After 13 incredible years as CEO of Bonitasoft, I have decided to step back.
This is, of course, a difficult decision - but I’m convinced that this is the right moment for me, for the company and for the Bonitasoft ecosystem. It’s time for me to take a break, spend more time with my family and friends and recharge my batteries. 2023 will be a sabbatical year for me.
I’m honestly happy to announce that Charles Souillard, my business partner from the very beginning and during all those years, is stepping in as new CEO. Charles will ensure continuity of our company values and our commitment to open-source and customer-first culture. I’m confident that under Charles' leadership, Bonitasoft will continue to deliver great innovation while ensuring sustainable and consistent growth. I’ll be working with Charles, the management team, and the rest of the Bonitasofters until the end of the year to make a smooth transition.
Bonitasoft is not a one-man-show kind of company, so Charles can count on a group of highly talented and skilled professionals that are making the difference on a day to day basis. I can not be more proud of the Bonitasofters!
I fully believe that Bonitasoft will continue to shine in the BPM/Process Automation market so I’ll remain a shareholder of the company.
Bonitasoft is way more than a company for me, it’s been the accomplishment of a dream…
…a dream that started 21 years ago with the creation of the Bonita open source project. At that time I was freshly graduated from the Rovira Virgili University in Spain, and lucky to end up working with a group of talented researchers at INRIA in France. I will never forget the opportunity that François Charoy gave me when I co-founded the Bonita project in 2001. Those were amazing times in the industry and the beginning of the open source revolution in the enterprise (ie Jboss, MySql…). Today, open source is eating the world!
…a dream that continued, thanks to the support of Bull (now part of Atos), when I joined the R&D open source department there. I was part of a crazy initiative to create a complete open source middleware stack in collaboration with other organisations and as part of the OW2 consortium. I had the unique chance to have a job that allowed me to continue to develop new versions of Bonita, grow the ecosystem of users/contributors and, at the same time, learn from the BPM market.
…a dream that eventually came true in 2009 with the creation and international development of Bonitasoft, together with Charles Souillard and Rodrigue Le Gall. It was an ambitious project to democratise the BPM market worldwide with an innovative open source technology and business model. It was a human adventure that has allowed me to learn every single day and grow not only as a CEO but as a person. Over these years I have come to understand that building great technology is important, but creating a solid company culture is even more valuable - and sustainable.
I really want to thank the whole Bonita ecosystem: community users, contributors, developers and of course, Bonitasoft colleagues, partners and customers. Thank you for your trust over all those years! You stay in good hands!
I offer thanks as well to all the people that I had the chance to work with during these years: historical investors (Ventech, Auriga, Serena, BPI), recent investors (Fortino Capital), journalists, analysts, entrepreneurs, service providers, researchers… and of course all my fellow BPM and Process Automation practitioners and experts (including competitors!)
Last but not least, I thank my family and friends, for your ongoing support and for being flexible with my (sometimes crazy) schedule and traveling. Next year I’ll be fully available for them!
Have fun!
