Meet Our Leadership Team
As a team, we share a passion and a deep sense of purpose in accomplishing our mission of empowering people through technology to help create safer organizations.
Yasmine Mustafa
CEO and Co-Founder
Yasmine Mustafa believes ROAR found her, not the other way around. She draws upon her experience as a refugee, discovering she was undocumented, and working in unsafe conditions to lead the Company in its mission to empower and protect others. She has over 15 years of leading technology companies, having sold her first company, 123LinkIt, to a Silicon Valley firm in 2009.
She is fueled by a passion to leverage technology for good, previously launching a non-profit to help women learn how to code in a safe, judgment-free zone.
Her role as a leader and advocate has been recognized by the BBC, CNBC’s Upstart 100, and the City of Philadelphia, among others. She loves to speak at conferences to inspire others and she is a 2x TEDx speaker with a roster of speaking credits that includes SXSW and CES.
In her free time, Yasmine enjoys spending time with friends and family, and being outdoors as much as possible, whether it’s biking around Philadelphia, hiking or hammocking, and traveling. She sits on the board of Coded by Kids, Leadership Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies.
Why I work at ROAR:
Because I don’t want anyone else to be in a position where they’re harassed or feel unsafe in the workplace.
Rich Nelson
Co-Founder, VP of Product & Hardware
Rich brings extensive experience as an innovator and mechanical engineer to ideate and deliver the patented staff safety system we have today. Prior to joining ROAR, Rich was a mechanical engineer consultant. He is also an accomplished entrepreneur, having founded the Nelson Longboard Company. He received a BS degree in Science, and Mechanical Engineering from the College of New Jersey, and volunteers as a STEM mentor.
Mahmoud Odeh
COO & Co-Founder
Mahmoud Odeh oversees all aspects of ROAR Operations, including supply chain, customer success, people, legal, and finance. He believes the best decisions are data-driven, collaborative, and satisfy a clear goal. He practices servant-based leadership and is conscientious in his daily interactions with all company stakeholders.
He navigated the company through a market pivot from B2C to B2B, obtained preferred vendor status for the largest property management company in the United States, and ultimately patented the technology that powers the ROAR solution with his fellow co-founders. He was previously the Operations and Finance Manager at Solve Media, which was later acquired by LiveRamp. Mahmoud graduated from St. Joseph’s University with a degree in Finance and Business Intelligence & Analytics. Personality assessments describe his perspective as an “anchor to reality” but he gives credit to coffee as the 'chain holding the anchor.'
In his free time, he enjoys immersive travel trips around the world and watching Philadelphia sports teams.
Why I work at ROAR:
Innovating and scaling new technology to help create safer organizations is an important mission that is also extremely motivating!
Christopher Young
Chief Technology Officer
Christopher brings more than 20 years of technology leadership experience to a role that will oversee product, engineering, customer success and quality assurance for the company’s signature staff safety platform. Young previously held executive roles in R&D, Product, and Information Technology, having worked for a Fortune 500 Healthcare company, a world-leader in Data Analytics and a global Pharmaceutical consulting company.
Young is a people, data and technology driven executive with experience in running complex technology organizations, delivering SaaS, AI/ML, Mobile, Analytics Reporting, and proprietary EMR systems. Making Christopher a unique Technology executive, he has also run a global sales organization which allowed him to better understand the connection between software and customer value.
Christopher owns his own Leadership Coaching & Mentoring practice, is a certified Masters Certified Coach, has a leadership Podcast and has a passion for paying life-forward and making the world a better place. Christopher has taken an active approach in creating a workplace where all people can bring their true self to work. In previous companies, he was an Executive Leader of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, an Executive Sponsor of the LGBTQ+ ERG and an active and challenging voice to support all members and allies represented within DEI.
Christopher and his wife, Dr. Nicole Young live in Glenside, PA with their 3 kids- Madison, Faith and Clare.
Why I work at ROAR:
Every person has the right to feel safe within their workplace, particularly in healthcare and hospitality where their workers can be some of the most vulnerable. I joined ROAR because of the alignment between their mission and my personal core values. I’m looking forward to showcasing our world-class and game-changing technology to workers everywhere.
Peter Klebanoff
Vice President of Healthcare Sales
Peter is an accomplished sales and marketing leader with 30+ years in the hospitality industry. He joined ROAR from Pointer’s Ridge, a consultancy that develops sales and marketing strategies for companies on a growth mission. Peter held several executive positions at LodgeNet (now SONIFI Solutions), which grew from 150k to 1.5M rooms over 16 years. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst with a BS degree in Hotel, Restaurant & Travel Administration and has served as a board member of the South Dakota Symphony and The Retreat at Pointer’s Ridge. Peter has also volunteered his time as a police officer and served as a technical advisor on preventing infant abduction for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and is committed to using technology to help prevent crime, particularly violence against lone workers.
