Lew Cirne

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lew Cirne
Born (1970-02-21) February 21, 1970 (age 51)
Canada
NationalityAmerican
Alma materDartmouth College
OccupationComputer Scientist, CEO
EmployerNew Relic
Known forApplication Performance Management
Websitelewsblog.newrelic.com

Lew Cirne is a Canadian-American Silicon Valley-based technologist and entrepreneur who promotes software analytics technology. He was the founder and CEO of Wily Technology, which was acquired by CA, Inc. in March 2006.[1] Cirne founded the company New Relic in 2008.[2][3]

Career[]

Lew Cirne was raised in Port Hope, Ontario. His parents, Geoff and Jean Cirne, were immigrants to Canada from Manchester, England. Cirne attended Trinity College School and in 1993 received an A.B. from Dartmouth College with a major in Computer Science.[4] After college, Cirne held senior technical positions at Apple[5] and Hummingbird Communications.

In 1998, Cirne founded Wily Technology. He was responsible for developing Wily Technology's vision of enterprise class application performance management and is credited with bringing it to the Java platform. Cirne was one of the chief technologists and driving force in enterprise application performance and availability. He served as Wily Technology's President and Chief Executive Officer until October 2001.[6]

In 2008, Cirne began focusing on the software as a service model while an entrepreneur in residence for Benchmark Capital and founded New Relic. New Relic is a SaaS provider of Web application performance management. New Relic's technology monitors Web and mobile applications in real-time that run in cloud, on-premises, or hybrid environments.[7]

On May 13, 2021, New Relic announced that Cirne will step down as CEO effective July 1, 2021, and will become Executive Chairman of the company's Board of Directors at that time. Former Microsoft and Adobe vice president Bill Staples will succeed Cirne as New Relic's CEO.[8]

"New Relic" is an anagram of Lew Cirne's name.[2]

Contributions[]

Cirne is a pioneer in the development of application performance management. He holds 19 patents in this area of expertise.[9] Cirne has also made major contributions to several other software systems.

In 2006, Cirne and Wily chairman David Strohm announced a $1 million gift to Dartmouth College. The gift supported the creation of an endowed scholarship called the Wily Scholars Fund, and to establish a fund for undergraduate internships in early-stage technology companies, called the Wily Initiative Fund.[10]

In 2016, Cirne funded two full scholarships, and the construction of the Cirne Learning Commons, at Trinity College School.[11][12]

Cirne is sometimes referred to as the 'Coding CEO.'[13] He dedicates every Thursday and Friday to coding.[4] Cirne has been known to take week-long coding retreats at his Lake Tahoe cabin, often inviting New Relic developers.[14]

Accolades[]

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2013 Finalist in Northern California.[15]

Controversy[]

Racial justice[]

After internal disagreements about how to handle systemic racism, Lew Cirne sent a memo on 19 June 2020 to employees at New Relic that stated Black Lives Matter discussions were "off-the-table".[16]

Donations[]

In 2020, the CEO and his wife made donations that New Relic employees complain are against the company's message of inclusion and diversity. Specific donations included:

  • $250,000 to Faith Academy of Marble Falls, a private Christian school near Austin, Texas that excludes gay students and opposes gay rights
  • $50,000 to organizations run by an evangelist named Sid Roth that are denounced by the Anti-Defamation League

References[]

  1. ^ "Lewis Cirne". Executive Profile. Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  2. ^ a b Harris, Derrick (15 February 2011). "Startup Strategies: How Lew Cirne Made New Relic a SaaS Success". GigaOM. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  3. ^ Taulli, Tom (5 February 2013). "New Relic Nabs $80M To Upend the Software Biz". Forbes. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  4. ^ a b Wasserman, Noam. "Wily Technology: Interview With Lew Cirne and Henry McCance, Video". Video case study. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  5. ^ "How a Coder Launched A $375 Mil Company from His Living Room - with Lew Cirne".
  6. ^ Clarke, Gavin (18 October 2010). "Wily founder returns with cloud management". The Register. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  7. ^ Shinal, John (3 June 2013). "New Relic headed for an IPO". Market Watch. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  8. ^ "New Relic to Promote Cloud Industry Veteran Bill Staples to CEO". 13 May 2021.
  9. ^ "Lewis K Cirne - Inventor". Patent listings website. IPEXL. Archived from the original on 9 February 2015. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  10. ^ Haas, Genevieve (20 October 2006). "Gift goes to support undergraduate entrepreneurship". Dartmouth News. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  11. ^ "Northumberland County News - Latest Daily Breaking News Stories".
  12. ^ "Cirne Hall is officially dedicated and blessed | Trinity College School".
  13. ^ "The rise of the app economy". Web video. GigaOM. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  14. ^ Williams, Alex (27 May 2013). "What Would Square's Jack Dorsey Do?". TechCrunch. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  15. ^ "New Relic Lewis Cirne Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® 2013 Finalist in Northern California". Market Wired. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  16. ^ Rogoway, Mike (3 Jul 2020). "New Relic CEO scolds employees in internal memo: 'We are a company with an urgent need to get back on track'". The Oregonian. Retrieved 11 Oct 2020.

External links[]

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