The new CFO of software provider Auvik Networks is gearing up for a familiar challenge: helping an organization to navigate its way through a period of transition and rapid growth.
Auvik finance chief Bob Feller is one of three senior executives who joined the Waterloo, Canada-based company last month, following the appointment of a new CEO. The management shakeup comes after three acquisitions by Auvik in 2022 and its receipt of a $250 million growth investment from Boston-based private equity firm Great Hill Partners in 2021.
“Probably one of the main reasons that I was brought in was to get the company to kind of the next level in terms of growth and to support the needs of the private equity firm that’s now our majority owner,” Feller, who has taken on similar challenges in prior CFO posts, said in an interview.
Auvik, founded in 2011, provides a cloud-based platform designed to automate and simplify information technology network management. It’s a market where customer demand is on the rise as many companies grapple with increased IT challenges, including cybersecurity issues, related to managing remote workforces, Feller said.
While it’s difficult to precisely measure remote workers, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the number of U.S. employees primarily working remotely more than tripled from 9 million in 2019 to 27.6 million in 2021 amid COVID-19 lockdowns and efforts to avert exposure to the virus.
The pandemic-era trend has continued and is likely to remain entrenched across much of the U.S. job market, CNBC reported last month, citing labor economists.
Meanwhile, despite the impact of inflation, worldwide IT spending is projected to total $4.5 trillion in 2023, an increase of 2.4% over the prior year, according to technology research firm Gartner.
“It’s becoming increasingly difficult for companies to manage their IT networks, particularly with employees being remote in a lot of places,” Feller said. “We’ve got a simple dashboard that gives IT departments the ability to see all of their devices that have access points to the internet and to spot any security vulnerabilities in the network.”
Auvik’s leadership changes come as the company evolves to meet “current and future customer demands on a global scale,” according to a March 7 press release. The company achieved 44% revenue growth in the second half of 2022, the release noted. Because it’s a non-public entity, the company isn’t disclosing further details about its financial performance, Feller said.
Besides the revenue spike, another 2022 milestone for Auvik was its acquisition of three companies: Saaslio, a provider of software for securely managing applications; Boardgent, maker of a platform for managing and protecting desktops and laptops remotely; and MetaGeek, a supplier of tools designed to help network professionals more efficiently deploy and maintain wireless networks.
The company also added about 100 people to its workforce last year, according to Feller.
“Right now, it’s all about growth,” he said. “The company has evolved from being a Waterloo-based Canadian company to being more of a global company with a distributed workforce.”
Auvik now has more than 300 employees globally, serves more than 3,600 active customers, and monitors more than 6.7 million devices, according to its website.
Along with Feller’s appointment, Auvik last month announced the hiring of Courtney Harrison as chief human resources officer and Siva Ananmalay as chief development officer. In addition, Alex Hoff, one of Auvik’s co-founders, assumed the new role of chief strategy officer.
“This expansion of Auvik’s leadership team is timed to meet the moment as we extend our product portfolio and add the talent needed to support this stage of growth,” Auvik CEO Douglas Murray said in the March 7 release.
Feller, whose career in corporate finance spans more than three decades, served as CFO for software provider WorkForce Software for about eight years prior to joining Auvik, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also previously served as CFO for Palace Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Detroit Pistons NBA team, among other assets. His prior work also includes a stint as vice president of finance for software company Salesforce.com.
Like Auvik, both WorkForce and Palace Sports brought Feller on board soon after they became majority owned by a private equity firm.
“There is a breed of CFOs that have both the desire and capability to work with private equity firms,” he said, adding that the job can be rigorous and demanding. “Every private equity firm is different, but I would say what they all share is a level of oversight and direction that is more hands on than what you might experience with venture capitals.”
Murray took over as Auvik CEO last fall, bringing over 20 years of network and security industry experience, including two years as the CEO of cloud security company Valtix, according to his LinkedIn page. He also previously held leadership positions at Juniper Networks, Sun Microsystems and AT&T. Auvik’s previous CEO was Marc Morin, another co-founder of the company.
Feller replaced former Auvik finance chief Tim Martin, who left after about nine years to become board vice-chair of Canadian electric utility company Enova Energy, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“The previous CFO did a fantastic job of getting the company to the point where it was able to secure such a large investment from Great Hill,” Feller said. “Once a company gets to a certain threshold — what I would call an inflection point — is when I tend to come in.”
