Mark J. Barrenechea

Mark J. Barrenechea joined OpenText as President and Chief Executive Officer in January 2012, and also serves as a member of the Board. In January 2016, Mark took on the role of Chief Technology Officer. In September 2017, he was appointed Vice Chair, in addition to remaining the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer.

As CEO of Canada’s largest software company, Mark oversees the strategic direction of the organization and upholds the company’s position at the forefront of the industry. Under his direction, OpenText has grown both organically and through strategic acquisitions, into a $3.5 billion technology company.

Mark’s unwavering commitment to innovation and results, combined with a dedication to customers’ needs, led him to successfully realign the company’s products, transforming OpenText into an information management leader and modern cloud company.

A prominent thought leader, Mark’s extensive experience in information technology and business affords him unique insights into today’s world of rapid disruption and evolving technological change. His latest book, The Anticipant Organization, is a must-read survival guide where Mark, and co-authors Major-General (Ret.) David Fraser and Tom Jenkins, delve into how today’s leaders can anticipate and prepare for the next crisis in the digital age—the nanocrisis. Mark’s new position paper, Be a Climate Innovator, explores the current climate crisis and how responsible organizations can make a real difference in the fight of the generation.

Before joining OpenText, Mark was President and Chief Executive Officer of Silicon Graphics International Corporation (SGI), where he also served as a member of the Board. A pioneer of Technical Computing, Mark defined and distinguished the new market from Business Computing and established SGI as one of its leaders. During his time at SGI, he led the company’s strategy and execution. His role included transformative acquisition of assets as well as penetrating diverse new markets and geographic regions.

Prior to SGI, Mark served as Executive Vice President and CTO for CA, Inc. (CA), (formerly Computer Associates International, Inc.) and as a member of the executive management team. Mark was also Senior Vice President of Applications Development at Oracle Corporation, responsible for managing a multi-thousand-member global team. Additionally, he was a member of the executive management team.

Mark has also served in a number of other positions, including Vice President of Development at Scopus, a software applications company, and Vice President of Development at Tesseract, where he was responsible for reshaping the company’s line of CRM and human capital management software.

Mark has received many accolades over the years. In 2011, the San Francisco Business Times named him the 2011 Best Large Company CEO. In 2015, he was named the Results-Oriented CEO of the year by the CEO World Awards, a prestigious award recognizing Mark’s leadership and innovation in attaining results for the company and its customers. Most recently, he was named one of the Top 25 IT Innovators of 2022 by CRN Magazine. Under Mark’s leadership, OpenText has also received numerous awards, including Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures 2021, Forbes list of World’s Best Employers 2022 and Canada’s Top 100 Employers 2023.