A Word from Christopher Seiwald

Today I get to share the big news that Perforce Software is being acquired by Summit Partners, a growth investment firm. This is great news on multiple fronts—for me personally, for Perforce customers, and for my successor, Janet Dryer. 

First me.

It's been a wild ride from lone basement programmer to CEO of a mature software company with hundreds of employees. Along the way I've gotten to do about every conceivable job, from checking in the first lines of code (the RCS parser, 21 years ago) and building server machines that lived in my paint closet to building development teams, opening international offices, hiring executives, negotiating Important Things, signing Important Documents, and sitting at tables with other CEOs, acting like I'm a real CEO.

But like Steven Seagal in the movie Under Siege ("I'm just the cook"), under it all I'm still just the programmer, all dressed up. And all the while I've been looking for the real CEO to step in so I can get back to my programming in the basement.

Enter Janet Dryer.

Like me, Janet has been working in the software industry for more than 30 years. She was most recently CEO of global infrastructure software provider HelpSystems, a company she led through a period of tremendous growth and innovation. Importantly, Janet shares the same philosophy and values that we've always held dear at Perforce—cultivate a customers-first culture and dedicate your teams to delivering great technology. She's a Real Deal CEO.

With Janet, Summit Partners will guide Perforce towards growth, exposing new opportunities previously not in our range. Janet has worked closely with Summit twice before and it's a partnership that's proven successful.

I've always believed that what's good for the product is good for all, especially the customers. I believe the new team has the power to take Perforce forward and the sensibility to maintain the values that has made Perforce what it is today. Under Janet's leadership, Perforce will enter its next phase of success.

Please join me in warmly welcoming Janet to Perforce, and look for me behind the keyboard!