Our Team

Austin Kakar

Managing Director

Austin started his career with KPMG in the Audit practice of their San Francisco office. Austin then transitioned into industry where he worked for Sony Online Entertainment and Sempra Energy performing Revenue Accounting and SEC Reporting respectively. Starting in 2010, he began his career in Direct Hire recruiting, focusing solely on Accounting and Finance positions. Austin has been in the San Diego market his entire Executive Search career, serving clients ranging from start-up companies to multibillion-dollar organizations. He holds his bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of the Pacific, where he was a Captain and Academic All-American for the Men’s tennis team.  Austin leads the Sayva Financial, Direct Hire practice.

Hailey Eklund

Executive Recruiter

Hailey is a local San Diegan and grew up in Rancho Bernardo, CA. She went on to pursue her undergraduate degree at California State University, Long Beach. After traveling throughout Europe, Hailey moved back to San Diego and began her career in hospitality, where she learned the importance of delivering quality service. She later joined a multi-billion dollar global recruitment firm where she specialized in placing accounting and finance talent in the San Diego marketplace. Hailey has experience working with both private and public companies and specializes in recruiting accounting and finance professionals for the Sayva Financial practice.

Alex Henline

Executive Recruiter

Alex is a native San Diegan and grew up locally in Encinitas. After receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona, he discovered his passion and love for finance and accounting recruiting. He now enjoys focusing on building strong, selfless, and prosperous relationships with others. With years of recruitment experience and a track record of success recruiting for Fortune 500 companies in a variety of industries, Alex brings a wide range of high-level recruiting experience to Sayva Financial.

Josh Walker

Executive Recruiter

Josh grew up in Orange County and moved to San Diego to pursue his undergraduate degree at SDSU. When he is not spending time with his English Bulldog or surfing, Josh can be found connecting with local finance and accounting professionals. His major focus areas include GL Accounting, Finance, Internal Audit, and SEC Reporting. Josh has experience working with Accounting & Finance departments within high-growth private, pre-IPO, and publicly traded companies. He understands what it takes to bring the top candidates to the table for the Sayva Financial practice.

Gina Trunzo

Executive Recruiter

Gina grew up in New Lenox, Illinois and recently moved to California. After completing her studies in Finance at Illinois State University, she had the opportunity to visit many different parts of the world which made her realize the passion she has for travel and community service. One of her trips inevitably brought her to San Diego; she fell in love with the city and decided to relocate here and further her career in recruiting. Given her background, she excels at building strong relationships with finance and accounting professionals and strives to make a positive impact on the lives of those around her.

Kat Zorko

Managing Director

Kat passed the CPA exam and started her career in public accounting with KPMG as part of the Chicago audit practice. She performed quarterly and annual audits focusing on 10Q and 10K filings, Sarbanes-Oxley, and account testing. After participating in campus recruiting, she decided to join a boutique recruiting firm focusing on senior level accounting and finance positions. Since entering the San Diego marketplace in 2010, she has specialized in permanent placement and consulting positions for senior-level accounting and finance professionals. She has experience working with both public and private companies across a variety of industries in the local San Diego market. Kat leads the Sayva Financial, Direct Hire practice.

Chanda Davis

Managing Director

Chanda received her BA in Communications from Brigham Young University. She began her career with Arthur Andersen, and held a variety of Director and Manager positions at BMI Consulting, eColony, Heidrick & Struggles, and Ernst & Young. Prior to joining Sayva Solutions, Chanda was the Senior Director at RGP’s San Diego office, and was responsible for both talent management and business development. After over twenty years of experience in professional services, she joined Sayva as a Managing Director. Now she is responsible for growing the Accounting & Finance and Project Management practices. Using her unique set of leadership and communications skills, Chanda serves as a strategic talent advisor to assist clients in creating effective teams. She excels at building trust with a variety of constituencies; including professionals of varying seniority, experience, and business acumen. Her extensive experience with Global 1000 and Fortune 500 companies, as well as with start-up and fast-growth companies, enables her to quickly identify core competencies and critical success factors that drive results. In her free time Chanda serves on the Aviara Oaks Middle School parent board in Carlsbad, California.

