Primero Systems
REQUEST A PROTOTYPE→
Our story
Built on relationships. Still here thirty years later.

Primero Systems was founded in 1994 and has been building enterprise software ever since. Not because we chased the market — because we stayed.

How it started

It started with a neighbor asking for help.

In 1994, Gary Saner was running R&D at a major San Diego software firm when his neighbor Mike came to him with a problem. Mike's company had hired a development firm to build custom software for their travel franchise business. The project was overdue, over budget, and nowhere near production quality. Gary took a look, confirmed it was a mess, and agreed to fix it.

He assembled a small team of trusted colleagues. They worked nights and weekends for six months. The product shipped. It worked. The client stayed.

That travel franchise has since been acquired multiple times and now belongs to the largest travel agency franchisor in North America. The software Primero built in 1994 — evolved and expanded over the decades — is still running it.

Gary and his partners founded Primero Systems that same year. The circumstances of that first engagement weren't incidental. They became the template: do the work right, take responsibility for the outcome, build the kind of relationship where the client calls you first when something changes.

Thirty years later, that's still how we operate.

Leadership

The people behind the work.

Our leadership team has an average tenure at Primero of over 15 years. They've seen the industry change — and kept building through all of it.

Gary Saner

Gary Saner

Chief Executive Officer

Gary founded Primero in 1994 after eleven years in the U.S. Navy and a degree in systems engineering from USC. He built the firm on a simple premise: enterprise software should solve real problems, last for decades, and be delivered by people who take responsibility for the outcome. He is a Certified Scrum Master and an AWS Business Professional.

Melissa Saner

Melissa Saner

Chief Operating Officer

Melissa joined Primero in 2004 when the company had five employees. She helped grow it to 70+, spanning two continents. She oversees operations, customer support, account management, HR, and finance. Clients who've worked with Primero for years will tell you Melissa is a big part of why they stayed.

Steve Press

Steve Press

President

Steve joined Primero in 1998 as a junior programmer and worked his way to President, giving him a firsthand understanding of what it takes to build great software at every level of an organization. Over the years, he has led the development of content management systems, business applications, and custom software platforms across nearly every industry Primero serves.

German Porta

German Porta

Chief Technology Officer

German joined Primero in 1998 as the firm's system architect, leading database designer, and systems engineer. Since then, he has overseen software development and directed a team of 60 engineers across the U.S. and Argentina. He is AWS certified across multiple disciplines. He also enjoys sailing around the globe, experiencing as many countries and cultures as he can.

Kaeli Saner

Kaeli Saner

Chief Business Operations Officer

Kaeli joined Primero in 2015 and worked her way through marketing, operations, project management, and business systems before being appointed Chief Business Operations Officer in 2025, as Primero accelerated its shift toward AI-driven delivery. She oversees delivery operations, requirements governance, and cross-functional alignment across the organization.

45%
OF OUR TEAM HAS BEEN WITH PRIMERO FOR OVER 10 YEARS
80%
HAVE MORE THAN 20 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN THEIR FIELD
50%
HAVE DEPLOYED OVER 200 APPLICATIONS

We don't hire to fill seats. We build teams that stay.

"We're not looking for our next project. We're looking for our next relationship."

— Gary Saner, CEO