Certinia adds Prasad Narasimhan Sulur to leadership team

Certinia has announced the appointment of Prasad Narasimhan Sulur as its new Chief Business Officer. The news came in a blog by DJ Paoni, CEO of Certinia. Prasad joins from Bain & Company, where he has been for over 20 years, and has risen to senior partner. He has worked with Certinia and its investors for several years and is now joining the firm he has helped with due diligence, market positioning, and long-term planning. During that time, he has built up knowledge of the company, its product, and its customers.

Bringing him out of consulting and into the ISV is a significant coup for Certinia as it looks to accelerate growth in the coming years. He has helped other organisations scale with his advice and now looks to be closely involved in the next chapter of growth at Certinia.  Effectively, he will transition from an advisor to a role that will execute change and help build the company.

As Chief Business Officer, Prasad will be responsible for turning strategy into operational reality. He will oversee corporate development, potential strategic acquisitions, and high-impact growth initiatives. He will also help steer the long-term strategy, working closely with the leadership team, including DJ Paoni.

It is a role he is familiar with in theory, having helped software vendors in his position as a senior leader in Bain’s Software, Cloud, and Services practices. This main difference is that he is turning theory into execution in what Paoni describes as an outcome-oriented position.

Prasad will be the Chief what?

I asked Certinia why the role is for Chief Business Officer, rather than Chief Strategy Officer. DJ Paoni answered, “strategy is a shared responsibility across our entire executive team. The Chief Business Officer title signals that Prasad’s mandate goes beyond planning and strategy to actual building.

“While the role of a Chief Strategy Officer often stops at the roadmap, a CBO serves as an architect of company growth and the bridge between our product innovation and market trajectory. Prasad will be the connective tissue between our long-term vision and operational construct, owning the high-impact growth initiatives and corporate development required to scale Certinia into a billion-dollar company.”

It is an interesting position and one that seems to sit between Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Operations Officer. Paoni explained further, adding, “It really comes down to the time horizon and focus. Our COO Robert Cesafsky is focused on delivering operational excellence and hitting the objectives of our given fiscal year.

“As CBO, Prasad is focused on building towards our vision over a 3-5 year horizon. This gives us dedicated bandwidth to build for the future without taking our eye off the ball today.”

Who is Prasad Narasimhan Sulur

Prasad joined Bain in October 2005, having previously worked as a senior consultant at i2 Technologies for 5 years. He worked in software development, product management, and implementations. He has an MBA from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. He earned a master’s degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Cincinnati, with a focus on AI, and worked at an AI software company before attending Tuck.

He has worked on over 350 projects during his tenure across sectors, including software, services, and IT organisations. Those projects ranged from strategy and growth to AI, M&A, go-to-market (GTM), pricing, and product. He helped develop Bain’s software playbook, service value creation, and, more recently, the impact of AI on software and services.

He is the author of several articles, including:

• “Incumbents vs. Disrupters: The Best Defense Is Offense,” Technology Report, September 2022
• “Defending against Disruption: How Software Incumbents Can Stay Ahead,” Brief, September 2022
• “Diverse Cultures: Creating Inclusive Spaces for our Asian Communities,” Beyond the Bio Podcast, May 2022, Podcast
• “Driving Cost Efficiencies through Operational Excellence at Software Companies,” Webinar, May 2020
• “Upgrading Zero-Based Redesign With Digital,” Forbes.com, September 2017, Article

Prasad Narasimhan Sulur, Chief Business Officer at Certinia, commented, “I’ve spent more than two decades advising companies on how to grow. I chose to come to Certinia because I believe the opportunity here is unique, and I wanted to be part of the team responsible for delivering on it. I’m eager to leverage my experience as an advisor to work on the actual business of capturing the opportunity and scaling this company.”

Why Unique and why now

I asked Certinia why Prasad described the opportunity as unique. There are, after all, several software companies he might have considered joining.

DJ Paoni replied, “We are at a point where services-led organisations are undergoing a massive digital transformation. Prasad has spent decades at Bain advising the world’s top software and services companies, but he chose to join Certinia because he believes the opportunity here—specifically to define how this industry creates value in the AI era—is too big to watch from the sidelines.

“He already helped architect our ‘Path to a Billion’ roadmap as an advisor; now, he’s moving in-house to execute it. Having a leader with his level of experience and context hit the ground running, is a massive advantage for Certinia and our customers.”

What will Prasad Work on next?

With Prasad now executing a strategy he devised, it will bring consistency and understanding of the strategy that rarely happens seamlessly between consideration and execution. Prasad will also be able to adjust and influence decisions as external factors affect the original strategy. Paoni highlights four key areas where the company will now focus:

• Sharpen our Corporate Development: We are looking at the bigger picture of where Certinia fits in the software ecosystem and aggressively pursuing those opportunities.
• Accelerate Value Creation and Growth: Prasad moves from recommending the path to driving the car. He brings an operator’s mindset to our growth initiatives.
• Commercialise our AI Strategy: As we roll out new AI agents, Prasad will lead the strategy on how we package, price, and bring these innovations to market to maximise value for our customers.
• Unify Growth & Execution: He will act as the connective tissue between our long-term vision and the work required to get there, complementing our existing operations leadership.

Paoni concludes by saying, “Working with Prasad for the last few years, I’ve seen firsthand his intellect and grasp of the software market. But what excites me most is his drive to build. He is passionate to execute on our vision and opportunity. Having someone with his historical context of Certinia hit the ground running is a massive advantage for us in FY27.”

Enterprise Times: What does this mean?

This is an exceptional and inimitable hire by Certinia. When one engages with high-value consultants, it is rare that they decide to stay and help execute on the vision they helped create. They often move on to the next projects. Perhaps after 350 projects, Prasad felt it was time to execute on what he had suggested.

Having worked with the Certinia investors as well, he will help shape Certinia’s growth over the next few years. Will his arrival also help Certinia obtain more funds and accelerate its expansion and growth through acquisitions? It will be interesting to hear what he has to say in the coming weeks.

Importantly, it is not a change in strategy that will now happen, but probably a greater clarity on what the current and future strategy is.

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