Sueltz will today begin work at the online CRM vendor as executive vice president and president of technology marketing and systems.
Speaking exclusively to ComputerWire last night, Sueltz said she would head-up development of salesforce.com’s strategy and products, helping the company scale into enterprises – a direction in which salesforce.com wishes to grow.
It’s not just about small and medium sized business, Sueltz said. We are going to grow that into the enterprise. Sueltz will also help take salesforce.com public.
I’ve got the skills to help salesforce.com scale the company and a lot of operational experience. They have sheer raw talent, but my job is to help scale that.
She said salesforce.com initially approached her through a head-hunter, but her last-minute decision was taken to avoid impacting Sun’s quiet period and salesforce.com’s IPO filing.
Sueltz, an industry veteran with 20-years’ experience at AT&T and IBM before Sun, joined Sun in 1999 as executive vice president of its software systems group, in charge of Solaris, Java, XML and the then fledgling Sun ONE strategy.
Sun’s software, though, was largely overlooked by a systems-dominated mindset of senior management, until executive vice president Jonathan Schwartz took over from Sueltz in 2002.
After software, Sueltz became executive vice president of Sun services, in charge of consulting, education and support, driving partnering. Salesforce.com is one of Sun’s partners.
Sun’s Schwartz, appearing at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, California, yesterday, said Sueltz had moved onto a good opportunity.
He added, though, Sun’s overall strategy would likely be unaffected by Sueltz’s departure. The convergence of software and services goes beyond Pat, Schwartz said.
Sueltz’s responsibilities at Sun will transition temporarily to Marissa Peterson, chief customer advocate and executive vice president, Sun said. Paterson will also continue her regular duties.
This article is based on material originally published by ComputerWire