Anand Subramanian

Managing Director, Advisory Services

Anand is an experienced internal audit and public accounting professional with 17+ year’s experience specializing in providing business process and internal controls consulting, outsourced/cosourced internal audit, and Sarbanes-Oxley project management services. Anand helps clients by focusing on their operational, financial, compliance and anti-fraud controls so they can focus on their core business.

Prior to joining Sayva Anand spent the majority of his career in consulting helping clients with their Governance, Risk, and Compliance needs. Anand has experience with SOX readiness, optimization, Enterprise Risk Management, and Internal audit assessments. During his time with RGP, PricewaterhouseCoopers and RSM McGladrey, Anand assisted numerous companies with their SOX and Internal Audit needs.

He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the state of Massachusetts, Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certified in Risk Management Assurance (CRMA), and a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA). Anand has spoken on a SOX/PCAOB technical panel organized by a Big 4 firm. Anand leads the Advisory practice at Sayva.

Wendy Wildt

Executive Recruiter

Wendy started her career in audit at the Big 4 and then worked for a Fortune 500 pipeline company. After several years in accounting she transitioned into a start up company with a staffing firm based in Phoenix, AZ. Wendy focused on placing auditors, tax accountants, SEC reporting managers and consultants. She spent 6+ years in recruiting at EY within various lines of business including Securities and Technology Services (STS) practice, Technology and Security Risk Solutions (TSRS), Healthcare, Life Sciences and most recently within the Financial Service Office (FSO). Her industry background in finance, technology, healthcare, life sciences brought her to Sayva Solutions to focus on placing consultants on short and long term contracts. Wendy is a transplant to San Diego from the MidWest and enjoys all of the outdoor activities our great city has to offer!

Bashana Ditty

Executive Recruiter

Bashana is a Southern California native who graduated from the University of San Diego with her Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting. She began her career with RSM’s audit practice where she gained experience with multiple industries and business lines throughout San Diego and the California area. She then transitioned into a recruiting career where she partners with Accounting and Finance Professionals specializing in short-term and long-term consulting engagements. Throughout her years in recruiting, Bashana has been committed to developing and sustaining long-term relationships in addition to working towards a common goal for candidates’ and consultants’ careers.

Jared Sanderson

Managing Director

Jared has over a decade of recruiting and consulting services experience. He began his career working with a multi-billion dollar S&P 500 consulting and placement firm in Canada and later relocated to San Diego in 2009.

Jared is passionate about creating a thriving and vibrant community in San Diego and has served as the Program Director for the AITP (Association of IT Professionals). He also volunteers as a coach with The Honor Foundation(THF) and with Jewish Family Services (JFS).  Jared leads the Sayva Technology Consulting and Recruitment practice for the San Diego market.

Thor Oakley

Managing Partner

After graduating from Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Thor began his career in Information Technology.  He transitioned into technical consulting and recruiting in 2006 than joined a multi-billion dollar S&P 500 Consulting Agency. There he served as Vice President and managed offices in both Phoenix and Salt Lake City. During his time in Phoenix, Thor was recognized with numerous personal and leadership accolades. This includes the prestige Arizona Business Leaders award for Professional Services and Workforce Placement. Thor’s focus is on helping Phoenix area businesses connect with IT consulting and direct-hire top talent.

Andrew Pena

Managing Director

A Phoenix native, Andrew began his career in technical consulting six years ago.  He is coming to Sayva from a public multi-billion dollar recruiting and placement firm where he served as Vice President and Managing Director.  As one of their leading performers, Andrew was responsible for managing offices in Austin and Phoenix.  He has developed teams, cultivated relationships, and has started offices in new markets.  Andrew is the Managing Partner of the Phoenix team and will specialize in IT consulting and direct hire placement.

