Keith J. Krach (born 1 April 1957) is an American businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman of DocuSign and served as CEO for 6 years. Krach co-founded Ariba, serving as chairman and CEO, and is recognized for his work in B2B Commerce. Krach also served as chairman of the board of Angie's List.
Video Keith J. Krach
Early life and education
Krach was born in Lakewood, Ohio to Elda and John Krach. Krach received a B.S. in industrial engineering from Purdue University in 1979, on a General Motors scholarship. While there, he was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. He subsequently received an M.B.A. from Harvard University Business School, in 1981, on a General Motors fellowship.
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Career
Krach began his career at General Motors where he worked at GM's Cadillac Division, New York Treasury office, and technical center, before being named GM's youngest-ever vice president, at 26, in 1984. During his time at GM, he was one of the founders of GMF Robotics, a joint venture between GM and Fanuc Robotics.
After GM, he became a member of the founding team of Rasna Corporation, which ranked #3 on the 1994 Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in America. In 1995, Rasna Corporation was sold to Parametric Technologies for $500 million.
In 1996, Krach was the first entrepreneur in residence at Benchmark Capital, and in 2008, he became Benchmark's CEO in residence.
From 1996 to 2003, Krach served as co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Ariba, which was acquired by SAP in 2012 for $4.3 billion. He took the company public in 1999, and its stock more than tripled from the offering price on opening day, making the three-year-old company worth $6 billion. Under Krach's leadership, Ariba acquired TradeX for $1.9 billion in its first year as a publicly traded company. In 2000, the stock value continued to climb, and Ariba's market capitalization was as high as $40 billion. Today, nearly $1 trillion of commerce goes through the Ariba network annually.
From 2005 to 2011, Krach served as CEO of 3Points, an investment holding company based in Los Gatos, California.
In 2009, Krach became the chairman of DocuSign, a technology company based in San Francisco and Seattle which has received strategic investments and support from companies such as Microsoft, Google, SAP, Salesforce, Visa, and FedEx. In 2011, Krach became the CEO of DocuSign.
In January 2017, Krach named his successor as CEO of DocuSign, and still remains the chairman of the company. Throughout his time as CEO, Krach led the company to be recognized as a CNBC Disruptor 50 in 2014 and 2015, in addition to #3 on Forbes' 2016 list of the World's Best 100 Cloud Companies. DocuSign was also selected for Glassdoor's Best Places to Work Award in 2016.
Board memberships
Krach has further exemplified a dedication to leadership as a member of several boards. From 2006 to 2009, he served on the board of directors of XOJet, and from 2007 to 2011, on the board of Ooma.
Krach was appointed to the Purdue board of trustees in 2007 and served as board chairman from 2009 to 2013. In 2012, he selected Mitch Daniels, the sitting governor of Indiana, to be the 12th president of the university.
Additionally, Krach served as board chairman of Angie's List from 2011 to 2014. Under his leadership, the company went public on the Nasdaq.
Awards and recognition
In 1998, Krach was named a top 10 entrepreneur of the year by Red Herring Magazine. In 2000, he received the Technology Pioneer award at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland. That same year, he was recognized as one of the top 10 tech execs by Forbes. In 2000 and again in 2015, Krach was named National Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young. Krach earned the Distinguished Engineer Alumni award from Purdue University in 2006, and in 2012 received the Alumni Achievement award from the National College Senior Honor Society. In 2014, Business Insider recognized him as one of the 50 most powerful people in enterprise tech, and the following year, the San Francisco Business Times recognized him as the most admired CEO. Krach was also awarded a Dell Founder 50 award in 2015.
He also received an honorary doctorate from Ohio Northern University in 2015.
Philanthropy
Purdue University
Through the Krach Family Foundation, he funded the Keith Krach leadership scholarship at Purdue University. It has been awarded to five students each year, since 2009. In 2014, Purdue dedicated the Krach Leadership Center to honor his commitment to business, philanthropy and university leadership.
Sigma Chi Fraternity
From 2005 to 2007, he served as the 64th international president, overseeing over 244 university chapters and 300,000+ lifetime members. He received the Order of Constantine Award, the highest honor for his service to Sigma Chi; the Significant Sig Award, the highest honor for professional career; and the International Balfour Award, the fraternity's highest undergraduate honor. After Hurricane Katrina, the Krach Family Foundation and Drew Brees, a fellow Purdue Sigma Chi, teamed with hundreds of Sigma Chi undergraduates to build homes in New Orleans. In 2005, Krach was inducted into the Sigma Chi Hall of Fame.
DocuSign IMPACT Foundation
Krach is the chairman of the DocuSign IMPACT Foundation, DocuSign's philanthropic entity. This nonprofit foundation provides a 1-for-1 match for DocuSign's employees for nonprofit entities such as the Special Olympics, Team Rubicon, Techbridge Girls, Free The Children, and New Story.
He was also involved in New Story's disaster relief initiative for Haiti, after Hurricane Matthew hit, in 2016.
Additional philanthropic endeavors
Krach co-founded the Children's Autistic Network and served on the board of governors for Opportunity International. In 2007, he was a member of the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference in the Middle East, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Personal life
Krach lives in San Francisco, California. He is married to Metta Krach, former senior corporate counsel at Gap Inc., current member of the board of governors for the San Francisco Symphony, and current member of the executive committee of the board of trustees for the Bay Area Discovery Museum. They have five children.
References
External links
- Keith J. Krach website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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