Published in Cloud

Troubled MariaDB shuffles CEO sideways

by on05 June 2023


Michael Howard replaced by Paul O’Brien

There has been a significant reshuffle at the troubled open saucy MariaDB where Michael Howard, the company’s current CEO has been replaced by Paul O’Brien.

Howard, who led his company through a disastrous IPO, is still around and will remain on the board of directors to provide "strategic planning and oversight."

The board appointed Tom Siegel as chief revenue officer (CRO) to lead the sales, consulting, support and training teams and Jonah Harris as chief technology officer (CTO), effective June 5, 2023.

MariaDB chairman Alex Suh praised Howard’s seven-and-a-half-year record and attributed to him “the transformation of MariaDB from an open-source offering to a cloud business that successfully competes with the hyperscalers.”

The news has been greeted with some relief by investors who had seen the share price of the company getting so low that it was headed towards being delisted. However, it is not in the clear yet. Shares have to stay above a dollar for a month to keep their listing. While MariaDB’s share price has gone up 12 per cent since the reshuffle it is still five cents below the dollar mark.

Suh insists that MariaDB is headed in the right direction although it was clear that it was necessary to “bring in a fresh set of eyes.”

O’Brien has served as SVP, sales and field operations of the company since March 2023. Before joining MariaDB, he served as VP, Operations at NetApp and VP at  Business Intelligence and Operations at Symantec.

O’Brien said that Howard led MariaDB through significant milestones – we are now a publicly traded company with a strong cloud product. This facilitates a smooth transition to a focused go-to-market strategy to accelerate the business toward a targeted $100 million ARR by the end of 2025.”

 

Last modified on 06 June 2023
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