Digital Experience Leader Adds New Head of Engineering, Chief Information Security Officer, and SVP of Product Marketing to Further Platform Innovation

Digital experience company Acquia today announced the appointment of three longtime technology professionals to executive roles leading engineering, information security and product marketing. Former Continuum executive John Mandel comes to Acquia as the Head of Engineering; prior Pega (formerly PegaSystems) executive Robert Former assumes the role of Chief Information Security Officer (CISO); and former SAP executive Kevin Cochrane will serve as Senior Vice President of Product Marketing. The announcement comes on the heels of the company’s appointment of Chris Doggett as Chief Revenue Officer in February 2020.

Driven by a combination of organic growth and acquisitions, in 2019 Acquia achieved its highest annual recurring revenue (ARR) increase and renewal rate in company history. The company was also named a Leader in Gartner’s 2020 Magic Quadrant for DXP, a true testament to Acquia’s ability to help companies build, manage and optimize digital experiences for their leading brands including Bayer, Liverpool Football Club, L’Oréal Group, Panasonic, and Wendy’s.

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“The combined experience of John, Robert and Kevin will help us drive value for our customers in a time where digital has never mattered more,” said Mike Sullivan, Acquia’s CEO. “The addition of all three will help us accelerate our innovation and growth to remain laser-focused on delivering the best value for customers as digital engagement and communication remain mission critical for all organizations. ”

With more than 25 years of experience leading global engineering departments, Mandel joins Acquia from IT management software company Continuum, acquired by ConnectWise, where he was most recently Senior Vice President of Engineering. During his time, he led a massive transformation of the Engineering organization including the development of new teams, processes, a new modem platform purpose-built to support the next 10-plus years of growth.

Previously, Mandel led various-sized engineering teams at both mature and entrepreneurial companies, including at ACI Worldwide and Kofax.

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As CISO, Former will lead Acquia’s existing and prospective information security, compliance and privacy programs in accordance with industry standards and requirements. He joined Acquia from Pega, where he served as Senior Director of Cloud Compliance. Former has more than two decades of IT security experience and previously held cybersecurity roles at Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Micro Focus. Former currently holds the ISC(2) CISSP™, ISACA CISA™, and NSA IAM/IEM certifications.

Bringing to Acquia more than two decades of experience, Cochrane most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer, SAP customer experience, where he was responsible for creating SAP’s Customer Experience global marketing team. His prior web content experience includes Adobe, OpenText and Jahia Solutions.

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