Digital River, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRIV), announced today that its board of directors has appointed David C. Dobson chief executive officer. Dobson, 50, who will also join Digital River’s board of directors, was previously executive vice president at CA Technologies, a global IT management software and solutions company.
“I am honored and excited to join Digital River. With a history of innovation and a world-class talent base, the company has earned industry recognition as a global e-commerce expert and built online businesses for some of the largest and most respected brands on the Internet”
Dobson succeeds Digital River’s Chairman Thomas Madison, who has served as interim chief executive officer while the company conducted a search for a permanent replacement. Madison will continue to serve as the non-executive chairman of Digital River’s board of directors.
David C. Dobson Biography
Dobson joins Digital River from CA Technologies where he was executive vice president and group executive for the company’s Global Lines of Business. Dobson was responsible for leading CA’s broad portfolio of products and solutions for mainframe, distributed and cloud computing environments. His team played a key role in repositioning CA as a market leader in cloud enablement solutions, as well as driving increased revenue, market share and profitability during his tenure.
Prior to joining CA Technologies in 2010, Dobson served as president of Pitney Bowes Management Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pitney Bowes, Inc. Also during his tenure at Pitney Bowes, Dobson served as executive vice president and chief strategy and innovation officer, where he was responsible for leading the development of the company’s long-term strategy and increasing the company’s focus and capacity on innovation as a source of growth.
Before coming to Pitney Bowes in 2008, Dobson was chief executive officer of Corel Corporation, a global provider of leading software titles, including CorelDRAW®, WordPerfect® and WinZip®. During his three years at Corel, the company grew revenue 20 percent year-over-year and increased profits by more than 30 percent each year. In 2006, he was instrumental in leading the company’s successful initial public offering.
Before joining Corel in 2005, Dobson spent 19 years at IBM where he held a number of senior management positions, including corporate vice president, Emerging Business Opportunities, and president and general manager, IBM Printing Systems Division.
He currently serves on the board of International Decision Systems, a privately held, Minneapolis-based software company. Dobson graduated from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, with a degree in electrical engineering and management.