Phill Robinson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | November 21, 1965 Leicester, England |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Known for | Founder and CEO of Boardwave |
Phill Robinson (born 21 November 1965) is a British businessman and the founder and CEO of Boardwave, a European networking community for software CEOs and Investors. He is the former chief executive officer of IRIS Software Group and Exact Software in the Netherlands. He was also Chief Marketing Officer at Salesforce.com.
He was born in Leicester, England and attended Rawlins Community College and comprehensive school, in Quorn. Robinson received a BSc in Computer Science from Coventry Polytechnic, now Coventry University, in 1988. After graduating he joined Oracle Corporation. A year later he moved to Silicon Valley.
Robinson has 35 years leadership experience in the software industry. He served in the management teams of a number of international software firms in both Europe and the US. With Oracle (1987 – 1990) he started as a graduate consultant and after a year moved to Redwood Shores, California to prepare and bring to market Oracle's first MRP software package, known as Oracle Manufacturing to the US. He returned to the UK two years later, to introduce the product into the UK & European market. [1] In 1990 – 1996, he moved to Sybase, a RDBMS (Relational Database Management System) where he switched from a technical management position into marketing, laterly running their European Product Marketing team. Robinson was subsequently part of the founding team in Europe, of Siebel Systems (1996 – 2003), a pioneer of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Software. Robinson remained at Siebel for 7 years, helping to grow the European business from six people to well over 2000, and establish CRM as a new business software category in Europe. Robinson's final role at Siebel Systems was VP International Marketing and Alliances. After Siebel was acquired by Oracle for £5.85bn in 2005, Robinson left to join Salesforce.com (2003 – 2007), where he was part of a team that launched the company in Europe. He was promoted by Marc Benioff, (CEO & Chair) to Chief Marketing Officer over a year later, and once more, moved to San Francisco to pursue the role. During this time, Salesforce.com successfully completed its IPO. [2] [3] [4]
Prior to his return to the UK, Robinson was also Chief Executive Office at CacheLogic. [5]
On return to the UK, Robinson was appointed CEO of Velocix, formerly CacheLogic (2007 – 2008), a Venture Capital backed video content delivery network, on the internet. Robinson's remit was to commercialise the proposition, bring the product to market and begin selling to new customers. He initiated a partnership with Verizon and trials with BBC iPlayer. However, after 18 months of increasing video delivery traffic on the network, Robinson clashed with investors over product investment levels, and resigned. The business was then sold to Alcatel Lucent. [6]
Robinson joined IRIS Software (2009 – 2017), one of Europe's largest Private Equity backed software companies. [7] [8] He was responsible for its Accountancy Software Division, and lead the spin-out of the Accountancy business, from the Group in 2011. Through the sale of the business by Hellman Friedman to Hg, the new company inherited the use of the IRIS brand, and operated as an independent business, to the former Group. As CEO Robinson tripled the size of the business over four years through organic growth and M&A. In 2016 Robinson was appointed chair of the business and worked alongside this as an Operating Partner for Hg. This role included a stint as Interim CEO of Achilles. [9]
Robinson was appointed CEO of Exact Software in the Netherlands by APAX Partners (a private equity firm) in September 2017. In parallel, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease also in September 2017. However, he remained CEO of Exact and under APAX Partners ownership, Robinson restructured the business in 2018. He then led the sale of Exact Software to another leading Private Equity firm, KKR, in 2019 for 1.65bn euros.
Under Robinson's leadership, in 2020, Exact acquired its long time competitor, Unit4's domestic Dutch business. Robinson managed a leadership transition in 2020, with Exact Software’ COO, Paul Ramakers becoming CEO. Robinson remains a member of the supervisory board and Chair of the Remuneration Committee. [10]
In April 2022, Robinson founded Boardwave, a networking community aimed at bringing together software leaders in Europe. By May 2023, the Boardwave community had grown to 850 Founders, CEOs and Software Leaders, representing almost every country in Europe. Boardwave aims to provide leaders with resources and mentorship, and improve access to capital. It is backed by over 50 founding partners, including a consortium of 27 leading software investors in Venture and Private Equity. [11] [12] He is currently the Chair of the Software Advisory Board for Livingbridge, a UK Private Equity firm. Non-Exec Director of Upliift Software (formerly known as Expedition Holdings Ltd) and a Chair & member of the Development Board of Cure Parkinsons’. [13] [14] [15] [16]
Following his Parkinson's Diagnosis in 2017, Robinson led a campaign in the Netherlands to raise awareness of the symptoms of Young Onset Parkinson's and issues with Parkinson's’ in the workplace. Particularly focusing on prejudice experienced by people with Parkinsons’ and other chronic diseases. [17] [18]
Once he returned to the UK, Robinson became Chair of the Development Board for Cure Parkinsons’. This Advisory group was set up to raise the profile of Cure Parkinson's and its research work, and develop and identify new funding channels so that curative research could be undertaken more quickly. [19] [20] [18]
Each year, profit that is surplus to Boardwave's cash flow requirements is donated to medical research at Cure Parkinsons. [21] [22]
Phill is married to Jessica Delaney Robinson. He has 3 daughters from a previous relationship.
