Salesforce names veteran Denise Dresser as Slack CEO, replacing Lidiane Jones

Denise Dresser, a seasoned executive with a long history at Salesforce, has been appointed as the new chief executive officer (CEO) of Slack, Salesforce co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff announced on Monday.

Dresser assumes the role of CEO at Slack following the departure of the former CEO, Lidiane Jones. As we reported last week, Jones announced her departure earlier this month to become the new CEO of the dating app Bumble after founder Whitney Wolfe Herd stepped down from her role as the CEO.

With this appointment, Dresser becomes the third CEO of the Salesforce unit since its acquisition by Salesforce in 2020. According to a spokesperson from Salesforce, her position as CEO is effective immediately, CNBC reported.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Benioff wrote: “I couldn’t be more excited to share the news that Denise Dresser is our new CEO of Slack! Denise is an incredible business leader who has excelled at every level in her career at Salesforce.”

With over 12 years of experience at Salesforce, Dresser most recently served as the president of accelerated industries.. Jones will continue to support Dresser through the transition, staying on through the year.

Expressing gratitude to both Benioff and Jones, Dresser conveyed her appreciation in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Monday morning, stating, “It’s an honor to move this work forward.” Benioff also praised Dresser as a collaborative technology leader, emphasizing her ability to bring teams together and inspire with a deep commitment to values, customers, and the spirit of innovation.

“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.

Congrats Denise Dresser! @dhdresser our new CEO of @Slack!

Denise is an incredible business leader & champion of Salesforce customer success and innovation who’s deeply committed to our values and our customers.

I couldn’t be more excited to share the news that Denise… pic.twitter.com/ExAwy3cTKi

— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) November 13, 2023

Salesforce acquired Slack for $27.7 billion in 2020. The deal was Salesforce’s largest acquisition since its $15.3 billion purchase of Tableau last year and the $6.5 billion acquisition of MuleSoft in 2018. Salesforce said the acquisition would enable it to compete against Microsoft in yet another market.

Originally founded in 2009 by Cal Henderson, Eric Costello, Serguei Mourachov, and Stewart Butterfield, Slack is a popular workplace chat app that allows teams and businesses of all sizes to communicate effectively. The Slack software platform is used by global Fortune 100 companies.