Our Leaders
Our Leaders
Claudia P. Mirza
CEO and Co-Founder
As Akorbi’s visionary and tireless CEO and co-founder, Claudia Mirza has led the company’s impressive evolution from a language translation company to a global provider of multilingual business solutions, including interpretation, staffing, contact centers, learning services, and localization. Under her leadership, the company has flourished to become an award-winning, fast-growing, international company with a 5-year growth rate (from 2012-2016) of 1,267%.
Claudia is a published author in key industry publications, a sought-after speaker, an inventor with patents pending, a mother of two, a mentor, and a philanthropist. She was recently invited to participate in a roundtable discussion with the Trump Administration at the White House to advocate on behalf of women-owned small businesses.
Claudia’s success and business savvy have garnered her interviews by leading business media such as Forbes and Fortune, as well as local media such as The Dallas Morning News, D CEO and Dallas Business Journal. It has also led to countless awards and recognition that highlight her impressive success.
Claudia holds a business management degree from Cotecnova, Cartago, Colombia and is a graduate of the Tuck-WBENC Executive Education Program at the Tuck School of Business. In addition, she has a management certificate from the Southern Methodist University Cox Executive Education Program and a bachelor of science degree in business administration from the DeVry Institute of Technology. Claudia is a Harvard Business School Alumni from the prestigious Owner/President Management (OPM) Program, Class 52 as well as a bipartisan voter focused on women business issues and the global economy.
- 2018 Women’s Business Enterprise Star by Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC)
- 13th fastest-growing women-owned/led companies according to the Women Presidents’ Organization in 2018
- Dallas Business Journal #48 on Middle Market 50 List in 2018
- 8th fastest-growing women-owned/led companies according to the Women Presidents’ Organization in 2017
- U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce – 2016 Business Woman of the Year
- Women Business Enterprise of the Year Award from Women’s Business Council – Southwest
- Dallas Business Journal #27 on Middle Market 50 List in 2017
- Dallas 100 33rd fastest-growing company
- Inc. 5000 – ranked #501 with 758% growth
- Women Presidents’ Organization 12th Fastest-Growing Women-Owned/Led Company
- Quality & Excellence Empire Builder Award from The Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber
- Dallas 100 46th fastest-growing company
- NFL Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award from the Dallas Cowboys & Telemundo 39
- 2015 EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women
- 26th largest woman-owned company in D/FW according to the Dallas Business Journal
- Immigrant Entrepreneur Award
- 30th fastest-growing women-owned/led companies according to the Women Presidents’ Organization
- “Enterprising Women of the Year” award from Enterprising Women magazine.
- “Minority Business Leader” award from the Dallas Business Journal
- “La Cima Latina Leader” award from The Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
- “Entrepreneur of the Year” award from Latina Style
- “Women in Business” award from the Dallas Business Journal
- “Minority/Women Business Enterprise” award from The Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber
- “Latina Achievement” award from the Assoc. of Latin Professionals in Accounting & Finance
- “Women of Color Achievement” award from The 100 Black Men of Greater Dallas/Fort Worth
- “Top 40 under 40” from the Dallas Business Journal
- “Community Hero” nomination from the Metroplex Technology Business Council
- “Woman-Owned Business Enterprise of the Year” by the North Texas Regional Certification Agency
- Fort Worth Mayor’s “Entrepreneur Award”
- “Micro-entrepreneur of the Year” by Wachovia and ACCION Texas
Akorbi’s employees and friends are helping build a house for an orphan girl in the Dominican Republic
Akorbi is helping to raise funds to build a new home for an 11-year-old girl in the Dominican Republic with a terminal illness. We found out about her through one of our team members who connected us with the orphanage, La Casa Rosada in Santo Domingo. They help children with this illness get the support, medical care and shelter they need. You can help by donating gently used clothing and shoes to La Casa Rosada or by going to this donation page.
Akorbi gives back to Ronald McDonald House Charities
Ronald McDonald House Charities is a charity that is dear to Claudia and Azam Mirza’s hearts as well as the hearts of several Akorbi team members. This charity provides a “home-away-from-home” for families so they can stay close to their hospitalized child at little or no cost. The Akorbi family is proud to support other families in need.
Most of you know Claudia Mirza as the CEO and co-founder of Akorbi, but did you also know she is a student, mother, mentor, philanthropist, and equestrian?
