FourKites has announced some leadership changes. It has promoted Priya Rajagopalan to President of Product, Technology and Operations. It also revealed the appointment of Ron Richardson as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). He joined in December 2023, following the departure of Rocky Subramanian, who held the position of President. He led the company’s strategy, marketing, revenue growth, operations, services and customer success functions globally.
After only eight months, Subramanian’s appointment seems to have failed. Mathew Elenjickal, FourKites Founder and CEO, seems resolved to hire a familiar face with Richardson and promote from within to split the roles that Subramanian had.
Elenjickal commented, “These promotions reflect our confidence in Priya’s and Ron’s leadership and their ability to propel FourKites to even greater heights. Priya’s unique blend of deep technical knowledge, innate leadership skills and collaborative approach has earned her admiration from industry leaders, investors and customers, alike.
“Likewise, Ron brings deep industry experience, a strong track record as a successful CRO and, most importantly, vast knowledge of our existing customers and ecosystem. Under their leadership, we will continue to innovate, grow and solidify our position as the de-facto leader in the supply chain visibility space.”
A new president
Rajagopalan joined the company seven years ago as Chief Product Officer and has had a large impact on product development. With the promotion to President her role has expanded. She now becomes responsible for the Product, Engineering and Customer functions. Her goal is to fully align the product with customer needs. This should become easier with responsibility for both customer and product functions.
The promotion recognizes her success as Chief Product Officer, something that several other firms have recognised. She also holds non-executive board member roles at Brambles (ASX: BXB). The supply-chain logistics company operating across 60 countries through the CHEP brand. Rajagopalan has also been recognised by the wider industry. Being named an SDCE Pros to Know and one of The Software Report’s Top 25 Software Product Executives.
Under Rajagopalan’s leadership FourKites has brought to market several product innovations. These have included:
- A real-time facility manager Dynamic Yard
- End-to-end international ocean shipments tracker Dynamic Ocean
- Generative AI assistant Fin AI
- A patented AI-powered ETA forecaster, Smart Forecasted Arrival
- Universal appointment scheduler Appointment Manager
Rajagopalan commented, “FourKites defined and created the supply chain visibility category, and innovating with customers has been, and continues to be, part of our company’s DNA. This alignment allows us to innovate and execute at even greater speed to ensure successful deployment and adoption across our customers.”
A familiar face as Chief Revenue Officer
Ron Richardson left FourKites in 2021 as SVP of Sales. He has since held Chief Revenue Officer roles at Tuvo Inc. and OneRail, gaining experience in the role of CRO. His experience leading Turvo’s growth towards an exit. Together with leading the revenue organisation at the leading omnichannel fulfilment solution will have brought great experience. Coupled with his deep experience with FourKites, he was one of the first employees at the company, joining in 2016 as Global Vice President of Sales. Now, with a wider remit, he will renew his relationships with some of FourKites’ key customers that he helped sign, including Coca-Cola and Nestlé.
Richardson commented, “I am thrilled to come back home to FourKites — returning to the market-leading company, and the industry category I helped pioneer. I look forward to building on the momentum the team that I jump-started in the early years, driving growth and success among our Fortune 500 enterprise customers who continue to see massive value with the FourKites platform.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Bringing in external leaders does not always work. Was Subramanian’s appointment an idea for a succession plan by Elenjickal? Regardless, he now has two trusted leaders in place who know the company well and he trusts.
Rajagopalan has proven her capabilities as Chief Product Officer, and the promotion recognizes that. Bringing back Richardson is a masterstroke. During his time away, he will have gained valuable experience. Elenjickal will hope that he can lead the sales organisation to even greater success than he did the first time. The big question is, what is Elenjickal’s succession plan now?
