Sources, who chose to speak on background because they were not authorized to speak on behalf of the company, confirmed multiple reports that Jones’ replacement would be announced a week from today. The company has kept a pretty tight lid so far on the identity of that person, and industry experts we spoke to were mostly reluctant to speculate.
Brent Leary, co-founder and partner at CRM Essentials, believes it will be an internal hire, or perhaps someone who left the company, and has knowledge of the culture and operations of Salesforce. With the company focusing more on AI, he thinks it could turn to an executive who can lead Slack through this major transitional period for Salesforce — and enterprise software in general.
“Generally speaking I think this particular point in time is one of the most consequential for most if not all tech companies, which means Salesforce really has to get the right person to see Slack through this period,” Leary added.
Salesforce spent close to $28 billion to acquire Slack in December 2020 and will be on its third CEO in two years. Jones came on board last year, replacing Slack co-founder and CEO Stewart Butterfield. She announced her departure in a company-wide Slack channel this morning. Marc Benioff in an official statement expressed sadness at her departure.