Kurt Johnson

Executive Chairman

Kurt Johnson joined Nitro’s Board of Directors in 2010 as a Non-Executive Independent Director. His role expanded to Chairman in 2019 and Executive Chairman in 2020. Kurt is also a member of the M&A Committee and Audit and Risk Committee.

Kurt brings with him over 24 years of management experience, including public and private company leadership, initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments, recapitalisations and venture stage investing. Prior to joining Nitro, Kurt was President and CEO of Fastclick (NASDAQ: FSTC), where he led the company to a USD $285 million valuation and sale of Fastclick to ValuClick in 2005. Before that, Kurt served as CFO of ValueClick (NASDAQ: VCLK), where he was instrumental in the company’s growth from an early-stage enterprise to a USD $1.4 billion international media technology company. Earlier in his career, Kurt was an investment banker at Olympic Capital Partners in Seattle.

Kurt holds an MBA from Gonzaga University and a Bachelor’s degree from Eastern Washington University.

Sam Chandler

Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer

Sam Chandler co-founded Nitro in 2005 and serves as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director. Sam is also a member of the M&A Committee.

Under Sam's leadership as CEO, Nitro has transformed from a once-tiny startup into a leading global document productivity software company that went public on the ASX in 2019. Today, Nitro employs over 200 Nitronauts around the world, has over 2.6 million licenced users, and nearly 12,000 business customers in 154 countries.

A serial entrepreneur, Sam brings with him over 20 years of global technology leadership experience, both in Australia and Silicon Valley. He started his first company at age 16, while still in high school, and his second at age 21, while attending university, before co-founding Nitro. In 2014, Sam was named the Ernst and Young Australian Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year. Sam previously sat on the Board of the Australian Communities Foundation. He is currently an investor and mentor at Startmate, the leading Australian tech accelerator, and an investor and advisor at Bloom Venture Partners, an early-stage SaaS VC firm in the United States.

Michael Brown

Non-Executive Director

Michael Brown joined Nitro’s Board of Directors in 2014 as a Non-Executive Director. Michael is also a member of the M&A Committee and Remuneration and Nomination Committee.

Michael currently serves as a General Partner at Battery Ventures, a role he has held since 1998. Michael joined the Board on behalf of Battery Ventures after their participation in Nitro’s Series B fundraise. In his role at Battery Ventures, Michael focuses on growth investments in enterprise-software, financial-services, e-Commerce and technology-enabled business-services companies.

Prior to joining Battery Ventures, Michael was a member of the high-technology group at Goldman, Sachs & Co., working on debt and equity financings as well as mergers and acquisitions.

Michael currently serves on the Boards of AuditBoard, Diametric Capital, Istra Research, Joor, KeyMe, Mews, MX, Newforma, Quinyx, RiskIQ, ServiceTitan, Vidyard, VNDLY and Xenex. He is also a Board observer for NorthOne and Shippeo.

Michael holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and International Business from Georgetown University.

Sarah Morgan

Independent Non-Executive Director and Chair of Audit & Risk Committee

Sarah Morgan joined Nitro’s Board of Directors in 2019 as an Independent Non-Executive Director. Sarah also serves as the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and is a member of the Remuneration and Nomination Committee.

Sarah brings with her over 10 years as an experienced public and private company Director. Prior to becoming a company Director, Sarah spent over 15 years as an Executive Director at Grant Samuel, independent corporate advisory firm, where she specialised in merger and acquisitions, public and private capital raisings and other forms of corporate financial advice.

Sarah currently serves as a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee for Whispir (ASX:WSP), Adslot (ASX: ADS) and Intrepid Group. She also serves on the Boards of Future Generation Global Investment Company, Skalata Ventures and Melbourne Girls Grammar. Sarah previously served as a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee of Hansen Technologies.

Sarah holds an MBA and Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the University of Melbourne.

Lisa Hennessy

Independent Non-Executive Director and Chair of Remuneration Committee

Lisa Hennessy joined Nitro’s Board of Directors in 2019 as an Independent Non-Executive Director. Lisa also serves as the Chair of the Remuneration and Nomination Committee and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Lisa brings with her over 30 years of strategy and M&A experience in executive roles within global organisations, including Bain, General Electric and Del Monte Foods. She also brings with her knowledge and insights on raising funds through debt financing, capital markets, private equity and angel investors.

Lisa currently serves on the Boards of the Water and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, the Harvard Club of Victoria and the Arts Centre Melbourne. She previously served on the Boards of FirstStep Investments, Planet Innovation, Murray River Organics (ASX: MRG), Cuuble and Switch Automation.

Lisa holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.