Hootsuite Appoints Former Zendesk Chief Operating Officer Tom Keiser to Chief Executive Officer

Founder & CEO Ryan Holmes moves to Chairman of the Board

Tom Keiser Hootsuite announced Tom Keiser, former COO of Zendesk, has been appointed as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer. Keiser brings more than 30 years of global technology and business transformation experience from both retail and technology sectors to his new role. Ryan Holmes, founder and CEO, will pass the torch to Keiser on July 6, 2020, and remain Chairman of the company’s board.

“Hootsuite is the pioneer in social media management software, and continues to lead the pack — I couldn’t be more excited and proud to join the company at this pivotal point in its journey,” said Keiser. “I have tremendous respect for the global brand and enterprise Ryan and the team have built for over a decade while maintaining a strong company culture. Throughout my career I’ve learned how impactful a passionate and aligned culture, product, and team can be. I look forward to building off the momentum created here at Hootsuite to help lead the company into its next stage of growth.”

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In Keiser’s four years at Zendesk, he helped drive the company’s annual revenue from $200 million to nearly $1 billion, while scaling operations from approximately 1,000 employees to now approaching 4,000. Prior to finding his niche in SaaS, Keiser held top roles in both operations and IT at major retail, finance and tech companies including The Gap Inc., L Brands, and Ernst & Young, and Capgemini.

Keiser’s leadership style, deep operational focus, and breadth of experience in sales and the customer experience are well suited to Hootsuite’s needs for building strong, scalable business and technology operations, with a focus on customer success. His personal alignment with Hootsuite’s B Corp values further confirmed he was the right person to lead the company through its next stage of growth.

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“Tom stood out from the start as a rare leader who has been successful in building high-performance teams that lift each other up while improving the customer experience and increasing the speed of value delivery,” said Holmes. “It’s with pride and confidence that I hand over the reins to Tom and watch excitedly from a new seat as Hootsuite drives into its next era of growth and potential.”

Hootsuite was founded in Vancouver, Canada in 2008 in response to Holmes’ agency, Invoke Media’s growing need to scale and manage social media posts for its clients. In his more than decade long tenure as CEO of Hootsuite, Holmes has grown Hootsuite from a small start up into the world’s leading social media management platform supporting more than 200,000 organizations and 18 million customers with around 1,000 employees across the globe. Holmes will play a strategic role in supporting Keisier’s transition into the CEO position and continue at Hootsuite as Chairman of the Board.

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