10 Years In, Taking a Deep Breath and Passing the Baton

Five years ago, in 2015, I wrote a blog post titled, Five Years In, Taking A Deep Breath and Settling in for the Long Haul. If you’d like to go read it, this post will be waiting for you when you get back.

My wife, Sarah, and I agreed that every 5 years, we’d check-in to see if we were ready for another 5 years of commitment to being CEO of FullContact. Being CEO of a 200+ person, global organization is an all-consuming lifestyle choice, and it was important to both of us that we were fully on board before committing to another tour of duty.  

When we revisited this question this year, it was apparent to both of us that the answer was that we weren’t fully prepared for another 5-year commitment.

There’s an old saying: “Don’t tell me your spending priorities, show me your checkbook, and I’ll show you your priorities!”

Well, time equals money, and when it comes to time, my priorities the past 10 years have definitively placed FullContact above everything else – including Sarah and the kids. My family has sacrificed a ton for me to allow me to do what I do, and it’s time to repay them. My son is 6 years old, and my daughter is now 3. They are at magical ages where their learning is happening at an extraordinary, exponential pace, and I plan on being there to support their growth as people – pandemic or not!

And, as a company, FullContact has undergone an extraordinary transformation and maturation the past several years. We have an incredibly strong leadership team and market-leading product offerings to set the stage for the next 5 years and beyond.

So, I decided to recommend our President, Chris Harrison, as the new CEO of FullContact to lead us into our next decade of growth. The Board agreed with me, and so it’s my pleasure to announce that Chris Harrison is now FullContact’s CEO.

Since joining FullContact as our President nearly two years ago, Chris has been the driving force behind our mission to be the premier Identity Resolution as a Service provider. I’m thrilled about the future of FullContact with Chris at the helm as he leads us into the next chapter!

Prior to FullContact, Chris was President and CTO at Epsilon. During his tenure, the Epsilon MarTech division grew from $60MM to $1.2BB in revenue. He’s an Identity Resolution expert with great vision and incredible foresight when it comes to the industry. Chris is a terrific leader and a voracious learner, always finding ways to improve and educate himself and those around him. Most importantly, he’s an awesome human being and a close friend who will be a great steward of our core values and our unique company culture.

With Chris at the helm, I’m incredibly excited about our future. While I’ll miss the day-to-day interaction with everyone – customers, employees, partners and the community – I won’t be far away as I remain on the Board of Directors helping guide the company to even greater success in the future.

If you’re reading this, thank you for all your support over the past 10 years. It’s been an incredibly awesome journey, and an honor and a pleasure to serve all of FullContact’s stakeholders – shareholders, employees, partners, customers, and the community. If there’s anything I can ever do for you, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me on LinkedIn–I’m never far away.

Much love and gratitude,
Bart