Board of Directors

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.

Ms. Matus served as the CFO and COO of Buckle Agency LLC from 2020 to July 2022. From 2014 until 2020, Ms. Matus was an executive advisor to Thomas H. Lee Partners. From 2014 to 2016, Ms. Matus served as the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer at athenahealth, Inc. From 2012 to 2013, Ms. Matus served as Executive Vice President and Head of Governmental Services at Aetna, Inc. Prior to Aetna, she held several senior leadership roles at United Services Automobile Association, including Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 2008 to 2012. She began her career at Thrivent where she held various financial and operational roles for over a decade. Ms. Matus has been serving as a director of Ambac Financial Group, Inc. since 2023, and she has previously served as a director of Alliance Bernstein Holding L.P. from July 2019 to May 2023, and Equitable Holdings from September 2015 to May 2023. Ms. Matus holds a B.S. degree from University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh.

Ms. Budnik has served as Chief Marketing Officer for VAST Data since September 2023. Previously, she served as Chief Marketing Officer at Talon Cyber Security from March 2022 to August 2023 and Crowdstrike Holdings Inc. from December 2020 to March 2022. Prior to joining Crowdstrike, Ms. Budnik served as Chief Marketing Officer for CyberArk Software Ltd. from 2017 to 2020. Her prior experience also includes serving as the Chief Marketing Officer for SimpliVity Corporation (acquired by Hewlett Packard Enterprise) from 2014 to 2017, and as Chief Marketing Officer for Acme Packet, Inc. (acquired by Oracle Corporation) and CA Technologies. Ms. Budnik has been serving as a director of F5, Inc. since October 2022, and she has previously served as a director of Schibsted Media Group from 2016 to 2020. Ms. Budnik holds an M.B.A. from Boston University Questrom School of Business, and a bachelor’s degree from Babson College.

Mr. Davis served in various positions at Intel Corporation from 1984 until his retirement in 2019, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Intel’s Automated Driving Group from 2017 to 2019, which included responsibility for forming the company’s automated driving business, establishing Intel as a leading supplier of chip technology for autonomous vehicles, and leading the company’s acquisition of Mobileye. From 2015 until 2017, Mr. Davis served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intel’s Internet of Things group. Mr. Davis has served as a director of Oshkosh Corporation since 2021 and Verra Mobility since 2019. Mr. Davis holds a M.B.A. from the Arizona State University W.P. Carey School of Business and a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from New Mexico State University.

Mr. Harris has served as President and CEO of AgFirst Farm Credit Bank since July 2025. Previously, he spent more than 25 years at Ford, serving as Chairman and CEO of Ford Motor Credit Company from 2019 to 2024, where he led a digital transformation program that resulted in the highest consumer satisfaction in the industry.  He served as Vice President of Ford Mobility, where he had operational responsibility for Ford's startup digital and mobility businesses. Mr. Harris also served as director of Ford Direct from July 2016 to July 2023. He holds a B.S. and M.A. in math from Mississippi State University.

Ms. Klevorn is a known and respected automotive and mobility industry leader, having spent 35 years at Ford Motor Company. During her tenure, she held varying executive and leadership roles within the company’s information technology organization, including global Chief Information Officer (“CIO”) and, previously, CIO of Ford Motor Company in Europe. Ms. Klevorn also served as EVP and President of Ford Mobility, where she oversaw Ford Smart Mobility LLC and its acquisitions and other investments that accelerated the company’s plans to design, build, grow, and invest in emerging mobility services. In this role, she also chaired the board of Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC. Ms. Klevorn most recently served as the Chief Transformation Officer of Ford Motor Company, where she accelerated Ford’s transformation efforts by refining its corporate governance and fostering adoption of process improvements and agile teams. She also led partnerships with key technology partners. Ms. Klevorn has served as a director of Northern Trust Corporation since January 2019 and Humana, Inc. since February 2021. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

Mr. Nietzel has been an independent consultant since 2017. From 2014 to 2017, Mr. Nietzel served as the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President at CDK Global, Inc. Prior to CDK’s spin-off, Mr. Nietzel was with Automatic Data Processing, Inc. since 2001 and served as Chief Financial Officer for the Dealer Services Division, Chief Financial Officer for the Employer Services Division and ADP’s Corporate Controller. Prior to joining ADP, Mr. Nietzel served for 17 years with Proctor & Gamble Inc. in numerous financial management roles in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Mr. Nietzel holds a B.S. degree from Eastern Illinois University. He currently serves as chairman of the board for OneSpan.

Mr. Sarin served as Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone Group Plc from 2003 until his retirement in 2008. Mr. Sarin began his career at Pacific Telesis Group in 1984. He progressed through various management positions there and at AirTouch Communications Inc., which Pacific Telesis spun off in 1994, and was named president and chief operating officer of AirTouch in 1997. After AirTouch merged with Vodafone in 1999, he was appointed chief executive officer of Vodafone’s U.S./Asia-Pacific region. He left Vodafone in 2000 to become Chief Executive Officer of InfoSpace, Inc., and from 2001 until 2003, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Accel-KKR Telecom. After his retirement in 2008, he served as a senior advisor to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for five years. Mr. Sarin currently serves as lead independent director at Accenture plc and as a director at The Charles Schwab Corporation and Ola Electric. He previously served as a director of Safeway, Inc. from 2009 to 2015 and Blackhawk Network Holdings, Inc. from 2009 to 2018; and Cisco Systems Inc. from 2009 to 2020. Mr. Sarin holds M.B.A. and Master of Science (Engineering) degrees from University of California-Berkeley and a B.S. from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, India.