INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Salesforce is moving to a two CEO model after it promoted executive Keith Block, who was most recently COO, to the position of co-CEO
Block will work alongside Salesforce flamboyant founder, chairman and CEO (now co-CEO) Marc Benioff, with both reporting directly to the
company board.
Block joined Salesforce five years ago after spending 25 years at Oracle, which is where he first metBenioff, who has called
him ''the best sales executive the enterprise software industry has ever seen.
News of the promotion was not expected, but in many ways it
is just a more formalized continuation of the working relationship that the two executives have developed.
Block focus is on leading global
sales, alliances and channels, industry strategy, customer success and consulting services, while he also oversees the company day-to-day
operations.Benioff, meanwhile, heads of product, technology and culture
The latter is a major piece for Salesforce — for example, it has spentSalesforce has spent over $8 million since 2015 to address the wage
gaps pertaining to race and gender, while the company has led the tech industry in pushing LGBT rights and more.
Keith has been my trusted
partner in running Salesforce for the past five years, and I&m thrilled to welcome him as co-CEO,& said Benioff in a statement
&Keith has outstanding operational expertise and corporate leadership experience, and I could not be happier for his promotion and this next
level of our partnership.
This clear division of responsibility from the start may enable Salesforce to smoothly transition to this new
management structure, whilst helping it continue its incredible business growth
Revenue for the most recent quarter surpassed $3 billion for the first time, jumping 25 percent year-on-year while its share price is up 60
percent over the last twelve months.
When Block became COO in 2016,Benioff backed him to take the company past $10 billion in revenue and
that feat was accomplished last November.Benioff enjoys setting targets and he been vocal about reaching $60 billion revenue by 2034, but in
the medium term he is looking at reaching $23 billion by 2020 and the co-CEO strategy is very much a part of that growth target.
We&ve said
we&ll do $23 billion in fiscal year 2022 and we can now just see tremendous trajectory beyond that
Cementing Keith and I together as the leadership is really the key to accelerating future growth,& he told Fortune in an interview.
