Blackbaud Appoints Chief Technology Officer

CHARLESTON, S.C., Oct. 21, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blackbaud, Inc. BLKB, the leading provider of software and services for the global philanthropic community, today announced the appointment of Mary Beth Westmoreland to the role of Chief Technology Officer.

As Chief Technology Officer, Westmoreland's scope expands from Senior Vice President of Product Development for mass market solutions to now include leadership of Blackbaud's worldwide technology strategy and planning across the company's entire solution portfolio. This includes the development of strategic infrastructure and software to support Blackbaud's innovative new cloud capabilities.

Westmoreland has worked at Blackbaud since 2008. Many innovations have come to market under her leadership, including the delivery of the company's newest and highly-lauded cloud suite, the NXT Solution Line, its cloud architecture, and other breakthrough initiatives that will be announced at bbcon next week. Westmoreland has also been leading Blackbaud's architecture governance counsel for the last year.

Westmoreland will remain a member of Blackbaud's Executive Leadership Team, and will continue to report to Kevin McDearis, Executive Vice President of Research, Delivery and Operations. "Mary Beth has a proven track record of collaboration across the company to build innovative, value-added software solutions for the global philanthropic community," said McDearis. "She wants what's right for clients and always pushes us to be better. The result has been a set of breakthrough innovations over the last 12 months—some of the biggest our company has ever seen. I'm confident that her promotion to an expanded leadership role as Chief Technology Officer will only increase our pace of innovation and execution, which is a huge win for both our clients and our partner network."

Prior to Blackbaud, Westmoreland served as Vice President of Research and Development for Ipswitch, Inc. and Manager of Enterprise and Technical Systems at Westinghouse Savannah River Company. She serves as an officer on the board of the South Carolina Make-a-Wish Foundation.  She is also actively involved in local STEM programs, Women in Technology initiatives and numerous Computer Science Advisory Boards. 

"I'm honored to work with such an incredibly talented team of engineers to drive a new era of innovation, user experience, architecture and cloud strategy at Blackbaud," said Mary Beth Westmoreland, Chief Technology Officer at Blackbaud. "It's an exciting time for the entire IT industry, and we're innovating at Blackbaud to develop new agile, scalable, open and integrated cloud solutions in ways that were unthinkable years ago.  As an engineer, there is nothing better than leveraging the best technology offers to develop amazing solutions for clients who are changing the world."

Learn more about Westmoreland here.

About Blackbaud

Serving the worldwide philanthropic community for more than 30 years, Blackbaud BLKB combines innovative software and services, and expertise to help organizations achieve their missions. Blackbaud works in over 60 countries to power the passions of more than 30,000 customers, including nonprofits, K12 private and higher education institutions, healthcare organizations, foundations and other charitable giving entities, and corporations. The company offers a full spectrum of cloud and on-premise solutions, as well as  a resource network that empowers and connects organizations of all sizes, including nonprofit fundraising and relationship management, eMarketing, advocacy, accounting, payment and analytics, as well as grant management, corporate social responsibility, education. Using Blackbaud technology, these organizations raise, invest, manage and award more than $100 billion each year. Recognized as a top company, Blackbaud is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina and has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.blackbaud.com.

Forward-looking Statements

Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions contained in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Although Blackbaud attempts to be accurate in making these forward-looking statements, it is possible that future circumstances might differ from the assumptions on which such statements are based. In addition, other important factors that could cause results to differ materially include the following: general economic risks; uncertainty regarding increased business and renewals from existing customers; continued success in sales growth; management of integration of acquired companies and other risks associated with acquisitions; risks associated with successful implementation of multiple integrated software products; the ability to attract and retain key personnel; risks related to our dividend policy and share repurchase program, including potential limitations on our ability to grow and the possibility that we might discontinue payment of dividends; risks relating to restrictions imposed by the credit facility; risks associated with management of growth; lengthy sales and implementation cycles, particularly in larger organization; technological changes that make our products and services less competitive; and the other risk factors set forth from time to time in the SEC filings for Blackbaud, copies of which are available free of charge at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or upon request from Blackbaud's investor relations department. All Blackbaud product names appearing herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Blackbaud, Inc.