Gainsight names new leadership team for growth push

Gainsight has appointed Paul Sheppard, Ozlem Yuksel and Emily Singer to its executive leadership team, filling roles across finance, go-to-market strategy and corporate marketing.

Sheppard joins as Chief Financial Officer, Yuksel as Executive Vice President of go-to-market strategy & operations, and Singer as Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing.

The appointments come as Gainsight looks to strengthen its position in customer success software and related AI-based tools. The company was recently named a leader in analyst rankings from Gartner and Forrester covering customer success management platforms.

As CFO, Sheppard will oversee global finance, strategic planning, investor relations, mergers and acquisitions, legal, human resources and IT operations. He most recently served as CFO at Amplify and has experience across software and enterprise technology.

At Amplify, he helped grow revenue from USD $200 million to USD $600 million while meeting Rule of 40 measures, a benchmark software investors use to assess the balance between growth and profitability. Earlier in his career, he worked in investment banking in New York and London.

Yuksel will be responsible for aligning go-to-market execution across sales, marketing and customer success. She previously held roles at McKinsey, Hewlett-Packard, Salesforce and Google, focusing on strategy and operations for technology businesses.

Singer will lead corporate narrative, integrated marketing, brand strategy and global events. She has held senior marketing roles at Spring Health, Salesloft, Drift and Alteryx.

The management changes add senior oversight across functions tied to revenue growth, operations and market positioning. They also point to a focus on tighter coordination between product messaging, commercial execution and financial planning as Gainsight broadens its software portfolio.

Growth push

Gainsight has been building around what it calls agentic retention, a model in which AI agents take on parts of customer relationship management and service workflows. This includes products such as Staircase AI and Atlas AI Agents, alongside a broader set of acquisitions.

Customer success software has become a more competitive segment as software companies seek to reduce churn, improve adoption and gather more data on account health. Vendors are increasingly adding AI features to automate tasks previously handled by customer success teams, including risk detection, account monitoring and engagement recommendations.

That backdrop has pushed suppliers to strengthen both product development and commercial execution. The latest hires suggest Gainsight is investing not only in technology but also in the organisational structure needed to sell, market and finance a broader platform.

Chief Executive Chuck Ganapthi said the appointments reflected the demands of the company's next stage. "We are building the next chapter of Gainsight in a moment that demands both innovation and speed," he said. "Paul, Ozlem and Emily each bring a unique combination of domain expertise and enterprise execution, and represent the caliber of operators we need to succeed. We are excited to welcome them to the team."

For Sheppard, the move follows years in finance leadership and advisory roles. "Gainsight has a proven ability to translate product innovation into tangible business outcomes for customers," he said.

"I am joining an exceptional team of builders committed to helping Customer Success and Revenue leaders drive agentic transformation."

Yuksel linked the market shift to a broader blend of software automation and human support. "Customer success has entered a new era where digital, agentic and human capabilities work seamlessly together to create lasting value," she said.

"I joined Gainsight because I believe we have the opportunity to redefine what that looks like at scale. I'm excited to help operationalize this next evolution by building a go-to-market engine that turns Customer Success into a measurable growth driver."

Singer framed her appointment around the company's market position and brand. "Gainsight has earned credibility, community and unrivaled leadership in Customer Success and is now uniquely positioned to disrupt the category it created," she said. "I deeply resonate with the company's mission to be human-first while winning in business, and I have long admired the brand's mastery of both AI innovation and human connection. I am excited to partner with this incredibly talented team to author our next chapter."