SolarWinds has announced a planned CEO succession and appointed Samuel Monti as Chief Financial Officer as the observability and IT management software company prepares for its next phase of growth around agentic AI.
President and CEO Sudhakar Ramakrishna will conclude his tenure on September 30, 2026, following a board-led succession process underway for several months.
Ramakrishna will remain an advisor to SolarWinds and continue as a shareholder.
The company expects to announce its next permanent CEO in the coming weeks.
Cullen Childress will serve as interim CEO during the transition.
Childress has spent more than five years at SolarWinds and has led the company’s product portfolio, including development of the broader SolarWinds platform and SW1, its new agentic AI platform announced in April.
He will be supported by Ramakrishna and SolarWinds’ existing senior leadership team during the transition.
SolarWinds is also making a significant change to its finance leadership.
Monti will succeed Tim Karaca as CFO after Karaca informed the board earlier this year that he wanted to pursue opportunities outside the company.
Karaca will remain an advisor through the end of 2026.
Monti brings more than three decades of finance, accounting and operating experience across public and privately held software companies.
He most recently served as CFO of WP Engine.
Before that, Monti was Executive Vice President and CFO of Epicor Software.
At Epicor, SolarWinds said Monti helped develop and execute a SaaS financial strategy that produced double-digit recurring revenue growth and contributed to a threefold increase in enterprise valuation.
His broader career also includes experience serving as CEO and COO, giving him operating experience beyond traditional finance functions.
At SolarWinds, Monti will support the company’s capital strategy and financial operating model as it expands its AI-focused product roadmap.
The leadership changes come as SolarWinds advances its agentic AI strategy, with additional capabilities expected later in 2026.
The company’s SW1 Agentic platform represents a major component of that effort as SolarWinds looks to incorporate autonomous AI capabilities into its observability and IT management products.
SolarWinds provides observability, IT service management, application performance and database management software for organizations operating distributed and hybrid technology environments.
KEY QUOTES:
“This transition has been planned deliberately, and the leadership team, strategy, and roadmap are stronger than at any point in my nearly six years here. Sam is the right partner for this next chapter, he has scaled and transformed complex software businesses, and he brings the energy and operating rigor SolarWinds needs as we take agentic AI to market. SolarWinds is an integral part of who I am, and I intend to stay close to it.”
Sudhakar Ramakrishna, President And CEO Of SolarWinds
“I joined SolarWinds because the combination of a trusted brand, a deeply loyal customer base, a world class partner community, and a genuine AI-driven product opportunity is rare. My focus is on giving this team the operating clarity and capital to move quickly, on our customers, our partner community, our product, and on the growth ahead.”
Samuel Monti, Chief Financial Officer Of SolarWinds
