Firstup has appointed Ian Winkler as Chief Financial Officer, adding an executive with experience in financial planning, SaaS, and artificial intelligence as the workforce communications company enters its next growth phase.
Winkler will lead Firstup’s finance, legal, and IT teams while serving as a member of the company’s executive leadership team. In the role, he will help shape corporate strategy, capital allocation, and organizational priorities while also expanding the use of AI across finance and back-office operations.
The company said Winkler will focus on improving data-driven decision-making and supporting profitable growth as Firstup continues to expand its intelligent communications and employee engagement platform.
Winkler joins Firstup from Medable, an AI-driven life sciences technology company, where he served as Senior Vice President of Finance. His responsibilities there included enterprise value creation, strategic financial planning and analysis, and capital allocation.
Before Medable, Winkler spent more than eight years at Google, including five years as Head of Financial Planning and Analysis for Google One. He was the business unit’s first finance hire and built the finance organization supporting Google One as it expanded into a multibillion-dollar business and became the highest-grossing application on the Google Play Store.
Earlier at Google, Winkler led financial planning for the company’s legal and trust and safety organizations.
His appointment comes after what Firstup described as a strong first half of 2026. The company said it delivered 60% more product capability to customers compared with the prior year. Firstup’s platform now reaches millions of employees across more than 180 countries.
Firstup provides technology designed to help enterprises coordinate and personalize communications across channels including email, mobile applications, intranets, and digital signage. The platform is particularly focused on organizations with large frontline workforces and uses data and AI to help companies deliver information to employees based on individual roles and needs.
The company plans to continue building AI capabilities into its platform as organizations look for more automated and personalized ways to communicate with distributed workforces.
KEY QUOTES:
“Ian joins Firstup at an important point in our journey. We are excited about the strategic perspective, financial rigor, and strong business partnership he will bring as we pursue our next stage of growth and continue building a company of consequence.”
Bill Schuh, CEO Of Firstup
“Firstup has a strong leadership team, a product customers clearly value, and a big opportunity at the intersection of employee experience, enterprise communications, and AI. I’m excited to join Firstup at this transformative moment and look forward to contributing to the significant opportunity ahead.”
Ian Winkler, Chief Financial Officer Of Firstup
