Rob Bearden Named New Docker CEO As Steve Singh Steps Down
'Docker is exceptionally well positioned to scale, to one day be a public company, and over the long term, become a foundational technology company. I could not imagine a better executive to lead Docker to that level of success, over the next decade,' Docker's outgoing CEO reportedly tells employees.
Docker CEO Steve Singh is stepping down and handing the leadership role to former Hortonworks CEO Rob Bearden.
TechCrunch reported that the San Francisco-based company informed employees of the leadership change Wednesday morning. Singh will remain CEO for several months as Bearden transitions into the role. After that, Singh will retain his position as chairman of the board.
Docker confirmed the leadership change in a press release published not long after TechCrunch's report, saying that Bearden will join as CEO in early June.
"Over the past few years, Docker has made incredible strides, emerging as the leading container platform provider for customers across the globe, who are digitally transforming their businesses," Singh said in a statement. "As we look ahead to the next 10 years of Docker's market opportunity, the board and I wanted to find a leader with world-class experience in building open source technology companies."
"We found that leader in Rob," Singh continued. "In the time I have spent working with Rob, what has really impressed me, beyond his extensive background, is his commitment to his people and to serving customers. Under Rob's leadership, Docker will not only scale out an already wonderful business, it will also continue to change the technology landscape."
Bearden said when Singh approached him with the opportunity, he's couldn't pass it up.
"As companies look to create the next generation of applications and services, Docker will be the competitive differentiation that will drive their businesses forward into the new digital future," Bearden said in a statement. "I look forward to collaborating with the Docker team, our go-to-market partners, customers and the entire ecosystem to build on the strong foundation that Steve and team have created and scale to address the next wave of growth and innovation."
The container development platform provider said it grown rapidly since its founding in 2013, reaching more than 105 billion container downloads and over 750 global customers.
TechCrunch's report said that Singh has been speaking with Bearden for several months about the possibility of the former Hortonworks CEO joining Docker's board and serving as a consultant to Singh's executive team.
Singh over time viewed Bearden as a potential successor, given his prior leadership experience with open-source companies, including his leadership over Hortonworks as it became a public company before Cloudera acquired it.
“Docker is exceptionally well positioned to scale, to one day be a public company, and over the long term, become a foundational technology company,” Singh told employees in a email obtained by TechCrunch. “I could not imagine a better executive to lead Docker to that level of success over the next decade. I am very pleased that Rob has agreed to serve as Docker’s CEO.”
The leadership change comes after Docker held its annual DockerCon conference in San Francisco last week, where it introduced the latest major update to its enterprise containerization platform, Docker Enterprise 3.0.
"Our investment in the enterprise platform is a huge part of how we grow this business and how we serve our customers," Singh told reporters last week. "We have come a long way over the last few years in building our platform in a way that customers can get meaningful value out of it."