Neo4j names Alyson Welch as its first CRO

Leading graph data platform, Neo4j has announced that Alyson Welch has joined the company’s executive leadership team as its first Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). Welch will lead Neo4j’s global field and partner operations, services, and customer success organizations, reporting directly to CEO and Co-Founder Emil Eifrem.

Welch’s appointment follows a series of milestones for the company. Neo4j in December 2022 for the first time was recognized in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems, which was also the first time any native graph vendor had been positioned. Other milestones included the general availability last November of Neo4j 5, the company’s next-generation cloud-ready graph database, rapid adoption of its Graph Data Science analytics and machine learning platform, continued double-digit growth after crossing $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in 2021, and major innovations following last year’s raise of the largest funding round in database history.

“Alyson’s track record leading sales organizations for success from $100MM to more than $1 billion in revenue comes to us at a time when graph technology is starting to reshape the database market and drive advanced analytics and AI/ML models and pipelines for better business outcomes,” said Emil Eifrem, CEO and Co-Founder of Neo4j. “Alyson’s expertise is a huge step forward for Neo4j as we accelerate our customer success and market leadership. We’re so excited to welcome her to our executive team.”

Welch previously led enterprise sales across North America for Twilio, helping grow the company from $300MM to more than $3 billion in five years. Prior to Twilio, she was Global Head of Sales at Zignal Labs, where she built the company’s first revenue organization and grew earnings 3x in 18 months. Before Zignal, she spent 14 years at Akamai as Vice President of Sales, where she was integral in scaling the company from $50M to $1.2B, doubled her division’s revenue, and successfully shifted margin and risk exposure from a declining run rate to a positive (>70 percent) growth margin business.

Welch is also the founder of Poppy, a financial wellness community for women. A 30-year technology sales and consulting veteran, she sits on the Board of Advisors at Bucknell Freeman’s School of Management, the university where she received her B.A. in Economics and French.

“Neo4j’s pace of innovation is why its technology is used today by more than 75 percent of the Fortune 100 – and that’s only just the beginning,” said Welch. “I’m honored to join this generational leader with an unprecedented set of opportunities ahead of it, and whose customers are pushing the envelope on what’s possible for their data and their business at scale.”