Qualtrics has appointed Jason Maynard (pictured) as its new chief executive officer, effective immediately, as the experience management company accelerates investment in artificial intelligence and prepares for its next phase of growth.
Maynard also joins the Qualtrics board of directors. He succeeds interim co-CEOs Jim Whitehurst and Mark Gillett, who will return to their board roles, with Whitehurst continuing as executive chairman.
A technology executive with three decades of experience, Maynard joins Qualtrics from Oracle, where he most recently served as executive vice-president of revenue operations. He joined Oracle through its 2016 acquisition of NetSuite and was involved in scaling the business, including expanding its customer base from 11,000 to more than 43,000. Prior to his operating roles, Maynard spent 15 years as a technology analyst at Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and Wells Fargo.
Qualtrics said Maynard’s appointment comes as the company scales its AI-driven offerings and moves forward with the pending US$6.75 billion acquisition of healthcare analytics firm Press Ganey. Nearly half of Qualtrics’ customers have already adopted its AI capabilities, according to the company.
“Jason has scaled one of the most successful cloud businesses, built products customers depend on, and has a sharp perspective on where AI is taking our industry,” Whitehurst said. “That combination positions Qualtrics well for its next stage of growth.”
Maynard said Qualtrics’ focus on experience management is becoming increasingly central as organisations seek to apply AI to better understand customers, employees and markets.
“Qualtrics created the experience management category, and as AI becomes embedded in modern business, understanding human experience in context is more important than ever,” he said. “There is a significant opportunity to build on that foundation with innovation and disciplined execution.”
Qualtrics co-founder Ryan Smith said Maynard’s background and experience made him well suited to lead the company as AI reshapes enterprise software and decision-making.
Qualtrics said Maynard has assumed full leadership of the company with immediate effect, as it looks to expand adoption of its AI solutions to help organisations improve customer loyalty, reduce churn, strengthen employee engagement and generate faster insights across their operations.
