Salesforce appoints co-CEO

Salesforce.com Inc. has promoted its chief operating officer (COO) to co-CEO.

On Tuesday, the San Francisco-based CRM giant announced that effective immediately Keith Block, who had served as Salesforce’s vice chair, president, and a director since joining the company in June 2013, and as COO since February 2016, was being promoted to co-CEO.

While the announcement could be seen as laying the foundations of a succession plan, present CEO, chair, and Salesforce founder Marc Benioff indicated that wasn’t the case to Fortune, telling the publication that “running the fastest-growing software company in the world is more than a full-time job” and that two people were needed to do it.

Salesforce founder and co-CEO Marc Benioff (right) with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in February.

As co-CEOs, Benioff and Block’s roles will be clearly delineated: Benioff, who will continue to serve as chair of Salesforce, will be in charge of “vision and innovation” in key areas such as technology, marketing, stakeholder engagement, and culture, while Block run day-to-day operations and be in charge of developing and executing the company’s growth strategy.

In an Aug. 7 statement, Benioff called Block a “trusted partner in running Salesforce for the past five years,” and said that he was “thrilled to welcome him as co-CEO.”

“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,” Benioff said according to the statement.

Block, for his part, said that “Salesforce’s success is a testament to Marc’s visionary leadership, which has created an unparalleled culture of trust, innovation and equality, as well as a relentless focus on customer success,” according to the statement. “I’m honored to be co-CEO and to leverage each of our strengths as we lead Salesforce, our employees, customers and partners into the future.”

As Fortune notes, Salesforce isn’t the only company to implement a dual-CEO system, though according to the publisher only 23 of the Fortune 500 have done so. A notable example in the tech world is Oracle, led by Safra Catz and Mark Hurd, with founder Larry Ellison as CTO.

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

Eric Emin Wood
Eric Emin Wood
Former IT World Canada associate editor turned consultant with public relations firm Porter Novelli. When not writing for the tech industry enjoys photography, movies, travelling, the Oxford comma, and will talk your ear off about animation if you give him an opening.

Featured Articles

Cybersecurity in 2024: Priorities and challenges for Canadian organizations 

By Derek Manky As predictions for 2024 point to the continued expansion...

Survey shows generative AI is a top priority for Canadian corporate leaders.

Leaders are devoting significant budget to generative AI for 2024 Canadian corporate...

Related Tech News

Tech Jobs

Our experienced team of journalists and bloggers bring you engaging in-depth interviews, videos and content targeted to IT professionals and line-of-business executives.

Tech Companies Hiring Right Now