BlackLine Appoints Vice President, General Manager to Lead Expansion in Asia-Pacific

SYDNEY, Sept. 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Finance controls and automation software leader BlackLine has appointed Todd Hunt as vice president and general manager to oversee business expansion in the Asia-Pacific region (APAC).  The company also is hosting its fifth annual APAC User Conference this week in Sydney to serve the company's growing base of clients in the region, with representatives from Boral, Optus and Wesley Mission lined up to discuss the benefits they've seen since using BlackLine's Finance Controls and Automation software.

BlackLine currently has more than 100 customers and 21,000 users in APAC, with the majority located in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ).  Based in Sydney, Mr. Hunt will lead an ambitious growth plan to accelerate BlackLine's business and customer acquisition across the entire region with a particular focus on ANZ and the major Asian markets including Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Japan.

According to a recent study* from Apps Run the World, "the cloud applications market is expected to experience sustained growth with the biggest showing likely to come from APAC" with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2014 to 2018 of 21.7 percent.

"We expect Asia-Pacific to be a high-growth market," said Therese Tucker, CEO, BlackLine.  "Given Todd's consistent record of sales growth, his hands-on experience, and his unyielding commitment to customer success, he will prove to be a tremendous asset in growing our presence throughout the APAC region."

Mr. Hunt has more than 20 years of experience in the software industry having held senior management positions in sales, account management, business development and customer relationship management.  During this time, he has led complex corporate software sales bids, deployed effective channel strategies and developed key relationships through professional services and consulting.

Mr. Hunt previously worked for Infor Global Solutions, the world's third largest enterprise software provider, for more than ten years in several strategic positions, most recently as sales director for northern Australia.  In this role, he had regional responsibility for managing all frontline channel sales in the financial services and public sectors across the organisation's enterprise resource planning, supply chain, financial and human capital solutions. 

He previously held sales and account management positions with BCA IT and Hutchison Telecoms.

Accounting/finance managers and compliance executives around the world use BlackLine's cloud-based offering to automate key finance and accounting processes, which are traditionally labor-intensive, manual and time-consuming.  Existing ANZ BlackLine clients include Bank of New Zealand, Boral, Bunnings, Coles, CSL, Downer EDI, Evolution Mining, Kimberley Clark, Linfox, Optus, Qantas Airways, QBE Australia, Tabcorp, Thales, Virgin Australia and Wesley Mission.

About BlackLine
BlackLine is the leader in Enhanced Finance Controls and Automation software and the only provider today offering a completely integrated cloud platform—built from a single code base that supports the entire record-to-report process, as well as a host of other key accounting and financial processes.  BlackLine's Finance Controls and Automation Platform increases business efficiency and visibility, while ensuring the highest degree of balance sheet integrity. 

Delivered through a scalable and highly secure cloud model, BlackLine empowers more than 900 global companies to reduce the time and resources required to execute month-end closing with unparalleled accuracy, fueling confidence throughout the entire accounting cycle.  With more than 150,000 users in over 100 countries, BlackLine complements existing Corporate Performance Management (CPM), Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. 

Although BlackLine is ERP-agnostic, the BlackLine Financial Close Suite for SAP® Solutions is an SAP-endorsed business solution – joining the ranks of fewer than 40 other software offerings globally that are endorsed by the enterprise application software leader.  BlackLine also is an SAP Gold Partner.  Company headquarters are in Los Angeles, with offices in Atlanta, Chicago, London, Melbourne, New York City and Sydney.  For more information, please visit www.blackline.com.  

*The projected CAGR is based on the Worldwide Cloud Applications Market Forecast 2014-2018 from Apps Run The World - See more at: https://www.appsrunthecloud.com/opinions/index/150

Media Contact:
Kimberly Uberti 
Director of Corporate Communications
BlackLine Systems
[email protected] 

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SOURCE BlackLine Systems