Leslie Stretch is the new CEO at Medallia. Medallia, provides Software-as-a-Service Customer Experience Management and Enterprise Feedback Management software as well as services to hospitality, retail, financial services, high-tech, and business-to-business companies internationally.
Education
Leslie Stretch received a B.A. Honors degree in Economics and Economic History from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Computer Systems Engineering from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Early career
Leslie Stretch was a sales executive at Oracle Corporation U.K. in 1988. Stretch got promoted to sales manager and became the branch manager at the company until 1996. Stretch was instrumental in accelerating the growth of its Scottish and Canadian operations.
Stretch then worked at Sun Microsystems in 1996, later after he left Oracle, held the position as a senior vice president of global channel sales and was the managing director of Sun Microsystems U.K. Ltd. Throughout Stretch’s career, he has successfully directed and motivated large sales organizations and facilitated strategic deals.
In 2007, Stretch was the President and CEO of CallidusCloud, global enterprise software and Saas company headquartered in Dublin, California. Stretch has also established patent-pending methods for visualization, performance predictions, social sales performance management, and hiring.
Stretch also served on the board of directors of QAD Inc. (QADA) (QADB). QAD is a leading provider of enterprise business software and services for global manufacturers; and also a member of QAD’s Audit Committee of the board of directors and I am a member of the board of directors of MobileIron. On January 30, 2018, a company called SAP acquired CallidusCloud for $2.4 billion.
Medallia
In August 2018, Medallia, the leading customer experience management cloud company, appointed Stretch to be the new President and CEO of the company. Borge Hald and Amy Pressman founded the company in 2001, in San Mateo, California.
On January 1, 2011, Medallia had its Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm focused on energy, enterprise, financial, healthcare, internet, and mobile startups, for an undisclosed amount, with partners Douglas Leone and Patrick Grady. On September 27, 2012, Medallia had raised $35 million in a Series B funding round, led by the existing investor Sequoia Capital
On February 1, 2013, Medallia secured $20 million in a Series C funding, with the venture funding, the company can continue expanding its product line and SaaS facilities in Europe and Asia, as well as grow the core team at the company’s headquarters in Buenos Aires and Palo Alto, Argentina. The recent investment makes the company’s total amount of institutional funding to $55 million. In October 2013, Medallia appointed Ken Fine as its Chief Customer Officer.
Medallia received amounting to $50 million in a Series D on August 18, 2014, to meet rising market demand for software that makes companies more customer-centric. The company has tripled its income and workforce, expanding its customer list to more than 500 brands, and performed key integrations, such as a recent one with Salesforce. On July 21, 2015, Medallia had raised to $150 million in a Series E, which valued the company at $1.25 billion.
On February 28, 2019, Medallia has filed to raise in Series F funding up to $70 million, according to regulatory documents obtained by the Prime Unicorn Index. The new shares were valued at $15 apiece, valuing the nearly two-decades-old business at $2.4 billion.
Leslie Stretch, the newly designated CEO of the company, runs a platform meant to support businesses better provide for their customers. Its core product, the Medallia Experience Cloud, gives employees’ real-time data on customers gathered from social media and online review sites. The service leverages that data to provide tools and insights to enhance customer experiences.
Four venture capital firms backed up the company, including Sequoia Capital, TriplePoint Venture Growth, Saints Capital, and Grotmol Solutions, the latter which funded a small amount of capital in 2010. Medallia has raised in equity funding a total of $268 million, including a $150 million round in 2015 that evaluated the company at $1.25 billion.
Before appointing Stretch to lead the company to IPO, Medallia co-founder Borge Hald managed the company as CEO since its 2001 launch. Hald is now the chief strategy officer and executive chairman. Medallia acquired Kampyle, a software and website feedback analytics company in October 2016. In 2017, Medallia was ranked #7 on the Forbes Cloud 100 list.
Net worth
Leslie Stretch has an estimated net worth of at least $9.3 million as of March 2019. Stretch holds over 11,950 units of QAD stock worth over $1,059,831 and sold QADA stock worth over $8,050,597, over the last 4 years. In addition, Stretch makes $188,600 as Independent Director at QAD.