The CEO of Darktrace has stepped down after just 16 months, with reports suggesting that she has been forced out by the cyber giant’s private equity owner.
Jill Popelka, who described herself as a “long-term leader” to The Times recently, has been replaced by chairman Charles Goodman on an interim basis while it searches for a permanent successor.
Popelka joined the company as a non-executive director two years ago and was soon named COO. She then replaced co-founder Baroness Poppy Gustafsson, who served briefly as the Government’s Minister for Investment, as CEO around the time of Darktrace’s £4.3 billion acquisition by Thoma Bravo.
Popelka, who will remain as an adviser until a successor is found, is said to have been instrumental in moving Darktrace into a more professional organisation – such as moving sales from spreadsheets and into the Salesforce CRM.
She previously held senior leadership roles at leading global technology businesses, including Accenture, Snap Inc and SAP SuccessFactors, one of the largest enterprise cloud businesses in the world, which she led as president.
“Jill led a significant transformation of Darktrace into a more mature, established software business, and we are grateful that she will remain with us in an advisory capacity,” Goodman said.
“Darktrace is a special company with exceptional people, and we are committed to finding an excellent new leader for the business, who has deep experience in leading and scaling Software-as-a-Service businesses.”
Founded in 2013, Darktrace has R&D teams at its Cambridge headquarters and The Hague in the Netherlands. It employs 2,300 people and boasts nearly 10,000 customers.
The board, led by US firm Thoma Bravo, is understood to have felt revenue was not growing fast enough.
“Darktrace continues to be a company with strong growth potential, and our focus now needs to be on re-accelerating that growth, in line with our existing strategy,” said Goodman, who has a 30-year career in the software industry behind him.
That includes as COO and CEO of a number of fast-growing businesses. More recently, he has served as chairman of several businesses, including Coupa and Proofpoint.
Popelka, who had commuted between her home in the US and UK every month, said: “It has been a privilege, both personally and professionally, to lead this great business and I am proud of our transformation programme that has established stronger operational foundations for Darktrace, which can now be leveraged for growth.
“Charles brings extensive experience in guiding software companies through different stages of transition, and we have an excellent leadership team, so I know I am leaving Darktrace in good hands.”
Late last year Darktrace appointed a new CFO and CRO.
Late tech tycoon Mike Lynch, who died in the 2004 Bayesian yacht tragedy after he was cleared of fraud charges in the US relating to the sale of Autonomy, was a shareholder in Darktrace.
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