Lucinda Duncalfe is the new CEO of Monetate
Lucinda Duncalfe will replace David Brussin as CEO of Monetate, the company announced.
Brussin will become executive chairman of the board of the Conshohocken ecommerce optimization company that he cofounded, where he’ll still work on the company’s day-to-day operations. He’ll work closely with Monetate’s customers to figure out what the company should build next, he said.
Duncalfe will become chairman of the board of her Chinatown-based healthy food startup Real Food Works, which will be run by cofounder Jay Brown. Monetate cofounder David Bookspan, who was formerly the chairman of the board, will be a director on the board, Brussin said.
Duncalfe’s appointment signifies a shift for Monetate’s goals, according to the company.
A board member since the company’s founding, she’ll be focused on growing the business via marketing and sales, while in the past, the company has prioritized product development. Both Brussin and Duncalfe pointed to Monetate’s growth in Europe as a sign of potential — 70 percent of Monetate’s new European customers were signed in the last 12 months, Duncalfe said.
Duncalfe, 51, of Fort Washington, called her new role “a really good skill set match” for Monetate.
“My background is execution,” she said.
Other than with Real Food Works, she said she’s always joined a founder with a technical vision and focused on execution.
She also has a history of exits: Duncalfe and Brussin cofounded antispam company TurnTide, which Symantec acquired for $28 million six months after it was founded in 2004. She sold her pay-per-click company ClickEquations in 2011. (Duncalfe also introduced Brussin to Monetate cofounder David Bookspan.)
It appears to be the next step in Monetate’s aspirations to go public, though Duncalfe stayed mum on the topic. “It’s only day one,” she said. Earlier this year, the company hired Bob Lawson, who was CFO of two separate companies that went public (cloud-computing company RingCentral and biofuel company Codexis). Monetate also recently appointed Tim Kopp to its board. Kopp was CMO of ExactTarget when it went public.
The announcement also follows a new Monetate product release that lets companies test different parts of a website with specific viewers and change those parts according to real-time data. The new product will compete with offerings from companies like Optimizely and Maxymiser.
Monetate also recently expanded its office, adding 8,000 square feet for its product development team. The company aims to be at nearly 300 employees by the end of the year.
Duncalfe, who has said that Philadelphia needs to grow another big tech company to push its tech scene forward, hopes Monetate can be a role model for other local startups.
“We are perfectly positioned to do that,” she said.