Biography

Collins brings over 15 years of leadership experience at the intersection of enterprise software, data science, capital markets, corporate finance, and artificial intelligence. With a rare blend of operator expertise, financial stewardship, and entrepreneurial vision, he has previously been a founder, as well as Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and Interim Chief Executive Officer at LivePerson.

Throughout his career, Collins has consistently met the strategic and financial needs of the business, from supporting R&D innovation and high growth, to driving cost-optimization initiatives that yielded free cash flow and improved operational efficiency. Notably, Collins led a transformation from more than $100M of annual cash burn to positive free cash flow in a single year while supporting double-digit growth, executed cost-reduction programs in excess of $200M, and led multi-year debt restructurings that captured $227M of debt discount, improving liquidity and shifting enterprise value from debt holders to equity holders. 

Drawing on his experience managing complex enterprise infrastructure at scale, Collins oversees the combined company's financial strategy with a focus on accelerating margin expansion, enforcing tight cost discipline, and driving seamless operational synergies to capitalize on SoundHound AI’s expanded footprint and the rapidly growing agentic AI market.

Collins previously led the development of automations and machine learning to support strategic decision-making and predictive analytics as LivePerson’s SVP of Quantitative Strategy.

Prior to LivePerson, Collins pioneered approaches for transforming third-party data exhaust into investment signals as Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Thasos. Collins also served as Portfolio Manager for a systematic equities strategy at an NYC-based hedge fund. Collins broad financial services experience also includes executing leveraged finance transactions at Credit Suisse and building automated equity surveillance systems to detect manipulative trading activity at the New York Stock Exchange.

John holds an MBA from MIT, a JD from Chicago-Kent College of Law, and a BS from the University of Central Florida.