The former VP and principal analyst at Forrester Research, Dr Stefan Ried, is to join Unify as Head of Technology Strategy and CTO, the vendor announced today.
Dr Reid, who has a PHD in Physics, spent the early parts of his career with Intershop Communications, a German ecommerce software firm, before joining SAP as the SVP of Netweaver Product Management.
"I’m thrilled to help further drive Unify’s transformation to a leading software and cloud player," he said.
"Business has moved to the cloud and communication, collaboration, and business processes need to work seamlessly across the cloud, and on-premise. I am looking forward to re-positioning Unify in the new ecosystem of technology vendors and the emerging developer community."
Peter Kurpick, Executive VP of Unify’s Product House, added: "With his unique industry knowledge and technology product management experience, Ried’s broad view and insights into latest technology trends will help accelerate our transformation to a pure play software company.
The appointment comes as the job market for IT professionals undergoes a wave of changes.
Earlier this week, Oracle added former US defence secretary and former CIA director Leon Panetta to its board of directors, while SAP snapped up Software AG’s COO Darren Roos for its EMEA operations.
Meanwhile, the UK and Ireland managing director of EMC, James Petter, is to leave the company to join Pure Storage as EMEA VP.
