Adaptive Planning Hires Alliances Executive Carolee Gearhart as VP of Global Channels

Adaptive Planning, a provider of cloud business analytics systems for companies and nonprofits, has appointed of Carolee Gearhart as its Vice President of Global Channels & Partners. Gearhart brings deep experience in driving strategic partner success in enterprise software with nearly twelve years in senior executive partnership roles at SAP and PeopleSoft. The announcement was made on Thursday at the company’s annual Worldwide Partner Forum.

Gearhart joins Adaptive Planning as the company announces record growth of its leading network of more than 400 worldwide partners and its customer base of more than 1500 customers in 80 countries. New software bookings grew over 90 percent in 2012. With its growing product breadth and increasing market momentum, Adaptive Planning has added more than 100 partners in 2012.

This partner channel influences 50 percent of the company’s rapidly growing business. Channel partners helped to win many new enterprise accounts, including Adidas, Bridgestone, Fujitsu, SAB Miller Brewing Company, and Toyota.

The announcement comes on the first day of the company’s Worldwide Partner Forum, an annual gathering of key partners from around the world to share strategies and best practices and to continue to accelerate business opportunities for Adaptive Planning’s solutions.

“I am thrilled to be joining Adaptive Planning, a high growth company that has already built a thriving channel ecosystem,” said Gearhart. “As the company continues to expand market opportunities, particularly in new global regions and with new product lines, I look forward to engaging with partners in accelerating, driving and optimizing channel opportunities. I’m excited about embracing the power and enthusiasm of the partners to amplify the passion that customers have shown for Adaptive Planning as a product and a company.”

Gearhart brings solid experience in channel and strategic alliance leadership roles at large enterprise software companies. Her roles at SAP included Global Vice President of OEM, Head of the Strategic Partner Organization, and Vice President of Business Development where she managed more than $1 billion of annual revenues in systems integration partnerships, owned $200 million in resale license revenues and $100 million in OEM revenues.

Her team included a 100+ employee organization, and delivered 15 percent growth in revenues from top tier partners. At PeopleSoft, she held the position of Vice President of Global Channels where she built and owned the global strategic plan and business development, and expanded initial channel revenues from $0 to $21 million in one year. Before PeopleSoft, Gearhart held a Senior Consultant position at Deloitte & Touche.

As the Vice President of Channels at Adaptive Planning, Gearhart will join the senior executive team reporting to the CEO to usher in renewed global expansion and channel programs.

“We are delighted that Carolee has joined Adaptive. She brings an exceptional background and proven leadership in ratcheting partnerships and alliance success to the next level,” said John Herr, CEO of Adaptive Planning. “Her expertise will be valuable as we develop and nurture key channel partners to support this expansion internationally and within larger businesses. Our robust global partner ecosystem has helped Adaptive scale rapidly around the world. It is a cornerstone of our high velocity business model, making us the #5 fast-growing software-company in Silicon Valley, according to the Deloitte Fast 500 list.”