FinancialForce has appointed John “JT” Turner as Chief Revenue Officer. Turner takes over the role from Tony Kender, who left in June after two years of leading FinancialForce through a period of growth that saw a refocus to delivering its Service-as-a-Business (SaaB) platform and strong international growth that his predecessors never quite managed. Kender resigned in June to take a break, and while he recently picked up a board appointment at Login VSI, it will probably not be long before he returns to a full-time role.
In Turner, Scott Brown, President and CEO at FinancialForce, has found an experienced leader who has held senior roles, including Chief Revenue Officer at Red Canary (Chief Revenue), four years at Google, where he headed Sales for several subsidiaries and product lines, all in the security sector.
Before that, Turner also spent 5 years at Trinet, the HR full-service HR solutions vendor, as SVP of Sales. At TriNet, he helped the company through its IPO to NYSE: TNET. While his roles before and after Trinet were in the security sector, the experience at TriNet should be analogous to FinancialForce in terms of product.
Scott Brown commented, “Customer success is absolutely core to our business at FinancialForce. With his proven leadership and hands-on management approach, John will help to drive rapid growth for our Services-as-a-Business platform while ensuring a world-class customer experience. John’s track record of consistently exceeding targets and developing successful sales models for high growth markets will enable him to make an immediate impact on FinancialForce and contribute to our aggressive growth plans.”
Services-as-a-Business
Turner joins as the company messaging evolved to offering its Services-as-a-Business platform. It delivers a complete opportunity to cash platform with Salesforce CRM, Services CPQ, PSA, ERP and Customer Success on a single platform. It offers customers a 360 view of every customer and the business operation supporting them through a single lens. Built on a single platform, Salesforce, FinancialForce has built up a customer base of more than 1,300 customers that include brands such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Elastic, Cisco, DocuSign and Splunk.
Turner commented, “I am thrilled to join FinancialForce at this exciting time in the company’s growth trajectory. My passion is building championship teams and unlocking talent.
“I am honored to have this opportunity at FinancialForce, and I’m looking forward to meeting with customers, prospects and partners about the many ways our Services-as-a-Business platform can add value and unleash their talent.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Brown has not wasted any time in luring a new CRO. That Turner was lured from a Managed Detection and Response company growing at triple the market growth rate of its sector is impressive. It indicates the success that Turner had at Red Canary and also the potential and pulling power of FinancialForce as it is on the cusp of hypergrowth.
The company has continued to build out and focus efforts on building a partner ecosystem, especially in Europe. Elsewhere, there are potential opportunities with the acquisition of long-term partner Nubik to Deloitte Canada. Is there a bigger relationship that Turner and FinancialForce can leverage with the global SI?
Turner himself is enthused about the deal, stating in a LinkedIn post, “FinancialForce was created to address the real problem of how to manage, lead, and ultimately unlock the potential of Services TEAMs. They were one of the first Enterprise Applications built on the Salesforce platform…and are still innovating. More than 1,300 customers worldwide with a high satisfaction rating. Cultural values of Customer Obsessed, Act & Own, Relentlessly Innovate, Champion Each Other…all came through during my interactions. Let’s go!”
It is now time to watch where FinancialForce will go and how Turner will lead them.
