Precisely appoints Walid Abu-Hadba as new CEO

Precisely has announced the transition of the CEO role from Josh Rogers to Walid Abu-Hadba. Abu-Hadba takes over the role immediately, and Rogers transitions to an advisory role, remaining at the firm as Executive Chairman.

Josh Rogers, Executive Chairman, Precisely, commented, “Leading Precisely through its transformation over the past decade has been the privilege of my career. And I’m confident that Walid is exactly the right leader for what comes next.

“As Executive Chairman, I look forward to partnering with Walid and the board as we enter this exciting next phase. And I want to extend my sincere gratitude to every member of the Precisely team for making this journey possible.”

Clearlake Capital is backed Precisely, having bought control of the company in a $3.5 billion deal in 2021 alongside TA Associates. Insight Partners and Partners Group joined them in 2022. This leadership change marks the most significant shift since the company’s founding in May 2020, when Syncsort acquired Pitney Bowes’ software division to form Precisely.

Prashant Mehrotra, Partner & Managing Director at Clearlake, commented, “Walid’s technology leadership and track record of driving meaningful results at scale makes him the ideal choice to guide Precisely through its next phase of accelerated growth. Precisely powers essential daily operations at the core of complex enterprise environments, where trusted, governed data is critical.

“With this momentum, we believe Walid will help to further Precisely’s differentiated market position, addressing the Agentic AI Data Integrity Gap for enterprises facing data silos, outdated information, and inconsistencies that undermine AI effectiveness.”

Who is Walid Abu-Hadba

Abu-Hadba joins from Sage, where he served as Chief Product Officer (CPO) and a member of the executive committee for nearly 5 years. He currently serves on the board of IDERA Software and IQ3Connect; it is not clear whether he will retain those roles following the appointment. Abu-Hadba is also on the board of advisors for Onscale and has experience working with private equity companies. He served as an industry advisor to the EQT Group for several years.

Abu-Hadba has had a 30-year career during which he worked at two major players in the industry. He was Senior Vice President of Developer Tools at Oracle for 2.5 years. He also spent four years as Chief Product Officer at Ansys INC. Abu-Hadba also spent 21 years at Microsoft. There he began his career in several technical roles before rising through the management ranks to become Corporate Vice President, Developer and Platform Group for over five years.

Abu-Hadba studied at both Arizona State University and the University of Arizona.

Walid Abu-Hadba, CEO of Precisely, said, “I am honoured to join Precisely at this pivotal moment in the company’s journey. Precisely has earned a prominent reputation as the trusted partner for organisations that depend on accurate, reliable data. As enterprise AI adoption accelerates, success or failure increasingly hinges on that data, placing Precisely at the nexus of this market transformation.

“I look forward to working closely with our talented team as we build on this strong foundation and continue to deliver exceptional results for our customers.”

Enterprise Times: What does this mean

After 6 years at the helm of Precisely and 11 years as CEO and sales leader at Syncsort, Roger is stepping aside for a fresh perspective. Under his leadership, the company has grown from $80 million in revenue to $850 million.

In Abu-Hadba, the investors have found an experienced leader with a deep understanding of technology, products, and selling to Enterprises. However, this is a major change for the company. And it will be interesting to see whether other appointments follow and how Abu-Hadba now leads the firm into the future.

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