John McAdam is a man in high demand. The CEO of F5 Networks, the Seattle networking and software powerhouse, joined the board of Tableau Software two months ago.
Now, he’s aligning himself with another of the region’s most promising enterprise software companies: Apptio.
McAdam today was announced as the newest board member of Apptio, a fast-growing company whose software is used by CIOs to manage and monitor IT spending.
“John has an excellent track record in building companies based on world-class technology and customer service and then leveraging that success into new market categories and opportunities,” said Apptio CEO Sunny Gupta in a release. “That expertise makes him a perfect fit for Apptio, as we make the Technology Business Management category ubiquitous and maintain our position as a leading provider.”
F5 is a powerhouse in networking and software, with a market value of $7.4 billion. McAdam, who has served as CEO of F5 since 2000, has grown the company’s annual revenue from $108.6 million to $1.38 billion.
With McAdam now on the boards of Tableau and Apptio, he’s well positioned with two of the region’s hottest startups. Apptio ranks 6th on the GeekWire 200 list of privately-held companies, while Tableau ranks 3rd.
Founded five years ago by Gupta, Apptio recently took over a new headquarters in 60,000 square feet of space in the Plaza East building in Bellevue. Gupta told GeekWire earlier this year that they are hoping to add between 100 and 150 people to the 350-strong workforce in the next 12 months.
I also asked Gupta if Apptio was priming the pump for an IPO, something that McAdam’s appointment could signify. But Gupta downplayed that suggestion.
“People say, when are you going to go public and all, and we don’t really talk about that,” he said. “That’s just a financing event. We are really more excited about how do you build a long-lasting company, which you deliver so much value and change the way CIOs run IT and make it pervasive.”
