C3 AI (NYSE: AI) is hitting the reset button on its go-to-market engine. The enterprise AI software company announced it has completed a global sales and services reorganization in Q1, bringing in seasoned leaders from Oracle, SAP, IBM, and Dassault Systèmes in a bid to reverse sluggish sales.
The move comes after what CEO Thomas Siebel bluntly called an “unacceptable” Q1 sales performance, attributing it partly to disruption from the reorg and partly to his own recent health challenges, which limited his direct involvement in deal-making.
A New Bench of Sales Heavyweights
The refreshed leadership lineup includes:
- Rob Schilling as EVP & Chief Commercial Officer (ex-Oracle SVP, ERP; SAP; Nokia Software; CEO of SpaceTime). Schilling will lead all sales, alliances, and customer-facing teams globally.
- John Kitchingman as GM, EMEA (ex-Dassault Systèmes SVP, Global Customer Engagement; IBM Global Services sales leader).
- Jeff Cosseboom as Group VP, North America East Sales (ex-Palladin Technologies CRO; Salesforce-Vlocity; SAP; Oracle).
- Lars Farnstrom as Group VP, Nordics (former CEO, Crate.io; Raw Lab; senior roles at C3 AI and Siebel Systems).
- Alex Amato, a nine-year C3 AI veteran, promoted to Group VP of Customer Services, overseeing professional services and customer operations.
Siebel said the reorganization is designed to create a “consistent and universal focus on rapid and significant value realization” for every engagement.
From Disruption to Acceleration?
C3 AI, a long-time evangelist for enterprise AI platforms, has been navigating a challenging market where sales cycles remain long, and competition from hyperscalers and AI-native startups is intensifying. Siebel noted that, despite Q1’s slump, the company now has the leadership, product quality, and “extraordinarily large market opportunity” needed to accelerate into Q2.
He also confirmed that C3 AI’s search for a successor CEO is moving quickly, with “excellent candidates” already in the pipeline.
“I am feeling strong and fully engaged,” Siebel added, noting that his health has “dramatically” improved, aside from ongoing vision impairment.
The Stakes for C3 AI
The company’s restructuring comes at a critical time. Enterprise AI adoption is moving beyond pilots into production, but customer budgets are tightening and ROI scrutiny is higher than ever. Rivals like Palantir, DataRobot, and hyperscaler AI services from Microsoft, Google, and AWS are competing aggressively for the same large-scale deployments.
C3 AI’s bet is that a world-class sales bench—backed by its AI application suite and growing customer satisfaction—can help it convert more opportunities faster, without losing ground to newer or better-resourced players.
If Q2 brings a rebound, the company’s overhaul will look like a timely course correction. If not, it could signal that the challenge is deeper than sales execution.
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