Mapping out the People with Power at Salesforce

Salesforce has grown a long way from its one-bedroom, basement roots in San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill.

In August, it closed its $27.7 billion acquisition with Slack, marking one of the largest tech deals in history. It then went on to report record earnings for Q2 of FY 2022 and is now the leading customer relations management system in the world.

The Org broke down the leadership team at Salesforce, which includes the inventor of the Facebook “like” button, a former clerk in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the now defunct title of Chief Love Officer.

Marc Benioff - Co-founder and CEO

Benioff founded Salesforce back in 1999, right before the dot-com bubble burst, with three others: Parker Harris, Frank Dominguez and Dave Moellenhoff. Back then, the early Salesforce founders were just as eager to carve out a sustainable company culture as they were to release their first version of Salesforce CRM. The company’s early mantra was “No fluff,” the team wore Hawaiian shirts, and even appointed Benioff’s dog, Koa, as Chief Love Officer. By the end of its first year, the company had grown to 40 employees and into an 8,000-square-foot office.

The company looks a little different now. Only Benioff and Harris currently lead on the company’s executive management team, with Benioff at the reins as CEO. During his tenure, Salesforce has grown into a Fortune 500 company with over 45,000 employees.

Before launching Salesforce, Benioff spent 13 years at Oracle where he worked his way up to Senior Vice President. His very first intro in tech was as an intern at Apple all the way back in 1984. Benioff worked on the Macintosh 68000 Development System.

In addition to his Salesforce duties, Benioff is also the owner of Time magazine. He and his wife Lynne Benioff bought the legacy media publication in 2018 for $190 million.

Bret Taylor - President and COO

Taylor is a respected software engineer with a veteran tech career and impressive resume under his belt. His background symbolizes the importance Salesforce places on software design and its products, by having an engineer lead one of the largest teams in the company. Taylor is the former CTO at Facebook, where he was credited with inventing the “like'' button. He joined Facebook in 2009 after it acquired his company, FriendFeed, and helped see the company through a successful IPO in 2012. He started his career at Google, where he co-created Google Maps.

He most recently served as the CEO of his innovation collaboration company Quip before it was acquired by Salesforce in 2016. He’s risen through the ranks at the company and now leads Salesforce’s global product vision, engineering, security, marketing and communications.

Alex Dayon - Chief Strategy Officer

Chief Strategy Officer Alex Dayon leads strategic initiatives at the company, working closely with Salesforce customers on product direction and business transformation. He also holds several patents of his own.

Dayon joined Salesforce in 2008 through the acquisition of InStranet, a leading knowledge-based company where he was a founder and served as CEO. Prior to InStranet, Alex was a founding member of Business Objects SA, where he led the product group for more than 10 years.

Amy Weaver - President and CFO

CFO Amy Weaver used to be the company’s Chief Legal Officer. Weaver was integral in building out the global legal and corporate affairs team at Salesforce into what it is today. She also helped advance the company’s technology leadership and helped to deepen customer and government relationships. She also gained experience executing complex financial transactions in this role, a key skill that aides her in her role as CFO.

Weaver joined Salesforce in 2013 and, before that, was EVP and General Counsel for Univar Solutions. She also used to be SVP and Deputy General Counsel at Expedia. She got her start in the legal world as a legislative aide to a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council and as a clerk in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

David Schmaier - Chief Product Officer

Schmaier is responsible for Salesforce’s global product team, strategy and vision. He and his organization partner closely with industry leading companies on their digital transformations to connect with and serve their customers in entirely new ways.

Prior to Salesforce, he worked as the CEO and Founder at Vlocity, an independent software vendor that grew out of Salesforce. It was the fastest-growing ISV out of 5,000 and was acquired by the company in June 2020.

Gavin Patterson - President and Chief Revenue Officer

CRO Gavin Patterson initially joined the company in 2019 as the Chair of EMEA, Salesforce’s fastest-growing region. A year later, Patterson was named CEO of Salesforce International where he led go-to-market strategy across all international regions.

Before Salesforce, Patterson served as chief executive of the BT Group for six years, where he oversaw the £15 billion acquisition of EE and launched BT Sport.

Ebony Beckwith - Chief Philanthropy Officer

Ebony Beckwith reports directly to Marc Benioff as Chief Philanthropy Officer. She is also the CEO of the Salesforce Foundation, which fuels the company’s philanthropic engine. Beckwith is responsible for the company’s philanthropic investment strategy, and the foundation’s focus on education and workforce development. Last year, the Foundation gave out grants to 132,000 young people, and $1.5 billion of technology was given out for free or at a discounted rate.

Beckwith also serves on the board of several nonprofits including Warriors Community Foundation, Hamilton Families and the Women’s Funding Network.

Brent Hyder - Chief People Officer

Rounding out the team is Chief People Officer Brent Hyder. He oversees Salesforce’s Employee Success Department, which directly enforces Salesforce’s company culture — something that has been embedded in the Salesforce mission since its early days. Dayon is also in charge of hiring and engaging the company’s team of over 45,000 employees.

Dayon joined Salesforce in 2019 after 15 years at Gap, where he most recently served as EVP and Chief People Officer. He has over 20 years of HR experience, but has also served as COO of Gap Brand and Vice President, General Manager and Representative Director of Gap Japan KK.