Shane Dippold

Associate Director

Shane grew up in Seattle, where he graduated from Washington State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics. He moved down to San Diego to start his IT recruiting and consulting career in 2014 where he successfully recruited high level IT professionals across all IT verticals with a strong focus on .NET platform, Software Engineers, Architects, Web Developers and Managers. Shane is committed to building and maintaining strong relationships in the local IT community. He will play an integral role in driving new opportunities for local Technical Professionals by always putting people first.

Chris Vasquez

Associate Director

Chris grew up in Silicon Valley, and moved to San Diego to pursue his undergraduate degree at the University of San Diego. He began his career in technology recruiting & sales in 2013, and has since then serviced dozens of clients ranging from S&P 500 to VC funded start-ups within the IT & Software Development domains. In his spare time, Chris enjoys playing guitar, surfing, and playing beach volleyball. He is dedicated to his goal of becoming San Diego’s top talent agent for engineers and high-tech companies.

Bill O’Donovan

Senior Recruiting Manager

Bill began his career in Boston in the financial services industry providing banking and valuation services to high profile investment clients including GE Capital, Nuveen Investments and Guardian Life.  After moving to San Diego, he transitioned into technology recruiting at a Fortune 500 company.  Through 6+ years, Bill helped to build a robust technology consulting practice in the San Diego market.  He has supported companies of all sizes and brings a consultative mindset and approach for recruiting top technology talent. In his spare time, Bill enjoys playing basketball, reading, and spending time with friends and family.

Sierra Flores

Recruiting Manager

Sierra is a San Diego native and grew up in the Scripps Ranch area. She began her career in business development and direct sales where she discovered her drive to create valuable results and passion for building sincere relationships. She was exposed to recruiting in 2012 during her time with Cutco Cutlery and immediately fell in love. She has been recruiting full-time since 2013 with her main focus being technology roles. She sits on the leadership board for the San Diego chapter of WITI (Women in Technology International). In her spare time, you can find Sierra taking or teaching yoga classes, enjoying live music and participating in local tech events!

Jorge Malfavon

Recruiting Manager

Jorge was born and raised in San Diego. He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara and graduated with a major in Global International Relations and Spanish Literature and History. Due to his passion for cutting edge technology, Jorge began his career recruiting senior level engineers and consultants for Fortune 500 companies in the Silicon Valley. Jorge relocated back to San Diego looking to employ his experience with both enterprise and SMB San Diego clients specializing in desktop, mobile, web, and software engineering.

Abby Creager

Recruiting Manager

Abby grew up on the gorgeous central coast and moved to San Diego almost three years ago!  She has her degree in violin performance and has been studying music, teaching, and freelancing since she was 8 years old.

Abby joined the recruiting field as she loves building relationships with technology professionals and brings a special ability to connect with both clients and candidates on a personal level.  You can find Abby around town at tech meetups, coffee shops reading, hanging out with family and friends, and playing with her dog, Hamilton!

EJ Debowski

Recruiting Manager

EJ grew up in Laguna Niguel and has had the opportunity to explore the California coast, from studying up at UCSB to making his down to San Diego in 2015. He has spent a number of years helping start-up to enterprise level companies acquire and retain top tech talent within the area. His main strengths are comprehending the technical nuances within various skill sets, consulting with engineering managers to understand their hiring needs and aligning technology professionals with their future goals and interests. In his free time EJ enjoys catching up with family and friends, playing a quick pickup game of basketball or discussing hops of a different nature at your local brewery.

John Petraglia

CFO

John has over 10 years of leadership experience in a CFO/Director role in the private sector. John has provided strategic guidance for clients ranging in size from Startup to over 100M and industries that include startups, nonprofits, manufacturing, service based, ecommerce, and professional services. John has successfully led his clients through successful exit strategies, M&A transactions, audits, debt and equity financing, and implementation of financial systems. He prides himself in building long lasting relationships with clients and being their liaison between the financial aspect of their organization and the execution of their goals. John holds an BA in Accounting and he received his Master’s in Business with emphasis on Finance, Global Leadership and Business Strategies from the University of San Diego.

