Five9, Inc. ("Five9" or the "Company"), provider of the Intelligent CX Platform, today announced the appointments of Niranjan Vijayaragavan as Five9's new Chief Technology Officer, Rob Hornish as its new Chief Sales Officer, and Sven Linsmaier as Executive Vice President, Transformation and Strategy, effective June 29, 2026. These executive team updates come as Five9 continues to scale its AI-driven CX strategy and sharpen execution across the business.
Five9 appoints Niranjan Vijayaragavan as CTO, Rob Hornish as CSO, and Sven Linsmaier as EVP of Transformation.
Vijayaragavan brings 20+ years of product and technology leadership from Nintex, Avalara, and Microsoft.
Hornish has 30+ years of sales leadership experience at Redaptive, McAfee, and Cisco Systems.
Linsmaier joins from Workday with experience in business finance and operations.
Three outgoing executives remain in advisory capacities to support transitions.
Five9 powers more than 3,500 enterprises across 140+ countries.
Amit Mathradas, CEO of Five9, stated: "Niranjan, Rob, and Sven bring the kind of proven leadership and operational discipline that are critical as Five9 enters this next chapter. Niranjan's deep expertise across product, technology and AI, Rob's track record leading high-performing sales organizations, and Sven's proven ability to drive strategic transformation and scale operations will help us build on our momentum, deepen customer and partner impact, and execute with clarity across the business."
Niranjan Vijayaragavan brings more than two decades of experience building products, platforms and technology organizations at global scale, most recently as Chief Product and Technology Officer at Nintex, where he led the company's transformation toward AI-driven enterprise automation. As Chief Technology Officer at Five9, Niranjan will lead Product Engineering, Product Management, AI Automation and Architecture under a single leadership structure to enable faster execution across the full product lifecycle. Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership roles at Avalara, Expedia, Microsoft and Boston Consulting Group.
Rob Hornish is a seasoned sales executive with more than 30 years of experience building high-performing teams and driving go-to-market transformation. He has a track record of building teams that drive revenue growth and translate complex technology into measurable business outcomes. He most recently served as Chief Sales Officer at Redaptive, where he led the company's go-to-market transformation in the energy-as-a-service market. Earlier in his career, he played a key role in McAfee Enterprise's Americas business, helping position the company for its IPO and eventual sale for $4 billion, and held senior leadership roles at Polycom and Cisco Systems.
Sven Linsmaier joins Five9 as Executive Vice President, Transformation and Strategy, where he will lead enterprise strategy, oversee Corporate Development, and drive the company's highest-priority initiatives. With deep experience scaling high-growth SaaS companies, Sven most recently served as VP of Business Finance and Operations at Workday, where he partnered with the C-suite to drive enterprise-wide strategic initiatives. Prior to Workday, he served as Chief Operating Officer at Convex, scaling the company's core operations, and spent nine years at Boston Consulting Group driving large-scale transformation for global clients.
Niranjan Vijayaragavan, Chief Technology Officer of Five9, commented: "Five9 is at the center of one of the most important shifts in customer experience as AI reshapes how companies engage with their customers. I'm excited to work with the team to accelerate innovation across the platform and deliver technology that helps customers move faster and operate with greater intelligence."
Rob Hornish, Chief Sales Officer of Five9, added: "Five9 has an incredible market opportunity and a strong foundation of customers, partners and innovation. I'm excited to work with the team to build on that trust and bring disciplined, customer-first execution to the next stage of growth."
Sven Linsmaier, Executive Vice President, Transformation and Strategy of Five9, stated: "Five9 is at an inflection point, with real momentum in AI and a clear opportunity to accelerate how we operate and grow. I'm excited to help build the strategic infrastructure that lets this team move faster and execute with greater discipline across the business."
Five9 is committed to ensuring business continuity through these leadership changes. Panos Kozanian, Executive Vice President of Product Engineering, Jonathan Rosenberg, Chief Technology Officer, and Matthew Tuckness, Chief Revenue Officer will each remain with the Company in advisory capacities for a period of time to support the transitions.
About Five9
Five9 is the proven, open cloud platform for customer experience. Cloud-native since 2001 and built by voice experts for the agentic era, Five9 powers contact centers for more than 3,500 enterprises across 140+ countries, including leading health systems, financial institutions, and organizations across every major industry. The Five9 platform, powered by Genius AI, serves every channel and workflow, together with the governance, control, and ecosystem flexibility that even the most regulated enterprises demand. Practical AI that learns from every interaction, driving real outcomes for customers and the businesses that serve them.
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