The Student
This year, Claudia enrolled in Harvard’s Owner/President Management (OPM) Program. This is a 3-year program with 143 global business owners, which is focused on corporate growth, leadership expertise, and financial success.
The Mother
Anyone who has ever met Claudia knows she has a huge heart for people, especially her family. As a globe-trotting, CEO and entrepreneur, Claudia works hard to balance the demands of both the business, as well as her two boys.
The Philanthropist
Claudia is passionate about helping children with special needs because her child was in critical health at birth. She supports orphanages and The Ronald McDonald House Charities.
The Mentor
It could be argued that Claudia’s greatest contribution to Akorbi is the mentorship and encouragement she provides fellow women and working mothers at Akorbi. She is passionate about lifting women up and supporting them so they feel they can succeed at motherhood and in their careers. Outside Akorbi, Claudia loves to travel the world and inspire women by sharing her entrepreneurial lessons learned.
The Equestrian
In her free time, Claudia loves to spend time riding and training with her Paso Fino horses. She participates in competitions all over the US and shares a passion for riding with her young sons.
Azam A. Mirza
President and Co-Founder
Azam Mirza brings enthusiasm and expertise to his role as Akorbi’s president and co-founder. His commitment to innovative development has distinguished him as a business leader. He is responsible for strategy development and daily business operations, as well as technical initiatives for Akorbi’s comprehensive localization and translation services. Leading a network of global professionals, he has helped clients in multiple industries consistently achieve their business objectives. Through Azam’s unique blend of business and technology prowess, Akorbi has evolved into a premier global provider of localization and translation services.
Azam’s extensive management and technical background includes experience in several vertical sectors including insurance, medical, systems security, finance, human resources, government, real estate and energy. He is well versed in enterprise technology architecture, system design and implementation. He has held leadership roles for a variety of technology programs for Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Regus Management Group and ENSCO International. He has also managed national security projects for CACI, the Department of Defense and the National BioDynamics Laboratory.
Azam holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Orleans, with a focus on neural networks and routing algorithms. He also secured a Bachelor’s degree from Osmania University in Hyderabad, India. He is a graduate of Southern Methodist University’s Corporate Leadership Program. Azam is currently attending Harvard Business School’s Owner/President Management Program, Class 56.
Azam is a self-proclaimed workaholic, but when he is not working on making Akorbi an industry-leader, he loves spending time with his family. He has two young boys who enjoy basketball and superheroes. With his family, he shares his passion for breeding, training and racing thoroughbred horses.
Azam also enjoys giving back and supporting organizations like the Ronald McDonald House charities and the North Texas Food Bank because of how much they do to help families in need and sick children. He also pays for the college education of deserving students in India and Colombia, the countries he and his wife Claudia immigrated from.
Ralph Bonaduce
President of Telephonic Interpretation and Akorbi BPO LLC
As President of Akorbi BPO, Ralph Bonaduce leads Akorbi’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Services division. The division provides international clients with translation, interpretation and transcription services, as well as inbound, outbound and back office support in more than 170 languages.
His impressive 33-year career includes 14 years specifically in the BPO industry. During this time, Ralph has managed BPO operations for Fortune 500 clients in the financial, telecommunications, insurance and cable industries, as well as numerous other industry verticals. He’s supported a wide array of global companies, including Verizon Wireless, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, Sears Financial Services and MCI – just to name a few.
Ralph’s international experience includes managing service delivery teams in excess of 4,500 employees worldwide. And, his client and operational management experience has taken him around the world, including: Latin America, Canada, India, Australia and United Kingdom. Prior to joining Akorbi, Ralph led international services for several multinational organizations, including: Affinitas Corp., LiveBridge, Inc., HeroBPO and NW Natural. He has established a solid reputation for developing world-class service delivery platforms and for creating and managing high-performing customer service teams around the world.
Ralph has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. His post-graduate studies include the Management Development program at Northwest Natural Gas Co., as well as Marketing studies at the University of Oregon.
Edward C. Cavazos, Jr.
Executive Vice President of Interpretation
As the vice president of business development, Edward is responsible for the development and support of new commercial opportunities in the U.S. and worldwide, as well as opportunities in the U.S. government sector. His focus is on providing services for telephonic, video, on-site interpretations, document translations and the Mobile App for translations and live interpretation on iPhone and Android phones.
