Hootsuite hires CMO on path to IPO

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Hootsuite Media Inc. has put in place another key piece of the puzzle as it prepares for an expected initial public offering within the next year.

The Vancouver startup, which helps users manage their various social-media accounts from a central platform, said Wednesday that it has hired former Juniper Networks chief marketing officer Penny Wilson to serve in a similar role.

Ms. Wilson has more than 30 years of experience as a senior marketing and operations executive, having also served as CMO for Macromedia leading up to its acquisition by Adobe Systems.

"I'm excited to join such an energetic team with a great track record, and look forward to helping Hootsuite continue to revolutionize the way businesses communicate using social media," she said in a release.

Ms. Wilson will be based in Vancouver, which has evolved into one of Canada's most promising tech hubs.

This is the second key recent hire for Hootsuite, whose platform is used by more than 80 per cent of Fortune 1000 companies and 10 million individual users.

Last week, The Globe and Mail reported that the company has also hired Sujeet Kini, most recently Open Text Corp.'s chief accounting officer, to become its chief financial officer. Hootsuite chief executive officer Ryan Holmes identified hiring a CFO as one of two key milestones the company had to hit before it could go public; the other is increasing its cash flows to break-even levels.

If it does follow through with an IPO, Hootsuite – which has raised more than $250-million (U.S.) from venture investors in Canada and the United States – would follow in the footsteps of Ottawa retail software firm Shopify Inc., which launched one of Canada's most successful tech IPOs five months ago, and PointClickCare Corp., a provider of cloud-based subscription software to operators of senior-care facilities, which last month filed to go public in both the Canada and the United States.