Thought Industries Promotes Robin Wadsworth to CEO, Succeeding Co-founder Barry Kelly

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Feb 29, 2024, 11:30 ET

Currently Serving as President, Wadsworth Brings Over 30 years' Experience in SaaS Leadership

Kelly moves to Role of Founder / Board Member

BOSTON, Feb. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Thought Industries, the leading enterprise learning platform for customer, partner and professional training today announced that Robin Wadsworth has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer.

The move, which takes effect April 1^st, 2024, will see Ms. Wadsworth move from her current role as President – one which she has held since joining Thought Industries in early 2020. Kelly, who has served as CEO since co-founding Thought Industries in 2013, will move to the role of founder/board member. "Thought Industries is a special place, and this is a tremendous opportunity and an even greater privilege. Our team is dedicated, hard-working and second to none. What has been accomplished these last ten years is a testament to that effort," said Wadsworth on the news. "I am ready and excited for this next step, and I am looking forward to leading the company through this next phase of growth."

The announced transition is part of a succession plan that has involved Kelly seeking potential successors, bringing the right person on board and seeing that person excel. Kelly and Wadsworth have worked methodically together over several years to build out the executive leadership team and strategic growth plan to ensure values were aligned.

"It has been an enormous privilege to lead the company over the last 10-years. I am incredibly grateful to our employees, customers and partners and all of those who made the journey so rewarding. This is a great opportunity for me to step out of the day-to-day. Robin is an incredible executive and I know she is going to lead our company to continued success," reflected Barry Kelly, Co-Founder.

A seasoned Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) executive with more than 30 years of experience, Wadsworth has led the company's worldwide sales, marketing, operations, and customer-facing organizations. In her time since joining, Thought Industries has scaled its sales and customer success teams; strategically repositioned its go-to-market plan; and seen record growth in areas of customers and revenue.

As CEO, Wadsworth will continue to focus on growth and priorities for the company's upcoming fiscal year to ensure continued customer and product innovation success.

"I am eager to build on my relationships with our customers, partners, and tremendous employees as we soar to new heights. We have the right team at the right time focused on execution against a plan to scale the business and remain the leader in global customer, partner, and professional training," said Wadsworth.

Prior to Thought Industries, Wadsworth led the go-to-market strategy at PROS, resulting in 48 percent subscription revenue growth. She was also an integral member of the leadership team at BlackLine Inc., a cloud-based finance and accounting automation company. During her tenure, the team delivered revenue growth from $40M to more than $225M and achieved a successful IPO valuing the company at $2.5bn. She has held previous leadership positions at Infor, FICO, IBM (Sterling Commerce) and Computer Associates.

"Robin's move to CEO is a reflection of the growth she has driven since joining through her peerless go-to-market experience. Her knowledge of evolving strategies while maintaining innovation sets her apart. These are all factors which have played a key part in developing the succession plan," said Kelly.

"I'm really proud of what Thought Industries is today – companies are always a massive part of the life of any Founder. I'm really excited about where the company will go next under Robin's leadership and its next phase of growth," he added.

Thought Industries Chairman Chris Murphy said, "Thought Industries has more than tripled its revenues since Luminate Capital made its investment in the Fall of 2019 and the company is very well positioned for future growth. This succession plan has been developed over the past 4 years and the organization is well prepared for the next phase of the company. Robin is prepared and well positioned to assume the role of CEO. Her experience, energy and commitment to excellence makes her the perfect leader for the next period of acceleration and growth for the company. We are very appreciative of everything Barry has accomplished since co-founding the company. His incredible strategic thinking combined with unwavering commitment to success has had an immeasurable impact on the evolution of the company."

About Thought Industries

Thought Industries powers the business of learning with the industry's leading enterprise learning platform for customer, partner and professional training. The company was founded in 2013 around the core belief that online learning experiences should be modern, intuitive, engaging, and scalable. Today, the Thought Industries growing team builds and maintains the only learning platform with completely native tools and integrations that drive higher customer engagement, learner proficiency, and retention. Headquartered in Boston, Thought Industries has offices across North America and Europe. For more information, visit thoughtindustries.com and follow the company on LinkedIn and Twitter

SOURCE Thought Industries