Smith Joins Former IBM GM at Helm of Disruptive Cloud-Based Analytics Company
ChaosSearch, creator of the first cloud data lake platform for scalable log analysis, today announced it has named Melinda Smith as Chief Financial Officer. Smith was most recently CFO for PayPal’s Venmo business unit, which she shepherded through a period of explosive growth in revenue and customer acquisition. Smith, who has held CFO positions at several high-growth and acquired startups, joins an accomplished ChaosSearch executive team, including recently appointed CEO Ed Walsh, a serial entrepreneur and former General Manager of IBM Storage division, and founder and visionary CTO Thomas Hazel.
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“As an early investor in both Paydiant and ChaosSearch, it is a big win to bring Melinda back onto the team. Her operational excellence paired with Ed’s business growth expertise and Thomas’ deep technical chops, is the trifecta of which unicorns are made.”
“Successful businesses run on data and, increasingly, on AI and machine learning apps that leverage that data. But because analyzing the tsunamis of data companies generate is so difficult and expensive, most companies limit what they retain and analyze,” said Smith. “ChaosSearch has a breakthrough, customer-proven solution that makes it extremely easy to retain, search, and analyze unlimited amounts of data at a cost that is often 80% less than competitive approaches. I believe they have the potential to be a unicorn, and the team to make it happen. I’m really excited about joining such a dynamic, world-class group.”
“Melinda clearly has a phenomenal track record of identifying the next big disruptive companies and readying them for hyper growth. Her strategic and financial acumen is exactly what we need to quickly scale ChaosSearch to the next level. We’re beyond thrilled to have her on board,” said Walsh.
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“The expertise Melinda gained at Venmo analyzing and reporting on large data sets gives her great perspective on the value ChaosSearch brings to cost savings at scale — and makes her a great addition to the company,” said David Baum, Managing Director, Stage 1 Ventures. “As an early investor in both Paydiant and ChaosSearch, it is a big win to bring Melinda back onto the team. Her operational excellence paired with Ed’s business growth expertise and Thomas’ deep technical chops, is the trifecta of which unicorns are made.”
Smith is an accomplished finance executive, with more than twenty-five years of strategic planning, financial operations, and M&A transaction experience at public enterprises and private, venture-backed companies. In addition to her position as CFO for Venmo at PayPal, she was CFO at Paydiant, Expressor Software, and edocs, all of which she helped grow and ready for acquisitions that occurred during her tenure. Paydiant was acquired by PayPal; Expressor by Qlik; edocs by Siebel Systems and then Oracle. Smith also held finance leadership roles at Aspen Technology and Gradient Technologies. She is a graduate of the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
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