As Ocient matures, vendor names new CEO to drive growth
As the vendor moves from its startup to growth phase, John Morris, who has significant experience leading companies as they mature, is taking over to guide its evolution.
The data management vendor this week introduced John Morris as its new leader, taking the place of co-founder Chris Gladwin, who remains with Ocient as executive chairman.
The move comes after Ocient raised more than $90 million in funding over the past 15 months, at a time when funding has been hard to attract. Meanwhile, with Gladwin remaining in a prominent role, the move to name Morris CEO signifies that Ocient is evolving and moving from one phase of its lifecycle into a new one, according to Donald Farmer, founder and principal of TreeHive Strategy.
I do think this marks a phase change for Ocient from technology development and innovation to a relentless focus on sales execution.
Donald FramerFounder and principal, TreeHive Strategy
"I do think this marks a phase change for Ocient from technology development and innovation to a relentless focus on sales execution," he said. "Ocient -- like many tech startups -- changed priorities as new clients came onboard with new demands. Now they have established their product fundamentals, and it is time to scale their execution."
Stephen Catanzano, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, now part of Omdia, likewise noted that Morris taking over as Ocient's CEO shows that the vendor is maturing.
As evidence of Ocient's advancement to a growth phase, closed bookings through the first five months of its fiscal year are nearly three times its closed bookings for the previous 12 months, the vendor said in a release.
"Morris' appointment clearly signals Ocient's transition from startup to growth phase," Catanzano said. "Coming after their funding round and with [increasing] bookings, this leadership change represents a strategic pivot from founder-led development to professional management focused on scaling operations."
The new CEO
Based in Chicago, Ocient is a 2016 startup that to date has raised $156.5 million in funding, including $49.4 million in March 2024 and $42.1 million in April. The vendor's data warehouse enables customers to store and analyze data at scale, loading and transforming data in near real time and bringing AI, machine learning and geospatial analytics into a single environment.
John Morris
Morris, who served as a board observer for Ocient starting in April 2024 in preparation for his new role, is an experienced CEO. He led cybersecurity vendor UncommonX from 2020-2022 and object storage specialist Cleversafe, which was founded by Gladwin, from 2013-2017. Just as Morris, who spent 25 years of his career over two stints with IBM, is now succeeding Gladwin as Ocient's CEO, he also succeeded Gladwin in the role at Cleversafe.
While CEO of Cleversafe, Morris guided the vendor through its $1.4 billion acquisition by IBM.
Based on his experience, Morris is a strong choice to lead Ocient, according to Catanzano.
"John Morris is an excellent fit for Ocient as CEO due to his proven track record with growth-stage companies," he said, noting that he tripled revenue at Cleversafe and led the company to an acquisition by IBM. "He should do well growing Ocient."
Meanwhile, given the history between Morris and Gladwin, it's no surprise that as Ocient matures, Morris was named the vendor's new CEO, according to Farmer.
"John Morris' appointment was almost an inevitable move," he said. "His background with Chris Gladwin has shown a strong track record, and he was already a board advisor. … I am glad to see this. The technology is excellent, and the company now needs this new focus."
Based on his relationship with Gladwin, Morris was following Ocient long before he was named CEO, he said. As the vendor evolved, attracting funding and reaching a stage when growth is the priority, becoming its CEO was an attractive move, he continued.
"With signed customers stacking up across [different sectors], cross-vertical momentum was a major success signal for me," Morris said. "It was clear that this is a company poised to grow and lead. The market validation and bookings momentum this year only reinforced that belief."
Now in a growth phase, Morris and Gladwin will take on complementary roles. Morris said Gladwin will focus on product strategy and customer success, while he will focus on day-to-day execution and scaling business operations.
"It's the right model for a company that's moved out of research, the early stages of proving value with customers, and into high-velocity growth," he said.
Looking ahead
As he takes over as Ocient's CEO, Morris said his main initiative will be to continue the momentum built so far this year.
Meanwhile, another funding round could be coming, potentially even before the end of 2025.
"As a growth-stage tech company, accelerating growth -- our land grab -- is everything," Morris said. "We have a strong balance sheet and very supportive investors, but we're always thinking about how to invest and take that growth to the next level. "
Meanwhile, from a product development perspective, predictive AI is a current priority, he added.
Regarding product development, predictive AI is a wise area of focus, according to Catanzano. However, Ocient could add domain-specific capabilities to build on the predictive AI capabilities it already provides and better compete with peers such as Sigma Computing and AtScale.
"Ocient should expand their Predictive AI capabilities with industry-specific solution templates that address common use cases in target verticals like telecommunications, advertising technology and automotive," Catanzano said. "This is their strength, and the market needs more thought leadership."
Eric Avidon is a senior news writer for Informa TechTarget and a journalist with more than 25 years of experience. He covers analytics and data management.
John Morris
