SendGrid Hires Proven Tech Leader To Drive Global Marketing; Relocates Headquarters To Support Growth

BOULDER, Colo., March 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- SendGrid, the leader in application email infrastructure, today announced the hire of Paul Ford, who joins as the Vice President of Product and Marketing.  Ford will be responsible for leading SendGrid's global marketing efforts, driving overall product strategy and new product creation as each aligns with market opportunity and fit.  Ford joins SendGrid as the company continues international expansion efforts, headcount growth and expansion of its core application email infrastructure platform.

Ford brings with him two decades of technology sector experience, with an emphasis on infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and software as a service (SaaS) organizations.  He most recently served in senior marketing and business development capacities at Softlayer Technologies (an IBM Company).  While there, Ford created and managed several strategic programs that contributed to an annual top-line revenue growth of 166 percent.  Among these programs was the Catalyst Startup Program, an internal startup incubation program supporting emerging tech companies building innovative products and services on the Softlayer platform.  

Prior to Softlayer, Ford held a corporate development role at Rackspace Hosting and also founded several of his own companies.  Ford is also one of five Entrepreneurs in Residence supporting the White House and Department of Homeland Security's efforts in growing the U.S. economy and creating American jobs. He additionally served as an Airborne Infantry Squad Leader in the U.S. Army.

"Paul is a results-driven business leader with a track record of creative thinking and community building that will be critical as SendGrid embarks on its next phase of growth," said Jim Franklin, CEO, SendGrid.  "We already have a tremendous foothold in the web and mobile application ecosystem, and we're confident that Paul has the right mix of experience and vision to help us build a new layer of end-user business and product relationships on top of our core application email platform."

SendGrid has also announced today that it has reached the 200 employees mark and that it plans to relocate its headquarters to a new and larger space in Boulder, Colo.  The new office will be located in downtown Boulder at 1401 Walnut Street, nearby the company's current location on Pearl Street.  Doors to the new headquarters will open early May 2014 in anticipation of an expanding headcount this year and beyond.

SendGrid first formed ties with the Boulder community in late 2009 after graduating from the TechStars program.  With 19,692 square feet of new space, the company will be able to double headcount as it continues to increase its customer support, engineering, operations, sales, marketing and leadership functions. In addition to its Boulder and Denver locations, SendGrid has offices in Orange County, Calif. and Providence, RI. and operations in New York, San Francisco, and the United Kingdom.

About SendGrid
SendGrid is the leader in application email infrastructure. SendGrid's cloud-based platform increases email deliverability, provides actionable insight and scales to meet any volume of email, relieving businesses of the cost and complexity of maintaining custom email infrastructures. The email delivery platform of choice for 150,000 web application companies and developers, including Uber, foursquare, Pinterest, Airbnb, Twilio, Spotify and Pandora, SendGrid delivers more than 100 billion emails per year. Founded in 2009 and based in Boulder, Colo., SendGrid is backed by Foundry Group, Highway 12 Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and several notable individual investors. For more information, visit www.sendgrid.com.

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SOURCE SendGrid