Episode 1: Welcome to Planet Leadership

Eric Thurston has enabled many of the world’s leading organizations to leverage technology solutions to drive business performance. At Personify, he led the company through a founder transition, a major product rewrite and has transformed the organization into the market leader of constituent management and engagement solutions. In 2018, he led Personify’s acquisition of events software provider a2z, the company’s third acquisition under Eric’s guidance, and successfully positioned Personify to be sold from its private equity sponsor Rubicon Technology Partners to Pamlico Capital. Eric is committed to creating a suite of complementary best-in-breed solutions that help Personify’s clients achieve their missions. He has a wealth of experience in the software industry, serving in leadership roles at Mitratech, P2 Energy Solutions, Oracle and SAP. Eric lives in Austin and enjoys boating, hiking, and fishing with his family.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Meet your host, Eric Thurston, and learn about his role as the CEO of a dynamic mid-sized software company
  • Why Eric decided to launch the Planet Leadership podcast as a way to share unique stories of business leaders, associations and nonprofits that aren’t being told elsewhere
  • Why the podcast was named Planet Leadership to reflect its goal of sharing stories of people and organizations who are trying to change the planet
  • Why nonprofit organizations, who are doing incredible work, also face remarkable challenges they have to overcome
  • Eric highlights his background navigating the private equity landscape, an area he will explore further in future podcasts, featuring inclusive of interviews focused on building a great culture, scaling, team building, and rebranding
  • What Eric and his team look for in a company when considering an acquisition, and how they assimilate people, process and products to support their clients

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