Industry Movers and Shakers May 2018
By Natalie Evans
June 1, 2018
247.ai, Acquia, Adobe, Agility, Akamai Technologies, Alfresco, Box, Bsquare, Bynder, Hootsuite, Hubspot, iMatrix, kentico, linknexus, Marc Benioff, M-Files, OpenText, Salesforce, Synerise, Umbraco, Web.com
New Hire Spotlight
Acquia Welcomes New Leadership
Former Akamai executive Chris Andersen comes to Acquia as the new Chief Financial Officer, while former Micro Focus and Hewlett Packard Enterprise executive Stephen Reny assumes the role of Chief Operating Officer. They are the first two executive appointments for CEO Mike Sullivan, who joined the company in December 2017. Read more: Here
More Announcements from Alfresco
Recently Alfresco announced Bernadette Nixon as the new CEO but they have also announced the recent promotions of Bob Pritchard to the position of Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Kamil Chaudhary to Vice President and General Counsel. Joining Alfresco in 2016 Pritchard brings over 25 years of experience in software, technology and services sales and leadership. He has a successful history of working with customers to increase efficiencies through process re-engineering and automation in a variety of industries. Chaudhary joined Alfresco in September 2014 and oversees all the company’s legal affairs worldwide, including corporate, commercial, regulatory, intellectual property, ethics/compliance and litigation. Before joining counsel at Alfresco, Kamil served as Corporate Counsel to Quinstreet, Inc., a performance-based advertising and marketing company. “It is with great pleasure that I share the promotions of Bob and Kamil,” said Bernadette Nixon, CEO at Alfresco. “Bob has done a great job in his short 18-month tenure at Alfresco in leading and developing the Americas commercial sales team, and his international experience makes him well qualified to lead our global sales team. Kamil’s background, not only with Alfresco but also his previous legal experience in the technology sector, prepared him well for this next step in his career." Read more: Here
Agility Now a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
Being a member of the Microsoft Partner Program for over 15 years at both the Gold and Silver levels, this is the first time Agility has attained Gold Certification for the Cloud Platform Competency. "There is a growing demand for software as a service (SaaS) solutions built in the cloud, and Microsoft Azure is the best fit for our customers and partners," said Jon Voigt, CEO of Agility. "Being part of an elite tier of Microsoft partners allows us to provide our customers with a cloud-based solution that supports their growth and success. This is just the first of a series of special announcements coming from Agility in 2018, stay tuned more exciting news in the months to come!" Agility's Customer Experience Cloud CMS allows customers to create, customize and manage their website, ecommerce, and ticketing solutions from a Central Hub, and deliver personalized content across multiple channels. Read more: Here
Kentico's New VP of Marketing
Richard Gooding has been appointed as Vice President of Marketing with Kentico. With more than 20 years’ experience Gooding will lead global marketing activities including corporate marketing, demand generation, channel marketing, and marketing operations. “Building on our deep experience delivering content management and digital experience solutions for the enterprise, Kentico is poised to take advantage of the market for easier-to-use, next generation CMS solutions,” said Petr Palas, CEO of Kentico Software. “Richard brings extensive strategic and go to market experience to the management team, and will help us drive demand and scale our marketing efforts for continued growth.”
“Kentico is focused on helping marketing teams deliver an exceptional experience for their customers and visitors,” said Gooding. “With the rapid growth in digital channels and marketing touchpoints, the challenge of managing content workflows, customer experience, and back-end technology is becoming increasingly complex. Kentico has developed easy-to-use and powerful content management systems that marketing teams love to use.” He continued, “With great products and an exciting roadmap, I am thrilled to be joining Kentico to help grow the business to the next level.” Read more: Here
Financial Results Are In
OpenText has announced its financial results for the third quarter ended March 31, 2018. "We are pleased with our Q3 results, especially our Annual Recurring Revenues (ARR) of $521 million, up 18% y/y and our Operating Cash Flows (OCF) of $271 million, up 73% y/y," said OpenText Vice Chair, CEO and CTO, Mark J. Barrenechea. "We are making key investments in the OpenText Cloud that will drive growth and customer adoption, and these investments will help create even more predictability in our business model." Barrenechea further added, "Based on the strength and trajectory of our recurring revenues and cash flows, we are setting an annual Operating Cash Flow target of $1 Billion as we exit Fiscal 2021." Read more: Here
Recertifications and ISO Quality
M-Files has achieved recertification for ISO 9001:2015, the world's leading quality management standard, and maintained its ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certificate for the information security system associated with its cloud operations. M-Files is one of the only vendors in the information management space that has achieved both of these certifications, by deploying its own information management and QMS product. "M-Files is succeeding in the market by making formerly complicated and highly-specialized information management capabilities, particularly those associated with compliance and quality management, available to any business," said Miika Mäkitalo, CEO of M-Files. “We've taken that to heart by using our own solution to comply with the very same demanding standards required by many of our customers. We don’t just see this as offering a better solution to the traditional markets for compliance and quality management solutions, rather, we’re committed to truly enabling essentially any company to benefit from proven quality and risk management processes by embedding them in the very tools users readily adopt to make their daily work easier." Read more: Here
New HQ for Hubspot
Bogotá, Colombia with be the eighth global office for Hubspot. “We’ve seen an amazing appetite for the inbound movement across Latin America, and expect that demand to continue to grow in the future,” said JD Sherman, President and COO of HubSpot. “By opening this office in Bogotá, we will be able to better serve the region and educate even more growing companies on the power of inbound.”
