- In an announcement, Salesforce’s Marc Benioff revealed that Denise Dresser, a long-serving executive, is set to take over as CEO of Slack, replacing Lidiane Jones.
- Since being acquired by Salesforce in 2020, Dresser will be the third CEO of the unit.
- Prior to joining the dating app Bumble as CEO in 2024, Jones was announced as Slack’s new CEO. Her predecessor Whitney Wolfe Herd held this position.
Newly appointed Slack CEO Denise Dresser, Rocket Mortgage Chief Marketing Officer Casey Hurbis and Boston Consulting Group Managing Director and Partner Shilpa Sharma speak during Vox Media’s Code Conference in Beverly Hills, California, on Sept. 7, 2022.
Randy Shropshire | Getty Images
Salesforce’s veteran executive Denise Dresser has been named the new CEO of Slack, as confirmed by Marc Benioff, Salesforce co-founder and CEO.
Dresser, who will begin her role as CEO immediately, is the third person to hold this position after the acquisition of the company by Salesforce in 2020.
Denise Dresser has accumulated over 12 years as a Salesforce executive and held positions such as president of accelerated industries, according to her company biography and LinkedIn profile. She takes over as Slack’s CEO following the departure of Lidiane Jones, who accepted the CEO role at Bumble earlier this month, succeeding Bumble’s founder Whitney Wolfe Herd starting Jan. 2.
Jones will continue to support Dresser through the transition during the year, as stated by the spokesperson.
In her public statement, Dresser expressed gratitude to both Benioff and Jones for their support. “It’s an honor to move this work forward,” she wrote on X, previously known as Twitter, on Monday morning.
“Denise is a collaborative technology leader who brings teams together and has inspired me and so many of us with her deep commitment to our values and to our customers and to the spirit of innovation,” Benioff said in his announcement on social media platform X.
Dresser has also held various executive positions at Salesforce and sits on the Ad Council’s board of directors. She is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and worked at Oracle and former Big Five auditor Arthur Andersen before joining Salesforce.
Salesforce acquired Slack for $27.7 billion in a 2020 deal. Since the acquisition, several senior Salesforce executives have left the company.
Most notably, Slack founder Stewart Butterfield and Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor departed within a two-week span in December 2022. Both had joined Salesforce after their respective companies were acquired. Jones’ appointment followed Butterfield’s exit, and Taylor’s departure occurred a year after he was promoted to co-CEO of Salesforce with founder Benioff. Butterfield clarified that his departure was unrelated to Taylor’s in a message to employees at the time.
Salesforce shares have risen by almost 61% year to date. At the opening on Monday, shares were significantly above their 52-week low of $126.34, which was set in December 2022.
— CNBC’s Ari Levy and Jordan Novet contributed to this report.
