Two Top Google Cloud Execs Exit As CEO ‘Evolves’ Sales And Support

Google Cloud’s President of cloud sales as well as its vice president of Google Cloud Customer Experience are leaving the company, according to an internal email to employees today from CEO Thomas Kurian.

Two of Google Cloud’s top global customer and sales leaders are departing the cloud company as CEO Thomas Kurian seeks to “evolve” Google Cloud’s sales and support organizations.

Rob Enslin, Google Cloud President of cloud sales, is leaving the company to become co-CEO of robotics automation specialist UiPath. Enslin was critical to driving cloud sales and global field operations at Google Cloud, tripling the size of its sales organization during his three years leading the company’s worldwide sales charge.

Additionally, Google Cloud is losing John Lester, vice president of Google Cloud Customer Experience, responsible for driving customer success, enterprise support and professional services.

Both Google Cloud executives will depart the company on May 1, according to an internal email to employees from CEO Kurian, which CRN was able to obtain through a source close to the matter.

“Today, two of our Cloud go-to-market leaders, Rob Enslin and John Jester, have decided to leave Google Cloud for exciting new external roles, effective May 1. Over the last three years, Rob and John have led our go-to-market organization and helped us build a solid foundation for the future, and I want to thank them for everything they’ve done,” said Kurian in his email to Google employees.

[Related: SADA CEO Tony Safoian: How Google Cloud Is Besting AWS]

Enslin is joining UiPath as its new co-CEO, according to a release today from the company. At Google Cloud, Enslin reported directly to Kurian.

“I have long been a fan of UiPath and the meaningful value the Company creates for its customers and partners through its end-to-end automation platform,” said Enslin in a statement today. “I’m committed to helping UiPath build on its momentum as we look ahead to the Company’s next phase of growth.”

Prior to Google Cloud, Enslin spent over a decade at SAP in top sales and cloud computing executive roles.

Jester has yet to unveil which company he will join next. Prior to joining Google Cloud in 2019, Jester spent nearly 20 years at cloud competitor Microsoft with his last role as corporate vice president of Microsoft’s worldwide customer success.

One national Google Cloud partner said the departure of Enslin and Jester won’t affect channel partners and was confident that the public cloud company won’t skip a beat.

“They’ve prepared for John and Rob leaving, and they even planned to change some things internally with them leaving,” said the top executive of a Google Cloud partner who did not wish to be identified. “Google [Cloud] is always evolving, changing, and so are we as a partner. These two people exiting doesn’t really affect too much at Google [Cloud] right now. … It looks like Kurian is actually taking this and flipping it into a positive.”

Protocol was first to report the story.

Kurian: Google Cloud To ‘Evolve Our GTM’

With the departure of Enslin and Jester, Kurian said his Mountain View, Calif.-based company will “evolve” its go-to-market organization.

Kurian plans to unify Google’s sales, technical account management, professional services, and customer success teams together into two key geographies—Americas and International. The company plans to unify its sales and customers teams together into these two geographies.

“These changes will put our resources closer to customers and partners, and will accelerate our ability to help them digitally transform,” said Kurian in his email to employees. “We have built a deep and seasoned leadership team, and several of these leaders will now step into broader roles.”

Here Are Google’s New Leaders

Kirsten Kliphouse will now lead the new Americas region for Google Cloud which includes the United States, Canada and Latin America.

Kliphouse joined Google Cloud in 2019 to lead customer and partner teams for North America as president of Google Cloud North America. She is a technology industry veteran who spent 25 years at Microsoft as vice president of Customer Support and Professional Services.

Adaire Fox-Martin will lead Google Cloud’s new International region which includes EMEA, Japan, and APAC.

Fox-Martin joined the company in 2021 to lead customer and partner teams for EMEA as Google Cloud’s EMEA Cloud President.

She has more than 25 years of technology sales experience, with previously roles including president of Global Sales & Service at SAP, as well as vice president of government education and healthcare at Oracle.

“Both Adaire and Kirsten are seasoned leaders who each bring more than 30 years of experience to their roles,” said Kurian in a statement to CRN. “These changes will put our resources closer to customers and partners, and will accelerate our ability to help them digitally transform as we enter a new phase in our own growth journey.”

Jester’s Cloud Customer Experience (CCE) leaders will now report to the new sales leaders. “Other senior leaders who reported to Rob and John will continue in their leadership roles as we grow and scale,” said Google Cloud’s CEO.

“Beyond these top-level reporting shifts, we are intentionally minimizing changes to ensure our teams stay focused on serving our customers and partners and to continue our strong growth during 2022,” said Kurian in his internal email to employees. “We are fortunate to have a very seasoned executive team with expertise based on years of experience at leading companies—and I am confident that they will work together to provide strong leadership as we enter this next phase of our journey as an organization.”

On Tuesday, Google Cloud reported its first quarter 2022 financial earnings with sales surging 44 percent year over year to $5.82 billion.