Relativity, a fast-growing Chicago tech company that makes legal software, is naming high-profile techie and LinkedIn veteran Mike Gamson its next CEO.
Gamson, who will replace Andrew Sieja, begins his new role July 1. Sieja, Relativity’s founder, will transition to executive chairman.
“Relativity is and will always be my life’s work, and I’m excited to bring on a new leader who shares in our vision and commitment to this company,” Sieja said on a conference call with reporters. “Mike knows our company and customers well. He believes in our business and strength of our channel.”
Gamson, who joined Relativity’s advisory board back in 2017, spent nearly 12 years at LinkedIn, where he was most recently its senior vice president of global solutions. Throughout his time at LinkedIn, Gamson helped lead more than 5,000 employees across 30 offices worldwide while working from the company's Chicago office. Gamson, a Highland Park native, left LinkedIn in February.
Gamson is well known in Chicago tech circles and has invested in several local startups, including Cameo and ThinkCERA.
In his first 100 days at Relativity, Gamson said he will spend his time meeting Relativity’s stakeholders, and learning more about the tech company’s software and business model to identify what areas need improvement.
“I’m just thrilled to be part of a growing leadership team and I’m so grateful to Andrew for inviting me to be part of it,” Gamson said.
The plan for Gamson to take over as Relativity’s CEO was first discussed more than two years ago. At the time, Gamson wasn’t ready to join Relativity as its chief executive so he decided to join the company’s advisory board instead.
“We agreed that we’d be able to get to know each other very well in that context,” Gamson said. “I would learn about the business. We would learn about each other. And we would be able to sharpen our focus on [when] taking that ultimate step together would make sense.”
As executive chairman, Sieja will serve as an advisor to Gamson and the management team, work on tactical and operational initiatives, and spend more time with customers. He will also have more time to focus on the continued development of the company’s flagship SaaS product, which helps law firms and other kinds of companies manage large volumes of data and identify key issues during litigation and investigations.
“What I’m the most excited about is I’ll have the opportunity to work more deeply with our product and technical teams in the areas where my experience and expertise is needed,” Sieja said.
Relativity, formerly known as kCura, originally launched as a tech and software consultancy, but eventually pivoted to focusing solely on its e-discovery software for lawyers, which was named Relativity. To make it clear that it was now primarily a SaaS company, it changed its named from kCura to Relativity in 2017.
The tech company says it has more than 180,000 users, including the U.S. Department of Justice, more than 70 of the Fortune 100 and 198 of the top 200 law firms. Other notable clients include Tesla, NBCUniversal and EA.
In 2015, Relativity raised $125 million from Iconiq Capital, the only outside investment the firm has taken.
Relativity says it is nearing 1,000 employees across its offices in Chicago, London, Hong Kong, Australia and Poland. In February, the tech company announced it was planning to hire 300 people this year, most of which will be placed at its local Loop headquarters.
