This is the latest in a quarterly look at executive appointments by companies with the intention of putting a greater emphasis on customer experience design. These are your new peers, industry influencers, potential mentors or perhaps clients one day.
SmartSheet, an AI-based work management platform provider based in Bellevue, Wash., said it had welcomed Stephanie Berner as its chief customer officer. Berner comes to the company after working at companies ranging from Atlassian to LinkedIn.
Berner will be vital in defining and executing a comprehensive customer strategy, ensuring every Smartsheet customer receives unparalleled value and support, the company said in a statement.
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Availity, which describes itself as the U.S.’s largest health information network, said it has promoted Bala Sekaran to chief customer officer as it establishes a customer success organization.
Based in Jacksonville, Fla., Availity said Sekaran’s group will combine strategic account services and implementation teams into one team with a mandate to improve user adoption of Availity products throughout the customer journey. This structure reduces handoffs, improves project governance, and ensures clients have a consistent, trusted team guiding them throughout their relationship with Availity, the company added.
Sekaran’s career has included a stint with McKinsey’s health care practice.
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Great Places Housing Group, a property management firm based in the U.K., said it has promoted Matt Foreman as its new chief customer officer.
Foreman first came to Great Places in 2022, where he served interim director of operations and integration. He later became the company’s executive director of group customer service.
Great Places said Foreman will formerly begin his new role after a predecessor retires later this year.
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Former Vimeo VP of global customer success and delivery Leta Amburgey joined DataDome, a provider of cyber-fraud detection software, in early September. This marks the firm’s first chief customer officer role.
DataDome, which is based in New York, said Amburgey’s mandate will include sustaining DataDome’s renewal performance while broadening how customers use its full platform, ensuring high levels of satisfaction and retention.
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Mortar, a privacy-safe measurement platform based in Australia, said it had hired Paul Sigaloff as chief customer officer.
Sigaloff was previously chief revenue and growth officer at oOh!media, where he led a digital-first transformation, and vice president and head of APAC at Yahoo!, overseeing markets across Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia.
Mortar said Sigaloff will lead a global CX strategy aimed at helping customers get maximum value from its solutions.
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Over the summer New York-based Glassbox, which provides digital experience analytics tools, said it had created a chief customer officer role and had recruited Ido Ophir to fill it.
Ophir previously scaled customer success and professional services at financial services AI firm Personetics, as well as other CX vendors such as NICE.
“My focus is on ensuring every client receives the strategic partnership, executive engagement, and measurable results they expect from a mission-critical platform,” Ophir said in a statement. “We have the opportunity to redefine what best-in-class customer experience looks like in regulated industries, and I’m excited to join a team that’s making that a reality.”
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WorkWave, a software provider focused on the pest control space, hired Arjun Ramchandran as its chief customer officer.
Ramchandran will be responsible for overseeing all global post-sales functions including professional services, customer support, customer success and learning and development, WorkWave said.
Ramchandran comes to WorkWave following a stint as chief customer officer at ARCOS, which provides mobile workforce management software.
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In the construction management space, a software provider called Buildots said it had appointed Daphna Beer-Gabel as its chief customer officer.
Based in Israel, Buildots said Beer-Gabel will lead the global customer division, overseeing onboarding, support, and long-term relationship management as customers integrate the platform into their daily operations.
Beer-Gabel brings over a decade of experience from global payment solutions provider Payoneer, where she most recently served as SVP operations customer journey, Buildots said.
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Aeon Legal Tech, which provides software to streamline law firm workflows, said it had brought on Jim Dougherty as its chief customer officer.
Dougherty, which the company said had a long track record in the legal software space, will be focused on expanding Aeon’s reach across law firms and banks, enhancing the customer experience, and scaling adoption of Aeon’s innovative solutions. These include Aeon Writer, Aeon Abstractor, and Aeon Bank.
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At Redwood City, Calif.-based digital infrastructure Equinix, Shane Paladin has been appointed to a dual role of chief customer and revenue officer.
Equinix said Paladin’s role will span the company’s entire customer experience and overall go-to-market strategy. This includes sales, marketing, customer care and experience, and revenue operations. Additionally, Paladin will oversee key account relationships and channel partnerships, as well as the leveraging of data, analytics and AI to optimize revenue-generating activities, Equinix said.
Paladin comes to Equinix after multiple stints at SAP and more recently at a company called Siteimprove.