BlackLine Hires Internet Veteran to Provide Technology Direction for New Solution Rollout

A pioneer in Balance Sheet Account Reconciliation solutions, BlackLine Systems recently announced an addition to its management team. The company reportedly hired IT industry veteran Justin Newton as chief technology officer (CTO).

In his new role, Newton will be responsible for running four departments at Blackline. These include Development, Product Management, Information Technology (IT) and Quality Assurance (QA).

As CTO of the company, Newton is expected to provide the technology direction for the roll out of BlackLine’s flagship account reconciliation and financial close software solution, the company clarified in a press release.

BlackLine is known for its line of quick-to-implement, scalable and easy-to-use applications that automate the entire financial close process. BlackLine software applications complement existing Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.

The company boasts of an impressive client portfolio comprising of a slew of Fortune 100 to beyond the Fortune 1,000 companies.

“BlackLine's technology needs, both internal and external, have grown exponentially along with our client base. It is extremely important that we manage our expansion carefully to ensure our clients have the best possible experience and get the most out of our software. Justin has terrific skills from his experience at several dynamic, growing companies where he was instrumental in scaling their technology from the start-up phase all the way through their successful initial public offerings and beyond,” Therese Tucker, CEO of BlackLine Systems noted in a statement.

Prior to joining Blackline, Newton was the executive vice president of IT operations, at global online media company Demand Media. Prior to that, he served as senior vice president, Voice and Broadband, at United Online (News - Alert) (holding company for Internet communications services leaders NetZero and Juno).

Newton has also participated in an advisory capacity for several Internet startups and associations including NetScaler, ISPC and ARIN (News - Alert).

According to a media release, BlackLine Systems is going to showcase its software at the upcoming Sapphire Now and SAP (News - Alert) TechEd 2011 conferences, being held from Nov. 8-10, in Madrid, Spain.


Madhubanti Rudra is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell