Sunny Gupta, who launched Apptio more than 17 years ago and helped build the Seattle-area company into an enterprise software giant, is stepping down as CEO.
Gupta will transition to a new role as “chairman emeritus Apptio” and will be a strategic advisor to IBM, which acquired Apptio last year in a $4.6 billion deal.
“We created a culture that was based on integrity, transparency, results driven, fast failures and most importantly creating wildly successful customers,” Gupta wrote on LinkedIn. “We built so many incredible memories and relationships with our customers, employees, and investors — these relationships will stay with me forever.”
Apptio went public in 2016 and sold to Vista Equity Partners in 2019 for $1.9 billion. The company’s software helps customers understand and manage their tech spending.
Gupta, 53, said he’s passing off leadership duties to Apptio COO Ajay Patel and President of Field Operations Larry Blasko.
Apptio, based in Bellevue, Wash., has more than 1,300 employees across 20 offices worldwide and 1,800 customers, including more than 60% of the Fortune 500.
Before launching Apptio, Gupta was an executive at Opsware, which was acquired by HP in 2007. He co-founded and led iConclude, an IT automation startup that was acquired by Opsware. Gupta started his career at IBM in 1992 as an engineer working on OS/2.
Gupta is on the board of Gainsight and Securonix, and is a strategic director at Seattle-based venture firm Madrona.
Other key personnel changes across the Pacific Northwest tech industry:
- Longtime Costco CFO Richard Galanti is stepping down after nearly four decades at the retail behemoth. Gary Millerchip, a former senior vice president at Kroger, will replace Galanti, effective March 15.
- Jessica Lanier, a former finance leader at Qualtrics and Usermind, joined restaurant software company Restaurant365 as CFO.
- Lucy Hur, who recently stepped down as chief people officer at Seattle digital services giant Slalom, joined Seattle workplace equity startup Syndio as a strategic advisor.
- Stephanie Mudgett, a veteran communications exec in the Seattle region, was named head of global communications and branding at hydrogen fuel cell company Hyzon Motors.
- Marion Desmazières, a former manager at Amazon and Startup Weekend, joined Microsoft’s venture fund M12 as a senior portfolio development manager.
- Samarth Brahmbhatt, a former research scientist at Intel Labs, joined Seattle robotics startup Overland AI as a technical lead.
