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Google Cloud sales leader Rob Enslin is leaving the company

Google Cloud’s president and the No. 2 executive under CEO Thomas Kurian is out.

Robert Enslin, Google Cloud’s current president and top executive in charge of global sales.

Robert Enslin is leaving Google Cloud to be co-CEO of UiPath.

Image: Google Cloud

Rob Enslin, Google Cloud’s president and top executive in charge of global sales under CEO Thomas Kurian, is leaving the cloud computing provider, according to an internal email seen by Protocol.

Enslin will become co-CEO of UiPath, the robotic-process automation company, it announced in a release after this story was published.

Google Cloud is using Enslin’s departure to streamline its sales and customer success organization, which also will see the departure of John Jester, the vice president of Customer Experience, who led professional services, enterprise support, customer success and executive engagement globally for the last three years. The idea is to consolidate points of contact for customers, based on feedback from them and Google Cloud’s Partner Advantage program members, according to the source.

A 27-year SAP veteran, Enslin joined Google Cloud in April 2019, four months after Kurian officially took the reins of the No. 3 cloud vendor. Enslin oversaw a tripling in size of Google Cloud’s customer-facing organization.

Enslin is credited with building Google Cloud’s international sales force through regional and industry leaders, tapping talent from enterprise tech companies including Oracle, Salesforce and SAP. As much as 40% of Google Cloud’s organization is now outside the United States. Enslin also was responsible, in large part, for the uptick in Google Cloud’s SAP business.

Enslin and Jester will leave Google Cloud effective May 1, according to an email Kurian sent to Googlers this morning that was viewed by Protocol. Their roles will not be refilled. Kevin Ichhpurani — who in January added channel chief duties to his role as corporate vice president of Google Cloud’s global ecosystem and channels, and had reported to Enslin — now will report directly to Kurian.

“Over the last three years, Rob and John have led our go-to-market organization and helped us build a solid foundation for the future, and I want to thank them for everything they’ve done,” Kurian wrote in the email. “I have personally learned a lot from working closely with them, I respect them both immensely, and I know we all wish them the very best in their next endeavors.”

Google Cloud confirmed the executives’ resignations and the realignment of its sales and customer success teams.

The announcements come a day after parent company Alphabet reported $5.8 billion in Google Cloud sales – which includes Google Cloud Platform and Google Workspace — for the first quarter that ended March 31, a 44% increase from the same period last year. While still unprofitable, Google Cloud trimmed its operating loss to $930 million from $974 million.

Google Cloud’s planned changes include unifying its sales, technical account management, professional services and customer success personnel under two teams: one covering the Americas and the other covering Google Cloud’s other international territories.

“These changes will put our resources closer to customers and partners, and will accelerate our ability to help them digitally transform,” Kurian wrote in the email to Googlers.

Kirsten Kliphouse, currently a Google Cloud president leading its North America customer-facing organization that works with enterprises and other commercial customers, will lead the new Americas region encompassing the United States, Canada and Latin America. Kliphouse joined Google Cloud in June 2019 from Red Hat and spent 25 years at Microsoft. Eduardo Lopez, Google Cloud’s vice president of Sales for Latin America, will report to Kliphouse.

Adaire Fox-Martin, an SAP veteran who’s been president of Google Cloud’s sales organization in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) since last July, will lead the new international region, which also will include Japan and Asia-Pacific. Tomoyuki Hirate, vice president of Sales for Japan, and Karan Bajwa, vice president of Asia-Pacific sales, will report to Fox-Martin.

Lee Moore, the Americas vice president of Cloud Customer Experience, also will report to Kliphouse, while Dana Eaton, EMEA vice president of Cloud Customer Experience, will report to Fox-Martin. Both previously reported to Jester.

“This team will continue its very important mission of helping organizations innovate and drive change to business processes, culture and customer experiences with our products and services,” Kurian wrote in the email.

Bhanumurthy Ballapuram, who has been serving as vice president of Customer Experience for Japan and Asia-Pacific, will take on a new role leading global delivery. His replacement will report to Fox-Martin.

Vice president Atul Nanda will continue leading Google Cloud’s customer support team, which Kurian wrote is a “critical strategic differentiator for the company as we help customers solve their most difficult problems and drive their digital transformations.”

“Beyond these top-level reporting shifts, we are intentionally minimizing changes to ensure our teams stay focused on serving our customers and partners and to continue our strong growth during 2022,” Kurian wrote.

This story was updated to include the announcement that Enslin is going to UiPath.

Donna Goodison

Donna Goodison (@dgoodison) is Protocol's senior reporter focusing on enterprise infrastructure technology, from the 'Big 3' cloud computing providers to data centers. She previously covered the public cloud at CRN after 15 years as a business reporter for the Boston Herald. Based in Massachusetts, she also has worked as a Boston Globe freelancer, business reporter at the Boston Business Journal and real estate reporter at Banker & Tradesman after toiling at weekly newspapers.

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