“We are extremely pleased with the announcement made today by HubSpot,” said María Lorena Gutiérrez, Colombian Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism. “In recent years, Colombia has become a business services and IT hub for companies around the world, due to our strategic geographic location, quality of our workforce, favorable business environment and access to a diversified and growing market. We have no doubt that Colombia will become a significant factor in HubSpot’s success in the region.” Read more: Here
Partner of The Year
In March Hootsuite was named 2018 Adobe Exchange Partner of the Year in North America during Adobe Summit, and now to add to continued recognition they have been awarded 2018 Adobe Exchange Partner of the Year for EMEA. “We’re thrilled to once again be recognized as Adobe’s Exchange Partner of the Year, this time in EMEA,” said Rob Coyne, General Manager for EMEA, Hootsuite. “As a key Adobe Exchange partner, our global relationship enables our joint customers to measure the true impact of social and create personalized real-time experiences across channels to strategically grow their brand, business, and customer relationships.” Read more: Here
Salesforce Has Been Busy
Earlier this month Salesforce Ventures, the company's global corporate investment group, launched the Canada Trailblazer Fund, a $100 million fund to invest in Canadian startups and fuel cloud innovation and customer success in the region. “There is incredible innovation happening in Canada today and we want to encourage and empower the next generation of enterprise cloud startups in the region,” said John Somorjai, EVP of Corporate Development and Salesforce Ventures at Salesforce. “Salesforce Ventures’ Canada Trailblazer Fund is a commitment to our mission to help startups grow and enable our customers to reach new levels of success.” Read more: Here
Salesforce also celebrated the grand opening of Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, along with a $3 Million in New Commitments from Salesforce.org and Marc and Lynne Benioff to Help End Family Homelessness. "Homelessness is the most urgent issue we face in San Francisco and it is unacceptable for any child to sleep on the street," said Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, Salesforce. "As a city and community, we have a moral obligation to make sure that every person and family in our city has a home. Lynne and I are proud to support the tremendous work of Hamilton Families and the Heading Home Initiative to end family homelessness." Read more: Here
With a better-than-expected results for the first quarter of its 2019 fiscal year Salesforce stock rose 4% with earnings excluding certain items, 74 cents per share. Revenue $3.01 billion vs. $2.95 billion as expected by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters. “Salesforce delivered more than $3 billion in revenue in the first quarter, surpassing a $12 billion annual revenue run rate,” said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO, Salesforce. “Our relentless focus on customer success is yielding incredible results, including delivering nearly two billion AI predictions per day with Einstein.” Read more: Here
New Board Member and More
Former Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for Hewlett Packard Enterprise Software Sue Barsamian has been appointed to Box Board of Directors. “As a pioneer of cloud content management, Box is in a unique position to move the $40 billion market for content management and enterprise storage infrastructure to the cloud,” said Sue Barsamian. “I am excited to bring my enterprise sales and marketing expertise to Box as they capture this large global market opportunity.”
