Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, announced the appointment of Robin Washington as Lead Independent Director of the Company’s Board of Directors, effective September 15, 2022. Washington, who also chairs the Board’s Audit Committee, succeeds Sanford Robertson, who will continue to serve as a Director and Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee.
Washington is a highly-respected business leader, recognized for her financial expertise and experience across technology and healthcare. She has served as Director of Salesforce since 2013, including as Chair of the Audit & Finance Committee, and helped guide the Company through a number of pivotal milestones, including the organization’s growth from $4 billion to more than $26 billion in revenue, the COVID-19 pandemic, and transformative acquisitions such as MuleSoft, Tableau and Slack.
“Robin is extremely accomplished in the business community and deeply respected in the boardroom,” Robertson said. “She’s the natural choice to become Lead Independent Director and, having worked closely together, I am confident she will provide exceptional guidance and oversight to the Board and our leadership team.”
“Robin’s outstanding leadership and commitment to Salesforce is evident to all who know her,” said Marc Benioff, Chair and Co-CEO of Salesforce. “She is the ideal person to succeed Sandy and become our next Lead Independent Director.” Bret Taylor, Vice Chair and Co-CEO, added, “Robin’s experience and sound perspective and advice has been critical to our success. I look forward to continuing to partner with her as we deliver unparalleled value for our customers around the world.”
“I am excited and humbled by the opportunity to help lead this great Board,” Washington said. “I have a deep appreciation for Salesforce’s team, customers and vision for the future from my years as a Director, and look forward to leveraging my nearly two decades of experience serving on a diverse collection of boards to drive continued value creation for our stakeholders. I would like to thank the Board for their confidence and trust, and Sandy for his invaluable guidance and steadfast support through the many years of incredible growth at Salesforce.”
Benioff concluded, “Bret, I and the entire Board could not be more grateful to Sandy for his incredible contributions to Salesforce as Lead Independent Director these many years. His insights have been instrumental to our incredible success, and we’re fortunate to continue benefiting from his leadership as a Director and as Chair of our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee.”
Robin Washington has served as a Director since September 2013. Ms. Washington served as an advisor to Gilead Sciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from November 2019 to March 2020. She joined Gilead as SVP and CFO in 2008 and served as its EVP and CFO from February 2014 to November 2019. Prior to Gilead, Ms. Washington served as CFO of Hyperion Solutions, an enterprise software company, from 2006 to 2007. Prior to Hyperion, Ms. Washington spent nearly 10 years at PeopleSoft, Inc., a provider of enterprise application software, where she served in a number of executive positions. Ms. Washington currently serves on the board of directors of Alphabet Inc., Honeywell International, Inc. and Vertiv Holdings Co. Ms. Washington is a Certified Public Accountant and received her B.A. in business administration from the University of Michigan and M.B.A. from Pepperdine University.