Marketing Luminary Says Revenue-Focused Lead Management Could Be â??Bigger Than CRMâ?
SAN MATEO, CA (September 22, 2009) –
www.marketo.com – Marketo, the revenue-focused marketing automation company, today announced that Wes Wasson has joined the Marketo board of directors. Mr. Wasson is senior vice president and CMO at Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS), an industry leader in virtualization, networking and cloud computing, and one of the world’s top five SaaS players. Prior to Citrix, Wasson held executive marketing positions at Network Associates and Sun Microsystems, where he helped achieve a number one market share position across several industry segments.
Mr. Wasson joins the Marketo board on the same day Marketo announced the close of a Series C financing that significantly increased the company’s valuation.
“Marketo is attractive for several reasons,” said Wasson. “To begin with, I’m a huge believer in cloud computing and SaaS as the future of software. More importantly, I believe Marketo’s unique focus on revenue has the potential to elevate lead management to an entirely new level. While there are plenty of marketing tools out there that automate existing processes, Marketo offers a solution that actually drives revenue, and in so doing gives marketers a highly credible voice at the executive table.”
Wasson also emphasized that Marketo’s momentum attracted him to the board. “Marketo has already established itself as one of the fastest growing software companies in the industry with a long list of enthusiastic customers. This early success is clear validation that the company’s vision, message and product are truly resonating with enterprise and mid-market companies alike,” said Wasson. “By changing the conversation from operational efficiency to revenue attainment, I believe lead management could emerge as one of the next big SaaS categories — potentially even bigger than CRM, and as least as important to revenue generation. The chance to be a part of that story with a clear category leader is an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
“Adding Wes to the board was an easy call,” said Phil Fernandez, president CEO at Marketo. “We’ve long looked for the right marketing executive to join, and Wes brings both world-class enterprise marketing experience and a shared vision of marketing’s ability to drive dramatic growth in revenue. The entire team looks forward to sharing his wisdom and experience as we build the next great cloud computing company.”
Source: Marketo