Meet Our Leaders

“At Onit, we’re not resting on our laurels — we’re using our experience, pedigree, and acumen to help customers modernize workflows that directly impact the operational efficiency of legal departments and, ultimately, the speed of revenue generation.”

As Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, Eric Elfman provides guidance on the company’s strategic direction, planning, and execution. Eric co-founded Onit with Eric Smith, John Gilman, and Jill Black in 2010. In his role as Chief Executive Officer of Onit from its founding through 2024, Eric helped grow Onit into a recognized market leader — serving over 3,000 customers globally, providing hundreds of workflow automation applications, and delivering end-to-end solutions for Enterprise Legal Management and Contract Lifecycle Management.

A passionate leader and entrepreneur, he has founded or co-founded three software companies. Previously, Eric served as an entrepreneur-in-residence for the Houston Technology Center (HTC), a business accelerator for Houston-based emerging technology companies. His first software company, Datacert, Inc., was an industry-leading provider of corporate, legal, and IP spend and matter management solutions for Fortune 500 companies.

During his more than 10 years as the CEO, president, and chairman of the board at Datacert, Eric grew the company to $30 million in revenue and secured more than 100 Fortune 500 customers. Under his leadership, Datacert became one of the fastest-growing technology companies in North America, with three consecutive listings on the Inc. 500.

Prior to Datacert, Eric co-founded PeerPoint Technologies, where his work helped identify new technology for e-invoice data management. Eric is a pioneer in the creation of the Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard (LEDES) and is an authority on the Uniform Task Based Management System (UTBMS).

Eric has a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and earned an MBA from Rice University. He is a member of the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and a board member for the Make-a-Wish Foundation of the Texas Gulf Coast and Louisiana, a non-profit organization that grants wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses.

“Onit has a market-leading global footprint and a strong passion for customer satisfaction and innovation … I am committed to building on this great foundation and leading the company towards scalable, profitable, long-term growth in the industry.”

Michael Farlekas leads all aspects of Onit, focusing on driving customer value and accelerating the adoption of modern, legal-related business processes through automated, intelligent, and comprehensive software solutions. He brings to Onit an extensive track record of successful executive leadership and scaling companies for long-term success, boasting over two decades of experience in sales, marketing, and general manager leadership within the realm of enterprise software and operations.

Most recently, Michael led the connected supply chain software platform pioneer E2open to unprecedented growth over the past eight years. As CEO, he completed fourteen acquisitions to grow the business to the leading networked-based supply chain software company that connects more than 420,000 manufacturing, logistics, channel, and distribution partners to track and manage over fourteen billion transactions annually. He is a seasoned business leader who has served as General Manager at Roadnet Technologies and RedPrairie.

Michael holds an MBA with a concentration in international business from Jacksonville University and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Farleigh Dickinson University.

“Our finance organization must provide scalable operations and processes that support Onit’s customer-centric focus as it enters the second decade of its history and help ensure the company maintains a path of predictable growth and profitability.”

Austin Owens ensures Onit’s finance organization helps the company drive growth while capitalizing on the accelerating demand for software solutions that drive efficiency and process automation. His leadership in global corporate financial strategies and operations includes financial forecasting, planning and reporting, financial performance management, and finance team leadership.

Most recently, Austin served as VP of Finance and Chief Financial Officer at the Dallas-based advertising services company Data Axle, supporting various activities ranging from business unit partnerships with sales and operations leadership to corporate and treasury-focused responsibilities related to cash management and business development. He also served as the lead across the entire lifecycle of merger and acquisition engagements.

Prior to Data Axle, Austin worked in various financial services roles for global enterprises, including Dell, Dow AgroSciences, and ExxonMobil.

Austin holds a B.A. in finance and economics from Montana State University-Bozeman and an M.B.A. in finance from the Purdue University Daniels School of Business. He is a chartered financial analyst (CFA).