Thomas M. Siebel is an American billionaire businessman, technologist, and author. He was the founder of enterprise software company Siebel Systems and is the founder, chairman, and CEO of C3.ai, an artificial intelligence software platform and applications company.
Siebel Systems, Inc. was a software company principally engaged in the design, development, marketing, and support of customer relationship management (CRM) applications—notably Siebel CRM.
Salesforce, Inc. is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It provides customer relationship management (CRM) software and applications focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, e-commerce, analytics, and application development.
Oracle Applications comprise the applications software or business software of the Oracle Corporation both in the cloud and on-premises. The term refers to the non-database and non-middleware parts. The suite of applications includes enterprise resource planning, enterprise performance management, supply chain & manufacturing, human capital management, and advertising and customer experience.
Marc Russell Benioff is an American internet entrepreneur billionaire and philanthropist. Benioff is best known as the co-founder, chairman and CEO of the software company Salesforce, as well as being the owner of Time Magazine since 2018.
BigMachines, now Oracle Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ), was a software company founded in 2000 by Godard Abel and Christopher Shutts, which was acquired by Oracle in 2013. The software is designed to integrate with enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and other business systems to help companies automate the sales process. It specializes in software for configure, price and quote (CPQ). It can be used by internal teams, channel partners, VARs, distributors, customers, and outside representatives and partners.
EPAM Systems, Inc. is an American company that specializes in software engineering services, digital platform engineering, and digital product design, operating out of Newtown, Pennsylvania. EPAM is a founding member of the MACH Alliance.
Oracle CRM is a customer relationship management system created by Oracle Corporation. It includes a number of different cloud applications that can be deployed together or used individually to analyze customer data and help companies connect and manage sales, marketing, and customer support.
Bret Taylor is an American computer programmer and entrepreneur. He is most notable for co-creating Google Maps and his tenures as the CTO of Facebook, as the chairman of Twitter, Inc.'s board of directors prior to its acquisition by Elon Musk, and as the co-CEO of Salesforce. Taylor was additionally one of the founders of FriendFeed and the creator of Quip.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a provider of digital marketing automation and analytics software and services. It was founded in 2000 under the name ExactTarget. The company filed for an IPO in 2007, but withdrew its filing two years later and raised $145 million in funding. It acquired CoTweet, Pardot, iGoDigital and Keymail Marketing. In 2012, it raised $161.5 million in an initial public offering, before being acquired by Salesforce for $2.5 billion in 2013. ExactTarget was renamed Salesforce Marketing Cloud in 2014 after its acquisition by Salesforce.
Oracle Bronto provides a cloud-based commerce marketing automation platform to mid-market and enterprise organizations.
Exact is a Dutch software company that offers accounting, ERP, and other software for small and medium enterprises. Exact develops cloud-based and on-premises software for industries such as accountancy, wholesale distribution, professional services and manufacturing, serving more than 500,000 companies.
Neolane, Inc. is a conversational marketing technology provider, which develops marketing automation and cross-channel campaign management software and services for business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketers. In 2012, Neolane recorded $58 million in revenue representing 40% year-over-year growth. It was announced in June 2013 that Adobe Systems would buy Neolane for $600 million.
HGGC is an American middle-market private equity firm based in Palo Alto, California, with over $7 billion of cumulative capital commitments. Since its inception in 2007, HGGC has completed transactions with an aggregate transaction value of $50 billion. The firm was named 2014 M&A Mid-Market Private Equity Firm of the Year by Mergers & Acquisitions magazine.
Renée J. James is an American technology executive, who was formerly the president of Intel. She founded Ampere Computing in October 2017, is currently its Chairman and CEO. She is also an Operating Executive with The Carlyle Group in its Media and Technology practice. James also serves on the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, which she formerly chaired. The NSTAC advises the President of the United States. James also serves as an independent director of Citigroup.
Scott Dorsey is an American entrepreneur, investor, and startup advisor. He is a co-founder and managing partner at High Alpha, a venture studio that conceives, launches and scales enterprise technology companies. In late 2000, Dorsey, Chris Baggott, and Peter McCormick co-founded ExactTarget, a provider of digital marketing automation and analytics software and services. ExactTarget raised $161.5 million in an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012 and was acquired by salesforce.com for $2.5 billion in 2013. During his career at ExactTarget, Dorsey held the positions of chairman and CEO. Dorsey stepped down as chief executive officer of Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud in May 2014.
Motus is a workforce management company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, that offers vehicle reimbursement, fleet management and business intelligence solutions. This includes mileage reimbursement, BYO programs, Managed Mobility Services and living cost intelligence.
Melissa Di Donato is an American-born businesswoman based in the United Kingdom, CEO of Kyriba and former CEO of SUSE.
Oracle Advertising and Customer Experience (CX) is a suite of cloud-based applications offered by Oracle Corporation that includes tools for advertising, marketing, sales, e-commerce, customer service.
Boardwave is a London-based impact-led organisation founded by Phill Robinson in April 2022. Boardwave was established as a community of European software entrepreneurs, Founders and CEOs to enable them to work together to accelerate their business growth and to improve the overall position of Europe as a home for global software companies. It has a launched in the UK, Netherlands, France and Germany.
 | This article needs additional or more specific categories .(July 2023) |