Former HP COO Veghte Named CEO Of SurveyMonkey

Former Hewlett-Packard COO Bill Veghte is taking the CEO job at SurveyMonkey, which lost CEO Dave Goldberg in a tragic accident earlier this year.

Veghte, a longtime friend of Goldberg, will take the helm of the online survey and polling company effective Aug. 3, SurveyMonkey said Tuesday.

[Related: HP Partners: Sorry To Say Goodbye To Bill Veghte]

Veghte, a five-year HP veteran once considered a potential heir apparent to HP CEO Meg Whitman, was also appointed to the SurveyMonkey board.

Goldberg, a highly regarded technology entrepreneur and husband of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, died May 1 in Punta Mita, Mexico, after a fall from a treadmill.

The appointment of Veghte comes just one day after Sandberg, the author of the book "Lean In," was appointed to the SurveyMonkey board of directors, along with former Facebook CFO David Ebersman, who is now co-founder and CEO of Lyra Health.

Veghte's appointment also comes just one week after HP said Veghte was leaving for a new opportunity as the company prepares to split in two.

Kelly Ireland, founder and CEO of Orange, Calif.-based CB Technologies, one of HP's top enterprise partners, said SurveyMonkey could not have picked a better CEO to follow in the footsteps of Goldberg.

"Bill has a very uplifting spirit that will be critical to healing SurveyMonkey," she said. "Bill is certainly not going to replace Dave Goldberg. But I think it will bring a new beginning to the company."

Veghte always had a "smile on his face no matter what the situation was at HP," said Ireland. "He is a good listener and always reached out to understand and help the channel. From my interactions with Bill, he was very good at looking at all sides of a situation."

In a prepared statement, Veghte called SurveyMonkey a "special company with a wonderful opportunity in front of it. I am excited to build upon the strong foundation that Dave and the leadership team have in place. It is a great group of people with a platform today that helps millions of customers make better decisions faster and more economically. There is huge potential to grow the business and I am looking forward to helping deliver on the opportunity.’

Sandberg, also a friend of Veghte, applauded the appointment of Veghte, who spent 20 years at Microsoft before becoming the general manager of HP's software business in May 2010.

"The common thread in Bill’s work is his skill in working with teams to increase the global reach of great businesses," said Sandberg. "He joins an incredibly strong and effective team at SurveyMonkey and together they will help the world use data to make better decisions.’

PUBLISHED JULY 7, 2015