Associate Customer Success Manager

o9 Solutions appoints Krishnakumar Kulankara to Chief Operating Officer. DALLAS, June 13, 2026 - o9 Solutions, a leading software company that is powering enterprise planning and decisioning models across 30-plus industry verticals with its groundbreaking Digital Brain platform, today announced the appointment of Krishnakumar Kulankara, who has spent more than a decade at o9 building and transforming key areas of the business across delivery, product, and go-to-market, to the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO). Kulankara's appointment signals o9's commitment to the operational transformation required to drive adoption of its next breakthrough innovation, the APEX Model, short for Agile, Adaptive, Autonomous Planning & Execution. o9's original breakthrough 10x innovation, the Digital Brain platform, was designed to optimize enterprise value by bridging the functional, process, and knowledge silos of enterprises and drive more agile planning and execution in response to market risks and opportunities. APEX builds on this innovation, recognizing that the next big 10x problem to solve is making change simpler, and transformations faster and more reliable in delivering value. To make this happen, enterprises need the constraint is not just better planning and decision-making technology. The constraint is the traditional operating models themselves: Organization structures, processes, people skills, and data all must be reimagined for the AI age. APEX is powered by a scientific knowledge-powered method and model that understands the complexity of enterprise business models, and how enterprise planning, decision-making, and execution work at scale in volatile and uncertain business environments to drive enterprise value. Powered by that knowledge, APEX has powerful Adaptive capabilities that are constantly learning and identifying where and why value leakages occur in enterprises of all types across industries, how to measure and diagnose the root causes, and systematically and continuously improve and transform every planning and execution process, organizational skill, and capability to maximize enterprise value. APEX also systematically helps processes become more Autonomous with Agentic AI, automating routine analysis and actions, and augmenting human capabilities in higher-value decision-making and execution. The goal of APEX is to make the transformation journey simpler, faster, and more continuous to ensure that every decision, every process, and every function of the organization is constantly improving and focused on optimizing enterprise value. In his new role, Kulankara will lead the cross-functional alignment and operational transformation required to advance APEX adoption at scale, both within o9 and for its clients. He will drive the transformation of each business function and organizational capabilities to ensure o9 operates at its highest level of efficiency and execution. Kulankara brings more than a decade of experience at o9, having founded and scaled business units and industry practices from the ground up. His tenure has been defined by a proven ability to operate across every dimension of the business, from new client acquisition and strategic sales cycles to product development, delivery, and digital transformation. He has built strong executive relationships across a wide range of industries and has overseen programs delivering large-scale value for some of the world's leading companies. "We are at a defining moment for enterprise planning," Kulankara said. "APEX is not just a technology innovation. It is a fundamental rethinking of how enterprises operate, decide, and deliver value. As COO, my focus is on driving the cross-functional alignment and operational transformation that will accelerate APEX adoption at scale. We have the platform, the people, and the momentum, and I am committed to ensuring o9 operates at its highest level to make that vision a reality." "Krishna is the executive our organization turns to when the most complex, cross-functional challenges arise," said Igor Rikalo, President of o9 Solutions. "His decade-plus at o9 has given him an unmatched understanding of how we operate, compete, and deliver value. What sets Krishna apart is not just his institutional knowledge or his track record of building high-performing teams and scaling industry practices from inception. It is his ability to bring the entire organization together around a common goal and drive transformation with both urgency and humility. He is the right leader to operationalize APEX and position o9 for its next phase of growth." o9 Solutions is a leading Enterprise Knowledge and AI-powered platform helping companies build Agile, Adaptive & Autonomous Planning & Execution Models for transforming enterprise decision-making in environments of rising volatility and uncertainty. Whether it is improving forecast accuracy, matching demand and supply and driving collaboration across the multi-tier supply chain to improve resilience at optimal costs and inventory, or optimizing new product and commercial initiatives to drive revenue growth and margins, decision-making processes from long-range to tactical to execution horizon can be made faster and smarter and connected on o9's Digital Brain Platform. o9 brings together game-changing technology innovations - such as innovative enterprise knowledge graph modeling, big data analytics, advanced algorithms for forecasting, demand/supply balancing, scenario planning, real time learning, collaboration, generative and agentic AI, easy-to-use interfaces and cloud-based delivery, and innovative management methods - as well as organization, process and change management best practices to transform decision-making speed and intelligence.

o9 Solutions promotes Dr. Ashwin Rao to Chief Technology Officer. Business Wire DALLAS, July 02, 2026-(BUSINESS WIRE)-o9 Solutions, a leading software company that is powering enterprise planning and decisioning models across 30-plus industry verticals with its groundbreaking Digital Brain platform, today announced the promotion of Dr. Ashwin Rao, a multi-faceted leader with experiences across Wall Street, industry and academia, to the role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Dr. Rao's appointment signals o9's commitment to the breakthrough innovations it is pioneering to transform enterprise decision-making for the new normal of VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity) in the age of AI. This 10x innovation is APEX - short for Agile, Adaptive, Autonomous Planning & Execution. o9's original breakthrough 10x innovation - the Digital Brain platform - was designed to optimize enterprise value by bridging functional, process and knowledge silos of enterprises and drive more agile planning and execution in response to market risks and opportunities. APEX builds on this innovation, recognizing that the next big 10x problem to solve is making change simpler, and transformations faster and more reliable in delivering value. To make this happen, the constraint is not just better planning and decision-making technology. The constraint is the traditional operating models themselves: Organization structures, processes, people skills, data all must be reimagined for the AI age. APEX is powered by a scientific knowledge-powered method and model that understands the complexity of enterprise business models, and how enterprise planning, decision-making and execution work at scale in volatile and uncertain business environments to drive enterprise value. Powered by that knowledge, APEX has powerful "Adaptive" capabilities that are constantly learning and identifying where and why value leakages occur in enterprises of all types across industries, how to measure and diagnose the root causes, and systematically and continuously improve and transform every planning and execution process, organizational skill, and capability to maximize enterprise value. APEX also systematically helps processes become more "Autonomous" with Agentic AI, automating routine analysis and actions, and augmenting human capabilities in higher-value decision-making and actioning. The goal of APEX is to make the transformation journey much more simpler, faster, and more continuous to ensure that every decision, every process, and every function of the organization is constantly improving, and focused on optimizing enterprise value.

o9 Solutions taps Former WalkMe Exec as Its first-ever CMO. The Dallas-based unicorn added marketing veteran Adriel Sanchez to its executive team as it looks to accelerate global growth, expand into new industries, and advance its agentic AI strategy. CMO Adriel Sanchez [Photo: o9 Solutions] Dallas-based unicorn o9 Solutions, an enterprise planning software solutions provider, has named Adriel Sanchez as the company's first-ever chief marketing officer. Sanchez's appointment to the pivotal leadership role highlights a commitment to transforming the future of enterprise planning with "path-breaking, agentic AI-enabled innovations designed to help companies rapidly identify and fix value leakages occurring across the value chain," the company said. "As we continue to raise the bar for intelligence, automation and speed-to-value for our world-class enterprise clients, we're excited to welcome Adriel at such a pivotal point in our growth journey," said o9 Solutions Co-Founder, Executive Chairman, and CEO Chakri Gottemukkala. "Adriel's proven track record of building end-to-end global marketing engines in the technology space is key to helping o9 scale with precision, speed and measurable impact," Gottemukkala added in a statement. With more than 20 years of strategic marketing experience, Sanchez will drive market momentum for o9's platform and Agile, Adaptive & Autonomous Planning & Execution (APEX) enterprise operating model that enables large, complex organizations to better manage volatility and transform strategy into predictable growth, margins, and cash flow. Sanchez will guide the company's global marketing organization, including go-to-market strategy, demand generation, events and creative, product marketing, brand positioning, customer advocacy, and communications. Under his leadership, o9 said it will focus on growing its global presence and brand awareness while rapidly expanding into new industries and geographies. 'Democratizing decision-making' Sanchez joins o9 from WalkMe, an SAP company and pioneer of the Digital Adoption Platform category, where he served as Chief Marketing Officer. Prior to that, he was Chief Marketing Officer at Newsela, a fast-growing education technology startup. Sanchez has also held a variety of marketing leadership positions at Commvault, SAP, and Citi. "What really drew me to o9 is the sheer scale of the problem the team is solving," Sanchez said. "The idea of democratizing decision-making so that everyone across an enterprise can move faster and smarter is incredibly powerful. As o9 enters this next phase of growth, I'm thrilled to join such a world-class team. I look forward to helping our customers make choices that drive more value, and working with the rest of o9's leadership team to shape what comes next." With its AI-powered "Digital Brain" platform, o9 offers planning solutions for more than 30 industry verticals, including high tech, industrial manufacturing, consumer products, life sciences, retail, and energy. Track Dallas-Fort Worth's business and innovation landscape with its curated news in your inbox Tuesday-Thursday. One quick signup, and you're done. 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