Infographic: Recent Salesforce Executive Changes

Late last year, four Salesforce executives announced they were leaving Salesforce, catching the attention of investors, competitors, and customers while leaving many wondering what this means for Salesforce in 2023. These executive departures came at a time when their revenue guidance came up short and CEO Marc Benioff provided little insight to their FY2024 goals.

As a customer, it is critical to understand the hierarchy at Salesforce to ensure you go into your negotiations as informed as possible. Creating and maintaining relationships with Salesforce executives also helps ensure a strong relationship with Salesforce that can be leveraged to negotiate more competitive deals. This is especially important with the recent announcement that Salesforce list prices will be increasing in August.

Here is high-level summary of the most notable Salesforce executive changes over the past several months.

Recent Salesforce Executive Changes

• Chief Revenue Officer: Miguel Milano was appointed as new CRO. He is returning to Salesforce after a stint at Celonis. He previously spent more than 10 years at Salesforce as President of EMEA, APAC, and LACA.
• President & Chairwoman Advisory: Sarah Franklin, is leaving her role of Chief Marketing Officer to step into the role of President & Chairwoman Advisory after 15+ years at Salesforce. She’s replacing Alex Dayon who plans to retire after 15 years at Salesforce.
• Chief Marketing Officer: Ariel Kelman who previously served as VP of Product Marketing at Salesforce from 2005-2011, returns to Salesforce as CMO after gaining experience at AWS and Oracle.
• Chief Business Officer and Chief of Staff to Marc Benioff: Kendall Collins rejoins Salesforce after stints at multiple other companies. He previously spent 12 years at Salesforce in various roles from 2004 – 2016.
• CO-CEO: Bret Taylor stepped down as Salesforce Co-CEO after 6 years at Salesforce, making Marc Benioff sole CEO once again. There is a growing expectation that Brian Millham, current President and COO who recently took on several new responsibilities, will eventually replace Marc Benioff as CEO. Only time will tell if that comes to fruition.
• Slack CEO: Stewart Butterfield was replaced by Lidiane Jones as Slack CEO after 1 year at Salesforce.
• Chief Strategy Officer: Gavin Patterson stepped down from role of Chief Strategy Officer after 3 years at Salesforce, most of which was spent as Chief Revenue Officer.
• Tableau CEO: Mark Nelson stepped down after 3 years at Salesforce and the decision to fold Tableau into Salesforce.

Adam Mansfield is UpperEdge’s Salesforce expert, helping clients negotiate best-in-class deals with Salesforce on a daily basis. Learn more about our Salesforce advisory services to see how UpperEdge can help your organization achieve competitive commercial terms and a strategic relationship with Salesforce.