“Onit is the market leader for Enterprise Legal Management and Contract Lifecycle Management for companies of all sizes. Unifying our Go-to-Market strategy through Onit’s next phase will allow us to empower our clients while growing revenue and driving sustainable success.”

Michelle Culp is the Chief Revenue Officer, responsible for Onit’s integrated, global go-to-market strategy and execution. She is an experienced sales and operations leader with a track record of delivering consistent revenue growth, exceeding targets, improving sales productivity, and developing top-tier technology sales teams.

Most recently, Michelle served as the Global Vice President of Sales at Sovos, a leading compliance software company serving over 100,000 customers (including half of the Fortune 500) across 70 countries. Culp also served as the Vice President of Sales, Small Business at SAP Concur.

Michelle holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“Customer experience is a team sport, and the Customer Success and Professional Services teams play a key role in acting as advocates and guides to help our customers succeed with Onit. I love that our teams have the autonomy to do what’s right for the customer and invest in their professional development simultaneously.”

Melanie Shafer is the Chief Customer Officer at Onit, where her passion for managing people, developing employees, and building teams and processes is critical for scaling services operations through significant organic growth.

Melanie previously served as the SVP of Customer Success and Professional Services at SimpleLegal, an Onit company, and Vice President of Professional Services and Support at Zywave, a leader in the Insurance Technology industry. She led teams responsible for the customer implementation experience and ongoing technical support for 15,000+ customers through multiple acquisitions and internal expansion.

Melanie holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship from Marquette University.

“Technology is here to ease our experiences. At Onit, we develop technology to help you get your job done. Through workflows, integrations and AI assistants our products focus on the customer journey through their work.”

Bernie Barcio oversees engineering and development efforts. Bernie has more than 25 years of software development experience, spending more than half of that time in startup environments along with key management positions at high-growth companies.

At Onit, Bernie is responsible for the analysis, development, testing, and deployment processes involved in software delivery. Bernie has specialized in building teams and right-sizing processes with a focus on efficiently delivering software to users. He firmly believes in the ability of communication and an empowered team to drive success.

Bernie has spent the last 15 years in the legal technology industry. During that time, he was involved with the creation of the primary software platform at two high-profile legal companies. These platforms continue to deliver business value, helping people get their jobs done.

Bernie holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and electrical engineering from Rice University and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

“At Onit, our Associates are the key to our success. As a People function and an executive team, it’s our charge to create an environment where all Associates can learn, grow and thrive. Happy Associates create happy customers!”

Nathan Peirson has over 20 years of progressive HR leadership experience across various industries and HR disciplines.  Most recently, he has specialized in scaling talent and culture practices in high-growth, PE-backed technology companies.  He is passionate about creating highly engaged workplaces, and building high-impact HR teams and people practices that drive business performance and Associate growth.

Prior to Onit, Nathan was Senior Vice President of Talent and Employee Experience at Paycor, a leading human capital management software company.  At Paycor, Nathan helped scale the HR team in advance of their initial public offering, led their transition to a virtual-first organization, and guided the organization to multiple top workplace awards for culture, talent and development.    

Nathan holds an M.A. from the University of Cincinnati and a B.A. from Wilmington College.

“Having served numerous companies as the Chief Legal Officer / General Counsel, I am excited about the opportunity for corporate legal departments to transform their legal operations with an integrated ELM platform and embrace the opportunity to contribute to the strategic direction of a leader in the legal technology space.”

As Chief Legal Officer, Laura Fese is responsible for providing leadership on all global legal and compliance matters.  Laura joined Onit after retiring from her role as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for e2open (NYSE: ETWO), a supply chain collaboration and execution SaaS company.  There, she was responsible for directing and managing global legal operations, including corporate governance, M&A, commercial transactions, compliance, risk management, and intellectual property management.  Before that, Laura held general counsel positions at several supply chain and ERP SaaS companies (both public and private). 

Laura earned her bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University and her Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois-Chicago Law School.