Blackbaud Steps Up Commitment to Strategic Markets

Blackbaud's Enterprise Markets Group will continue to serve the horizontal and vertical needs of customers while expanding its current services for greater interconnectivity within its healthcare and higher education markets. The company will continue to support other strategic verticals, such as K-12, corporations and foundations, arts & culture, and faith-based organizations, where it has long demonstrated success.

"As 2017 approaches, we have a significant opportunity to accelerate both customer value and business growth by focusing on strategic opportunities in select vertical markets," said Mike Gianoni, Blackbaud president and CEO. "We are formalizing our vertical-focused business structure to provide unprecedented total solutions for nonprofits, corporations, foundations and educational institutions that rely on our software to fuel their missions."

Tim Hill Joins Blackbaud as President of Higher Education Solutions
As president of Blackbaud's Higher Education Solutions group, Hill will lead the overall business strategy and companywide sales, vertical marketing and partner ecosystem development. He is an award winning sales, marketing and business leader who served as an executive at growth companies like Iomega, Software AG and Blackboard. Hill holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in marketing and business from Taylor University.

"I'm passionate about higher education and the affirmative mission of our academic institutions. Our vision for the higher education vertical is to be the innovative solution provider that impacts the entire income stream for our customers," said Hill. "From student engagement to alumni activation to fundraising and insightful analytics, our goal is for Blackbaud to be a trusted adviser and partner delivering innovative, sustainable growth."

Russ Cobb Joins Blackbaud as President of Healthcare Solutions
As president of Blackbaud's Healthcare Solutions group, Cobb will build the overall business strategy and lead companywide sales, vertical marketing and partner ecosystem development. Prior to joining Blackbaud, Cobb spent the last five years with Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. in various executive marketing roles, including vice president of global marketing & communications.

"It's exciting to look at healthcare technology through the lens of the rapid-changing world of philanthropy. And even more so to link Blackbaud's core platforms and capabilities to the healthcare IT ecosystem in which I have spent the last decade," said Cobb. "Blackbaud is an expert in consumer targeting, predicting behaviors and managing complex engagements – all pivotal in healthcare today for constituents and consumers.  I am thrilled to strengthen this vertical with a client-first focus, solidify our core business and extend our reach with new solutions that power healthcare organizations – and ultimately life-saving care – to new levels of success."

Cobb also served in marketing, sales and professional services roles with Siemens Healthcare and he began his career at IBM as part of the team that developed and launched Websphere Business Integration globally. Cobb earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Business Administration degree from the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. 

"The addition of these two innovative leaders coupled with a mission-based focus for these verticals will empower our customers and increase Blackbaud's speed to market with our open cloud solutions. Our goal is to enable a new level of innovation in these verticals allowing organizations to focus on positive change, community contributions and social good overall," Gianoni concluded.

For more information about Blackbaud, visit www.blackbaud.com.

About Blackbaud
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the world's leading cloud software company powering social good. Serving the entire social good community—nonprofits, foundations, corporations, education institutions, and individual change agents—Blackbaud connects and empowers organizations to increase their impact through software, services, expertise, and data intelligence. The Blackbaud portfolio is tailored to the unique needs of vertical markets, with solutions for fundraising and relationship management, digital marketing, advocacy, accounting, payments, analytics, school management, grant management, corporate social responsibility, and volunteerism. Serving the industry for more than three decades, Blackbaud is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina and has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.blackbaud.com.

Media Contact
Nicole McGougan 
Public Relations  
843.654.3307 
[email protected]  

Forward-looking Statements
Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions contained in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Although Blackbaud attempts to be accurate in making these forward-looking statements, it is possible that future circumstances might differ from the assumptions on which such statements are based. In addition, other important factors that could cause results to differ materially include the following: general economic risks; uncertainty regarding increased business and renewals from existing customers; continued success in sales growth; management of integration of acquired companies and other risks associated with acquisitions; risks associated with successful implementation of multiple integrated software products; the ability to attract and retain key personnel; risks related to our dividend policy and share repurchase program, including potential limitations on our ability to grow and the possibility that we might discontinue payment of dividends; risks relating to restrictions imposed by the credit facility; risks associated with management of growth; lengthy sales and implementation cycles, particularly in larger organization; technological changes that make our products and services less competitive; and the other risk factors set forth from time to time in the SEC filings for Blackbaud, copies of which are available free of charge at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or upon request from Blackbaud's investor relations department. All Blackbaud product names appearing herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Blackbaud, Inc.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428400

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161013/428401

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404305LOGO

SOURCE Blackbaud, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.blackbaud.com