Our Team

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.

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.

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.

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 vibrate 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.

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.

Shannon Trombly

Recruiting Manager

Shannon is a native San Diegan and grew up in Poway. While pursuing her undergraduate degree in the evenings, she joined a local healthcare technology company and worked closely with IT Systems and Development staff.

Now with an MBA from Point Loma Nazarene University and experience with technology consulting and direct hire recruitment in the San Diego market, Shannon specializes in building lasting relationships with candidates for the Sayva Technology team.

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!

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.