Hi, we’re Validity.

Mark Briggs

Chairman & CEO

Mark Briggs serves as chairman and CEO of Validity, a company he founded in partnership with Silversmith Capital Partners. He has over 25 years of experience building and leading high-growth technology companies with a strong track record of generating exceptional shareholder value. Most recently, Mark served as CEO of ABILITY Network, recognized in the Forbes Cloud 100 as one of the top 100 cloud companies in the world, which was acquired by Inovalon (NASDAQ:INOV) for $1.2 Billion.

Prior to ABILITY, Mark held executive leadership positions at Carefx Corporation, at NaviNet, was the President of MPI Solutions at QuadraMed Corporation, and served as the Chairman and CEO of LinkSoft Technologies, a company that he founded. Mark is a member of the Board of Advisors to the Dartmouth Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies and is a Senior Advisor to Silversmith Capital Partners, a leading Boston based growth-equity firm.

Mark holds a Master’s in theoretical physics and a Bachelor’s degree in physics, both from Dartmouth College.

Mike Piispanen

President & Chief Operating Officer

As President & Chief Operating Officer at Validity, Mike Piispanen helps manage the company’s expansion, overseeing strategies that deliver future innovations for data management, sales productivity, and email marketing optimization.

Chris Newhall

Chief Accounting Officer

Chris Newhall serves as the Chief Accounting Officer of Validity, where he is responsible for the Company’s global accounting, financial reporting, financial operations, tax, and treasury functions.

Chris brings more than 25 years of business management and strategic financial expertise to Validity. He has extensive experience working with global and domestic businesses to optimize financial performance. Prior to joining Validity, Chris served in executive accounting roles at BCG, a global management consulting firm, and IDEMIA, a global leader in security and identity solutions. He spent the first nineteen years of his career in leadership roles within the audit practice of PwC, serving clients across many industries including technology, software, and professional services. Chris’ experience includes working with early stage, venture/private equity backed companies as well as publicly traded companies.

Chris holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Babson College. He is a Certified Public Accountant in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants (MSCPA).

Jim Tobolski

SVP, Global Account Management

As Senior Vice President of Global Account Management at Validity, Jim is entrusted with the vital responsibilities of ensuring customer retention, fostering expansion, and driving growth. With an impressive career spanning over 25 years in the field of enterprise software and data sales, Jim has consistently showcased his expertise in devising and executing transformative strategies that deliver exceptional results for both customers and industry-leading organizations.

With an unwavering commitment to customer experience, Jim’s has earned a distinguished reputation for shaping and implementing innovative strategies that not only cultivate strong client loyalty through value-driven engagement, but also inspire revenue expansion and growth. His success is underpinned by his adeptness in orchestrating highly organized collaborations among cross-functional sales and customer success teams.

His extensive background across martech, adtech, data/custom analytics, and identity resolution is complemented by his exceptional industry insights and invaluable team relationships. Jim’s multifaceted expertise and leadership make him a driving force in the ever-evolving landscape of enterprise software and data sales.

Barbara Cooke

SVP – Customer Success

Barbara Cooke serves as Senior Vice President of Customer Success for Validity, where she is responsible for accelerating business value for customers and delivering an exceptional service experience through our market-leading cloud solutions.

Barb brings more than 25 years of international leadership experience to Validity through senior commercial, customer and operational roles at global technology organisations, including Cloudreach, Nasdaq and Thomson Reuters. She led these organisations through significant change, including post-merger integrations, the launch of new businesses from the ground up and organisational structure transformations that radically enhanced customer experience, improved efficiencies and drove product and service innovation. She has lived and worked extensively across eight countries in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America, gaining first-hand experience in developing value-add, unique offerings and service strategies to multi-cultural customers.

Barb spent her early career leading and training teams for The Ritz Carlton Hotel company which ingrained her philosophy on what it means to deliver an exception customer experience. She is originally from Dallas, Texas and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Southern Methodist University.