Akeneo, the global leader in product experience management (PXM) and product information management (PIM), announced today the appointment of ecommerce and PIM veteran, Mark Holenstein, as Chief Operating Officer (COO), effective immediately. In his role as COO, Holenstein is responsible for the Sales, Customer Service, and Marketing departments, overseeing Akeneo’s ambitious growth strategy in Europe, the United States, and Asia-Pacific regions.
Holenstein joins the company with more than 25 years of leadership experience across the retail, ecommerce, and PIM industries. Prior to joining Akeneo, Holenstein held the position of COO at SaaS vendor, Signavio, where he successfully scaled and optimised the Go-To-Market teams and strategy, both of which were instrumental in the company’s $1.2billion sale to SAP in 2021.
“With a history of scaling SaaS companies to unicorn status, Mark brings unique expertise to Akeneo that will be instrumental as we prepare a massive global scale-up,” said Fred de Gombert, Co-founder and CEO of Akeneo. “Over the course of his career, Mark has demonstrated time and time again the ability to develop and manage innovative go-to-market strategies across global teams, and I’m thrilled to welcome him to the Akeneo family.”
Before joining Signavio, Holenstein spent ten years at Hybris, a market-leading omnichannel commerce platform, where he grew their market share across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). After playing an instrumental role in Hybris’ sale to SAP in 2013, Holenstein stayed on to lead EMEA sales in the newly created SAP Hybris division. Through his leadership, he guided the division, later renamed SAP CX, to combined revenues of $1billion while overseeing a team of more than 800 global employees.
“I’ve long admired Akeneo’s innovative approach to PIM, helping retailers and brands build composable, omnichannel strategies that will be sustainable in the long run,” said Holenstein. “I’m excited to be joining the team at this pivotal moment as they look to capitalise on the massive potential of the industry and redefine the product information management category.”
Holstein joins recent executive hires Dagbert Sansen, Lisa Manske, and Antoine Barbier as Akeneo begins its ambitious global expansion. Last month, Akeneo finalised its $135million Series D funding round led by Summit Partners, which allows the company to further accelerate its product development roadmap and international growth under the newly scaled leadership team.
To learn more, please visit www.akeneo.com.
