Freshworks Inc has announced the creation of the role of president and the appointment of Dennis Woodside as the first incumbent effective September 1st 2022. He will report to CEO and founder Girish Mathrubootham. Woodside will be responsible for leading Freshworks’ global business operations and strategy. The appointment will also see Woodside join the board of directors
Woodside previously held a similar role at Impossible Foods. There he led the operations, manufacturing, supply chain, sales, marketing, HR and other functions for about three and a half years. Before that, he was Chief Operating Officer at Dropbox, where he helped the company reach $1 billion in annual revenue. At Dropbox, he was accountable for growing Dropbox’s revenue and scaling its operations globally.
He also spent ten years at Google, the last two of which he was CEO at Motorola Mobility (owned by Google). Before that, he held senior sales roles in Europe and the US.
Mathrubootham commented: “I am excited to partner with Dennis and add his experience scaling global operations to our team. His skills will help evolve our business and allow me to focus on our company vision, culture and product innovation – areas that bring immense value to our employees and customers.”
Woodside currently serves on the board of the American Red Cross. He was also previously on the board of ServiceNow as an independent director from 2018 to 2022. It appears as though he has stepped down to take up this new executive role. Though, as of writing, he is still listed on the ServiceNow site.
Mr Woodside commented: “I am honored to join this team and work with Girish to continue building what he’s started. I’m drawn to companies taking a fresh approach to big markets. From a decade driving category creation at Google, to the high growth era at Dropbox, and the scale at Impossible Foods, I see Freshworks as a great match for my experience. Fast and easy-to-use business software is exactly what companies need today and Freshworks is making it accessible to everyone.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Mathrubootham has added a significant leader to his exec team and board. The big question is whether this is part of a succession plan. Woodside certainly has the credentials to pick up the role. As chairman of the board, Mathrubootham could step aside if he wished to. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few months and how his presence changes the company.
Freshworks also confirmed the Q3 and fiscal 2022 full-year earnings estimates. In its Q2 results, it announced that it expected revenues in Q3 to be $124.5 – $126.5 million and for the full year in the range of $493.0 – $497.0 million. Mathrubootham will hope that Woodside can help double that in the same way, he did at Dropbox.
