LOS ANGELES – Oct. 18, 2018 – BlackLine,Inc. (Nasdaq: BL) announced today that human resources veteran Susan Otto has joined the financial automation software provider as the company’s first chief people officer. In her new role, Ms. Otto will be responsible for building, scaling and elevating BlackLine’s global talent practices and programs as the company continues to expand and add employees around the world.
“Our employees are our most important asset. We strive to provide a great place to work, offering an inclusive environment and helping employees grow and develop in their careers; happy employees are inevitably more creative and productive and will, in turn, work their hardest to treat our customers well,” said Therese Tucker, BlackLine CEO. “Susan has a strong track record of building high performance workforces, fostering strong employee engagement, creativity and productivity. She understands the importance of the people who work here, and I’m confident will evolve BlackLine’s culture and environment to enable teams and individuals to perform at their best.”
Otto comes to BlackLine with more than 20 years of experience building and leading successful human resources organizations at mid-size and large companies across multiple industries. Otto most recently was chief human resources officer at digital automotive marketplace TrueCar, where she focused on organizational and talent development, driving employee engagement and cultivating a performance-based culture. Prior to TrueCar, she spent four years as chief people officer at ModCloth, a San Francisco-based online retailer of women’s apparel, where she helped define company culture, transform the organization and scale teams to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth start-up environment. Previously, Otto held senior human resource leadership positions with Electronic Arts and Medtronic. She holds a B.A. in Marketing and Management from Saint Mary’s University and an M.A. in Human Resources and Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.
“I’m thrilled to join BlackLine at such an exciting time of growth and expansion for the company. I believe great businesses are the by-product of highly capable individuals and teams, organizational excellence and a strong community,” said Otto. “BlackLine has a great foundation of talent practices in place that I’m looking forward to building upon as we evolve the organization and culture to attract and retain the best people and enable them to thrive.”
BlackLine has been recognized as one of the country’s ‘Best Workplaces’ many times in a series of rankings based upon employee survey feedback, along with a culture audit completed by the company, that are put out each year by consulting firm Great Place to Work® in conjunction with Fortune magazine.
“Therese instills an employee-centric culture from the top-down that inspires employees to work hard and perform to the best of their abilities,” added Otto. “I am excited to build on this legacy and help ensure that BlackLine continues to be a great place to work.”