Zimbra’s CEO Selected as Finalist for EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award

This is my first blog post as Zimbra CMO and I could not be more thrilled about the topic. I am proud to announce that Zimbra’s CEO, Patrick Brandt, has been selected as a finalist for the 2014 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Award. The most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs, this award honors the significant contributions of entrepreneurs who inspire others with their vision, leadership, achievement and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.

Less than a year ago, Patrick was the CEO of Telligent, a leader in enterprise social software. And in July 2013, Patrick made the bold move to acquire Zimbra from VMware, merging Telligent and Zimbra under a newly created Zimbra, Inc. The combined company powers modern collaboration for the mobile era, connecting people and information with a unified communications software platform that combines traditional and social collaboration. I have personally been involved in many acquisitions over my career, and as far as acquisition complexity and execution goes, this ranks a whopping 11 on a scale of 1 to 10! In a period of only six months, Patrick’s leadership created a newly branded organization, launched six new offices around the world, integrated engineering teams and product roadmaps, on-boarded nearly 1,000 new channel partners, and hired approximately 90 new employees, all while growing both the top and bottom line.

Today, Zimbra is one of the hottest software companies in collaboration software serving organizations around the world. Patrick’s well-deserved recognition by EY and the judging panel highlights our bold growth and innovation as an organization.

Whenever you join a new executive team, you evaluate all of the members of the executive team, along with the CEO. Having just joined a month ago, not only have I been impressed with the boldness and execution of the acquisition, but also the quality and ability of the team that Patrick has assembled. This too is a reflection of his leadership. His commitment to customers, ethics, and accountability are not just words on a website. And finally, as a marketer, I’m delighted to share that Patrick has a superb sense of branding. During the merger process, a new, cool brand emerged, which, in itself, for most companies would have been an all-consuming set of activities. What a year Patrick had!

This is truly a well-deserved honor and, as a company, we are proud to see Patrick’s hard work and achievements recognized. The award winners will be announced on June 21 at a special gala event at the Sheraton Dallas.

Congratulations, Patrick!

View our official press release for more details.