Our People
Ms. Sophia Bekele, CEO, Cbsegroup
Founder and CEO: Ms. Sophia Bekele, BS, MBA, CISA, CCS, CGEIT.
Ms. Bekele is the founder of Founded CBSegroup in the US and affiliated companies in Africa to transfer technology to emerging economies.
She has maintained a successful career track record spanning over a decade of constant professional activity and business ownership /operation, working for multinational consulting firms and large financial/banking companies in corporate America such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Bank of America, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi/Union Bank of California to mention but a few. Her experiences included technology risk assessment of financial markets and instruments, financial engineering risk management, computer quality assurance, information systems security/auditing, systems controls, technology evaluation, project management, business strategy and process re-engineering. Her companies have also been engaged assisting public/private companies on corporate communications, public relations, investor relations, corporate governance programs, Sarbanes–Oxley Compliance.
Prodigal Prodigy — by Kay Kauffman for Golden Gate University Alumni Magazine.
“I am creating something from scratch” …..“Ms. Sophia Bekele runs three companies in her campaign to bring advanced technology to Ethiopia—on her terms”.
“If we teach our own people to empower themselves to an acceptable standards of living, then we won’t import a lot of what the West promotes.” She says. “We’ll develop our own people and our own expertise to the point where we can be self-sufficient and create our own technology, our own products and services. That is much more important than just accepting what the West is selling us now. Otherwise we’ve become silent consumers versus active trade participants. We want to be equal partners.”
“Anyone coming in has to commit to training local people, to transferring skills and leadership. I want to see results. I want to see local people being empowered and equal participation, or the deal is not going to be signed.
Sophia has received many accolades and recognition for the work she had done globally.
In 2021, Sophia was named Silicon Valley’s 100 most influential women by Silicon Valley Business Journal recognizing women who have made impact in their career and industry. In Africa, among others, Sophia was named one of 50 Trailblazers under 50 – A future made in Africa, by the influential NewAfrican Pan African Magazine, a Collector’s Edition which noted the 50th Year Anniversary of the African Union, and those who are “breaking ground, making Africa proud and propelling the Continent into a future of great hope.”
Bekele’s detailed biography is available at www.sophiabekele.com
Ms. Bekele holds an MBA in Management Information Systems (MIS) from Golden Gate University, San Francisco and a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Information Systems from SFSU. She is a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)Certified Control specialist (CCS) a professional designation for competent knowledge and proficiency in the field of information systems audit, control and security, and Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT), a competency in the Governance of IT Enterprise
Chief Technology Strategist, Board Director: Mr. Steve Velte
Mr. Velte brings with him a long successful career with Hewlett-Packard and the brainchild Agilent Technologies. At Agilent, Mr. Velte spearheaded a variety of global partnering arrangements with companies providing leading edge solutions in the telecommunications industry. Recently, as President of OnScreen Technologies, Mr. Velte was responsible for increasing the intellectual property portfolio surrounding ‘OnScreen™ ’ technology, overseeing development of Alpha products and integrating key strategic partners into OnScreen’s marketing and manufacturing processes. He also focused on establishing beachhead relationships with strategic customers and early adopters. Mr. Velte personally holds two US patents and received his Electrical Engineering degree from Virginia Polytchenic Institute.
VP, Marketing: Ms. Netenyet Sergey
Ms. Sergey has over twelve years of experience in IT and Internet Marketing experience. She has led the internet solutions and marketing effort for Cbsegroup for the past 10 years. Ms. Sergey has also held positions as Manager of operations leading the company’s procurement efforts. Ms. Sergey was founding member of Cbsegroup, where she played key role in every aspect of business leading to major international contracts since early 2000. Ms. Sergey holds a B.S degree in Computer Information Systems from SFSU
Director, Strategic Alliances: Mr. David Smith
Mr. Smith brings over 15 years of experience in sales and business strategy for internet applications as well as Solutions Integration. Most recently, he was responsible for marketing and operations and strategy in California. Mr. Smith has MS in Computer Science from Missouri and BS from UC Berkeley, California.