Edward brings more than 30 years of experience in sales, marketing, business development, channel management and business ownership. He previously served as the vice president of business development and marketing for Telelanguage, Inc., where he developed 15 strategic partnerships to market the company’s language and interpretation services both in the U.S. and worldwide. He also focused on account development in the insurance, medical, utility and legal vertical markets. Previously, Edward held account and partner management roles at Language Line Services and Frontier/West Coast Telecommunications.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing and business administration from California State University, Sacramento.
Hamid Bangura
Director of Staffing
As the Director of Staffing, Hamid is responsible for developing and leading the staffing division in growing and maximizing opportunities while building a platform to scale for future growth that put’s our candidates and clients first.
Prior to joining Akorbi, Hamid brings over 15 years of staffing/work force relations experience from some of the largest staffing organizations in the industry. He has consistently garnered awards based on the high performance of him and the teams that he has guided.
Hamid has extensive experience managing local and national delivery teams in a wide range of verticals that have ranged from engineering to IT. He has created an outstanding reputation as a leader that develops others to enter leadership roles in their organizations.
Hamid has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with a minor in Law and Economics from Eastern Illinois University. He has completed a number of advanced Sales, Human Resource and Work Force Relations trainings.
Vera Richards
President of Language Services
In her role, as the President of Language Services at Akorbi, Vera is responsible for the continued excellent delivery to Akorbi clients as well as for expending the Translation services to help companies bring their products to Worldwide markets.
Vera’s 20 plus years localization experience spans various positions from Translator, Localization engineer, Project manager, Group manager and Program director, with the past 10 years at Moravia IT.
Under Vera’s leadership, Akorbi translations is increasing agility, utilizing the latest technology and building up the supply chain to partner with clients to bring in solutions to make their products feel native in any international locale.
Vera lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband and her 3 children nearby. She enjoys spending time outdoors, going on hikes, gardening, playing tennis and taking day trips. Vera is from the Czech Republic and often travels back to Europe to visit family and friends. Languages, reading and history are Vera’s hobbies.
Todd Torman
Vice President of Enterprise Accounts
Todd Torman’s career has spanned more than 30 years in both technology and language service industries. Now, as the Vice President of Interpretations at Akorbi, Todd provides leadership, vision and direction for worldwide Sales, Account Management and Operations involved with Over the Phone and Video Interpretive services. Todd controls expenses, world- wide pricing models, contract negotiations, new business development and overall profit margin for the business unit. Todd has held multiple positions in sales leadership, product management, marketing and operations in both the language services space as well as Qwest Communications Corporation. In addition, he has developed strategic plans and reviewed merger and acquisition opportunities for GTE Communications Corporation.
Maria Clara Buzzini
Director of Customer Relations and Account Development
As the director of customer relations and account development, Maria Clara is responsible for quality assurance, delivery operations and major project initiatives. She works with project managers to develop and implement customized and streamlined processes for large client projects, manages project deadlines, and ensures Akorbi’s services and solutions meet client’s needs.
With 11 years of experience in translation services, Maria Clara has a unique expertise in the requirements and quality measures of a translation project. Leveraging her years as a Spanish-language translator, she is directly involved in the testing and selecting of Akorbi’s translators for the Spanish language. Prior to joining Akorbi in 2005, she worked as a freelance translator, serving the pharmaceutical, arts and marketing industries. She was additionally a university English instructor in Argentina.
Maria Clara graduated with honors from Belgrano University (Universidad de Belgrano) in Argentina with a Bachelor’s Degree in English-Spanish translation and a specialization in legal, literary and scientific subjects. She also earned a certification as an art dealer from the Instituto Superior Dante Alighieri.
Maria Clara’s family is from Italy, and she’s very proud of her Italian roots. She speaks Italian every chance she gets, especially when she’s with her family. She also loves to celebrate Italian traditions with her two small children.
Maureen H. Maranca
VP of Finance and Accounting
As Akorbi’s Controller, Maureen Maranca is responsible for managing day-to-day accounting operations (including accounts receivable, accounts payable and payroll), financial reports, internal processes and controls, audit requests and compliance.
Maureen’s impressive 14 year accounting career includes roles as audit manager, accounting manager and controller with global companies such as Pinnacle Group, eVerge Group, 7-Eleven and KPMG.
Maureen has a Bachelor of Science degree with a Major in Accounting from the University of Santo Tomas.
Maureen was born and raised in the Philippines. These days, she stays very active in her spare time raising three young children with her husband Xavier. However, she also finds time to support her favorite charity, UNICEF, because of her passion for helping children in need of food, shelter and an education.
