Brad Burns, the now former chief communications officer at Salesforce, has joined Snowflake in the same role, the data-cloud company said Wednesday in a press release.
At Snowflake, Burns will spearhead communications strategy and advise company leadership. He's joining the company, which sells data storage and services, as it shifts focus from revenue growth to profit and invests in research and development for generative artificial intelligence. He starts in the role on February 12.
Snowflake's revenue growth and that of the rest of the cloud industry slowed earlier this year as customers tightened cloud budgets after a pandemic-fueled spending spree in 2020 and 2021.
Frank Slootman, Snowflake's chair and CEO, was previously rumored to be leaving the company, Business Insider reported. The rumor, Slootman said at the time, was "FUD," or fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Slootman, who replaced Bob Muglia as CEO shortly before Snowflake's initial public offering in 2020, is still with the company.
Burns is just the latest C-suite executive to leave Salesforce following co-CEO Bret Taylor's resignation in late 2022. The company laid off 10% of its workforce last year as it restructured to focus on profit.
Burns joined Salesforce as chief communications officer in 2018. Before that, he worked in senior communications roles at AT&T.
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Correction: January 24, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated when layoffs happened. It was last year, not this year.
