Jeff Lazarto

As Practice Leader: Commercial Advisory for Oracle and Workday, Jeff heads our California office. In this role, Jeff is responsible for ensuring overall client satisfaction, developing our service and product offerings, and leading business development efforts.  Jeff also manages client engagements as part of our sourcing, commercial advisory, and contract optimization services, providing clients with strategic advice to improve their technology supplier relationships and achieve best-in-class commercial constructs.  Another part of our practice that Jeff spearheads is our ‘at the negotiation table’ assistance for clients who wish to have UpperEdge participate in direct negotiations with their suppliers.

Prior to UpperEdge, Jeff served as Senior Vice President of Value Creation at NET(net), a contract optimization services company; and previous to that as a Senior Director of AMR Research’s Contract Negotiation and Benchmarking Service (CNBS).  In these positions, Jeff led and managed engagements, providing counsel and guidance on proven communication strategies and negotiation approaches to help Fortune 500 organizations maximize the value of their strategic software and technology services investments.

Jeff’s prior experience includes direct vendor negotiations on his clients’ behalf.  His approach of sequencing communications around capabilities, relationship and cultural fit, and risk balancing commercial constructs have not only resulted in building long-term relationship foundations, but have yielded hundreds of millions of dollars in cash savings.

Before joining AMR Research, Jeff’s experience included working as outside counsel providing legal advice on corporate and intellectual property matters, as well as representing vendors in e-commerce, content licensing, and software and services negotiations.

Jeff was also the first legal counsel for Organic, Inc., an e-commerce web development company, where Jeff served as senior legal counsel responsible for negotiating and drafting domestic and international client services and software contracts, and vendor agreements.  During Jeff’s tenure he was responsible for supporting Organic’s IPO filing and serving as the corporate voice in working directly with the global business development and client services leadership teams.

Jeff has also served as an Adjunct Professor of business law at both Bentley College and Boston University.

Jeff earned his B.S. in finance from Bentley University and his J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law.  He is a member of the State Bar of California.