Team
Jake Bergman, CEO
Mr. Bergman is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated as a member of the dean’s and commandant’s list. Upon graduation, Jake, a U.S. Army certified paratrooper, served through multiple-deployments, including Central America and Iraq. While serving inside the Sunni Triangle during Operation Iraqi Freedom I, Mr. Bergman was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor, the 2nd highest medal awarded in the campaign, for his actions.
After returning home from the war, Jake earned his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, graduating in the upper quartile. Following graduation, Mr. Bergman worked as an investment banker for Morgan Stanley in the San Francisco office as part of the financial sponsors and corporate finance group. In this position, Mr. Bergman advised on M&A and leveraged buyout transactions in the consumer product and industrial industries. After his experience at Morgan Stanley, Jake worked for Brinderson, a full-service engineering, procurement, and construction company serving the western United States. At Brinderson, Jake was responsible for sourcing and evaluating strategic acquisitions as well as managing Mr. Brinderson’s private bank.
In 2012, Robert Yaap, then CEO of Cadence, brought Jake aboard to join as the Vice President of Sales. Mr. Yaap, also a disabled veteran and West Point graduate, is the former chairman of the CA disabled veteran business enterprise (DVBE) council and an active member since its founding back in 1995. In late 2013, Mr. Bergman, after more than doubling the size of the company, was promoted to CEO where he remains to this day.
Aria Ziatabari, Director of Business Operations
Mr. Ziatabari received his MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University with an emphasis in finance and entrepreneurship.
As Director of Operations for Cadence, Aria was brought on board to oversee the transformation of company systems, business processes and operations to a purely SaaS environment, operating entirely on the Force.com (Salesforce.com ®) platform. He gained this expertise having previously worked for a boutique investment firm out of Orange County, where he focused on stripping down portfolio company operations and rebuilding for scale, growth, and metric transparency to facilitate effective oversight and guidance from Management.
Robert Yaap, Chairman
Mr. Yaap is a 1969 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he was a member of the football team. Upon graduation, he served in the Army as an Infantry officer, holding several command positions, before making the decision to attend flight school. Bob flew Hueys, Kiowa’s and AH-IG Cobra helicopters during his 6 ½ years of service in the Army, which included assignments in Germany, Vietnam, and Alaska.
After serving his Country, Bob held several key executive positions. He worked in the corporate world in engineering, marketing and sales for Butler Manufacturing and Zond Wind Energy. In 1990, Bob co-founded an Institutional Securities Broker Dealer that was one of the first Service Disabled Veteran Business Enterprises in California. In 1998, Bob founded Cadence Industries, a nationwide distribution and warehousing DVBE company, and was its majority owner and CEO. He sold his interest in Cadence Industries in 2013 to another Service Disabled Veteran.
Bob is active in his community having served on the Board of the Irvine Senior Foundation and is a founding member and past president of the Irvine Rotary club.
