RightNow Adds Key Staff to Fuel Public Sector Growth and Help Federal Agencies Implement 'Cloud First' Policy

Today, RightNow (Nasdaq: RNOW) announced that its public sector division has increased staff by approximately 25 percent to address the demand for agencies seeking cloud-based solutions to meet the Obama administration’s 25-Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal IT Management. RightNow has spent more than ten years helping government clients deliver transparent, participatory and collaborative government services via the cloud.

The 25-Point Plan mandates that each Federal agency identify, within three months, three ‘must move’ IT services and move one of those services to the cloud within 12 months. The remaining services should transfer to the cloud within the next 18 months.

"RightNow’s public sector practice is prepared to work with the federal government to transfer IT services to the cloud. In fact, we have the capability to stand up RightNow CX in 30 days via the RightNow Government Cloud, eliminating the need for agencies to purchase servers or data center space. To deliver on this promise, we have hired a staff of talented professionals, many of whom are already working with federal organizations to implement programs that meet the mandate.”
Kevin Paschuck, Vice President, Public Sector, RightNow

RightNow Staffs up to Help Federal Agencies Move to the Cloud

RightNow has added several key employees in the areas of sales, business development, client satisfaction and marketing management. Some of the highlights include:

• Rajiv Bartakke, Director, Professional Services: Rajiv Bartakke is a results-driven director of enterprise-wide information technology solutions with over 25 years of progressive responsibility for public sector and commercial organizations. In his current role as Director, Professional Services, Rajiv Bartakke, is responsible for helping RightNow public sector customers successfully implement and utilize RightNow CX to optimize citizen-experience operations. Prior to joining RightNow, he served as a Consulting Project Director with Oracle.
• Julie Brown, Director, Public Sector Operations: Julie Brown has been an integral member of the RightNow team for over 9 years. Prior to her current role as Director of Public Sector Operations, she served as RightNow’s Director of Global Contracts. She moved over to head public sector operations in 2010. Her responsibilities include oversight of partner acquisitions, the public sector sales integrator channel and the inside sales team.
• Margarita Castillo, Public Sector Industry Marketing Manager: An accomplished, results-proven marketing professional, Margarita Castillo brings over 10 years experience developing and executing high impact marketing programs and events. In her capacity as Public Sector Industry Marketing Manager, she oversees field-marketing activities for the higher education and federal government verticals.
• Django DeGree, Regional Manager, Public Sector Inside Sales and Business Development: Django DeGree joins RightNow after serving as Sales Director with Oracle, driving revenue in U.S. and Canadian public sector markets. He also spent time at Microsoft, leading sales teams in the in the Health and Human Services and K-12 verticals. Currently responsible for managing all public sector inside sales, he develops and ensures the attainment of strategic goals.
• Linda Garcia, Director, Public Sector Sales: Linda Garcia began her career in the federal government as an attorney with the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps and then represented the government in disability cases for the Social Security Administration (SSA). As a regional manager and a business development manager at Oracle, a sales manager at Adobe and a senior manager at Deloitte, she worked with public sector agencies and stakeholders to match mission need with technology solutions. In her current role as Director of Public Sector Sales with RightNow, Garcia oversees sales activities for the federal civilian, state/local and nonprofit verticals.
• Phil Higgs, Regional Manager: As Regional Manager, Phil Higgs runs RightNow federal client sales and Department of Defense (DoD) new business acquisition activities for public sector. He comes to RightNow with deep sales management experience at companies including Splunk, Computer Associates and McAfee, where he led high impact, results driven sales programs.
• Joe Markwordt, Director, Public Sector Sales: A seasoned software sales executive, Joe Markwordt joins RightNow after serving most recently as vice president of government sales at SunGard Availability Services and regional vice president of sales at Oracle. With significant public sector expertise, he directs sales efforts in the federal client, higher education and Canadian markets.
• Christine Randle Manager, Public Sector Influencer Relations: Leading public sector influencer relations, Christine Randle develops and executes strategies and programs to engage with key public sector influencers including media, analysts and clients. She joins RightNow after several years at a boutique communications agency, where, as New Media Director, she built the firm’s social media practice from the ground-up while continuing to drive media relations and strategic communication programs for numerous high-tech clients.

About RightNow Technologies

RightNow is helping rid the world of bad experiences one interaction at a time, eight million times a day. A leader in bringing the Cloud delivery model to government, RightNow has successfully served the US government for more than ten years. RightNow CX, the customer experience suite, helps agencies deliver exceptional customer experiences across the web, social networks and contact centers, all delivered via the secure government cloud. With RightNow, agencies are able to drive citizen engagement, reduce the cost of operations and increase information transparency within the secure government cloud.

Over 170 government agencies including nearly every U.S. cabinet level agency, Army, Marines, Air Force, members of the Intelligence Community, and DoD, rely on RightNow’s cloud based solutions to answer the call for better citizen service—providing the right information, at the right time, seamlessly across multiple channels. With more than ten billion customer interactions delivered, RightNow is the customer experience fabric for nearly 2000 organizations around the globe. To learn more about RightNow, go to www.rightnow.com.

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