FinancialForce’s Tod Nielsen Announces Retirement; Company Appoints Scott Brown as President and CEO

Former Teradata and Cisco Executive Takes the Helm at Leading Cloud ERP and Professional Services Automation Company

FinancialForce, the leading customer-centric ERP and #1 professional services automation (PSA) business suite, announced the appointment of veteran sales and customer success leader Scott Brown as President and Chief Executive Officer. The appointment comes during a year FinancialForce has expanded internationally and launched major product updates that are driving user adoption, productivity, and business agility for customers.

FinancialForce CEO Tod Nielsen, who announced his retirement from FinancialForce effective January, will focus on supporting the transition. During Nielsen’s 4-year tenure, FinancialForce grew to become the number-one adopted and rated PSA company as recognized by numerous analysts and research organizations*, and the top ERP for services organizations on the Salesforce platform.

Brown joins FinancialForce after serving as Chief Revenue Officer for publicly-traded cloud data analytics leader Teradata. As a FinancialForce customer at Teradata, Brown led 5,000 professionals delivering $1.8 billion in revenue. Previously, he held global sales and customer success roles at Cisco for 22 years, most recently leading 3,400 sales, engineering, and customer success teams with over $10 billion in annual bookings. Brown also spent 10 years running sales for ERP vendors System Software Associates and Effective Management Systems.

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“FinancialForce wrote the book on better ERP and PSA for today’s cloud-centric, services focused companies, which often juggle multiple revenue streams,” said Brown. “Under Tod’s leadership, FinancialForce led the evolution of the modern business suite to connect the front and back office for a 360-degree integrated view of your customers. This drives visibility across functions and enhances business agility.”

“My priorities are growth and customer success, based on my experience serving thousands of organizations of all types,” Brown continued. “FinancialForce helps businesses quickly recognize revenue, minimize revenue leakage, and forecast scenarios in radically changing environments, positioning the company to transform how businesses manage resources. This value has important implications for the total addressable market. As a customer, I saw the power of the platform and I am excited to take FinancialForce forward on its growth journey.”

Brown plans to apply his significant operational experience scaling global organizations to accelerate FinancialForce’s growth. At Teradata, Brown drove all aspects of worldwide go-to-market including sales, engineering, customer success, partner ecosystem and global consulting–for exceptional customer experience. As Senior Vice President, Global Virtual Sales and Customer Success at Cisco, Brown spearheaded entry into the software and subscription market. As SVP, Global Customer Success, Brown helped customers increase value from Cisco and its partner ecosystem and dramatically improved renewal rates.

“Scott has the right experience running and scaling organizations, increasing customer success, and growing revenue, to lead FinancialForce on a decisive path forward,” said Kevin Costello, Chairman of the Board, FinancialForce. “FinancialForce has phenomenal product offerings; outstanding go-to-market, customer success, and operations teams; and a world-class partner ecosystem. I have had the privilege of working with the strong and talented executive team and can attest that Scott is an excellent cultural fit with a focus on servant leadership and a bias for stability. I would like to thank Tod Nielsen for the exceptional leadership that has set the stage for accelerated growth.”

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“Having the opportunity to grow the company into the leader it is today has been the capstone of a rewarding 36-year career in technology,” said Nielsen. “As our third CEO in 11 years, Scott is the right leader to take the company into its next phase of growth and customer success, and I look forward to working with Scott as he takes the helm.”

Brown’s appointment comes at a time of growth, product innovation, and international expansion for FinancialForce. This year, the company introduced major product updates leveraging Salesforce analytics and Lightning Experience. It opened an office in The Netherlands to support growth in Continental Europe, while forging new partnerships in the region. Its Australia business saw record growth. FinancialForce also announced a strategic partnership with Gainsight and an integration with Plaid. 

“I am thrilled to welcome Scott to FinancialForce,” said FinancialForce board member Jennifer Lagaly, who is also Senior Vice President of Sales at Salesforce. “I’m most excited about Scott’s time as a FinancialForce customer, where he experienced the force multiplier effect of FinancialForce and Salesforce  first hand. He brings significant credentials in working with customers to extend the value they receive.”

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