Peter’s wife founded South Dakota’s first and only artist’s retreat and Peter spends much of his off time working on a complete rehabilitation of the 12 buildings and 22 acres located on (periodically in) the Big Sioux River near Sioux Falls.
Why I work at ROAR:
I work for ROAR because they offer superior technology to solve serious problems and I have spent much of my life trying to leverage superior technological solutions to challenges big and small.
Anne Haggar Gibson
Vice President of Marketing
Anne is vice president of marketing, responsible for organization and strategy. With a career dedicated to the discipline, she built growth initiatives for start-ups that have been acquired by Proctor and Gamble and Beta Systems Software. She held leadership positions at Dell, Seagate, Micron, and Lumen Technologies, orchestrating organic growth by expanding product portfolios or penetrating new segments and channels. She holds an MBA from the University of Colorado and a B.S. in Business Administration/Marketing from Colorado State University.
Anne has held over a dozen board positions on non-profit organizations and now serves on the Middle Park Health Foundation Board of Directors and volunteers for the Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre. She’s a member of U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, competing in Masters Alpine ski racing, and enjoys skijoring with her dogs and sailboat racing.
Why I work at ROAR:
We’re making the world a safer place for our most vulnerable workers.
Sandy Murray Hanson
Vice President of Hospitality Sales
Sandy Murray Hanson brings over a dozen years of experience leading sales teams in the hospitality industry to her role at ROAR. During her career, she created innovative digital guest experiences to support established hotel brands through her company’s technology platforms. Sandy has worked with digital services, Internet, PBX and media platforms while holding executive sales positions and building market share. As Vice President of Hospitality Sales, she will be responsible for ROAR’s strategy selling to major and independent hotel brands. Sandy earned a B.S. degree in Accounting and Finance from Purdue University and serves on the board of Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP). She is a mentor to young women and mothers and volunteers at a battered women’s shelter. Outside of work, Sandy loves spending time with friends and family and spend her free time outdoors camping, boating, fishing and hunting.
Why I work at ROAR
I am passionate about helping others and designing the future of the workplace, with safety at the forefront. ROAR has engineered a better way to protect staff in the hotel and healthcare industries, with a solution that acts as a deterrence to violence.
Sebastian Rodas
Vice President of Customer Operations
Sebastian brings a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry to ROAR in his role as Director of Customer Operations. Prior to ROAR, he was a consulting professional responsible for the implementation of networking hardware and software solutions in the hospitality industry in the U.S. and internationally. Sebastian has a Business Administration diploma focused on Marketing from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and is a member of their Board of Governors. He is passionate about driving operational excellence by utilizing a data-driven and results-oriented management style.
In his free time, Sebastian likes to spend time outdoors with family and friends. He enjoys spending his summers hiking, mountain biking, and exploring the Canadian backcountry.
Why I work at ROAR:
I believe in investing my time in doing good. ROAR’s technology is an exciting tool to help improve those who are most vulnerable in their workplace. I want to help bring this tool to more people.
Ashley Hannan
Senior Product Manager
Ashley joined ROAR after nearly a decade in Product Management with experience launching and growing early education, healthcare, and grants management SaaS products. Originally setting out to teach high school with an M.S.Ed. from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, her path turned towards social-impact tech and she’s never looked back.
She’s passionate about people, their needs, and listening more than speaking in order to understand customers in their own words and solve the problems that matter to them. In her role she leads product strategy, discovery, market and competitive research, and the ROAR roadmap. She collaborates with all aspects of the business to deliver the most valuable solution to customers.
Outside of work, Ashley enjoys restoring her 100 year-old home, gardening, and spending time with a great book.
Why I work at ROAR:
Being part of a team helping to address the problem of unsafe workplaces is gratifying and keeps me excited every day! 
Farrokh Abadi
Advisor
Farrokh Abadi is a Global Executive recognized for his ability to imagine and deliver the impossible. He has successfully used his strategic and operational expertise to lead small to very large businesses (> $850M and 5,000 people) and build global businesses in high technology companies, with a focus on strategic execution and results. Farrokh is a big believer in high performance teams and customer focused innovation for sustainable profitable growth. During his career, he has led teams who have marketed industry changing innovations in Electronic Security, Automatic Doors, Electronic Article, Surveillance, Electricity Metering and Oilfield Services.
He has lived and worked in seven countries, across geographies and cultures, including North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. Farrokh has held senior positions, as Chief Operating, Chief Innovation and Chief Strategy Officer, in STANLEY Security, Checkpoint Systems, Atos Origin and Shclumberger.
He holds a Master and Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and his hobbies include playing soccer, playing tombak, learning languages and practicing yoga. He is also an angel investor member of Investor Circle.
