Annie Safoian

Annie Safoian, SADA Systems (SADA) Co-Founder and Board Member, values consistent hard work, clear business vision and family, fostering a sense of community and care amongst her employees. SADA’s corporate culture is directly shaped by Safoian’s own history, when she built the company.

After the Safoian family emigrated to Los Angeles from Armenia in 1987, Annie Safoian found work in the accounting field. In 1993, when the firm she worked for moved their accounting department to New Jersey, she decided to use her computer and creative skills to start her own graphics design company, Grafxworx. Shortly after, Safoian began to incorporate application development and IT services into Grafxworx’s repertoire of services due to customer demand. Her keen understanding of design and UX/UI was the foundation in providing services such as website design, software development and related services. Annie formed SADA Systems in 2000 with her husband, Hovig Safoian. By 2003, SADA became family-owned and operated, with her son, Tony Safoian, acting as both the CEO and business visionary that Safoian sought for her business. Having no former knowledge of the mechanics and economics of operating her own business, Annie overcame many obstacles and made many personal sacrifices in order to make operations go smoothly. Annie worked without pay when SADA was a fledgling company - but her hard work and long list of responsibilities did not deter her from often making her employees lunch and dinner. Thanks to Annie Safoian, SADA is a company that highly values family, and maintains that sense of care to this day. Her day-to-day responsibilities consisted of running the financial operations of the company, as well as office management, administrative functions and HR tasks, to name a few. It’s only recently, with the expansion of SADA, the functions Annie performed that lay outside of her role have been re-delegated to an ever-growing staff. Her focus on customer service, the same service SADA prides itself on today, plus savvy money-management without outside investment, proved to be a winning formula.

From just two employees in 1998, SADA has grown to staff 200+ employees across 8 offices in North America: all without external financing. Even more impressive, under Annie’s guidance as CFO, SADA went from zero to $135 Million in revenues in 2018. SADA boasts an impressive set of accomplishments: SADA was one of the first Google Apps partners in the world, and today is a Google Cloud Premier Partner and 2018 Global Partner of the Year. In addition, SADA was once again named to CRN’s Solutions Provider 500 List and the Elite 150 List managed services providers. As an INC5000 Honoree, SADA ranked on INC5000 Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies for 12 years, and ranked on Inc. Magazine’s Top 50 Best Places to Work. Annie was also named to LABJ’s Top 8 Women Owned Businesses in Los Angeles.

SADA has worked to transform how organizations work and collaborate, solving information technology issues with such high profile clients as the Colgate-Palmolive, Hunterdon Healthcare, the McClatchy Company, and Media News Group as well as public sector clients including State of Arizona, City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Unified School District and State of Maryland.

Annie Safoian also believes being actively involved in the community around her supporting organizations such as the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Habitat for Humanity International, Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief, Ararat Home Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Mission.