“With more than 30 years of leadership experience driving global sales and go-to-market strategy in the enterprise software industry, Sue is a great addition to our Board of Directors,” said Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO of Box. “We believe her strong experience ranging from Hewlett Packard Enterprise to Mercury Interactive will be extremely valuable as Box continues to scale and power the digital workplace for the largest and most regulated enterprises in the world.” Read more: Here
Box also reported record revenues of $140.5 million—a record—and cash flow from operations of $18 million. Its quarterly revenue was up 20% year over year. The company also reported billings of $116.7 million, up 17% year over year, and free cash flow of $7.3 million. “We drove strong attach rates for new products, expanded our international customer base, and delivered product innovation and security for some of the largest and most regulated enterprises in the world,” Levie said in a statement. “Our focus on security and collaboration, as well as our vision for artificial intelligence, continues to resonate.” Read more: Here
Executive Team Grows
Arkadiusz Seredyn, formerly Executive of Digital at Orange, has joined Synerise, a technology company providing Next Generation Growth Cloud-based on an Artificial Intelligence. As the Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer, Seredyn will be responsible for commercial strategy and developing paths to drive business growth and market share. "Synerise is in an excellent position right now and the growth they have achieved so far isn't surprising given the outstanding quality of the product. This is an excellent time to join and apply my experience in the digital transformation, sales and consulting and open up an entirely new level of potential," - Arkadiusz Seredyn. Read more: Here
New CFO at [24]7.ai
Former Intel Executive Brent Bowman has been appointed as chief financial officer with [24]7.ai. Bringing more than 30 years’ experience, Bowman will focus on driving financial strategies that support continued financial growth for the company. "Brent is a highly accomplished and respected financial leader, with a proven track record of building and leading successful finance teams," said PV Kannan, Chief Executive Officer of [24]7.ai. “We are delighted to welcome Brent to the [24]7.ai team, as we drive long-term value and strengthen our position in the marketplace." Read more: Here
Jennifer Lada Joins Web.com
With more than 20 years of financial management experience Web.com has appointed Jennifer Lada as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “Jennifer is a seasoned executive with a wealth of experience and a strong leader who exemplifies everything we value,” said David L. Brown, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and president of Web.com. “Jennifer is in the perfect position to hit the ground running to ensure continuity at this important time in our company's growth.” Lada will succeed Kevin Carney, who has been with Web.com for 20 years and has served as executive vice president and CFO since 2002. Carney will continue as CFO until his retirement on June 30 while working with Lada on a smooth transition. Read more: Here
New Appointment at linknexus
linknexus appoints Industry Veteran Lindsay O’Neill as Senior Vice President, Business Development. “I joined linknexus because I recognized a great vision, a dedicated leader and strong momentum with brands that believe in empowered post-click engagement,” said O’Neill. “Activating the power of a reactable internet is allowing marketers to achieve goals they’ve been inhibited from realizing until now.” Previously holding down key leadership roles at Rocketfuel, PulsePoint, Digital Media Review, Futures Media and Inuvo, O’Neill will be responsible for linknexus’ client success as well as the company’s sales and growth strategy. O’Neill’s short-term goal is to help provide transparency and the power of reactability to marketers through their use of the linknexus platform. Read more: Here
New Hire at iMatrix
Aubrey Williams joins iMatrix as Director of Sales and Training. In this role he will develop and execute strategies for account development, sales, and the training program that has already contributed to iMatrix employees being the best in the business. Prior to joining iMatrix, he was the Director of Inside Sales at Sound, a VCA company and a global veterinary imaging leader and source for digital x-ray, ultrasound systems and education, PACS, advanced imaging tools, and imaging support. “I believe that efficiency and great service are both essential for a company's success,” said Williams. “When I was at Sound, my goal was to increase efficiency and further improve customer loyalty. I intend to bring the same goals – and the accompanying increases in customer satisfaction – to iMatrix in its time of growth." Read more: Here
Record Q1 Results
Bynder record results in Q1, closing the quarter with a total of 107 new customers. In addition, Bynder reported record customer retention, accounting for 101 percent net revenue. The company’s substantial growth in Q1 stems from key customer wins, strong retention rates and the strategic acquisition of Webdam, which allows the company to offer two best in class solutions for product specific needs of their own client base. “From product innovation to platform growth, Q1 marks a pivotal moment in time for the Bynder solution. We introduced 6 new integrations to the marketplace, processed over 2 million asset uploads and continue to work closely with our customers to create innovative new features,” said Chris Hall, CEO of Bynder. “We closed the quarter out strong by joining forces with Webdam, blending the industry knowledge, technological innovation and geographical strengths of DAM category leaders from EMEA and North America.” Read more: Here
New Hire at Umbraco HQ
Helle Kragelund has joined Umbraco HQ as a Partner Friend Maker. Kragelund will be responsible building stronger relationships with their current partners and onboarding new ones into Umbraco’s partner programs. Maiken Skov Nielsen also recently joiningg HQ as the Office Management Guru - dealing with mostly the financial handling. Read more: Here
Changes in Leadership
Bsquare announced that president and CEO Jerry Chase is stepping down to pursue other opportunities. Mr. Chase will also be stepping down from his board seat. "It has been a pleasure to work with great people on innovative technology solving challenging business problems for our customers. We are at a point now where it makes sense to make way for new leadership to take DataV to the next level." Andrew Harries Board Chairman who will assume an expanded role as executive chairman, and by Kevin Walsh who will serve as acting CEO while continuing to oversee marketing and corporate strategy. Mr. Chase will transition into an advisory role with Bsquare. The company will conduct a search for a new CEO. Read more: Here
Natalie Evans
Natalie Evans has over 16-years in the tech industry and currently works as the event coordinator and tech reporter for CMS-Connected, keeping up-to-date on what's happening in and around the Content Management industry.