Wrike has made two senior appointments to its leadership team to help power its growth in what is forecasted to be a growth market. The potential size of the market varies, depending on its scope. Verified Market Research predicts the “task management” market is set to grow at a CAGR of 14.3% from 2021 to 2028 to $8.24 billion. The company has made two recent appointments. Thomas Scott became Chief Financial Officer, and Brian Clark was appointed Chief Revenue Officer. They have the remit to double ARR and expand the sales strategy worldwide and across even more industries.
Andrew Filev, Founder of Wrike, commented: “We found that 86% of business leaders plan to invest in tools that create a single source of truth for work within their organisation. Powerful work management platforms, like Wrike, bring all teams and work into one place to increase visibility and optimise efficiency. That’s why we’re seeing the demand for work management quickly gain momentum, especially as organisations face the pressures of economic uncertainty. This is a pivotal moment for our company, and Thomas and Brian will be vital additions to our leadership team. Their combined, diverse experience will propel us into our next phase of growth.”
A nearly new head of Finance
Scott joined Wrike in March, having served as CFO for Fetch Robotics, leading it through its acquisition by Zebre Technologies. He has served as a Chief Financial Officer for over 15 years at several other organisations, including FibreTower corporation and Spider Cloud Wireless Inc, which became part of Corning Inc during his tenure. Scott is no stranger to being part of a much bigger group, in this case, Citrix. At Corning, he also helped the organisation through five more acquisitions, perhaps indicating that Wrike is looking to expand through acquisition in the coming months. He replaced Carol Lee, who led the firm with Filev through its exit to Citrix and is now CFO at LogicMonitor.
Scott commented: “I’ve worked with a range of high-growth companies in the tech and telecom space over the last 25 years and have helped these organisations launch new technology solutions and scale globally. At Wrike, I’ve been presented with an opportunity to supercharge what they’re doing and bring a must-have platform to market. There’s nothing more exciting than that.”
Another change of Chief Revenue Officer
Clark’s predecessor, Scott Ryan, left the company in March 2022, and Filev hopes that he can reinvigorate the revenue-generating engine in the coming weeks and months. Clark joined this month from InMoment, where he tripled revenue growth over 3 years. Before that, he was in various sales roles at SiriusDecisions, starting as one of its first employees as an account executive and rising to CRO to lead a sales operation that spanned five countries until its acquisition by Forrester Research.
Clark will be responsible for extending the use cases of Wrike to new industries with an expanding global salesforce. What is missing from the press release is the extent of the role. Will it include the partner ecosystem? And CROs sometimes include marketing. Wrike has two senior leaders in Marketing, according to LinkedIn. Esther (Kim) Flammer, Head of Wrike Marketing at Citrix and Frances Ward, VP of Corporate Marketing at Wrike. There does not appear to be a CMO at this time in the organisation.
Clark commented: “I’m thrilled to join Wrike at a time when the company is looking to expand its business to more verticals. I couldn’t pass up the chance to join a high-energy team in a competitive space and help them drive Wrike’s sales strategy to meet the growing market demand for work management software. We’re going to make this an incredibly successful next chapter for the organisation and our customers.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Leadership change is often a sign of success by the previous leaders as they head off to new and bigger roles. The acquisition by Citrix will also have caused some disruption with new guardrails in place that CXOs will have to adhere to. Wrike has attracted two experienced leaders who can lead them through the next growth stage. In Scott, they have a CFO experienced in M&A, and in Clark, while US-based, he has led international sales teams. He will understand some of the international markets that the company operates in. What will be interesting to see is what funding Wrike has available for acquisitions and which industries Scott will target in his new role.
