Interview with New BloomReach Executives Hurwitz & Pomeroy

BloomReach, one of the most famous DXP platforms in the world, was not only named a Leader in the 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management for a second year in a row this month but was also recognized as a visionary in the 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms and, is continuing to make waves in the world of digital experience technology.  

Early last week, BloomReach announced an expansion to their executive team by bringing on board David Hurwitz as Chief Marketing Officer and Dave Pomeroy as Chief Financial Officer. 

Starting his career in the tech giant city of Silicon Valley, David began as a software engineer, holding a BS in Industrial Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He later moved into a CMO role in which he created concepts of IT Governance solutions for Niku Software and Lean IT at CA Technologies. One of David’s greatest successes was “being voted Best Vendor four consecutive times across two continents at Gartner Summits.” He was also SVP of Worldwide Marketing for Serena Software and a CMO for Appvance.ai.

Dave on the other hand brings a wealth of experience from BDNA which was followed by a successful acquisition of Flexera. Dave brings a wide range of experience to the table especially in scaling up midmarket companies from his CFO roles at BDNA, Symphony Communications and at Rhythm NewMedia. He began his finance career as an audit supervisor for Ernst & Young in Palo Alto, where he put that expertise to use in a finance leadership position for tech giants like Apple, Yahoo! and Microsoft. Pomeroy holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Follow along below for a CMS-Connected exclusive interview with David and Dave.

David Hurwitz Brings Leadership to BloomReach

What trends do you find most influential when you are creating Sales and Marketing initiatives?

David: "It all starts with the customer experience. What are they trying to accomplish? How do they describe it and what terminology do they use? Often the answers to those questions are different and much more plainspoken than how we talk in Silicon Valley or how the Gartner and Forrester analysts describe things. 

From that basis, how are our potential customers, influencers and users educating themselves and networking among themselves? Obviously, much of that is online and social-media based. But trade shows and conferences have become resurgent in recent years, perhaps because people have belatedly recognized the value of F2F interaction. In any case, we need to be a vital part of those communities and attractive to the members in them.

Putting all that together, marketing’s job is to put our outward facing teams in positions where they can succeed, and succeed greatly."

What potentials do you see within BloomReach that you’re excited to help the company realize?

David: "BloomReach has a tremendously strong customer base across all the hot industries in the world today, and has those customers across Europe, North America and even in to Asia. Plus, we’ve got true DXP thought leaders in the company in the persons of Raj De Datta, Will Uppington and Arje Kahn. Ultimately, of course, we’re blessed to have the best DXP on the market in terms of openness and built-in intelligence.

So, I see the potential for the DXP market as being enormous, and therefore the potential for BloomReach to become a very large and important company."

In the press release, Raj De Datta describes you as an “entrepreneur, a startup marketing leader, a large company leader and the marketing leader of growth companies.” With your proven strength in leadership, what would you say are your foundational principles in building and leading a successful team?

David: "It starts with the people, with the team members. So, I’m beginning my tenure at BloomReach individually meeting each team member to understand them as people and as ambitious professionals. My job is then to craft strategies, structures and initiatives to put them in a position to succeed like they’ve never succeeded before!"

Dave Pomeroy to Create New Opportunities and Challenges

With your specific expertise in Silicon Valley, which comes with its own opportunities and challenges, what are your biggest lessons or experiences that you will bring to BloomReach?

Dave: "I have had the privilege to work with two of the world's greatest tech companies, Apple and Microsoft. While working for those firms, I learned what it takes to run a business with amazing revenue and profits and on a global scale. BloomReach is still a small company with a huge market opportunity so we have the ability to build this company into a global leader as well."

In the press release you mention “BloomReach is a perfect fit for me in terms of scale, need and culture,” Can you explain a bit more about what it was that attracted you to BloomReach?

Dave: "BloomReach has a lot of the elements required to build a great company. The Digital Experience software market is a multiple billion dollar market and growing, the company's product is a leading solution for customers and will continue to perform with the lead we have in Artificial Intelligence, the venture capital investors backing the company are world class with a lot of capital and most importantly the team is fantastic. Raj De Datta is an impressive CEO who has built a team of people that feel like a family and are executing at a very high level."

In the press release you mention "It's an amazing opportunity for me to apply my financial leadership experience in helping the team scale-up to our global growth ambitions.” With your proven strength in financial leadership, how do you intend on building BloomReach’s momentum moving forward?

Dave: "BloomReach is at a real inflection point for growth. The company acquired Hippo 18 months ago and the combined teams have been working hard to integrate the products into a unified Digital Experience Platform. It's really great that David Hurwitz and I have joined at the same time as he will be leading new marketing messaging about what the platform can do and I will be building out the infrastructure of the company to really scale. This is going to be a really exciting time for BloomReach, the Digital Experience Platform Company."

BloomReach Expands EMEA Partner Network with GetConnected

In order to create a better shopping experience, many vendors focus on partnerships to bridge that gap especially when it comes to online businesses. In June, BloomReach did just that by signing a partner agreement with a digital agency called GetConnected.

Founded in 2008, GetConnected is headquartered in Bologna, Italy and specializes in Mobile App experiences, Ecommerce Platforms, Digital Experience Platforms, Digital Analytics, Marketing Automation and provides digital solutions to the retail, fashion, and financial services industry.

This partnership is said to expand BloomReach’s network of system integration partners in the EMEA region and will “better serve companies who want to implement their digital experience technology.”

Jasper de Vreugt, Director of Channel Sales EMEA at BloomReach exclusively commented on the news to say "I'm very glad to expand our European partner network with GetConnected", and added "They are a truly customer-oriented agency, aiming to guide their clients through the process of digital transformation and helping them exploit the hidden potential of their business. Together we will deliver our industry-leading digital experience software to Italian businesses to help them win over their competition."

Alessandro Rizzoli, CEO of GetConnected said he is “really excited about the partnership agreement with BloomReach as it guarantees us a further trump card for the success of our customers.” and also added "As a digital factory we are focusing more and more on technologies that help companies integrate the various aspects of their on- and offline business into a compelling omnichannel experience that lives up to the demands of today's interconnected customers."

Ending Notes

It’s not only exciting to onboard new employees in a time where digital experience is growing at an exponential rate but also add into the mix a couple of seasoned executives that “will help the company scale-up to its ambitious global growth targets” and you have the perfect medicine for success, in my opinion.

Raj De Datta, CEO & Co-Founder also shared his excitement and commented “I’m super excited that two supremely capable executives have joined our team. First, a world-class CMO is the hardest executive search in Silicon Valley, but we found one in David Hurwitz.” And added “Of similar importance is finding not just an extremely capable CFO, but a growth CFO, which we’ve found in Dave Pomeroy.”  

As a little heads up to our lovely readers, we will be covering BloomReach in the 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management systems so be sure to check back to read our coverage of the report!