NYC Startup Hires Proven Financial and Technology Leaders To Guide The Company Into Its Next Evolution
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–November 13, 2013–
Booker, a leading cloud-based software provider that streamlines operations and helps businesses grow their revenues, is pleased to announce that it has added three new members to its senior leadership team, Bill Smith as Chief Financial Officer, Russell Cherry as Chief Technology Officer, and Mike Sommers as Senior Vice President of Product.
Booker created these new roles to provide financial and technological leadership as the company continues to scale up in both size and revenue. The growth of Booker’s platform requires support of its small and mid-sized business customers; expansion of its product capabilities to address the demands of multi-location and Enterprise-class clients; and the development of feature sets needed to expand into new vertical markets.
“2013 marks a significant turning point for Booker,” said Josh McCarter, Booker’s Chief Executive Officer. “With such aggressive growth, we knew we needed the right leaders to take us to the next level of our business’ evolution. Between Bill’s experience in financial management, Russ’ technological competence, and Mike’s strategic product vision, we can create the right infrastructure to support our progression into the industry leader.”
2013 Company Milestones:
- Increased its headcount by more than 80% to 244 employees
- Raised $27.5M in Series B financing led by Bain Capital Ventures.
- 69,000+ users over 75 countries and 11 languages
- On track to surpass $1.5B in transactions
- New partnerships and product integration with PayPal and Yelp
Financial Leadership
Bill Smith, Chief Financial Officer, is a seasoned financial expert with more than 20 years of broad finance experience, including corporate finance, capital markets, mergers & acquisitions, and investor relations. Bill was most recently CFO of Antenna Software, Inc., a leading mobile solutions platform provider, until its sale to Pegasystems, Inc. in October 2013. Prior to that, he was CFO of KAYAK Software, Inc., the leading travel search and booking website.
“I’m excited to join the leader in cloud-based services management,” said Bill Smith, Chief Financial Officer of Booker. “With Booker’s growth on track for another record year, business momentum is strong, and I look forward to helping guide Booker to continued financial success.”
Technological Leadership
“With great leaders, we can build world-class products that attract and retain our customers,” added McCarter. “Both Russ and Mike have the proven ability to solve SMB problems, build best-in-class enterprise solutions, and prioritize the many varied demands placed on our product and development teams.”
Russell Cherry, Chief Technology Officer, is tasked with the delivery of Booker’s product vision, execution on enterprise commitments, and technical operations of the Booker Platform. Cherry joins Booker from GSI Commerce (now eBay Enterprise), where he spent the last ten years. He was responsible for the creation and delivery of a $10M annual product roadmap with significant investments in site search, multichannel commerce, and mobile enablement.
“I am so excited to join this creative and energetic team that embraces such a ‘can-do’ attitude every day,” said Russell Cherry, Booker Chief Technology Officer. “I have always been attracted to roles where I can have measurable impact, but more importantly, I am attracted to companies that provide services or products that truly add value to our clients. Booker is one of those companies.”
Mike Sommers, Senior Vice President of Product, will develop Booker’s product strategy and roadmap. Sommers brings more than 15 years of experience creating innovative business and consumer software products across a variety of platforms, including local, social, search, video and mobile. Prior to joining Booker, Mike was Chief Product Officer at WeWork, where his team developed the property management system used to manage over 5,000 collaborative office spaces across eight locations in the U.S., as well as the social networking platform used by all WeWork members to connect, communicate, and collaborate with each other on a daily basis. Prior to WeWork, Sommers played a key role in the executive team that built KickApps and sold the company to KIT Digital.
“I was attracted to Booker for a few reasons,” said Mike Sommers, Senior Vice President of Product. “First, Josh assembled an impressive management team whose talent and deep industry knowledge have positioned Booker as a solid leader in the service management space. Second, I appreciated the vision to provide service-based businesses with a local operating system that combines daily operations, automated marketing, and actionable analytics into a single, easy-to-use platform in the cloud. Third, Booker has seen tremendous growth and traction over the past few years, both in terms of revenue and headcount. It is clear to me that Booker is a great company where talented people want to work and has a great product that thousands of small businesses love to use.”
About Booker
Booker helps businesses run and grow successfully by streamlining their operations and helping to increase their revenues. Booker enables businesses to sell their services online, via mobile device or in person, creating a seamless online booking experience for their customers. With Booker’s platform, business owners can manage their social media presence and email marketing as well as automate their customer retention. Booker processes over one million appointments each month across 73 countries in 11 languages. Headquartered in New York City, Booker’s customers include thousands of local businesses as well as Fortune 500 companies. For more information, visit www.booker.com.
Booker
Deborah Szajngarten, 646-380-4041
debs@booker.com
