Since founding BlackLine in 2001, Therese Tucker has served as CEO of the financial management close software company since, but she now plans to focus more on innovation and product development as executive chair, with chief operating officer Marc Huffman transitioning into the top job on January 1.
As a woman CEO and founder of a public tech company, Tucker is a rarity. The search for her replacement reportedly was a multi-year project, and now involves a slight shuffling of executive roles within the company to position BlackLine for growth in its next stage.
The company hopes to harness Huffman’s particular success growing NetSuite from $3 million in revenue to $1 billion during his tenure as president of worldwide sales and distribution.
Huffman currently serves as COO and president of BlackLine, and is a seasoned executive in the software-as-a-service space. He joined BlackLine in 2018, and was named president in February 2020, leading the company’s worldwide sales, marketing, technology and all customer-facing organizations. BlackLine states that since Huffman joined, the company has scaled its sales and customer success teams, strategically repositioned its go-to-market plan, completed a global reseller agreement with SAP, established a subsidiary in Japan, and entered into a number of strategic alliances with global consulting and advisory firms.
“I’ve been so pleased with the leadership Marc has demonstrated over the past two and a half years, most recently driving our response to the COVID-19 pandemic — mitigating disruption to the business and our customers,” Tucker said in a statement. “Because of Marc’s leadership, skill set, cultural alignment and stellar performance, BlackLine is in a better position to grow and scale than ever before. I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved at BlackLine and believe Marc is the kind of leader I can trust to take our customer-centric values, vision and growth to the next level. I am also thrilled that in addition to providing strategic oversight as executive chair, I will now have more time to focus on the areas I love most — product innovation and customer success.”
“I am ready and excited for this next step,” Huffman said, also in a statement. “We’ve got the team, the plan, and now we are focused on execution as we continue to scale the business and make BlackLine an indispensable platform for finance and accounting organizations globally.”
Upon Tucker’s assumption of the executive chair role, chairman of the board John Brennan will serve as the board’s lead outside director.