Sean Desmond

nCino has a new CEO, the company announced Monday morning.

Sean Desmond has been appointed president, CEO and a member of the cloud-based banking software firm's board of directors, effective immediately. Desmond succeeds Pierre Naudé (pictured below at right), who, according to a news release, "will continue to be actively involved in the company as executive chairman of the board to ensure a smooth transition."

Desmond was previously nCino's chief product officer, a role in which he oversaw about two-thirds of the company's employees. He joined Wilmington-based nCino (Nasdaq: NCNO) in 2013 as chief customer success officer, "ensuring the successful delivery and implementation of the nCino Platform to financial institutions around the world," according to nCino's website. "He has several decades of experience within global technology and financial services organizations and has successfully led delivery and field services at multiple enterprise-scale technology companies."

Desmond also has a bachelor's degree in business administration from James Madison University.

Pamela Kilday, nCino's lead independent director, stated in the release, “After a thoughtful board-led succession planning process and robust search that thoroughly assessed a large and diverse pool of external and internal candidates, we are confident Sean is the right leader to guide nCino forward. His extensive knowledge of all key facets of our business, paired with his experience scaling large, multi-national organizations, and forward-thinking approach to product innovation through data and AI, will help nCino capture new market opportunities and drive meaningful growth.”

Desmond stated in the release, “My focus will be on mobilizing the company to meet the moment – which is to deliver the power of the only platform that stands on the foundation of the richest dataset in fintech, with embedded AI capabilities, to stay true to our mission of transforming financial services through innovation, reputation and speed.” 

Succeeding Desmond as chief product officer is Chris Gufford, who has been the executive director and general manager of nCino Commercial Banking since 2021.

A spinoff of Live Oak Bank, nCino was founded in 2011. The company continues to grow, most recently announcing in November that it is acquiring FullCircl, a London-based software as a service (SaaS) platform, for $135 million. In its most recent earnings report, nCino's Q3 total revenue and subscription revenue were up 14% compared to the same quarter last year.