Post by Zoran Mladenovic

The next chapter is beginning! Before announcing that, I wanted to reflect on this chapter! I could not be more proud of my time at Demandware. Few people have the privilege to enjoy the success I have in my professional career…joining a very small start-up that was attempting to change the narrative of the industry and introduce this crazy new concept of “rental apartment” commerce software…welcome to SaaS! I was very fortunate that Jeffrey Barnett entrusted me with numerous responsibilities over the years…across the globe…numerous large customers, building out global presences in varying countries and continents, and building out the global SE team. My takeaways from my time with you are countless with the top ones being:  always stay cool under pressure, own every conversation, and master objection handling. The highlight of my time was the caliber of people I worked with, LEARNED FROM, and build strong relationships with. The Germans! My takeaways from this incredible set of people include: - brilliance has no end - being direct is a strength when used properly - limitless dedication (after hours, weekends, holidays) - benefit of explaining a response rather than just giving one - true teamwork (solve the unsolvable, update Prod in under 24 hours) The most brilliant minds!  I apologize for folks I leave out…so many folks to remember:  Ulrike Mueller, Udo Timpe, Chris Drechsler, Jan Fiedler, Jan Krueger, Rene Kessler, Kay Domachowski, Dr. Dietrich Thie, Hendrik Hoppe, Sergei Babovich (my Belorussian brother…you are honorarily added to this group), Andreas Eiserloh, Marko Kimpel, René Schwietzke, Danny G..  My success has come from those that surrounded me!  I was fortunate to work with the best-of-the-best across all disciplines:  Robert Turner (saving our bacon on the way to the Scholastic meeting), Philip Jefferson, Rob Garf, the architects (Lang Zerner, Jason Moody, Brian Kennedy, Arjun Garikapti, Jeff LaBarbera). Team APAC (Marc Gagne, Andrew Robertson, Louis Ngai, Adela Szatvanyi), Arun Sathnur (jumping on calls late at night Thanksgiving eve), Jeff Dearing, Neeraj Yadav, Vinod Kumar, Shanmugam Palaniappan, Madhu Madhavan, Joreal Whitfield (Mr GQ). Thank you for the time, the knowledge, the passion, the hurdles we overcame, and the fun we had! The endless amounts of pursuits, wins, late night fire drills, industry events, industry parties!  Learning from the SEs as much as I attempted to teach.  NA: Thom Armstrong, Michele Davolos, Natalija P., Sean Francisco Yau-Smith, Nupur Harshita Marwaha, Jason Levine.  LATAM: Jorge Ortiz.  APAC: Takuma Kaito, Hye Jin Park.  EMEA: Marcel Van Espen, Kieran Lane. The person that has taught me more than anyone else about work, life, friendship, and enjoying life…Olivier Lafont. Thank you for always being there to teach me.  Our wins are legendary! So proud to call you my friend. This is not a goodbye…simply the end of a chapter. Thank you to everyone!  We will see each other again!