Ellinger will report to Bobby Yazdani, Chairman and CEO of Saba. In his new position, Ellinger will have responsibility for the design and development of the Saba technology platform as well as the entire suite of enterprise learning management, performance management, collaboration and analytics offerings.

Ellinger joined the company in May 1997 and has been a key contributor to the success of Saba. He was one of the original software architects and in that role he designed, developed and managed the company's original product line. Building on that success, Ellinger has been instrumental in leading the development and delivery of Saba 5, the company's next generation fully J2EE-compliant product suite.

"It gives me great pleasure to announce Rich's appointment as Vice President of Engineering," said Bobby Yazdani, Chairman and CEO of Saba. "Rich has earned the respect of the industry for the depth and breadth of products and technology that have been developed and delivered during his tenure at Saba. He has been a significant contributor to Saba's vision for the marketplace and its ability to deliver the industry's leading solutions for HCDM. In addition to his leadership abilities, Rich's experience has given him the qualities that will make him a tremendous asset to our executive team. I look forward to continued collaboration with him."

Ellinger's previous experience included a number of engineering leadership positions at Oracle Corporation as well as engineering consulting roles at leading companies such as Hewlett-Packard. Ellinger completed his formal education at Stanford University, where he earned a B.S. in Computer Science, a B.A. in Political Science and a M.S. in Computer Science.