Even before building a noteworthy career in technology, its safe to say that David Bennett possessed the inherent traits that would define and drive his success. Laden with talent, intelligence, and experience, the tech industry is not for the faint of heart. Keen insight and a steady hand are prerequisites to success, but for Bennett, that has never been enough.
Ardently adhering to the notion that passion drives everything, his knack for tech success has never been the result of mere happenstance. Instead, a relentless focus on innovation and a refusal to accept his goals as impossible have led him to the pinnacle of achievement. Asked what lesson hes learned through his over two decades of experience, Bennett answers with just one word: Focus.
That focus has resulted in a 20-year career as a technology leader that saw him drive 21 quarters of consecutive year-over-year growth at Webroot, a company he eventually exited in a cash deal worth over $600 million. For many, that may have been enough, but David started looking for his next challenge almost immediately, a trait that defines his underlying desire to continue rapidly pushing forward within companies that rewrite the rules for entire industries.
Brought in to take the helm of Axcient, Bennett has continued his run of success that is reflected in the companys recent top line and bottom line results. Founded in 2002 and built up through numerous acquisitions, Axcient operates in the still-burgeoning managed services space. But when Bennett took over as CEO, the companys culture reflected a cant do attitude that was starkly at odds with his own vision and passion, which is perhaps best summarized by Bennetts contention that nothing is impossible you just cant do it alone.
With that basic tenet established early, Bennett revolutionized Axcient with an abrupt turnaround play, rebuilding the companys revenue generation into a high velocity, demand-driven model focused on rapid customer acquisition and retention, with R&D rebuilt from the ground up and simplified to support the technology- and customer-centric approach he envisioned. In just 10 months, that shakeup resulted in a 14% increase in gross margins and pumped up the companys profit over 18 points to get out of the red.
For his achievements at Axcient, David has been nominated as one of the top 100 Tech CEOs by CRN. But thats not nearly enough for him. His vision for the future of Axcient is to turn the company into THE provider of choice in the managed services market by securing over 1 million businesses as clients.
As he continues to lead Axcients team of 265 employees forward in the pursuit of simpler processes, execution of a more cohesive and comprehensive global strategy, and continued improvements to the bottom line, a goal that may appear to be a moon shot for some is just the next logical chapter for Bennett.
For Bennetts proven career as a technology leader and his laser focused mindset, he has been named a Titan of industry.