Executive Team

Brian Krzanich is President and Chief Executive Officer of Cerence and a member of the Board. Mr. Krzanich joined Cerence in October 2024. He is an engineer and business executive, best known for his tenure as the CEO of Intel Corporation. Mr. Krzanich joined Intel in 1982 as a process engineer and early in his career rose through the ranks in manufacturing, working on key projects involving the company’s factory operations and supply chains. His technical expertise, combined with his leadership skills, led to various senior roles, including overseeing Intel’s global manufacturing, supply chain, and infrastructure. In 2013, Mr. Krzanich was appointed CEO of Intel Corporation. In this role, he faced the challenge of guiding Intel through a rapidly changing technology landscape, including the shift from PC-centric computing to mobile- and data-centric technologies. He focused on expanding Intel’s reach beyond traditional CPUs to areas like artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, and the IoT. In 2018, Mr. Krzanich joined CDK Global, a technology provider for the automotive industry, where he served as CEO from 2019 to 2022. During his tenure he led the technology company through a successful sale to investment firm Brookfield Business Partners.Mr. Krzanich graduated from San Jose State University with a degree in chemistry.

Antonio “Tony” Rodriquez has served as our Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer since November 2024. He previously served as our Interim Chief Financial Officer from June 2024 until his appointment as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer in November 2024. As Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Rodriquez is responsible for the management and oversight of Cerence’s finance organization, including accounting, tax, financial planning and analysis, treasury, facilities, and procurement. Prior to his appointment as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Rodriquez served as a CFO Partner at CSuite Financial Partners, a financial executive services firm, during which he served as Chief Financial Officer of The Bouqs Company from 2019 to 2023 and, as mentioned, as Interim Chief Financial Officer of the Company. Mr. Rodriquez has spent the last 25+ years as a financial leader in both private and public corporations, including in the eCommerce, software as a service ("SaaS"), advertising media and consumer marketing industries. Prior to joining CSuite Financial Partners, from 2010 to 2018, Mr. Rodriquez served as CFO of TouchCommerce Inc., a rapidly growing SaaS-based digital interaction technology and service company. Mr. Rodriquez began his career at KPMG LLP where he serviced international public and private companies in the manufacturing, retail, distribution, and technology sectors as an assurance senior manager. Mr. Rodriquez is a certified public accountant (inactive) with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting from California State University, Northridge.

As Chief Revenue Officer, Christian Mentz drives Cerence’s go-to-market strategy, accelerating growth and expanding the Company’s relationships with its automaker and mobility customers worldwide. In this role, Mr. Mentz leads Cerence’s sales, business development, sales engineering, and marketing teams. A seasoned automotive technology executive, Mr. Mentz joined Cerence from Amazon, where he most recently led Global Business Development and Marketing for Amazon Smart Vehicles from April 2019 to September 2023 and was responsible for commercial operations and go-to-market strategies across a wide range of automotive digital cabin products and services. Previously, from 2008 to 2019, Mr. Mentz held progressing automotive sales leadership roles at Nuance, including Vice President - Automotive Sales & Sales Engineering. He holds a Master’s Degree in Communications from The Philipp University of Marburg, Germany, and continued his education in Change and Innovation Management at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Jennifer Salinas has served as our Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel since June 2024. Prior to that, she served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel from April 2022 to June 2024. As Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel, Ms. Salinas oversees the Company’s day-to-day administrative activities and corporate operations and leads the Company’s transformation efforts, with a focus on driving cross-functional initiatives that help balance the Company’s cost structure in accordance with its current level of business, while ensuring delivery of Cerence’s Generative AI roadmap and customer commitments. Ms. Salinas also serves as strategic advisor and leads the legal organization in a wide range of matters, including intellectual property, litigation, labor and employment, corporate governance, strategic transactions, and regulatory and compliance. Ms. Salinas also leads the Company’s information technology and human resources organizations. Prior to Cerence, from 2018 to 2022, Ms. Salinas was Global Head of Litigation at Lenovo, the largest PC company worldwide, and from 2020 to 2022 General Counsel of the Infrastructure Solutions Group, a $7 billion Lenovo business unit. Her extensive background also includes 20 years of experience, including ten years as an intellectual property partner, at several prominent law firms. She is the former President of the Hispanic National Bar Association and has received numerous awards and recognitions throughout her career. She earned her Juris Doctor degree in Law from Loyola University Los Angeles, graduating cum laude and in the order of the coif, and a bachelor’s in political science from San Diego State University.

Nils Schanz has served as our Executive Vice President, Product and Technology since August 2024. Prior to that, he served as our Chief Product Officer since November 2022. As Executive Vice President, Product and Technology, Mr. Schanz leads Cerence’s global technology, engineering, and product development organization, driving alignment across innovation, product, and customer delivery and positioning Cerence to meet the current and future needs of its customers. A respected and accomplished automotive and AI technology leader, Mr. Schanz joined Cerence from Mercedes-Benz AG and Daimler, where he developed the highly regarded MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience), the automaker’s intuitive, high-tech multimedia system, and launched other widely acclaimed innovations such as the award-winning MBUX Hyperscreen and the Voice Assistant “Hey Mercedes.” From 2018 until November 2022, he served as Global Head of User Interaction & Voice Control at Mercedes-Benz AG, leading a cross-functional team with global responsibility for digital user interface and user experience. Prior to his most recent role at Mercedes-Benz AG and Daimler, Mr. Schanz held a variety of positions in research and development, product management, and marketing. In addition to his Germany-based roles, he also spent time in Silicon Valley as Director of IoT & Wearables at Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America.