Dave O'Flanagan has announced his resignation as CEO of Sitecore, a cloud-native digital experience platform company. O'Flanagan, who co-founded Boxever, which was acquired by Sitecore in 2021, has been instrumental in driving the company's growth and transformation.

He will be replaced by Eric Stine, a former Skillsoft and SAP executive.

As Mi-3 reported last year, after a stint as interim CEO, following the departure of Steve Tzikakis, he was confirmed permanently in the role.

He inherited an approach that hadn't entirely landed with the customer base. That strategy involved betting large on software composability and moving its customers off on-prem systems and into the cloud, but the company may have overestimated the appetite for rapid change, he acknowledged. He told Mi3, that while the strategy remains the same,  the messaging and likely the timing would need to change, saying customers wanted more choice and more time. "We disrupted ourselves." 

Under O'Flanagan's leadership, Sitecore achieved a significant milestone, reaching $500 million in annual recurring revenue. He spearheaded a transformation at the company, integrating four acquisitions and placing a strong emphasis on research and development. During his tenure, Sitecore's product portfolio was re-engineered with a focus on AI-first solutions.

One of the notable achievements under O'Flanagan's leadership was the launch of XM Cloud, described as "Sitecore's revolutionary AI-native SaaS CMS solution." This product has been touted as "the fastest-growing product in company history." Additionally, Sitecore Stream was introduced as the "industry's first agentic experience platform," which focuses on autonomous and semi-autonomous agents for experience execution.

O'Flanagan also played a pivotal role in launching Sitecore's AI Innovation Hub in collaboration with Microsoft and Nestlé. He doubled the company's investment in R&D while maintaining financial discipline. O'Flanagan emphasised a "purpose-driven culture relentlessly focused on innovation and customer value," which he described as being driven by "simplicity, integrity, and grit."

In a LinkedIn post, O'Flanagan expressed his sentiments about his time at Sitecore, stating, "Leading this company through one of the most transformative periods in its history has been an absolute privilege." He also highlighted Sitecore's achievements, referring to its solutions as "the most modern, cloud-native, and AI-capable solution on the market."

Although stepping down as CEO, O'Flanagan will remain involved with Sitecore as an advisor to the board. He has indicated plans to focus on family, golf, and Padel, but also expressed his intention to stay engaged with the AI sector, stating, "I won't be watching the AI revolution from the sidelines - see you on the pitch soon." Additional reporting by Andrew Birmingham