Mike Piispanen and Derek Swaim Provide Operational Excellence and Business Development Expertise to Accelerate Growth Strategies

Validity, the most trusted name in customer data quality, announced the appointment of Mike Piispanen as Chief Operating Officer, along with the addition of Global Business Development and Strategic Partnership responsibilities to Derek Swaim’s role as Executive Vice President of Corporate Development. Validity has experienced unprecedented commercial success, with four acquisitions in the last year and a half alone, and sustained triple digit organic growth. As members of the Validity executive team, Piispanen and Swaim will help manage Validity’s continued expansion and oversee strategies that deliver future innovations for data management, sales productivity, and email marketing optimization.

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Prior to joining Validity, Piispanen served as Chief Process and Operations officer at Cision Ltd., where he led the development, enhancement, and optimization of business operations, business process engineering, and merger and acquisition activities. Before Cision, he spent 16 years serving in a number of roles within Nasdaq’s Corporate Solutions business area, guiding and leading businesses on their journeys from small start-up through acquisitions, mergers, and carve-outs. In his last role at Nasdaq, Piispanen served as the Global Head of the Public Relations and Digital Media verticals, where he oversaw a $200M global business area that served 10,000 enterprises around the globe and was supported by over 600 sales, product, and service professionals. 

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“Validity is at an exciting point in its development, which is why I felt like it was the perfect time for me to jump on board,” said Piispanen. “With products and applications that are already well-known and well-loved worldwide, the company is poised to do great things in 2020 and beyond, and I’m excited to lead a team that will be such an integral part of that success.” 

“I’m so pleased to welcome Mike onboard,” said Validity CEO Mark Briggs. “We have experienced such tremendous growth over the last year and a half. With hundreds of employees now spread throughout the world serving our tens of thousands of customers, it was certainly time to build executive muscle focused on operational excellence. Further, I’m thrilled with the leadership Derek continues to provide as he brings innovation and creativity to our partnerships and welcomes new companies into the Validity family. I’m confident that our Global Business Development team, and all of our many partners worldwide, are already benefiting from his outstanding leadership.”

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