By Chris Fleck

To the public, David Henshall may not be a recognized tech name but to Citrix employees, partners, customers, and investors, he is admired and well respected. Henshall has been with Citrix since 2003, serving as chief financial officer and chief operations officer. He’s helped lead a time of consistent growth and profitability.

Citrix Systems, headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, is a leading enterprise software vendor that IT organizations use to securely deliver apps and data to employees at more than 400,000 organizations, including 99 percent of the Fortune 500.

Citrix employees welcomed the announcement, seeing Henshall as an insider, an expert at company operations and a leader who values Citrix culture and investment in innovation. Solution provider partners that resell Citrix had a positive reaction as well based on Henshall’s recognized value of the channel ecosystem. A recent article in CRN magazine highlighted numerous positive sentiments from partners. Shareholders and analysts have responded positively to the change as well.

Citrix has been on a journey of transformation from traditional premise-based software sales with upfront sales to a cloud model where apps run in the cloud and software is purchased as a subscription. This is positive for long-term financials but can cause a short-term impact to revenue growth. Product and engineering innovation is also essential for transformation to the cloud to gain efficiencies and provide compelling new solutions to customers. The Citrix board of directors felt Henshall was best suited for the role at this critical time.

Henshall will have a lot on his plate leading the next Citrix transformation but he is well prepared and ready for the challenge.

“I joined Citrix more than 14 years ago, because I believe in this company, its mission and our amazing teams around the world,” Henshall says. “And I’ve stayed all these years because I still believe in that mission and the innovation we provide for our customers. I’m excited to lead Citrix through this next great chapter as we dare to reimagine the future of work.”↵

Chris Fleck is on the board of the South Florida Technology Alliance and vice president of emerging solutions for Citrix Systems (Nasdaq: CTXS), a Fort Lauderdale company that provides secure delivery of applications and data.