Sarah Haner
Vice President of Marketing
As Akorbi’s VP of Marketing, Sarah is responsible for managing and developing Akorbi’s brand strategy across all business units. She works with internal and external clients, as well as industry partners, to build brand awareness and brand equity. Sarah has over 18 years of marketing experience, almost 10 of those spent in the Language Services industry.
Sarah is the President of the American Marketing Association Tucson Chapter and has been an active member for over 4 years, holding various board positions during that time. Sarah lives in Tucson, Arizona with her husband and two young sons. Her boys are active in baseball, soccer, and basketball, filling most of her free time with being their number one fan.
Jesse Glaesman
Director of Infrastructure, Systems and Security
Jesse Glaesman is an accomplished Information Security Architect. Growing up in the “Big Bang” of the internet he quickly realized the potential for theft, damage and destruction. From his start as a systems engineer and continuing through a wide range of positions in Security and managerial levels, Jesse has been the key to simplifying and designing security solutions for companies around the world.
Now with over 18 years in the industry he helps large companies deal with present and upcoming threats by using his deep technical knowledge as well as strategic and tactical insights to see multiple steps ahead, oversee consequences and ultimately provide the best solution combining key elements from the information security, privacy and IT risk management fields.
Jesse previously worked within Berkshire Hathaway building a mature security program that would measure up to his fellow Berkshire subsidiaries, some of the largest companies in the country. Mainly working in manufacturing environments, he has become an expert in architecting network security solutions that not only protect data but people’s lives.
Steve Hawk
Director of Akorbi Workforce Solutions
Steve Hawk spent six years as a military intelligence specialist with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division before joining the ranks of corporate America. He received his BS in Business Management from Western Governor’s University and was awarded his Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute in 2012.
Now, with more than twenty years of industry experience, Steve is an influential, roll-up-your-sleeves professional with comprehensive experience delivering complex workforce and outsourced solutions to global clients. He is a recognized leader in the areas of Staffing, MSP/VMS programs, Outsourced Project Solutions, and IC/Gig worker compliance.
Steve has a long history of achieving goals and exceeding performance targets. He has proven successful at developing world-class processes and building highly skilled teams. While working as a VP for one of the top three staffing agencies in the world, Steve built and led a workforce solutions practice that employed more than 1,400 consultants at multiple global F100 companies and billed in excess of $123M annually.
As the Director of Akorbi Workforce Solutions, Steve is focused on two primary objectives. The first is making sure the processes, methodologies, and people that support Akorbi’s clients are best-in-class. The second is to use the organization’s collective knowledge of the workforce solutions ecosystem to help clients develop and implement programs that are tailored to their specific workforce needs.
Steve has traveled extensively across the United States and the world. He currently resides in Port Isabel, Texas with his wife, Juanita. Together, they have a blended family and two Chihuahuas.
Steve is also the author of eleven novels of fiction including Peace Warrior, which was an Amazon science fiction best seller. Three of his books were selected as Kindle Press contest winners and have been subsequently published by Kindle Press. In all, Steve’s books have more than 1800 reviews and average a 4.5 star rating on Amazon.
Javier Martinez
Chief Technology Officer
A multi-faceted enterprise software solutions architect with 26+ years of expertise, Javier Martinez has a history of delivering significant business outcomes by building and sustaining scalable, secure, and robust applications. He has cut operational costs, increased revenue, and spearheaded innovation through one click ordering and machine learning. He spent 19 years at Verizon, most recently as a Director overseeing the development and delivery of software for advertising, search and discover, personalization, Web VOD and linear viewership, business intelligence, and service unification. Before that he was the Director of Verizon.com Retail EOrdering and BSG Verizon Communications Director, managing end-to-end systems development teams and processes.
Sara Baumgartner
Director of Interpretations - Scheduled Services
In her role, Sara focuses on the development of best practices and team efficiencies within the Akorbi Interpretation division. She oversees the teams tasked with linguist selection, customer scheduling for onsite and video services, and interpretation billing. She manages our relationships with vendors and interpreters to ensure we only partner with the best. Sara has over 18 years of operations experience and holds an Associate degree in business administration. She will be graduating from Southern New Hampshire University with a Bachelor of Arts degree concentrating in business administration in December 2021. On the weekends, you can find her camping with her husband and two sons.
