Celonis appoints Carsten Thoma as new president

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Key Takeaways

Carsten Thoma, co-founder of Hybris, has been appointed as the new president of Celonis, where he will focus on corporate strategy, marketing, and innovation.

Thoma's previous experience includes leading Hybris to become a major player in omni-channel e-commerce, contributing significantly to SAP's growth in the cloud sector after its acquisition in 2013.

Celonis co-CEOs Alex Rinke and Bastian Nominacher highlight Thoma's extensive mentorship of the company, emphasizing his ability to attract industry talent and drive sustainable growth through innovative processes.

Celonis has appointed Carsten Thoma, co-founder of Hybris, as its new president.

Thoma will work alongside co-CEOs Alex Rinke and Bastian Nominacher and will be responsible for Celonis’ corporate strategy and development, marketing, platform ecosystem and culture, as well as Celonis Labs to foster innovation.

Prior to this appointment, Thoma co-founded Hybris in 1997, which is renowned for being the first company to solve the complexity of B2B and B2C omni-channel e-commerce. After SAP acquired Hybris in 2013, Thoma served as global president and member of the global executive team. Under his leadership, the CX/SAP Hybris evolved into the fastest-growing business unit and contributed significantly to SAP’s shift to the cloud.

Alex Rinke, Celonis co-CEO and co-founder said: “The time is now to open up the entire business world to the unique opportunities created by our process mining and performance platform and that’s why we are so excited that Carsten is supporting Basti, Martin and me on our continuous journey to drive sustainable growth for Celonis, our customers and our partners.

“Carsten has mentored Celonis for several years, supporting our mission to unlock the world’s processes to make companies efficient, to make business execution sustainable and to accelerate progress for humankind. His expertise in shaping new industries and scaling disruptive technologies makes Carsten the perfect contributor in our mission to help our customers and ecosystem redefine how modern businesses operate, execute and drive performance.”

Bastian Nominacher, co-CEO and co-founder of Celonis said: “He was our first external investor and advisor, which gave him a front-row seat to understanding our company, our customers and our people. Carsten carries a unique passion and approachable style that will attract and lead the best of the best industry operators to enable our customers execute in the most scalable, intelligent and sustainable way. As a founder, I have experienced many game-changing moments at Celonis and adding Carsten to the pitch is one of them!”

Thoma commented: “As a business entrepreneur, you get to see those rare, hair-raising moments where you just know a material industry shift is coming. And with a little luck, you get to be part of the founding company who plants their flag and devotes every fiber of their energy, innovation and ingenuity to drive that change – and that’s Celonis,

“I am passionate about creating a strong, purposeful product and culture and I look forward to working with Alex, Basti, Martin and all Celonauts to enable our customers to reap the unprecedented value, cash impact and sustainable operations that Celonis delivers – in a time where the world needs it the most.”