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Baynote, a leader in personalization and digital marketing optimization, today announced that former SAP executive Doug Merritt has been named president and CEO of the company, effective immediately. Merritt replaces Mike Backlund, who will continue to work with Baynote as SVP of Worldwide Field Operations. Concurrently, Baynote announced that it has raised $13 million in Series C Financing led by SingTel Innov8, the investment arm of Singapore Telecommunications Limited.
Merritt, who brings more than 25 years of software industry experience and has worked with some of the most successful brands in the sector, will lead Baynote as the company begins a period of significant investment and rapid growth within the emerging personalization and digital marketing optimization sector. For the past five years Doug held multiple executive titles at SAP, most recently as EVP Global On Demand Applications, where he was also a corporate officer and member of the Executive Council for SAP AG. Doug’s other positions at SAP include EVP Premier Customer Network (2009-2010) and EVP Business User Applications (2005-2008).
“After a diligent search, we’re thrilled to announce that Doug Merritt has joined Baynote as our new president and CEO,” said Jack Jia, founder and chairman, Baynote. “As pressure mounts for digital marketers and online retailers to rapidly adapt to their customers’ constantly changing expectations – on the web and across digital channels – a huge opportunity lies ahead for Baynote. Doug brings the perfect mix of experience in market strategy, product innovation and sales development to help lead us through what we anticipate will be an explosive period of growth for the company over the next several years.”
Among Merritt’s notable accomplishments are taking SAP’s On Demand solutions division from a static level of new customer acquisition to an astounding growth rate in excess of 6X in less than a year. While at SAP, Doug also delivered greater than 100 percent revenue attainment across the company’s largest and most strategic accounts and crafted a series of divisions that generated in excess of 10x revenue growth over three years. Prior to SAP, Doug was at PeopleSoft, where he led the company’s $1 billion Human Capital Management division as Group Vice President/General Manager. Before that, he was founder, president, and CEO of Icarian, Inc., which was later acquired by Workstream Corp., a pioneer in the online human capital talent management category.
“As companies invest more and more of their marketing budgets across new media channels, digital marketing executives demand better, more scalable ways to target their customers with the most relevant content and offers,” said Doug Merritt, president and CEO, Baynote. “I was attracted to Baynote for two main reasons: its innovative technology that allows marketers and merchandisers to automatically optimize the customer experience across digital channels in real-time; and the founding team’s ability to execute on a very compelling vision. Mike led Baynote to another stellar year of revenue growth, approximately 75 percent in 2010 after an increase of over 100 percent in 2009; and I’m excited to continue working with him and the rest of the team to help us reach new heights in 2011 and beyond.”
About Baynote
Baynote (baynote.com) provides personalization and digital marketing optimization solutions that power the adaptive web, an emerging standard in customer experience that is always personal, relevant and convenient. By observing engagement patterns among like-minded individuals to understand user intent, the Baynote Adaptive Web Suite™ automatically optimizes and adapts the online experience, leading to increased conversions, revenue and loyalty. Baynote’s customers include: AT&T, CA, Dell, Expedia, Intuit, Fox, Urban Outfitters and VEVO. The company is based in San Jose, Calif. with additional offices in the U.K. and Germany.
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