WP ENGINE ANNOUNCES NEW BOARD AND EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS

Enterprise Software CEO Roundtable Chairman Rick Crandall HomeAway CMO Mariano Dima

Former Zilliant SVP of Engineering, Beth Weeks, Named SVP of R&D

AUSTIN, Texas – NOV. 19, 2015 – WP Engine, which powers amazing digital experiences for websites and applications built on WordPress, today announced new appointments to its Board of Directors and enhancements to its executive team. The Board of Directors elected both Rick Crandall, Chairman of the Enterprise Software CEO Roundtable and Founding Partner of Arbor Partners, a tech-focused venture capital firm along with Mariano Dima, Global Chief Marketing Officer of HomeAway, Inc. [NASDAQ: AWAY] as Independent Directors. In addition, the company named Beth Weeks as SVP Research & Development responsible for the delivery of WP Engine’s innovative, scalable and enterprise class software products. The expansion of WP Engine’s leadership will support global growth, as it executes on its innovation roadmap and continues to deliver an industry-leading customer experience.

“Having the most accomplished, trusted advisors and top-notch management team is critical for WP Engine to continue the incredible growth we’ve achieved over the past few years,” said Heather Brunner, CEO of WP Engine. “We are very fortunate to welcome Rick, Mariano and Beth to the WP Engine family. Their varied backgrounds bringing unparalleled enterprise software experience and executive leadership, a visionary’s perspective on the future needs of the global marketer and expertise scaling operations and infrastructure will be invaluable to WP Engine as we look to empower brands in their digital transformation.”

Earlier in 2015, WP Engine secured $23 million in funding, bringing total venture investment in the company to $41.2 million. Today, 40,000 customers across 133 countries, from entrepreneurs and small businesses to global enterprises like semiconductor giant, AMD and Britain’s national rail network, Network Rail, depend on WP Engine to ensure their websites are safe, fast and scalable. Founded in 2010, WP Engine has grown alongside WordPress, the most popular content management system which now powers 25 percent of all websites on the Internet.

More background on the new joiners is included below.

New Hire
Beth Weeks
Beth Weeks joins WP Engine to lead research and development bringing over 30 years of experience building and leading highly productive software development organizations. Prior to WP Engine, Weeks served for over a decade as SVP of Engineering at Austin-based, price and sales optimization  company, Zilliant. Before Zilliant, she was instrumental in leading Vignette Corporation [acquired by OpenText, NASDAQ: OTEX] through tremendous growth from small startup organization to an enterprise market leader in the web content management market. Beth’s three decades of leadership experience scaling teams and infrastructure, along with her active contributions to software engineering academia will help lay the foundation for the next phase of growth at the company.

New Board Members
Rick Crandall
Rick Crandall brings over 40 years of enterprise software experience to WP Engine, including one of the longest tenures, 28 years, as CEO of Comshare, Inc. He currently serves as a director and advisor to a number of companies, ranging from private ventures to public companies such as Diebold Inc. [NYSE: DBD], RR Donnelley [NYSE: RRD], past Chairman of Novell, Inc., Pelstar, LLC  a manufacturer of professional medical equipment and ChannelNet, a provider of multi-channel e-commerce software. A pioneer of computer timesharing services, Rick founded Comshare in 1966 and took the company through one of the earliest public offerings in the tech industry, growing Comshare to $130 million in revenue and expansion into 20 countries by the time he left in 1994 to transition to strategist and VC-related activities. Crandall served as tech advisor to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and is a founding partner of Arbor Partners, a tech-focused venture capital firm, and he was a founding partner with Gideon Gartner to create the industry analyst firm, Giga Information Group, where he served as Chairman until it was sold to Forrester Research in 2003.

Mariano Dima
Mariano Dima is an award-winning executive who has been recognized as one of the top visionaries shaping the future of marketing today. As the CMO of HomeAway he oversees all global marketing, corporate communications and brand initiatives for the leading online marketplace for vacation rentals. Prior to HomeAway, he held leadership roles at some of the world’s most recognizable brands, including PepsiCo, Inc., Vodafone, Levi Strauss & Co. and Visa Europe Ltd— a career that has spanned 20 years and multiple continents. Most recently, Dima served as the CMO for Visa Europe where he oversaw the brand’s strategic marketing, brand communications, advertising, sponsorships and insights and analytics. His seven-year tenure with the company was punctuated by the popular 2012 Olympic-integrated marketing campaign, “Life flows better with Visa.”

ABOUT WP ENGINE
WP Engine powers amazing digital experiences for websites and applications built on WordPress. The company’s premium managed hosting platform provides the performance, reliability and security required by the biggest brands in the world, while remaining affordable and intuitive enough for smaller businesses and individuals. Companies of all sizes rely on WP Engine’s award-winning customer service team to quickly solve technical problems and create a world-class customer experience. Founded in 2010, WP Engine is headquartered in Austin, Texas and has offices in San Francisco, California, San Antonio, Texas, and London, England.

Media Contact:
Annika Harper
Text100 for WP Engine
[email protected]
415-593-8494