Tech execs fighting smart in the ring and boardroom
They have black belts, used to be Nicole Kidman’s body guard or hold a national title. Meet the executives who train as hard as they work.
While personal beef between Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and chief tweet Elon Musk has taken the world by storm, back home in Australia there’s a number of tech executives who hold similar skills but are far more humble.
These experienced tech workers have been hitting the mats for years, many having earned black belts, a number of stripes and even national titles, all while holding a demanding day job.
One of those who has an impressive track record is Fabian Calle, the head of Concur for small business at German technology giant SAP.
Mr Calle first picked up karate as a kid before falling in love with Muay Thai in his 20s, something he kept up for more than 18 years.
At 43, he started training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, commonly called BJJ, and six years later had a national title in his hands.
“In my first lesson, I was paired up with someone that was probably two-thirds my size,” Mr Calle said. “And they folded me up like an envelope. And I thought, ‘Wow, I need to learn this.’”
Now 49, he stands five feet, 11 inches tall and competes in the under 90kg divisions.
Despite the titles, Mr Calle actually hates competing. He gets butterflies in his stomach, can’t talk for hours before a match and feels “nervous when I see somebody on the other corner of the mat who wants to effectively hurt me”, he said. But at the same time, he loves how uncomfortable it made him feel.
When it comes to work, BJJ was helpful because it allowed him to completely switch off, unlike other exercises such as running.
“When I’m grappling with somebody, I don’t really have time to wonder or think about what I did that day, I’m kind of in survival mode half the time, so it gives me a true break from what’s happened,” he said.
Mr Calle trains at Absolute MMA in Collingwood, Melbourne, three times per week on average.
Paul Rehder, a Deloitte tech chief who today serves as managing partner of clients, industries and markets, first began training in 1988.
After some time flicking through the yellow pages, he found a Rhee taekwondo club in an old community hall in Mentone, in Melbourne’s southeast, with “creaky old floorboards” and “no heating”.
Mr Rehder said he and his four brothers would often train six times a week, something he kept up for 25 years, receiving a second dan black belt and becoming an instructor.
Taekwondo taught him a lot about character development. “There’s some really nice life skills and values that you learn and you also learn very quickly that there‘s always someone more capable than you so it is quite humbling” Mr Rehder said.
“You find that a lot of people in life swing in and swing out of things but, if you can stick with it, and it takes time, it is immensely rewarding as you’re actually progressing through the different belts and you’re noticing that your skills and capability just gets better and better,” he said.
“Frankly, you have to be in the moment because if someone’s coming at you with their crusty heels and callous knuckles, you better be on point in terms of focus and your attention otherwise you could actually get hurt quite badly.”
Mr Rehder is 48, stands five feet, 10 inches and weighs 82kg.
For Siobhan Casey, Australian Computer Society’s chief growth officer, martial arts was her entire career at one point.
The six foot, three inches-tall tech executive was once even hired to provide private security to Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise at a New Year’s Eve Party in 1999.
Ms Casey’s martial arts journey began with judo training at eight years of age. From there she moved to kung fu, later taekwondo and settled on hapkido, travelling as far as Los Angeles to train with renown instructors.
At 19, Ms Casey began to do door work at popular Sydney nightclubs. “One night, I was asked if I had considered doing private protection work for notable sort of people that would require additional training so I ended up getting a gun licence. I ended up getting practical driving skills, body guarding training and ended up being private protection for Tommy and Nicole Kidman,” she said.
When it came to work, Ms Casey said: “I’ve dealt with some tricky situations so not a lot surprises me anymore. There’s never been a work situation that’s gotten more tricky than a door work situation at three in the morning with someone who is on alcohol and drugs. I’ve even had a gun pulled on me.”
Another senior tech worker, responsible for all of ServiceNow’s hiring across much of Asia and Australia, is Adam Fisher.
The head of recruitment, who splits his time between Australia and Singapore, started out training Muay Thai and BJJ but ditched the former after showing up to work with one too many battle scars.
“It was a little bit like Fight Club in the sense that sometimes I’d go into work and have a black eye or a bloody nose and it just wasn’t always a great look in customer-facing roles,” he said.
Before long, Mr Fisher, 43, ditched the Thai martial art in favour of BJJ alone. It’s a martial art, he said, that doesn’t leave you scared of much.
“When you’ve had a 150kg guy sit on top of you and try to rip your arm out of your socket or choke you out, it takes a lot after that to stress you out,” he said.
“It puts everything into perspective, really. And when you’re sparring, you don’t have a chance to think about all the other things in your life.” Mr Fisher said.
“There’s times when I do it, and it’s the most frustrating thing in the world. And I throw my dummies out the pram and I insist I’m never going to do it again.
“And every so often you’ll land a new move or you’ll do well against a guy that’s higher rank than you and it’s the best feeling.”
Mr Fisher stands five feet, seven inches tall and competes at under 73kg. He trains at Carpe Diem in Singapore.
Aurora Arlet Sassone, communications lead at US tech giant Oracle, has just clocked three decades of martial arts.
Starting training when she was just 10 years old, Ms Sassone today holds two black belts, one in kenpo Karate and the other in traditional Japanese jiu-jitsu.
By the time she was 26, she was an instructor and had made it on to the University of Colorado Boulder’s demo team, teaching people from all walks of life and performing for others.
The Sydney-based tech worker said one of the best work lessons she learned was how to thrive amid adversity.
“Martial artists face countless setbacks and hurdles and there’s always going to be somebody stronger, bigger,” she said.
“I’m five-foot two, about 158cm, and I weigh 52kg, so when I walk into a dojo I’ve always really had to earn my stripes.”
Ms Sassone, who now mostly trains one-on-one with an instructor, said Sydney eastern suburbs residents might see her practising some mornings by Coogee Beach.
“You might catch me early in the morning, just doing forms in the grass and drills that way,” she said.
More Coverage
Pacific visa scheme at ‘low point’ as 20 workers die
The NFF says Labor’s agriculture visa scheme for Pacific Islanders is at a ‘low point’ as new data reveals 20 workers in the program have died in a year.
Viva’s ‘incomplete’ LNG work puts question mark over Geelong plan
Ports Victoria says Viva Energy hasn’t adhered to requests it complete works that will ascertain risks to other vessels from a planned LNG import facility at Geelong.