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SALESmanago hires C-Level Exec team to drive growth across Europe

Following a nine-digit Euro investment of Silver Tree and Perwyn, SALESmanago is strengthening its C-Level executive team to help grow the company from 20 to 100 million Euro revenues in the next four years and become the European leader in customer engagement.

The new members of the executive team include experienced leaders from B2B eCommerce and SaaS organisations. New appointments include VP of Sales, Auke Grondsma, Chief People Officer, James Eastwood, and Chief Marketing Officer, Ian Macleod.

Grondsma has 15 years of experience in sales leadership. He was previously Senior Vice President, Head of EMEA Sales for Siteimprove, where he worked for 6 years. He also held a sales leadership position at eBay.

He said: “SALESmanago is unique in its ability to constantly deliver in the moments that matter. Now we need to build even more value for our customers, our partners, and further the awareness of Salesmanago in the market. SALESmanago has a tremendous opportunity to accelerate customer engagement, and I am excited and honoured to be joining the company for this next phase of its journey.”

Macleod is a B2B / B2C Marketing & Growth Leader with 20+ years’ experience in startup, scale up and global enterprise brands within the SaaS, eCommerce, travel tech, fintech, entertainment and gambling sectors. He was previously VP of Marketing at Linnworks and CMO at Triptease.

“I am extremely privileged to join SALESmanago at this monumental and exciting time in the company journey. The best-in-class Customer Engagement Platform has a proven history of helping eCommerce businesses execute marketing the lean way and I’m proud to be able to continue the growth momentum and global expansion of our brand,” said Macleod.

SALESmanago’s new Chief People Officer, James Eastwood, has 20 years of international HR transformation and leadership experience, including six years as People Operations Director at Capgemini. Prior roles include HR Director at AON and SVP People Services at Cable & Wireless. He has been recognised as a Global HR Superstar by HRO Today on multiple occasions.

Eastwood said: “I’m delighted to be onboard the SALESmanago success story. As we strive to become the world’s #1 Customer Engagement Platform for eCommerce we will continue to invest in our amazing people and become a workplace of choice for dynamic and like-minded individuals.”

Greg Blazewicz, CEO of SALESmanago, said of the appointments:  “This experienced C-Level exec team of leaders will drive the SALESmanago model and message to support marketers across Europe and help them exceed their marketing targets consistently in the face of rising inflation and a looming recession. 

“The eCommerce market is on an unpredictable journey. At a time when revenues are falling and customers are changing habits when it comes to brand loyalty, organisations are in urgent need of new methods and tools to understand consumer behaviours, create personalised customer experiences and, subsequently, maximise revenue growth.”

“That’s why we are championing a new paradigm in cost effective martech and solutions, helping customers to do marketing the lean way. In uncertain markets, where consumer habits are constantly shifting and organisations are reviewing marketing budgets, our platform helps CMOs provide exec teams with the necessary ROI to avoid the usual recessionary cuts.”

Currently one of the fastest growing Customer Engagement Platforms for eCommerce, SALESmanago has built a strong foothold in Spain, Italy and Central Europe. The company is now expanding into new markets including UK, DACH, Nordics and Benelux. In the first half of 2022, including renowned European eCommerce businesses Toys “R” Us, operating in Spain and Portugal, Pharm24, Greece’s largest online pharmacy, and Wycon, Italy’s premier supplier of cosmetics.