Megan Zerba

Controller

Megan grew up in Portland, Oregon and came to Southern California to purse her Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from San Diego State University. After college, Megan began her career in out-sourced accounting, where she learned the importance of delivering quality service. Her areas of expertise lie in retail & manufacturing, professional services, software engineering, and lead generation industries. She gained her experience through working with multiple clients and business lines throughout San Diego and the California area. Throughout her years in accounting, Megan has been committed to developing and sustaining long-term relationships with her client in addition to working towards their goals.

Eric Betancourt

Accounting Manager

3Eric started his career in accounting in 2014 in the private sector as an accounts payable specialist for a large San Diego-based corporation. After proving his ability to absorb information and data, build efficient processes, and attend to details, Eric soon grew into a staff accountant and was granted his CPA license in 2017. He is now part of the Sayva Accounting Services team as a Senior Accountant, where he has the opportunity to grow his passion for accounting across the clothing manufacturing, biotech, and medical device industries. Eric is originally from Orange County, California and graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with an undergraduate degree in Economics and Accounting. When he is not creating his own shortcuts or macros in Excel, Eric can most likely be found playing or watching sports, spending time with friends and family, or pursuing his dream as a professional foodie around San Diego.

Ria Francisco

Accounting Manager

Ria is a New York native with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of San Diego and a master’s degree in Accountancy from San Francisco State University. She started her career in public accounting with Grant Thornton’s audit practice in San Diego, gained experience in multiple industries throughout Southern California & Arizona, and earned her CPA. She then gained private industry experience working for local government and corporate entities. Seeking to return to client service and build relationships, she joined Sayva in 2018 and now specializes in providing accounting services for local small businesses in San Diego. In her spare time, Ria enjoys music, being outdoors, traveling, and exploring new places with friends and family.

Jessica Seaton

Staff Accountant

Jessica started her career in the fashion industry in Milan, Italy. She is a fashionista who found joy in daily accounting activities, inspired by a brief role in commissioned collections.  Since entering the finance and accounting field in 2012, Jessica has grown in her professional development taking on various accounting roles from general accounts administrator,  accounting assistant, accounts receivable and accounts payable specialist.  Jessica recently obtained an Associates of Accounting while working and is continuing her education, aspiring to become a CPA.  In her free time she enjoys exploring the coast with her daughter and attending social events in the San Diego area.

Kaitlyn Maracle

Staff Accountant

Kaitlyn is a local San Diegan who moved to San Luis Obispo to obtain her Agricultural Business Degree from Cal Poly. She began her career in Outsourced Accounting and worked for growing firms on the Central Coast before moving back to La Jolla. Her main focus is working with biotech companies, along with a niche in agricultural markets. While the California sun shines, Kaitlyn enjoys horseback riding and competing in Hunter/Jumper competitions with her dog tagging along. Her nightlife consists of multiple forms of country dancing; mainly Two-Step Swing, West Coast Swing, and line dancing.6

Debbie Baxter

Staff Accountant

Debbie is a Southern California resident who grew up in Riverside, CA. She enlisted in the U.S. Army after 9/11 and served her country as an Intelligence Analyst where she completed a tour in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). After the military, she went on a study abroad trip to Florence, Italy and used that opportunity to travel throughout Europe. Debbie moved to San Diego because of the weather and all the outdoor activities that San Diego has to offer! She began her accounting career at a solar startup company where she handled all the business transactions and administrative duties. She immediately fell in love with accounting when she discovered that accounting came naturally to her. She transitioned herself into an accounting career where she is able to utilize her experience to assist other businesses with their accounting and finance obligations within San Diego County. While working full-time, Debbie completed her Bachelor of Science in Accounting degree at the University of Phoenix, San Diego. She has experience working with both publicly traded and private companies specializing in accounting and finance. She is currently a CPA candidate and is looking forward to passing her tests. You can find Debbie riding Dressage in the early weekday mornings, running in the evenings next to the bay, and hiking trails on the weekend with her Golden Retriever, Sophie!

