Peter Gassner is a true leader in the technology industry. He started his career at IBM before moving to PeopleSoft, where he led the development of its technology platform, PeopleTools. His next career move was to Salesforce.com, where he helped build its platform.
As the president and CEO of Veeva Systems, Gassner has put his unique stamp on the company from the beginning. From his example, Veeva employees are known as a group of highly ethical, hardworking, no-nonsense professionals. Gassner leads the way, pushing employees to try new things, trusting them to get it right and counseling them when mistakes are made. Veeva employees are allowed, even encouraged, to make mistakes. But one thing never changes: a clear focus on customer success.
Gassner was a pioneer in creating a company that is based on platform-as-a-service (PaaS) technology. But just putting a new product on a PaaS technology doesn’t make it good. Gassner hired a team of outstanding product architects, designers and developers — most of whom had worked for him before — to create a truly breakthrough software-as-a-service customer relationship management product for the life sciences industry.
Having quickly become the recognized market leader in life sciences, Gassner is now charging down another solution area — regulated content management. Similar to the market environment where Veeva launched its CRM solution, the life sciences industry is stuck using aging content management systems that are falling apart at the client and server seams. Veeva Vault is set to offer life sciences companies a solution that enables everyone to collaborate closely, connect globally, comply swiftly and manage costs effectively. It will be better, faster and cheaper than the current market leaders.
Gassner’s next challenge is to have his cake and eat it, too — to be a $1 billion company that feels like a small company. Based on his early success, there is good chance he’ll get there.
How to reach: Veeva Systems, (925) 452-6500 or www.veevasystems.com
