Today KNIME announced that Michael Berthold, Founder and CEO, is stepping down from the role. Trevor Kaufman, a seasoned CEO with a proven track record in scaling high-growth SaaS businesses, has been appointed to lead the company into its next phase.
“It’s been an incredible journey to lead KNIME from the idea of democratizing data science to a company with a product our customers love, hundreds of thousands of users, and a remarkable team,” said Michael Berthold, former CEO at KNIME. “We’ve built a company with a thriving community, amazing customers, and a market-leading product that keeps getting better. I believe Trevor is uniquely suited to keep scaling the business to even greater achievements.”
Michael Berthold led KNIME from inception, shaping not just the technology and the business, but also a loyal community of users, customers, and partners, and a distinctive people-first culture of excellence and dedication. While stepping away from day-to-day operations, he will remain a shareholder and a trusted advisor during the transition and beyond.
Trevor most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Piano, a New York-based SaaS business focused on site analytics and optimization for media and publishing companies. As CEO of Piano, Trevor grew the business from inception to 570 staff operating in fourteen countries, with clients as diverse as The Wall Street Journal in New York, the BBC in London, Rabobank in the Netherlands, and ANA in Japan.
Trevor came to Piano in 2012 after serving as CEO of Possible Worldwide, a 1,300-person global digital network he created within WPP, with clients including P&G, Google, Target, Starwood, and Bank of America. Possible resulted from the merger of several WPP agencies, including Schematic, a digital agency that Trevor founded in 1999 and sold to WPP in 2007.
“I’m thrilled to join KNIME at such an exciting inflection point,” said Trevor Kaufman, KNIME’s new CEO. “The foundation that Michael has built — the product, the momentum, the culture — is exceptional. My goal is to preserve and leverage that culture while helping the team scale to meet the growing opportunity in front of us.”
Michael Berthold added, “I’m excited to see where KNIME goes from here. Over the past years we have completely revamped our software and built a strong basis for the future of data work in the era of agentic AI. The team, the product in this market have amazing potential. I’ll be cheering from the sidelines.”
Explore AITechPark for the latest Artificial Intelligence News advancements in AI, IOT, Cybersecurity, AITech News, and insightful updates from industry experts!