SAN MATEO, CA--(Marketwired - Jan 15, 2014) - DataStax, the company that powers the online applications that transform business, today announced that Jim Baum has joined its Board of Directors. Baum recently was President and CEO of data warehousing and analytics company Netezza. In 2007, he worked to take Netezza through an IPO, followed by 14 quarters of growth as a public company and ultimately driving its acquisition by IBM. Baum has a long track record of impressive executive management in high growth, innovative technology startups.
"Jim Baum brings tremendous operational expertise to DataStax as we rapidly scale in our high-growth phase," said Billy Bosworth, CEO, DataStax. "Jim has personally led the disruption of the data warehouse market, truly changing the face of the industry and making Netezza a game-changer. His deep experience and strategic vision for bringing fast-growing startups to a public offering is the exact guidance DataStax needs as we advance to the next level."
Baum joins the board at a time where DataStax is experiencing more than 150 percent growth year-over-year, rapid international expansion, several key executive hires, including Dennis Wolf as CFO, and a continuing momentum of enterprises migrating from relational database management systems (RDBMS) such as Oracle to Apache Cassandra ™ - based NoSQL solutions.
Prior to Netezza, Baum was president and later CEO of Endeca. While at Endeca (now owned by Oracle Corporation), he led the company's rise from an innovative technology start-up to the leading provider of compelling e-Commerce software solutions to the who's who of major on-line retailers. He was one of the early employees of Parametric Technology Corporation (PMTC), joining prior to the IPO and taking on a diverse set of challenges over an 11-year period. Serving PTC in roles including product management, engineering, marketing, sales, support, and services, Baum spent his last three years with PTC defining the company's product lifecycle management strategy as the EVP and General Manager its Windchill Business Unit. During his tenure at PTC, he helped bring the company to more than $1 billion in revenue. In addition to serving on DataStax's board, Baum is currently a director for several companies including Enernoc, Jibe, and Newforma. He also serves as a Trustee of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).
"Billy and the growing DataStax team are building an exciting, innovative and disruptive company," said Jim Baum. "DataStax is an industry leading game-changer in the database management market and is truly one to watch in the coming years. I am honored to be a part of the team, and I am excited to work with the team on a long-term strategic vision and to offer what I have learned operationally to the benefit of DataStax."
Baum holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and a Master of Science degree in engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In 2011, Baum won WPI's first Innovator of the Year Award for his entrepreneurial leadership and accomplishments discovering, developing and commercializing breakthrough technologies.
About DataStax
DataStax powers the online applications that transform business for more than 300 customers, including startups and 21 of the Fortune 100. DataStax delivers a massively scalable, flexible and continuously available big data platform built on Apache Cassandra™. DataStax integrates enterprise-ready Cassandra, Apache Hadoop™ for analytics and Apache Solr™ for search across multi-datacenters and in the cloud.
Companies such as Adobe, Healthcare Anytime, eBay and Netflix rely on DataStax to transform their businesses. Based in San Mateo, Calif., DataStax is backed by industry-leading investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Crosslink Capital, Meritech Capital Partners, Scale Venture Partners, DFJ Growth and Next World Capital. For more information, visit DataStax or follow us @DataStax and @DataStaxEU.
Contact Information:
Elisa Greene
415-279-8758