News Analysis
The Gist
- Executive shakeup. Medallia appoints Mark Bishof as CEO and chairman, bringing along four other former Qualtrics executives.
- Strategic evolution. Medallia aims to enhance AI-driven customer experience with a new leadership team focused on innovation.
- Market confidence. The contact center software market is poised for growth, with a 23.9% CAGR predicted through 2030.
The new year has brought an executive shakeup in the contact center software space.
Medallia today added five former Qualtrics executives, most notably at the top: Mark Bishof is the new chairman and CEO of Medallia.
Bishof most recently served as strategic advisor and chief business officer of Qualtrics, following its 2021 acquisition of Clarabridge. Bishof was CEO of Clarabridge, which also played in this customer experience space before Qualtrics acquired Clarabridge for $1.125 billion in July 2021.
Medallia and Qualtrics play in the contact center, customer and employee experience management software space.
Call it a CX-EX exec shakeup.
Mike Lipps was in the Medallia CEO role since April 2024. He took over for Joe Tyrrell, who left for personal reasons. Lipps is remaining on the Medallia board. Lipps’ appointment was only temporary as Medallia seeked a long-term successor, which is now Bishof, a Medallia spokesperson told CMSWire.
Table of Contents
- New Medallia Executives With Qualtrics Ties
- Impact on Contact Center Software Space
- Medallia and Qualtrics: Tale of the Tape
- Core Questions Around Medallia's Executive Changes
New Medallia Executives With Qualtrics Ties
What's more: Bishof brings along to Medallia some of his Clarabridge/Qualtrics friends. Four other former Clarabridge/Qualtrics executives in addition to Bishof are now part of Medallia:
- Sid Banerjee has been appointed chief strategy officer. As former founder of Clarabridge and chief XM strategy officer at Qualtrics XM (Qualtrics XM is the branding for its products), Banerjee has been in customer experience technology for more than 20 years. He will lead the development of Medallia’s AI innovation agenda.
- Bas Brukx has been appointed chief financial officer. Brukx joins from Therapy Brands, where he served as CFO. He previously held CFO roles at Clarabridge and Allego, the latter which he joined after about a year with Qualtrics.
- Ram Ramachandran has been appointed chief transformation officer. He was most recently the president of CareJourney and previously served as the chief technology officer of Clarabridge and CTO of Qualtrics XM Discover.
- Karl Knoll has been appointed general counsel. He previously served as general counsel of Clarabridge and was a Qualtrics legal consultant for about a year after the Clarabridge acquisition. Prior to that, he was a partner at Womble Bond Dickinson.
In other executive move, Jamie Hunter has been appointed chief of staff and head of corporate development at Medallia. She most recently served as chief operating officer at Emburse and is the lone executive in the news today not formerly with Qualtrics connections.
“I am thrilled to bring these seasoned industry leaders together and pair them with Medallia’s team and long history of innovation in customer experience and AI,” Bishof said. “The world is changing, and our vision is to accelerate our clients from CX-based surveys and signals to AI-based conversations and automation, enabling them to compete more effectively and gain higher share and delight from their customers.”
Related Article: Former Microsoft Exec to Join Qualtrics as President of AI Strategy
Impact on Contact Center Software Space
What does all this mean for the contact center and customer experience management software space? Naturally the biggest impact would be on Medallia customers. Such a large executive dump could mean new things for product roadmap and company strategy. The incoming executives for Medallia are not insignificant roles, with strategy, roadmap and AI innovation all likely to see change.
Above all else, think about this news this way: Five major executives with customer experience management and contact center space backgrounds are staying in the same space. That signals confidence in driving customer experience on the front lines, and it's no surprise when you look at the numbers. Grand View Research reported the global contact center software market size was valued at $33.38 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.9% from 2023 to 2030.
"The increasing demand for enhanced customer experience is expected to significantly drive the market growth," researchers reported. "Businesses understand the importance of providing exceptional customer service and invest in contact center software to streamline customer interactions, improve response times and personalize the customer experience. Moreover, the rise of omnichannel communication is driving the adoption of contact center software."
