Genesys brings in former Cisco, Microsoft and Skype exec Tony Bates as CEO

CX and contact centre solutions specialist, Genesys, has announced Tony Bates as its new CEO. He succeeds Paul Segre, who, after 12 years in the role, will continue as Chairman of the company.

Genesys has also announced that President Tom Eggemeier will transition into a new role as a partner at one of its private equity investors, Permira. Presently, the Permira Funds and Hellman & Friedman own a combined majority stake in the venture.

Bates previously lead Cisco’s Service Provider business. As CEO of Skype, he expanded the business to over 170 million connected users. Once Skype was acquired by Microsoft, he became President responsible for unified communications before serving as Executive VP of Business Development and Developers. In addition to his role at Genesys, Bates will continue on the board of directors at both VMWare and eBay.

“The opportunity to lead Genesys at this pivotal moment is truly an honour,” he says. “With its next-generation cloud business growing 85% year over year and rapid injection of AI throughout its customer experience platform, Paul and Tom have done an incredible job building Genesys into a market leader with a remarkable customer base. Especially noteworthy is its PureCloud offer, which is one of the fastest growing SaaS businesses ever, on par with high-growth companies like Zoom. The immense opportunity ahead of us is clear, and I intend to ensure that we capitalise on it.”