Alteryx has appointed Michelle Huff as its new Chief Marketing Officer. The appointment follows the departure of Keith Pearce in December 2023. It reunites Huff with CEO Andy MacMillan, who joined the company in December 2024. At UserTesting, Huff served as CMO while MacMillan was CEO.
They also worked together in the same roles at Act-On Software and also served together at both Salesforce, Oracle and Stellent before that. In fact, they have worked in the same company for most of the last twenty years, so it is little surprise that MacMillan turned to Huff for his new head of marketing.
A key hire for Alteryx as it shifts gears
Her appointment comes at a pivotal time for Alteryx. The firm has just launched a new unified platform, Alteryx One, which brings together analytics, AI, and cloud capabilities with enterprise-grade governance and flexibility. MacMillan has also overseen the creation of a new vision. A future of AI-powered analytics aimed at solving one of the biggest barriers to enterprise AI success: the lack of accurate, governed data.
Huff will lead and build a marketing strategy aligned with the vision to promote the new platform. Her responsibilities will include product marketing, brand positioning, customer advocacy and demand generation. She will likely hit the ground running having left UserTesting in October 2024. She will no doubt have been preparing for this next role, after some time off with her family.
Her focus will be to grow the brand and accelerate its market momentum. She will reunite the dream team with Macmillan, following its acquisition by private equity after slower revenue growth in March 2024. The appointment brings an experience CMO to Alteryx.
Under Huff’s leadership, the company aims to accelerate market momentum and overall business growth globally. Her appointment signals the company’s strategic focus on strengthening its global presence, elevating brand awareness, and deepening customer engagement.
Andy MacMillan, Chief Executive Officer at Alteryx, commented, “Michelle is a world-class leader. I’ve always had a genuine appreciation for her ability to clearly and simply communicate value and positioning. Michelle is an exceptional executive, and I’m looking forward to seeing the impact she’ll make at Alteryx.”
Who is Michelle Huff
Huff joined Alteryx after a six-year stint at UserTesting, where she helped grow the company from $40M to $300M in ARR. She also gained experience in acquisitions following the merger of UserTesting and UserZoom.
It will be interesting to see whether Clearlake and Insight Partners will back further acquisitions by Alteryx in the future. She also led the marketing function through its IPO, an experience that may be repeated if the investors are looking to relist Alteryx.
Alongside MacMillan, she was also CMO at Act-On Software, the CRM vendor. Her experience at Salesforce, where she was responsible for Data.com, first as VP of Product Marketing and later as VP & GM of Data.com, might be the most relevant for Alteryx. She spent four years at Salesforce after five years in product management at Oracle. She began her career at Stellent, an enterprise content management software provider.
Huff commented, “I am energized to join Alteryx at such a pivotal moment for both the company and the broader industry. What sets Alteryx apart is its commitment to empowering enterprises around the world to get more value from their data through analytics, AI-driven automation, and true data democratization.
“With a customer-first mindset and a passion for building high-performing marketing teams, I am ready to help shape the next phase of growth at Alteryx.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
MacMillan has once again turned to Huff to be his trusted CMO. Since joining, he has made several CSuite appointments, building a team that he hopes to invigorate Alteryx with. Other hires including:
- Nali Giliana as Chief of Staff and Strategy
- Jon Pexton as Chief Financial Officer
- Steven Birdsall as Chief Revenue Officer
- Ben Canning as Chief Product Officer
In addition, Marie Holmes was appointed Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand to Drive Regional Growth. With a new vision and platform, Macmillan has made changes and overseen a revamp of Alteryx already. It will be interesting to see how Huff now wraps that into messaging and brings the brand to market.
