Boost.ai names Jerry Haywood as Chief Executive Officer

By Gloria Methri

Boost.ai, the Scandinavian software company specialising in conversational AI, has named Jerry Haywood as its Chief Executive Officer effective December 1, 2022. Haywood brings 20 years of enterprise technology experience and has held various senior leadership positions at IBM, Cisco, and Salesforce.

He joins Boost.ai from LivePerson, a global technology company that develops conversational commerce and AI software. For the last three years, Haywood held the role of SVP EMEA at LivePerson, leading the strategic repositioning of the company in Europe. At Boost.ai, he will succeed founder and current CEO Lars Ropeid Selsås, who desires to devote more time to product development and innovation.

Selsås was actively involved in the selection process, alongside Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer Henry Vaage Iversen, and Chief Operating Officer Camilla Gjetvik.

Speaking of the leadership change he said, “Jerry is a strong and experienced visionary leader who can build on the solid foundation created over the last six years, and we are thrilled to have him join us. While it is his outstanding track record that made him a natural candidate for this key leadership role, it was his personality and people-oriented leadership style that impressed us most. He is approachable, humble, and full of energy. A natural leader who can create results while making it a fun ride.”

Meanwhile, Haywood said, “I am excited and honoured to join the Boost.ai team, at a time when the owners and leadership want to accelerate growth while positioning the company as a global category leader in the conversational AI space. Boost.ai is already very familiar to me. I have followed their amazing journey closely and I am convinced that the scale-up has what it needs to go all the way. I want to thank the founders, the Board of Directors, and Nordic Capital for their trust. I can’t wait to meet the team across the globe and get started.”