Seasoned enterprise software and customer
experience leader joins leading conversational AI
company
NEW
YORK, Jan. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- LivePerson,
Inc. (NASDAQ: LPSN), the global leader in enterprise conversations,
today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed
John Sabino as CEO, effective
January 10, 2024. Sabino will also
become a member of the LivePerson Board on that date. Sabino's
appointment was unanimously approved by the Board following a
thorough and deliberate search process conducted by a committee
composed of independent directors.
Sabino is a seasoned and highly successful business leader with
deep domain experience in enterprise software, SaaS, call center
operations and technology, and digital business — with an
extensive track record of building high-performing organizations,
scaling operations, and delivering rapid growth and transformation.
He most recently served as Chief Customer Officer of VMware
(recently acquired by Broadcom) from October
2021 through January 8, 2024,
where he led the company's 7,000-person global Customer Experience
and Success organization, growing revenue to $1.3 billion and overseeing customer experience
for VMware's over 350,000 customers, while improving consumption
and SaaS license conversions by over 50%.
Previously, Sabino served as Chief Customer Officer of Splunk, a
leading provider of cybersecurity and observability technology,
where he oversaw customer experience for Splunk's more than 18,000
customers and a revenue stream of over $950
million, and as Chief Operating Officer of GE Digital, a
$1 billion provider of IoT and
infrastructure software, where he led operations and oversaw
strategy, go-to-market, and technology infrastructure. He has also
held executive roles leading commercial operations and strategic
initiatives at GE Capital and NBC Universal, and started his career
as a captain in the United States
Army.
"With his proven track record delivering growth and operational
excellence at scale, passion for customer centricity, and extensive
experience leading and inspiring global teams, John is the ideal
leader to advance LivePerson's growth and profitability
initiatives," said Jill Layfield,
Chair of the LivePerson Board of Directors. "The Board worked
diligently to find the right candidate to lead the company forward,
including robust evaluation of key elements critical to unlocking
value for our shareholders, customers, and stakeholders. We are
confident John is that person."
"LivePerson has long been a category leader in conversational
AI, delivering digital transformation at scale to many of the
world's largest and best-known brands," said John Sabino, LivePerson's incoming CEO. "I am
thrilled to have the opportunity to join the company at this
exciting time of growth for conversational AI and customer
engagement technologies. I look forward to working with the
exceptional team at LivePerson, and partnering with Jill and the
Board to build on the company's sophisticated platform
capabilities, capture the market opportunity, and deliver enhanced
value for our clients, partners, shareholders, and employees."
John Collins, who has served as
LivePerson's Interim CEO and CFO since August 2023, will continue with the company in an
expanded leadership role as Chief Financial Officer and Chief
Operating Officer.
"On behalf of the Board, I also want to thank John Collins for his outstanding leadership
during this transition," said Layfield. "John delivered significant
progress in a short period of time, refocusing the company on its
core strengths and establishing a strong and data-centric
foundation to support execution. We look forward to his continued
positive impact in the expanded role of CFO and COO, and to
partnering with John Sabino and the
entire leadership team to fulfill LivePerson's potential as one of
the world's leading platforms for conversational AI, customer
engagement, and digital transformation."
To learn more about LivePerson and its solutions for enterprise
conversations, visit liveperson.com.
About LivePerson, Inc.
LivePerson (NASDAQ: LPSN)
is the global leader in enterprise conversations. Hundreds of the
world's leading brands — including HSBC, Chipotle, and Virgin Media
— use our award-winning Conversational Cloud platform to connect
with millions of consumers. We power nearly a billion
conversational interactions every month, providing a uniquely rich
data set and safety tools to unlock the power of Conversational AI
for better business outcomes. Fast Company named us the #1 Most
Innovative AI Company in the world. To talk with us or our AI,
please visit liveperson.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press
release regarding LivePerson that are not historical facts are
forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual future events or results to
differ materially from such statements. Any such forward-looking
statements, including but not limited to financial guidance, are
made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. It is routine for our
internal projections and expectations to change as the quarter and
year progress, and therefore it should be clearly understood that
the internal projections and beliefs upon which we base our
expectations may change. Although these expectations may change, we
are under no obligation to inform you if they do. Some of the
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
the forward-looking statements contained herein include, without
limitation: our ability to retain key personnel, attract new
personnel and to manage staff attrition; strain on our personnel
resources and infrastructure from supporting our existing and
growing customer base; our ability to retain existing customers and
cause them to purchase additional services and to attract new
customers; major public health issues; the ability to successfully
integrate past or potential future acquisitions; our ability to
secure additional financing to execute our business strategy;
lengthy sales cycles; delays in our implementation cycles;
payment-related risks; potential fluctuations in our quarterly
revenue and operating results; the material weakness in our
internal controls and limitations on the effectiveness of our
controls; non-payment or late payment of amounts due to us from a
significant number of customers; volatility in the capital markets;
recognition of revenue from subscriptions; customer retention and
engagement; our ability to develop and maintain successful
relationships with partners, service partners, social media and
other third-party consumer messaging platforms and endpoints; our
ability to effectively operate on mobile devices; the highly
competitive markets in which we operate; general economic
conditions; failures or security breaches in our services, those of
our third party service providers, or in the websites of our
customers; regulation or possible misappropriation of personal
information belonging to our customers' Internet users; US and
international laws and regulations regarding privacy and data
protection and increased public scrutiny of privacy and security
issues that could result in increased government regulation and
other legal obligations; new regulatory or other legal requirements
that could materially impact our business; governmental export
controls and economic sanctions; industry-specific regulation and
unfavorable industry-specific laws, regulations or interpretive
positions; future regulation of the Internet or mobile devices;
technology-related defects that could disrupt the LivePerson
services; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights
or potential infringement of the intellectual property rights of
third parties; the use of AI in our product offerings; the presence
of, and difficulty in correcting, errors, failures or "bugs" in our
products; our ability to license necessary third party software for
use in our products and services, and our ability to successfully
integrate third party software; potential adverse impact due to
foreign currency and cryptocurrency exchange rate
fluctuations; additional regulatory requirements, tax liabilities,
currency exchange rate fluctuations and other risks if and as we
expand; risks related to our operations in Israel; potential failure to meeting service
level commitments to certain customers; legal liability and/or
negative publicity for the services provided to consumers via our
technology platforms; technological or other defects that could
disrupt or negatively impact our services; our ability to maintain
our reputation; changes in accounting principles generally accepted
in the United States; natural
catastrophic events and interruption to our business by man-made
problems; potential limitations on our ability to use net operating
losses to offset future taxable income; risks related to our common
stock being traded on more than one securities exchange; and other
factors described in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on
March 16, 2023. This list is intended
to identify only certain of the principal factors that could cause
actual results to differ from those discussed in the
forward-looking statements. Readers are referred to the Company's
reports and documents filed from time to time by us with the
Securities and Exchange Commission for a discussion of these and
other important factors that could cause actual results to differ
from those discussed in forward-looking statements.
Media Contact:
Mike
Tague
mtague@liveperson.com
IR Contact
Jon
Perachio
jperachio@liveperson.com
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SOURCE LivePerson, Inc.