LOS ANGELES – Feb. 21, 2019 – Financial controls and automation software leader BlackLine, Inc. (Nasdaq: BL) continues its investment in new executive talent with the hiring of Pete Hirsch as chief technology officer (CTO). Mr. Hirsch is a seasoned software engineer, architect and strategist with more than 30 years of experience scaling technology organizations for dynamic, fast-growing companies, as well as larger enterprises.
As CTO at BlackLine, Hirsch will be responsible for the technology direction of BlackLine’s flagship cloud platform as the company seeks to capitalize on the growing worldwide demand for solutions that drive greater efficiency, financial governance and risk management across the spectrum of financial operations. He also will spearhead the company’s internal technology roadmap, overseeing Technical Operations, Engineering, IT and Governance, reporting to CEO Therese Tucker.
“BlackLine’s technology needs, both internal and external, have grown exponentially along with our global customer base. We’ve been searching for someone with that rare mix of exceptional interpersonal and management skills, as well as the technical knowledge and expertise to run a leading-edge technology organization,” Ms.Tucker said. “Pete is that person. He has a broad range of skills, including leading IT and tech ops in addition to engineering, at companies of various sizes where he has been instrumental in providing the technology vision, strategy and leadership to help the organizations scale from concept through acquisitions and beyond.”
Hirsch comes to BlackLine with experience building, transforming and operating large-scale cloud software businesses, primarily in Fintech and Procurement, with end-to-end ownership of product strategy, product development, public and private cloud operations, cloud transformations and leadership of large teams spanning Engineering, Cloud, Cybersecurity and Enterprise IT departments. He was most recently executive vice president of Technology & Operations at Ellie Mae, where he led a team of more than 900, overseeing all facets of technology including product development, data centers, public cloud and SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) operations, as well as cybersecurity and internal IT systems.
Prior to that he spent several years as senior vice president and chief architect at Ariba and then as senior vice president, Ariba Cloud Engineering & Technology at SAP, following the enterprise application software leader’s acquisition of Ariba. Previously, he led a SaaS business unit at IBM over the course of more than 10 years as the global information technology giant acquired several smaller companies.
“BlackLine has done an amazing job defining the future of accounting and pioneering Continuous Accounting, which is fundamentally transforming processes and unlocking efficiencies through automation and data intelligence,” said Hirsch. “The opportunity to build on this foundation and help the company scale to drive this industry transformation is huge. I look forward to working with Therese and the rest of her outstanding management team to make it happen.”
Hirsch holds both a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California.
Tucker added, “With Pete on board, I’m confident we can scale and grow and deliver our technology vision to an ever-growing number of customers around the world.”