[By NBC-1TV H. J Yook]Thunderhead, the company that builds loyalty and profitability by optimizing customer engagement, announced the appointment today of Ray Gerber as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Gerber was previously CTO of NASDAQ-listed Chordiant, the customer experience software provider recently acquired by Pegasystems.

“Ray has a long and enviable track record in the development of customer experience management solutions that address the increasing complexity of customer engagement in today's multi-channel, digital, real time world,” said Thunderhead CEO Glen Manchester. “That background, coupled with his executive management experience, makes him a valuable addition to what is an increasingly strong Thunderhead management team.”

Responsibilities while being CTO and SVP of Engineering at Chordiant included Strategy & Innovation, Architecture, Product Management and Global Engineering. Ray spearheaded the effort to re-invent Chordiant technology strategy using an innovative approach based on intelligent multi-channel customer conversations which maximized the value of Chordiant's decisioning and analytics solutions.

Prior to his CTO role at Chordiant, Gerber was the President and Owner of FirstSecond Technologies, a company that focused on technology solutions for customer experience improvement. He has 27 years of technology-related experience both in the development of software solutions and as a high level user of vendor solutions in consumer organizations.

“The time is right for Thunderhead,” commented Gerber. “The NOW platform has proven itself as a truly innovative market-leading solution for customer communications. The demand for this technology combined with new solutions currently under development makes the company an attractive proposition - for me, and for customer-focused enterprises around the world.”

Gerber joins Thunderhead with immediate effect. His appointment follows the recent announcement of John McGee, the former VP Field Operations Americas, Adobe Systems, joining the company as President and COO. Gerber, McGee and the rest of the Thunderhead management team are focused on extending the company's reach into additional market sectors and geographies.