Five new customer chiefs; three answers to who owns renewals

Kihon Labs daily note: Work organisation

Ivanti named Robert Ruelas chief revenue officer on 20 October. The release says he "will lead Ivanti's global sales and renewals organization".

The same release promotes Sterling Parker, at Ivanti since 2011, to chief customer officer. Under him: "customer success, adoption, retention, and advocacy".

So the renewal belongs to one chief and retention to the other. Ivanti has not said where one ends and the other starts.

Ivanti was the fourth of five B2B software companies, by my count, that named a chief customer officer in 20 days. Commvault did it on 7 October, Darktrace on 13 October, Horizon3 on 14 October, Noma Security on 26 October.

Five companies drew the line between winning a customer and keeping one, and the renewal landed on three different desks.

I read this as a work-organisation problem: who owns what, and where a customer changes hands. The symptom is work done twice and renewals that close late. The cost is the expansion nobody asked for, which the socio-economic approach, SEAM, developed by Henri Savall and the ISEOR team in Lyon, counts as non-production.

Quote from Ivanti's release of 20 October 2026: As Chief Revenue Officer, Robert Ruelas will lead Ivanti's global sales and renewals organization. — **What the sentence leaves out.** Retention belongs to the new chief customer officer; the release does not say where renewal ends and retention begins.

The short version

Five B2B software companies named a chief customer officer between 7 and 26 October.

Ivanti put renewals under the CRO, Horizon3 under the CCO; Darktrace and Noma did not say.

Ivanti's own leadership page still calls its chief marketing officer senior vice president, customer success and renewals.

Five releases, three answers

Commvault, 7 October. Matthew Stauble becomes chief customer officer. He reports not to the CEO but to Geoff Haydon, President of Customer and Field Operations.

Commvault's annual report for the year to March 2026 says Haydon "oversees the end-to-end customer experience, from sales and partnerships through customer support and success".

Stauble's group covers sales engineering, customer success, professional services and support, "from technical evaluation through adoption, renewal, and expansion".

Neither document names a chief revenue officer; the annual report's four executive officers include none.

Darktrace, 13 October. Three hires in one release. Mike McGuinness, chief revenue officer, "will lead the global revenue organization and the company's go-to-market strategy". Beth Shea, chief customer officer, "will lead Darktrace's global post-sales organization".

Both seats had holders before. Darktrace named its first chief customer officer, Bryce Coté, on 8 January 2025, and a CRO, Hein Hellemons, on 3 November 2025.

The October release mentions neither, gives no reason for refilling the seats, and does not name the renewal.

Horizon3, 14 October. Ellen Sundra moves from vice president, customers, to chief customer officer. She "will oversee Sales Engineering, Customer Success, Support, Enablement, Renewals and Field CTOs".

The release says her remit brings six customer-facing functions under her leadership, and puts the customer base at more than 7,000 organisations.

Ivanti, 20 October, as above. One more fact from Ivanti's executive-team page, read on 27 October: it still describes the chief marketing officer as senior vice president for customer success and renewals. Ivanti has not said how the three remits divide.

Noma Security, 26 October. Alberto Rodrigues, chief customer officer, leads "Customer Success, Technical Account Management, and Technical Support" and reports to the CEO. The release speaks of "time to value"; it does not name the renewal.

Five chief customer officers in 20 days, and where the renewal went: Commvault 7 Oct, the CCO's group; Darktrace 13 Oct, not named; Horizon3 14 Oct, the CCO; Ivanti 20 Oct, the CRO; Noma 26 Oct, not named. Releases that name an owner: 3 of 5. — **Three answers in five releases.** Ivanti names the CRO, Horizon3 the CCO, Commvault a group under a president; Darktrace and Noma name nobody.

What one renewal does with two owners

Take one renewal, 90 days before the end date. Somebody opens the file: checks usage, names the risk, sets the price, decides whether to ask for more. Then somebody signs.

At Horizon3 the release puts renewals, customer success and support in one organisation. At Ivanti the opening belongs to the customer chief, if retention means what it says, and the price and the signature to the revenue chief.

At Darktrace and Noma the releases do not say. Commvault's says the customer chief's group covers renewal, under a president who also oversees sales.

How the file travels after that is my reading from outside; none of the five has published a process.

Where two chiefs share one customer, the first cost is a meeting to agree who calls. The second is a wait, each side for the other's number. The third is the customer, who hears two voices and asks which one decides.

Now multiply by the renewal book. Commvault's annual report puts total annual recurring revenue at $1,121.6 million on 31 March 2026, about €1.0 billion. Its SaaS net dollar retention, in constant currency, was 122%, against 127% a year earlier.

The company gives no reason for the five points, and I do not put them on the org chart. They show the size of what the new line runs through.

One renewal, 90 days out, with two chiefs on the file: file opens, price set, owners meet, customer signs. My reading, not any company's process map. — **Two chiefs, one file.** In my reading, each handoff between the revenue chief and the customer chief is a wait; Horizon3 puts renewals and customer success under one chief.

The symptom is the same account worked twice, by a seller and a success manager, and renewals that close late or small. The cost is the expansion nobody asked for, priced at the margin that renewal should have produced, not at anyone's salary.

What the five releases leave out

None of the five gives a number for the handoff itself, so I count in units you can check.

One renewal has one end date; count how many of yours carry two names 90 days before it. One customer has one price; count how many quotes wait for a second signature inside your own company. One quarter has 13 weeks; count how many pass before the first renewal call.

Commvault alone has public numbers. Revenue was $1,183.7 million in the year to March, about €1.1 billion, up 19%, mainly from subscriptions, the filing says. Sales and marketing spend rose $85.6 million, mainly on employee pay, which the filing ties to added headcount and to higher commissions on higher revenue.

One objection: every software company has a CRO and a CCO now, so this is a title, not a decision. A title is cheap; the sentence after it is not. Ivanti wrote that sentence and put renewals in it. Darktrace and Noma wrote "post-sales" and did not name the renewal.

Five releases in one month are a pattern, not a trend, and none of the four private companies' releases gives its own retention figure. I would not conclude that one model beats another; Horizon3's single owner and Ivanti's split can both work. A measurement would show which one holds: renewal close date against end date, by account, for two quarters after the appointment.

Kihon works on this line. Where sales ends and customer success begins is the first handoff we draw with a leadership team, from its own renewals, not its org chart. For a scale-up in software that has just named a customer chief, the Executive Workshop is where the CRO and the CCO write, in one sentence, who owns the renewal. When renewals are already late, the Diagnosis prices the gap in the company's own numbers.

What a CRO would ask before the next renewal

Who opens the renewal file, and on which day?

One name, one day count. Horizon3 names the owner in its release; Ivanti names one for renewals and another for retention. Neither gives a day. If your answer takes a paragraph, the renewal has no owner.

Who sets the price when a customer wants less?

The owner of retention defends the logo; the owner of revenue defends the number. Ivanti has placed those two on different chiefs and has not published how they decide. Write down how you do.

Where do the engineers who support deals belong?

Commvault and Horizon3 put sales engineering under the customer chief. Darktrace put solutions engineering under its first CCO in January 2025 and under its CRO in November 2025, by its own releases. Ask which of your teams has moved the same way.

Sources

Your turn: 90 days before your next big renewal, whose name is on the file, and does the person who sets the price share it? Write to me at cemgorer@kihonlabs.com, or answer on LinkedIn. I read every reply.