Cresta, a leading unified customer experience AI platform, has announced a significant restructuring of its leadership as it hits a major financial milestone. Doug Leone, Partner at Sequoia Capital and a member of the Cresta board since 2023, has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors. Accompanying this move, Carl Eschenbach, a Sequoia Partner and former CEO of Workday, is rejoining the board. These appointments follow Cresta’s successful expansion into the Fortune 500, with the company officially surpassing $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR).
Cresta has officially surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) as of Q2 2026.
Doug Leone, an early investor in ServiceNow and Nubank, is the new Chairman of the Board.
Carl Eschenbach returns to the board after previously leading the company's 2021 Series B investment.
The platform integrates human and AI agents to manage customer interactions for brands like United Airlines and Marriott.
The company’s growth is driven by a shift toward unified AI systems that replace fragmented legacy contact center tools.
Recent product launches, such as the AI-powered Knowledge Agent, focus on real-time augmentation and automation.
The elevation of Leone and the return of Eschenbach signal Cresta's intent to mature into a "generational platform" for the enterprise. Ping Wu, CEO of Cresta, emphasized that the experience of these leaders in building category-defining companies like VMware and ServiceNow is essential for Cresta's next growth phase. The company’s value proposition centers on moving beyond fragmented support systems to a unified model where AI agents and human workers operate in a single, orchestrated environment. This approach has led to rapid adoption among massive organizations looking to improve efficiency and customer retention.
The new board structure combines deep venture capital expertise with high-level operating experience. Carl Eschenbach brings over 35 years of leadership from his time at Workday and VMware, while Doug Leone offers a track record of identifying and scaling high-growth technology firms. According to the board, Cresta's ability to deliver measurable ROI today—rather than in a theoretical future—is what separates it from many in the crowded AI sector.
"Cresta is delivering real results with some of the world's leading companies, not in five years, not in ten years, but today. I'm proud to work with Ping and the team to help guide the company through its rapid growth phase," said Doug Leone, Partner at Sequoia.
"When we first partnered with Cresta in 2021, the team was only beginning to realize the platform's potential. Five years later, they've built a leading enterprise AI platform spanning customer experience augmentation to automation," said Carl Eschenbach, Partner at Sequoia. "I'm excited to rejoin the board and support the team as they scale to new heights."
With a $100 million ARR baseline and the addition of senior industry veterans to its board, Cresta is positioning itself as a core infrastructure provider for the future of the customer experience industry.
About Cresta:
Cresta unlocks the true potential of the customer experience, turning every conversation into a competitive advantage. Cresta's unified AI platform combines conversational AI agents, real-time human agent augmentation, and comprehensive conversation intelligence to drive revenue and efficiency gains across every channel. Companies like United Airlines, Cox Communications, and Marriott use Cresta to power world-class customer experiences every day.
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