by Peter High, published on Forbes
6-29-2016
Medallia, a global Customer Experience Management (CEM) company, has appointed Ashwin Ballal as the company’s first chief information officer. Ballal, who has more than 20 years of executive experience, will assume global responsibility for Medallia’s information services organization.
“After getting to know Medallia—its team, customers, partners, investors—I realized that this is a once-in-a-decade opportunity,” said Ballal. “Medallia is the leading software provider in a mission-critical business category. Its platform helps the world’s most admired companies eliminate customer pain points and create new value for customers at scale. It’s the future of how companies relate to customers, and I can’t wait to get started.”
Ballal had been Chief Information, Intelligence, and Data Officer for KLA-Tencor. He received the CIO 100 award from CIO magazine in 2013 among other awards. Previously, Ballal held executive positions in KLA-Tencor’s Engineering, Operations, Sales, and Marketing divisions, including serving as General Manager of a Product division and as President and Managing Director of KLA-Tencor India.
“We are delighted to add a CIO of Ashwin’s caliber to Medallia’s leadership team,” said Mike Kourey, CFO of Medallia. “Driven by our rapid growth around the world, Ashwin will partner with our entire organization and customer ecosystem to evolve our processes, systems, and infrastructure for scalability and optimization.”
“The breadth of Ashwin’s technological and business management experience makes him a powerful addition to Medallia’s management team,” said Borge Hald, co-founder and CEO of Medallia. “He is also an incredibly supportive leader who fits wonderfully with Medallia’s culture,” said Hald, noting that Ballal served as a mentor for Women Unlimited and as chairperson of the KLA-Tencor Foundation’s efforts in promoting STEM education. “We are thrilled to welcome him on board.”
Ballal earned his PhD and postdoctorate degrees in materials science and engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park and a bachelor’s degree in metallurgy from India’s National Institute of Technology.
