BlackLine Systems has hired Alain Avakian as the financial software company’s chief technology officer.
A software architect and strategist with experience scaling technology organizations for fast-growing internet and ecommerce companies as they approach the point of public offerings or acquisitions, Avakian was most recently CTO of Rent.com. Starting as one of Rent.com’s first employees, he led that technology organization through two acquisitions during his 13-year tenure in different roles.
As CTO at BlackLine, Avakian will helm the technology direction of the company’s flagship SaaS-based account reconciliation and financial close suite.
“BlackLine’s technology needs, both internal and external, have grown exponentially along with our client base,” stated BlackLine Systems CEO Therese Tucker. “We’ve actually been searching for several years now for someone with that rare mix of exceptional interpersonal and management skills, as well as the technical knowledge and expertise to run a leading-edge technology organization and we’ve finally found it in Alain. Alain has terrific skills from his experience at several growing Internet companies where he was instrumental in providing the technology vision, strategy and leadership to help the organizations scale from concept through public offerings, acquisitions and beyond.”
Prior to Rent.com, Avakian was a senior architect and senior software engineer at Stamps.com, enabling a successful initial public offering and second public offering, both in 1999. Previously, he helped build the technology stack at CitySearch/Ticketmaster that led to the successful acquisition and IPO in 1998 and held senior software engineering positions with TCI/AND Interactive and Packard Bell.
Following a recapitalization of BlackLine in 2013 in partnership with Silver Lake Sumeru to drive the next phase of growth, the CTO appointment is one of several planned to round out the company’s management team as it continues to expand globally.
