Certinia has announced the appointment of Raju Malhotra as its new Chief Product & Technology Officer. The appointment sees the departure of Dan Brown, who decided to leave after nearly seven years in the role. It will be interesting to see where Brown heads next, whether a start-up or enterprise vendor.
The announcement came in a blog, with D J Paoni, CEO of Certinia, commenting on Brown’s departure, saying, “We’d like to extend our deepest gratitude to Dan Brown, who will be departing Certinia. Dan’s invaluable contributions to Certinia’s journey and unwavering dedication to our customers have set a high standard for innovation and product excellence that will continue to guide Certinia in the years ahead.”
Brown himself commented, “I am incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished during my time at Certinia. From our groundbreaking advancements in Services CPQ and CS Cloud to the invaluable relationships we’ve built with clients like Salesforce, Philips, HPE, and many others, it’s been a thrilling ride. The team’s dedication to innovation, customer satisfaction, and robust, reliable products has set a new standard in the industry. I am confident that Raju Malhotra will continue to drive this momentum forward, bringing fresh perspectives and ideas. I leave with immense gratitude and excitement for the future ahead.”
Over the last few months, the Certinia exec team has almost completely changed with Paoni bringing in familiar faces in most of the positions. Malhotra will now play a key role in the direction of Certinia’s product portfolio. It will be interesting to see where it heads now.
Paoni concluded, “As we embark on this next era for our product organization with Raju at the helm, we do so with confidence and excitement for the possibilities that lie ahead. Together, we look forward to building upon the strength of our product foundation, embracing new opportunities with technologies like AI, and continuing to deliver exceptional value for our customers.”
Who is Raju Malhotra
Malhotra joins Certinia from PAR Technology, where he has been Chief Product and Technology Officer for the last four and a half years. He brings deep experience in driving product strategy and delivering customer-centric solutions. During his tenure at PAR, the firm bought Punchh Inc., a leader in loyalty and guest engagement solutions. That experience bodes well for the Customer Success solution that Certinia should be launching in the fall.
Importantly, Malhotra also spent a year at Salesforce as SVP and General Manager of Salesforce Marketing Cloud. He will, therefore, be familiar with the Salesforce technology stack. While at Salesforce, he led the development of the Customer Data platform.
Prior to Salesforce he was Chief Product and Technology Officer at Khoros, part of Vista Equity Partners. He also spent twelve years in product leadership roles at Microsoft. Both Brown and Malhotra are alumni of Microsoft, where they worked for five years simultaneously.
Enterprise Times: What does this mean?
Certinia is about to start a new era with the arrival of Malhotra. Malhotra will now focus on the Certinia product suite that automates the “opportunity to renewal cycle” for services businesses. It will be interesting to see how he evolves the direction of the technology and company as it moves forward under the leadership of DJ Paoni and the backing of Haveli Investments. Brown will be missed at Certinia and leaves a big pair of shoes to fill.
