Classy Welcomes Adam Aarons as Chief Revenue Officer & President and Neena Gupta Needel as Chief Product Officer

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Classy, a social enterprise that creates world-class online fundraising software for nonprofits, today announced the addition of two seasoned executive hires: Adam Aarons, the company's first Chief Revenue Officer & President, and Neena Gupta Needel, the company's first Chief Product Officer. These key hires continue to strengthen the experience of Classy's leadership team, which in this past year also welcomed Carilu Dietrich, Chief Marketing Officer, and Ron Wangerin, Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer.

"As we partner with more and more nonprofits and approach $1 billion raised on the platform, I couldn't be more excited about the leadership team we've put in place for our next phase of growth," said Scot Chisholm, Classy CEO & Co-Founder. "With Neena at the helm of product, and Adam driving our go-to-market strategy, we're positioned to work with any-sized nonprofit and help them succeed in today's dynamic fundraising environment."

A software-as-a-service veteran, Aarons brings over 20 years of enterprise software sales experience to Classy, where he'll lead the sales and customer success management teams. Aarons joins Classy from publicly-traded Okta, Inc., where he served as Chief Revenue Officer and spent the past six years bringing cloud solutions to the enterprise market. While at Okta, Aarons grew revenue from $1 million to more than $300 million, eventually leading the team through an IPO in March 2017. Prior to Okta, Aarons held leadership sales positions at BMC Software (where revenues under his purview grew more than 300 percent), BladeLogic, OpenPages, and Agile Software.

"I've spent my career focused on the deployment of cloud infrastructure, SaaS, and enterprise solutions—and I'm excited to bring that knowledge to Classy and its customers," said Aarons. "It's invigorating to join a fast-growing software company that also has such a strong social mission. Many technology companies claim they're 'helping to change the world,' but the team at Classy is doing just that by enabling nonprofits to scale their impact globally."

Gupta Needel brings over 20 years of product, engineering, and data science experience to Classy, where she'll lead the product management and data insights teams. Most recently, Gupta Needel led product management at Civitas Learning, where she helped redefine college student success through data intelligence and insights. Prior to Civitas Learning, Gupta Needel led product management at HomeAway, where she was responsible for driving product growth and managing product strategy for acquisitions like VRBO, which led to a sale to Expedia for $3.9 billion. She has also held positions at IBM Research Lab where she worked on the Power7 processor that would eventually provide the underpinnings of Watson.

"Today's supporters expect nonprofits to deliver a giving experience that rivals their other online experiences, like Amazon, Spotify, or Venmo," said Gupta Needel. "Classy has been a pioneer of design-forward fundraising software and has helped nonprofits deliver upon this heightened expectation since the platform's launch. I'm really looking forward to carrying this product torch forward with further emphasis on data science to help our customers work even smarter—so they can ultimately help more people around the world."

"Adam and Neena join Classy at a very pivotal time in our company's journey," said Chisholm. "We've nearly tripled our enterprise business in the last 12 months and are now working with some of the largest nonprofits in the world. Bringing on experienced leaders who can help us scale and create value for all of our clients is a critical step in achieving our mission to mobilize and empower the world for good."

About Classy

Classy is a social enterprise that creates world-class online fundraising software for nonprofits, modernizing the giving experience to accelerate social impact around the world. Since 2011, fundraising on the Classy platform has doubled each year—resulting in thousands of nonprofits collectively raising over half a billion dollars. Based in San Diego, CA, Classy is trusted by organizations of all sizes, from the fastest-growing nonprofits like Team Rubicon and The Trevor Project, to some of the world's largest social organizations, such as Acumen, Robin Hood Foundation, and Shriners Hospitals for Children. Classy also hosts the annual Classy Awards to spotlight the innovative work nonprofits are implementing around the globe. Backed by prominent technology investors, including JMI Equity, Mithril, Salesforce Ventures, and Bullpen Capital, Classy has raised $53 million to-date in growth capital. For more information, visit www.classy.org or follow Classy on Twitter @Classy.

CONTACT:
Monica Finch
[email protected]
619.323.2026

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SOURCE Classy