BairesDev has named Darren Shimkus Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately, as co-founder Nacho De Marco transitions to Chairman of the Board and the software development company accelerates its shift toward an AI-first services model.
De Marco will remain actively involved as a strategic advisor to Shimkus while dedicating more time to new ventures adjacent to BairesDev.
The leadership transition follows what the company described as one of the strongest half-years in its history, with BairesDev on track to outperform its 2026 forecasts.
BairesDev was founded 17 years ago without outside capital and has remained profitable every year since its launch.
The company remains privately held by its founding shareholders, and the CEO transition does not involve any changes to its ownership structure.
Shimkus first joined BairesDev as an advisor in December 2024 before moving into a full-time role in June 2025.
He subsequently became President and helped reshape the company’s commercial organization while accelerating development of purpose-built artificial intelligence offerings.
BairesDev’s board and De Marco selected Shimkus to lead the company through the next phase of its AI transformation.
The company is positioning AI not simply as a new technology offering, but as a broader shift affecting how BairesDev sells services, develops software and helps customers apply technology to business processes.
Shimkus is particularly focused on helping organizations move beyond experimentation and identify specific business workflows where AI can generate measurable value.
He said a significant portion of AI’s potential comes from applying technology to business processes that companies understand deeply rather than from the underlying technology alone.
Before joining BairesDev, Shimkus co-founded Modal, an AI upskilling platform that BairesDev acquired in 2025.
Earlier in his career, he held senior roles at several Silicon Valley technology companies.
Shimkus previously served as President of Udemy for Business, where he helped transform the business from a consumer-oriented platform into an enterprise SaaS operation that contributed to Udemy’s eventual IPO.
As Chairman, De Marco plans to focus on major strategic questions while identifying additional growth opportunities around BairesDev’s core business.
BairesDev provides nearshore software development services to large enterprises including Google, Pinterest, Adobe, Rolls-Royce, Johnson & Johnson and Salesforce.
The company has more than 4,000 people across Latin America and has delivered software projects across more than 130 industries.
The leadership transition gives Shimkus responsibility for scaling that platform as BairesDev increases its emphasis on AI-enabled development and enterprise services.
KEY QUOTES:
“We just had one of our best half-years in the company’s history, and that’s exactly why we’re making this change now. In my new role as Chairman, I will advise Darren on our biggest strategic questions and put my energy into finding BairesDev’s next engines of growth. I’ve watched Darren rebuild how our commercial teams work together and roll out our first purpose-built AI offerings since the day he joined. I believe he’ll run this company through the next phase better than I could, and that’s not a hard thing to say. That’s the entire point.”
Nacho De Marco, Co-Founder And Chairman Of BairesDev
“Nacho built something rare: an incredibly successful company driven by the long-term thinking and customer obsession that only a bootstrapped company could deliver without compromise. My job now is to preserve that discipline while scaling BairesDev for what comes next. We’ve been getting this company fluent in AI; how we sell it, how we build with it, and how our clients actually capture value from it. That work will likely never be finished.”
“Seventy percent of AI’s value comes from the application of technology to a business process you really understand, not from the technology itself. That’s the opportunity most companies are missing, and it’s where I want to focus BairesDev: accelerating how we close that gap for our clients. That’s my priority from day one.”
Darren Shimkus, CEO Of BairesDev
