either—Jonas was a Norwegian Junior League champion in his younger days, and counts Roger Federer as one of his sources of inspiration on and off the court.

Work | Jonas' most memorable Meltwater moment was the signing of the first U.S. contract, American Apparel.

School | Studied business with a focus on e-commerce, information management and marketing at the University of Western Australia in Perth.

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Kaveh Rostampor

Kaveh Rostampor

Executive Director, Client Relations and Meltwater Talent

Meltwater | Leads sales, strategy and employee development for Meltwater Talent and Meltwater Group's global Client Relations operations. Kaveh joined in May 2005 and served as an area director in the Nordic countries and in the American organization, helping to open offices in South America and Canada. He has also been involved in the start-up and launch of Meltwater Talent, Meltwater Drive and Meltwater Press.

Home | Born in Iran, Kaveh currently lives in Stockholm with his wife and their first son, born in February 2010.

Play | A world traveler and cheesecake aficionado, Kaveh claims the best version of the dessert can be found in Gothenburg, Sweden; at the Toronto airport and in San Francisco. He's also a black belt in Taekwando, a three-time winner of the Swedish Championships and was a member of the National Team for four years.

Work | The highlight of Kaveh's Meltwater career came during a management retreat for the Nordic team in Reykjavik, where he celebrated 12 months of solid results with his long-time colleagues and close friends.

School | Bachelor's degree in Business Management & Information Technology and a Master of Science in Business and Economics from Uppsala University in Sweden. Strategy and innovation studies from Oxford University.

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