Marketo, Inc. today announced that it has hired Steve Lucas as its new chief executive officer, underscoring the company’s commitment to accelerating growth and innovation. Lucas joins Marketo from his role as President, Enterprise Platform & Analytics, at SAP.

Marketo founder and current CEO Phil Fernandez will step down on November 1, 2016, following more than 10 years in which he led the business through its launch, a successful IPO, and acquisition by Vista Equity Partners.

Lucas brings a proven track record of leading multibillion-dollar businesses through worldwide growth of cloud, mobile, database, and analytics solutions. In his most recent role at SAP, Lucas drove innovative strategies to accelerate offerings from inception to market within the company’s enterprise platform and analytics solutions.

He previously held global leadership positions across SAP’s Business Analytics Database & Technology, Business Objects, and Corporate Strategy & Market Development organisations. Lucas also drove early force.com growth and ecosystem expansion at Salesforce.com as senior vice president, Platform Marketing & Force.com, before returning to SAP.

“I am excited to join the company as Marketo accelerates its growth through enterprise expansion, its unprecedented next-generation marketing platform, and its robust partner ecosystem,” said Lucas.

“I look forward to leading this incredible organization and enabling anyone using these market-leading solutions to innovate faster and accelerate their digital transformation through marketing, all with a firm commitment to Marketo’s unique culture that champions diversity, inclusion, and social responsibility.”

“I founded Marketo with a bold vision that marketers would take on a powerful new role within their organizations, owning customer engagement and digital transformation,” added Fernandez.

“I am confident that the Marketo team under Steve’s leadership will maintain and extend our commitment to innovation, integrity, and customer success, as well as to the thousands of successful, passionate individuals who are the heart of the Marketing Nation.”

“I want to welcome Steve to the leadership team as Marketo CEO and thank Phil for his instrumental role pioneering a new industry and building Marketo into a world-class brand that serves nearly 5,000 customers and more than 650 partners around the globe,” said Martin Taylor, principal at Vista Equity Partners and Marketo director.