SolarWinds, a leading provider of simple, powerful, secure observability and IT management software, announced a planned CEO succession and the appointment of Samuel Monti as its Chief Financial Officer.
Sudhakar Ramakrishna, President and Chief Executive Officer, will conclude his tenure as CEO on September 30, 2026, following a structured, board-led succession process he has helped lead over the past several months. Ramakrishna will remain an advisor to the company and continues to be personally invested in its success as a shareholder. The company expects to announce his successor in the coming weeks.
Cullen Childress will serve as the company’s interim CEO through the transition. Childress has been with SolarWinds for over 5 years and has led the company’s product portfolio, including the buildout of the SolarWinds platform and the new SW1 Agentic platform, announced in April. Childress will be closely supported by Ramakrishna and the company’s existing senior leadership team, ensuring continuity for customers, partners, and employees.
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Monti will succeed Tim Karaca, who informed the board earlier this year of his interest to pursue outside opportunities, as CFO. We are grateful for Tim’s many contributions over the last four years and for his collaboration with the board to set up the organization and Monti for ongoing success. Karaca will remain an advisor to the company through the end of 2026.
“This transition has been planned deliberately, and the leadership team, strategy, and roadmap are stronger than at any point in my nearly six years here,” said Ramakrishna. “Sam is the right partner for this next chapter — he has scaled and transformed complex software businesses, and he brings the energy and operating rigor SolarWinds needs as we take agentic AI to market. SolarWinds is an integral part of who I am, and I intend to stay close to it.”
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“I joined SolarWinds because the combination of a trusted brand, a deeply loyal customer base, a world class partner community, and a genuine AI-driven product opportunity is rare,” said Monti. “My focus is on giving this team the operating clarity and capital to move quickly — on our customers, our partner community, our product, and on the growth ahead.”
Monti brings more than three decades of finance, accounting, and operational leadership across public and private software companies, including prior roles as chief executive officer, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer. Most recently Monti served as Chief Financial Officer at WP Engine. Previously, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Epicor Software where Monti built and led the SaaS financial profile strategy that resulted in double digit recurring revenue growth and a 3X enterprise valuation. Monti’s “customer value orientation” leverages broad leadership, operational and capital acumen, and is ideally suited for our next phase of growth.
