Clara Shih, co-founder and longtime CEO of financial services client engagement platform provider Hearsay Systems, announced Wednesday that she will be taking a step back and moving into the role of executive chairperson. The company made the announcement on the 11th anniversary of its founding.
The firm’s current COO, Mike Boese, is moving into the role of CEO. He is a veteran of executive management roles at many software-as-a-service firms large and small, having worked for firms as big as Oracle, PeopleSoft and SAP as well as running several startups.
“Mike has scaled companies and teams exactly to the next phase of where Hearsay needs to go, and I know the company will flourish under his leadership,” Shih said.
Hearsay is being used by more than 170,000 advisors and agents throughout the financial services industry and has expanded into 22 countries.
Shih said that the executive chairperson position will be a full-time engagement backing up Boese initially but that she will gradually cut that back to spend more time with her family.