The 10 Coolest Business Intelligence and Data Analytics CEOs
The chief executive officer (CEO) is the highest-ranked executive in a company. The CEO has many responsibilities, ranging from setting strategy and direction to configuring the company’s culture, values and behavior. The chief executive is also responsible for building an executive leadership team and allocating funds to match the company’s goals and priorities. Some CEOs have even more on their plate, especially those at the head of startups. Oftentimes they are responsible for more than just the traditional duties, and can include anything from brewing coffee to marketing their product.
Solutions Review has compiled this list of the 10 coolest business intelligence and data analytics CEOs based on a number of factors, including the company’s market share, growth trajectory and the impact each individual has had on its presence in what is becoming the most competitive global software market. Some of the top data and analytics CEOs have been with their respective companies since day one while others are serial entrepreneurs. One thing that stands out is the diversity of skills that these chief executives bring to the table, each with a unique perspective that allows their company to thrive.
Adam Selipsky, Tableau
Adam Selipsky is the President and CEO at Tableau. He sets the vision and direction for Tableau, and oversees all company strategy, business activities and operations. Selipsky spent over a decade building Amazon Web Services, helping grow AWS from a startup into a multi-billion dollar business and establish it as the undisputed market leader in cloud computing. Prior to joining Amazon, he was an executive at RealNetworks, leading the video subscription and media player division. Before that, he was a Principal at Mercer Management Consulting, a strategy consulting firm. He has also has been a Member of Advisory Board of PivotLink Corp. since January 2008.
Sudheesh Nair, ThoughtSpot
Sudheesh is the CEO of ThoughtSpot. Prior to ThoughtSpot, he was President of Nutanix, an enterprise cloud infrastructure provider. During his tenure at Nutanix, he was responsible for leading the sales organization and helped grow the company to over $1 billion in revenue and $9 billion in market capitalization. His main focus is building teams of enablers and disruptors who believe that innovation can, and should, happen in every function and at every level. Nair has also worked in various field-facing roles for many California startups including XIV, ONStor and Zambeel.
Amir Orad, Sisense
Amir Orad is a prominent CEO, entrepreneur, and big-data technology thought leader. Prior to his current role as CEO of Sisense, Orad was CEO of NICE Actimize, the financial crime and analytics software leader that monitors billions of transactions for the world’s top institutions. Prior to Actimize, he was Co-founder and CMO of Cyota Inc, a cyber analytics-powered company that was acquired by RSA Security in 2005. Orad came to cybersecurity from the world of cyberwarfare; he was recruited while still in high school by the elite 8200 division of the Israeli army, which brings together the best minds in Israel to build cutting-edge technologies to protect national security.
Dean Stoecker, Alteryx
Dean Stoecker is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and a founding partner of Alteryx. Alteryx is a 20 year overnight success with Stoecker leading the company through solid organic growth, three rounds of funding and a successful IPO in March of 2017 to deliver a transformational experience to customers of all sizes. Dean’s unique vision and strategy around bringing a code-free and code-friendly experience unleashes the line-of-business analyst from the menial and mundane to truly loving their work again.
Frank Bien, Looker
With over 20 years growing and leading technology companies, Frank Bien built his career on nurturing strong corporate culture and highly efficient teams.. Prior to Looker, Frank was SVP of Strategy for storage vendor Virsto (acquired by VMware) and VP of Strategic Alliances at big-data pioneer Greenplum, leading their acquisition by EMC (now Pivotal). He led Product Marketing and Strategy at early scale-out data warehousing company Sensage and was VP of Solution Sales at Vignette/OpenText. Earlier in his career he held executive roles at Dell and the Federal Reserve. He has a Bachelor of Science in Criminology from California State University.
Josh James, Domo
Josh founded Domo in 2010 to help CEOs and other leaders change the way they do business and obtain value from the tens of billions of dollars spent on traditional business intelligence systems. Before founding Domo, Josh was the CEO of Omniture, which he co-founded in 1996 and took public in 2006; and from 2006-2009, he was the youngest CEO of a publicly traded company. Josh is the founder of CEO.com, a resource to help founders and CEOs stay up to date with what’s happening at the executive level across top industries He also founded Silicon Slopes, a non-profit initiative designed to promote the interests of Utah’s high-tech industry.
Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy
Michael Saylor has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer since founding MicroStrategy in November 1989, and has served as President since January 2016, a position he previously held from November 1989 to November 2000 and from January 2005 to October 2012. Prior to that, Saylor was employed by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company as a venture manager from 1988 to 1989 and by Federal Group, Inc. as a consultant from 1987 to 1988. Mr. Saylor received an S.B. in Aeronautics and Astronautics and an S.B. in Science, Technology and Society from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Mike Capone, Qlik
Capone leads Qlik’s mission to be a leader in the Analytics Economy as CEO. In addition to his extensive experience in high-growth SaaS companies, Mike was recently the COO of Medidata Solutions, a publicly-traded provider of SaaS analytics solutions to the Healthcare, Life Sciences and Pharma markets. Prior to Medidata, Mike held senior leadership positions at ADP including Corporate Vice President of Product Development, CIO, and SVP & General Manager of ADP’s global outsourcing business. Capone holds a bachelor of science degree in computer science from Dickinson College and a master of business administration degree in finance from Pace University.
Dan Streetman, TIBCO Software
Dan Streetman is the Chief Executive Officer of TIBCO. Dan is an expert in driving growth initiatives, innovation and customer success, and he has been part of significant digital transformations at BMC Software, Salesforce, C3, Siebel and others. He is a strong advocate for creating cultures of innovation and teamwork and he honed his leadership skills as an Army officer, where he served in Iraq combat operations and earned decorations including the Bronze Star medal. He actively advocates for veterans and serves on several non-profit boards supporting veteran education and employment.
Omri Kohl, Pyramid Analytics
As CEO and co-founder, Omri Kohl leads Pyramid Analytics strategy and operations, bringing his deep understanding of the BI market and valuable management experience to a company at the forefront of today’s fast-growing BI industry. Since its founding in 2008, Kohl has achieved significant market success and accelerated customer growth for the company, epitomizing the term disruptor through his introduction of the BI Office and Pyramid 2018 products, and their ground-breaking analytics OS technology.