Five9 Names Amit Mathradas CEO to Drive AI-First, Unified CX
Published: December 17, 2025
Five9 has appointed Amit Mathradas as CEO, effective February 2, 2026. Mike Burkland will step back from day-to-day leadership for health reasons and continue as Executive Chairman.
This move centers Five9's next phase on AI-led CX, platform consolidation, and profitable growth. It also comes after a year of restructuring and tougher investor scrutiny.
Why this matters
Five9 has scaled from a $10M startup to a CCaaS leader with more than $1B in annual revenue, competing with AWS, Genesys, and NICE. The next leg of growth in CX will be driven by native AI, orchestration across channels, and measurable efficiency gains.
Mathradas' background suggests a push to productize AI inside the core platform, reduce integration friction, and land larger enterprise deals with clear ROI.
The leadership shift
Burkland emphasized continuity and focus: he'll support the company from the board while prioritizing his health. He also underscored why Mathradas fits the brief: product innovation at scale, AI expertise, and operational discipline.
On the Q2 call, Burkland said the successor needed a record of AI-led innovation, experience running large operations, and a growth mindset to push revenue beyond $2B over time.
Mathradas: track record built for this moment
- CEO, Nintex: grew an AI-driven business orchestration platform serving 7,000+ organizations across 90 countries.
- President and COO, Avalara: helped drive 250%+ growth ahead of its $8.4B sale to Vista Equity Partners.
Expect an emphasis on AI embedded into workflows, not bolted on. That's where enterprise buyers now measure value-lower handle times, higher resolution rates, and better forecasting, all without adding headcount.
Restructuring, investors, and strategic pressure
Over the past year, Five9 reset operations, including executive departures and workforce reductions-the first layoffs in its history. Activist investors, including Anson Funds and Legion Partners, have pressed leadership to explore strategic alternatives, including a potential sale.
Translation for operators and partners: expect a tighter portfolio, sharper pricing discipline, and a stronger focus on efficiency and cash generation.
What to watch in 2026
- Product: AI natively embedded across channels, knowledge, agent assist, and automation-moving from feature bets to platform outcomes.
- Go-to-market: larger enterprise motions, bundled value, and reference architectures that shorten time-to-value.
- Profit: tighter OpEx, clearer unit economics, and deal quality over volume.
- Investor day: the company plans to detail its long-term strategy and financial roadmap in 2026.
Implications for enterprise buyers
- Consolidation leverage: unified CX can replace point tools-push for integration roadmaps and bundled pricing.
- AI ROI proof: require pre/post baselines on AHT, FCR, deflection, and CSAT. Tie renewals to outcomes, not promises.
- Data and governance: verify how models train, what data is used, and options for isolation or on-tenant inference.
- Change management: prioritize agent training, knowledge upkeep, and playbooks that keep AI outputs accurate.
Implications for partners
- Specialize where Five9 will lean in: orchestration, agent assist, analytics, and workflow automation.
- Build offers around measurable outcomes: cost-to-serve, conversion, containment, and QA automation.
Execution risks
- Product migration: moving customers to a unified, AI-first stack without disruption.
- Sales cycles: larger deals with tighter scrutiny and extended security reviews.
- Talent: keeping top product and GTM leaders through the transition.
Statements from leadership
Burkland: "His deep expertise in product innovation, AI, and operational excellence at scale makes him ideally suited to lead the Company into its next chapter... We believe Amit will help lead Five9 to even greater success by furthering our efforts to accelerate growth and deliver meaningful value for our customers, partners, employees, and shareholders."
Mathradas: "Five9 has tremendous opportunities ahead... I look forward to working with the Board, the rest of the management team, and our employees to execute our strategy to drive growth, increase profitability, and deliver long-term shareholder value."
Key dates
- CEO transition effective: February 2, 2026
- Investor Day: planned for 2026
Bottom line for executives
This is a clear pivot to AI-led CX outcomes with platform economics front and center. If you're evaluating Five9, press for a single, integrated roadmap; outcome-based pricing; and proof that AI features improve core metrics without adding operational drag.
Learn more about Five9: five9.com
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