Welcoming Alison Templin to Palona as Our VP of Sales

Building a company is ultimately about building the right team at the right time.

Today, I’m excited to share that Alison Templin has joined Palona as our Vice President of Enterprise Sales.

Alison spent more than eight years at DoorDash, where she helped build and scale enterprise and mid-market partnerships at the intersection of restaurants, technology, and operations. What stood out to me immediately was not just her track record, but how deeply she understands restaurant operators. Alison knows that trust is earned in the details, through consistency, follow-through, and real outcomes, not empty promises.

Palona is at an important inflection point. Over the past year, we’ve expanded from a voice-first system into a broader Real-World AI platform spanning Voice AI, Vision AI, and workflow automation. We now support restaurant locations nationally across roughly 30 brands, and demand continues to accelerate as operators look for practical, production-ready AI that actually works in their day-to-day environments to help them with smoother operations.

As we scale, it’s critical that we grow responsibly and stay grounded in the needs of our customers. Alison brings the discipline and experience to help us do exactly that. She understands how to build strong go-to-market foundations, how to partner closely with operators, and how to turn innovative technology into measurable business value.

I’m also excited that Alison is joined by Tacoi Sumler, our Senior Enterprise Sales Account Executive, who previously partnered with her at DoorDash. Together, they bring deep expertise in the restaurant and POS ecosystem and a shared operating rhythm that will help us move faster while staying customer-first.

At Palona, we believe AI should be grounded in real-world operations. Restaurants are complex, fast-moving environments, and technology has to prove its value by making teams more effective and delivering measurable business value. That philosophy guides how we build our products and how we build our team. 

I feel incredibly fortunate to have Alison join the team, and I’m excited to build the next chapter of Palona together as we continue working side by side with restaurant operators nationwide.

Maria
Founder & CEO, Palona AI