What's more: companies like Medallia and Qualtrics need to evolve and innovate — and fast. They're up against a technology world that's moving at light speed because of artificial intelligence. By 2027, Gartner predicts 40% of all customer service issues will be fully resolved by unofficial third-party tools powered by generative AI, according to Gartner, Inc. The Medallias, Qualtrics and companies like NICE of this space have already recognized this AI in customer experience revolution but need to keep up.
Consumers are increasingly adopting unofficial third-party generative tools such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Apple Intelligence to resolve customer service issues, Gartner notes. "The deep integration of GenAI into these widely available consumer tools is driving a shift in consumer behavior, as customers prefer these platforms for their convenience and availability. As a result, customer service teams may expect a decline in official first-party service volume," according to Gartner.
Related Article: SAP Sells Qualtrics Shares in $12.5B Acquisition by Silver Lake and CPP Investments
Medallia and Qualtrics: Tale of the Tape
As for the two CX companies at play here, each company went private after major acquisitions this decade:
Thoma Bravo, a software investment firm, announced in July 2021 it had acquired Medallia for $6.4 billion. Medallia, which went public in 2019, reverted back to a private company in the deal. Medallia had been growing steadily and IPO'ed itself in the summer of 2019. The total revenue for fiscal year 2021 was $477.2 million for Medallia, an increase of 19% from the prior year. When it did the same in 2019, the yearly revenue was $313.6 million.
Qualtrics, meanwhile, was sold by SAP as part of the company's $12.5 billion acquisition by Silver Lake and CPP Investments in March of 2023. SAP acquired Qualtrics in 2019 for $8 billion. SAP took Qualtrics public in 2021, with a valuation of nearly $21 billion, allowing it to operate independently, yet still retaining ownership over a majority of the stock.
Qualtrics and Medallia were both leaders in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Voice of the Customer (VoC) Platforms 2024. They were well ahead of fellow leaders PG Forsta and InMoment. Concentrix was named a visionary; Verint was named a challenger; and Alida, Alchemer, QuestionPro and Pisano all got nods as niche players.
Core Questions Around Medallia's Executive Changes
Editor's note: Here's a summary of two core questions around the topic of Medallia's executive changes:
Who is the CEO of Medallia?
Mark Bishof is the new chairman and CEO of Medallia. He previously served as the chief business officer of Qualtrics and was CEO of Clarabridge before its acquisition by Qualtrics in 2021.
Webinar
Sep
25
CMS Briefing: A Live Look at What’s Next in AI-Driven Platforms
Learn how leading organizations are using AI‑driven tools to publish faster, personalize smarter and stay secure.
Register
Webinar
Sep
25
Call Spoofing Trends Financial Institutions Can't Afford to Ignore
Don't let robocalls sabotage your customer relationships. Learn how to secure your voice channel.
Register
Webinar
On demand
Ready or Not: How Data-First Organizations Are Unlocking Agentforce Potential
Learn how to cut through the noise, activate Agentforce and build a Salesforce AI strategy that actually delivers.
Watch Now
Webinar
On demand
CX Reality Check: What Your Customers Are Really Thinking
Register now and get the insights you need to not just meet rising expectations, but exceed them.
Watch Now
Webinar
On demand
Content Leaders Collective: What a Good CCMS Actually Looks Like
Discover how content leaders transform clunky systems into growth engines — and why your competitors are ahead.
Watch Now
Webinar
On demand
From Hype to High-Impact CX Strategies That Actually Scale
Turn buzzworthy AI and outsourcing trends into measurable CX wins with fresh 2025 data.
Watch Now
What impact will executive changes have on Medallia's strategy?
The appointment of five former Qualtrics executives, including key roles in strategy, AI innovation, and legal, signals a strategic shift toward AI-driven solutions and potential changes in Medallia's product roadmap and company vision. This could influence how Medallia adapts to the rapidly-evolving customer experience software market.
