(Bloomberg) — Okta Inc. hired Google executive Sagnik Nandy as president of technology and chief technology officer, in a move to harness his experience running major systems to aid the software company’s expansion.
Nandy, who served as a vice president of engineering at Alphabet Inc.’s Google, will begin Monday, Okta said in a statement. On July 15, the San Francisco-based company announced the hiring of John Zissimos, former Google vice president of creative, brand, media and consumer programs, as its first chief digital officer.
Okta makes identity-verification software that helps businesses connect their employees and customers to corporate computer systems and websites. In May, the company acquired rival AuthO for $6.5 billion to further Okta’s position in the market for digital authentication. Shares more than doubled in 2020 as investors viewed Okta as essential during the pandemic with the boom in remote work and online shopping. However, after hitting a record in February, the stock has declined 2.5% this year at Friday’s close.
Chief Executive Officer Todd McKinnon said hiring Nandy fits into a long-term vision for the company, which includes selling software to consumers.
“Obviously Okta is an enterprise company, but I don’t think of it as restricted to that,” McKinnon said in an interview. “I think in the fullness of time, we’ll be a consumer company as well, as we march toward this vision of enabling everyone to safely use technology.”
Nandy has worked at Google for more than 15 years. In his most recent role, Nandy oversaw the company’s core advertising businesses, including targeting and bidding for search ads, ads syndication as well as advertising for owned and operated services like Gmail and Discover.
“It’s about what’s right for the next phase, who’s a leader who can take our technology and expand it and grow it and achieve all the objectives we need to achieve and who has experience and the vision to help us do that,” McKinnon said.
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