Lifesize Appoints Former 8×8 President, Cisco and Polycom Senior Executive Kim Niederman as New CEO

Announcement is next strategic phase in combining innovative cloud contact center and video meeting solutions for the new hybrid work paradigm

CEO move follows recent hires of Ashish Seth as general manager of contact center solutions from NICE inContact and other sales and marketing executives from Talkdesk and Vonage

Lifesize, Inc., a leader and global provider of cloud contact center and video meeting solutions in over 100 countries with 1700 channel partners, announced that its board of directors has appointed 30-year communications technology industry leader Kim Niederman as its new chief executive officer, effective immediately. Niederman will succeed Craig Malloy, one of the company’s original founders, who returned to the company as CEO in 2014.

Today’s announcement is the next phase by the company to build an end-to-end enterprise communications offering, which started with the acquisition and merger of Lifesize with Serenova –– both Gartner-recognized cloud solutions in the meeting solutions and contact center-as-a-service (CCaaS) markets, respectively. This hire is expected to continue the company’s plan to transition its core products to become more open, interoperable and secure to meet the needs of the hybrid workplace.

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Niederman is a highly respected CEO and industry veteran, having been president at 8×8 and having held CEO roles at FreeWave Technologies, Anagran and LongBoard, along with senior executive positions at Polycom and Cisco. He is known as a growth accelerator who has successfully restructured product and go-to-market strategies to scale profitably and gain market share.

Niederman’s appointment follows recent strategic hires by the company to bolster its CCaaS product portfolio to meet the recent surge in demand in 2020. Last week, the company added Ashish Seth, former vice president of products at NICE inContact, as general manager of contact center solutions. This accompanies recent executive additions in sales and marketing from Talkdesk and Vonage as well as the recent release of new product capabilities delivering automation, AI and self-service to its Lifesize CxEngage contact center customers.

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“Kim is a proven communications and contact center technology leader with a track record of innovation, go-to-market restructuring and operational execution,” said Ryan Wald, chairman of the board at Lifesize. “2020 was a transitional year at Lifesize, and we are confident that Kim has the vision and expertise required to take advantage of the recent explosive growth in its target markets. We deeply appreciate Craig Malloy for his leadership and significant contributions to the company.”

“With additional investment in product innovation geared towards industry-specific use cases and a continued focus on customer success, Lifesize has an exciting opportunity to take advantage of fast-evolving hybrid work environments served by our cloud contact center and video meeting solutions,” said Kim Niederman, CEO of Lifesize. “The company has a strong leadership team, loyal customers and a solid partner network that we will count on as we pursue a new growth trajectory.”

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