Hearsay announced today that Mike Boese will become its new CEO, replacing founder Clara Shih.
Shih told Financial Advisor that she is stepping down as CEO but will continue on as executive chairwoman of the fintech, which provides content, compliance and communication support for advisors and financial firms across social media, voice call and other channels.
“Eleven years ago we had a stereotypical business plan – it wasn’t even a business plan, really, but a product idea and announcement,” said Shih. “Here we are 11 years later serving 170,000 advisors and teams and enabling them to reinvent themselves in the digital era. In no time has it been more important than in the last 120 days during the pandemic – but just as advisors have to think about succession planning, technology founders have to do the same.”
Boese brings with him extensive experience as a technology executive, including stints in business development, corporate strategy and operations at Oracle, Quantum, SAP and Taleo, and six years as CEO of Certent, a provider of B2B equity solutions.
Boese has been with Hearsay for a little more than six months serving as chief operations officer, focusing on customer staging activities like sales, marketing and customer support.
“Clara has so much passion, energy and excitement for her company, and the foundation she built and the momentum growing within the company gives us a great place to grow from,” Boese said. “Hearsay has created a great culture of open and direct dialogue up and down the chain of command. As a company, you’re going to find yourself in more challenging times and crises in the future, and that’s the trait that will get you through it. That is what we’re planning to build upon moving forward.”
He will take from Shih a company that is rapidly growing and evolving. At the end of July, Hearsay announced a partnership with CRM powerhouse Salesforce while announcing that the use of its products had already tripled during disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Among Boese’s first goals will be to try to sustain Hearsay’s growth into 2021.
“We have an opportunity to close out the year in record fashion going forward,” he said. “We’re building out new teams and engaging on our platform strategy, and there are tangible examples being created now where companies are embracing multi-channel communication.”
The transition from Shih to Boese will not include a shift in strategy or culture for the company, and Shih will continue to serve as a strategic advisor to Hearsay in addition to her executive chairwoman role, but the firm loses its most prominent advocate and communicator.