Janelle Jahn

Staff Accountant

Janelle, a local San Diegan, grew up in Jamul, CA. She received her undergraduate degree at University of California, Irvine and spent some time studying abroad at the University of Melbourne. After moving back to the states, Janelle got her MBA at Argosy University. She is currently working on completing her accounting studies at Mira Costa College and is pursuing her CPA. She has two years of experience working for private and public companies in accounting. Janelle enjoys art, reading and looking for San Diego’s best sushi restaurants.

Ryan Buell

CEO

Ryan started his career in public accounting with Ernst & Young, LLP, eventually becoming part of the national advisory services practice. His areas of specialization were merger compliance, revenue assurance, FCC and SEC compliance, operational audits, and process improvement. After leaving E&Y in 2003, Ryan joined a multi-billion dollar S&P 500 consulting and placement firm where he specialized in providing senior-level accounting and finance consulting solutions. In 2005, Ryan co-founded the San Diego office for a national consulting and placement firm. In 2007, the local business was recognized as the 3rd Fastest Growing Company in San Diego by the San Diego Business Journal. Ryan has spent the past 19 years specializing in accounting and technology professional services.

Chollada Diener

Controller

Chollada began her career at Moss Adams’ audit practice in Seattle, Washington. She then transitioned into private industry and gained accounting experience in various industries ranging from private banking and cosmetics wholesale distribution to real estate investment. Chollada holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Washington State University and is a licensed CPA in the State of Washington. When she relocated to San Diego in 2018, she joined the Sayva family. When she is not looking at Excel spreadsheets, Chollada enjoys running, yoga and ice cream.

Lauren Olen

Director of Operations

Lauren began her career as a CPA with Ernst & Young’s audit practice in Birmingham, Alabama. After leaving public accounting, she gained industry experience in SEC reporting and then as an accounting consultant. She received her undergraduate degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and Economics and her Masters in Accounting. She relocated to San Diego in 2009 and spent several years recruiting accounting and finance professionals before moving into the operations role at Sayva.

Amelia Williams

Manager of Operations

Amelia grew up in a small town of Arizona and began her career in the hospitality industry. She completed her studies in Business and Hotel and Restaurant Management at Northern Arizona University. After relocating to San Diego, she fell in love with the city and decided to continue her career in operations. Amelia is currently attending UCSD to expand her focus into Human Resources. When she’s not working you can find her exploring the city, loving on her dog, and spending time with friends and family.

Hunter Walker

IT Support Specialist

Hunter is a California native that grew up in the beautiful central coast. He moved down to San Diego to attend UCSD and play on the Men’s Basketball team.  After the hoop dreams ended, Hunter received his degree in Economics and began as an intern with Sayva as the Social Media Manager. He is now Sayva’s IT Support Specialist, and he’s very excited to see his career in tech take off! Outside of work you can find Hunter at the gym, the beach, with friends or family, but normally with his best friend/dog Marshall!

Nikki Yegorina

Social Media and Marketing Coordinator

Nikki moved out to San Diego from New York City in 2015 to chase the sunshine and to begin her epic quest for the world’s best burritos. She is working on completing her undergraduate studies in Economics with a focus on sustainability at University of California, San Diego. Her newfound passion for marketing was inspired by Sayva, and she is cultivating her knowledge of this field every day. In her free time she loves going to music events, meeting like minded people, or staying at home with her fur baby Karma.

Kjell Reeve

Administrative Coordinator

Kjell grew up in San Diego County, having moved several times before graduating from high school in the town of Julian. This change of scenery influenced her love for networking and meeting new people. She loves to travel and explore new places with loved ones and new friends she makes along the way. She especially loves to do this in England where she also has dual citizenship. On any given day you can find Kjell at a yoga class, at the beach hunting for the perfect sea shell, or grabbing her favorite cheese and craft beer at Trader Joe’s.