Zuora Legal Chief to Retire, Take Consulting Role at Company

Zuora Inc., a cloud-based software developer, disclosed Thursday the pending retirement of general counsel Jennifer Pileggi.

Pileggi, who joined the Redwood City, Calif.-based company as its top lawyer in 2015, will step down Feb. 11 and transition into an advisory role through May 1, according to a Zuora securities filing. She will continue to draw her annual base salary of $325,000 and receive company benefits during that time.

Pileggi as of May 2 will then become a consultant to Zuora through July 31 and be compensated at $250 per hour, the company said. Zuora noted that it’s conducting a search to find her successor.

Zuora specializes in subscription management software that helps customers with pricing, payments, and collections. The coronavirus pandemic has blown up old business models and led many companies to increase spending on software allowing them to reach new customers, according to Bloomberg News.

Pileggi, who also holds the titles of chief compliance officer and corporate secretary, wasn’t immediately available to discuss her decision to step down.

During her tenure as Zuora’s law department leader, she helped lead an initial public offering in 2018 that raised $154 million and generated $1.7 million in legal fees and expenses for the company’s securities lawyers from Fenwick & West.

Bloomberg News reported in 2018 on Zuora’s decision to give out digital gift cards to attendees at a conference it put on allowing them to purchase company stock.

Pileggi owns almost $1.5 million in Zuora stock, per Bloomberg data. Securities filings show that she’s sold off nearly $4.9 million in company stock so far this year.

Zuora disclosed in its most recent proxy statement that Pileggi earned nearly $2.1 million in total compensation during fiscal 2021, the bulk coming in a nearly $1.2 million stock award.

Prior to joining Zuora, Pileggi was an in-house legal chief for trucking company Conway Inc. and Silicon Graphics International Corp., a computer systems company sold for $275 million in 2016 to Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. She began her career in the early 1990s as an associate at now-defunct Heller Ehrman.

Other Industry Moves

Pileggi isn’t the only software legal chief embarking on new endeavors.

Appfire Technologies LLC, a Burlington, Mass.-based provider of Atlassian software development apps, announced Nov. 11 its hire of general counsel Christine Alpers.

Alpers was most recently general counsel for Acquia Inc., a Boston-based software company that has promoted deputy general counsel Jason Wagstaff to succeed her as its legal chief. Kirkland & Ellis advised Appfire earlier this year on a $100 million investment from private equity firm TA Associates Management LP.

FinancialForce.com Inc., a San Francisco-based cloud computing software platform, announced Nov. 10 its hire of chief legal officer Allen Seto. He most recently served as general counsel and corporate secretary for Silver Peak Systems Inc., which HPE paid $925 million to buy last year.

Seto succeeds Melissa Frugé, who left her role as legal chief for the private equity-backed company over the summer to become general counsel for Austin, Texas-based discovery software provider CS Disco Inc.

SiSense Inc., a New York-based business analytics and intelligence software provider, announced Oct. 6 its hire of Zeta Global Holdings Corp. deputy general counsel Kristin Agassi to be its new general counsel. Agassi replaces Sarah Ward, who left SiSense over the summer to become general counsel for Chainalysis Inc., a blockchain research and risk management startup.

Twilio Inc., a cloud-based software platform that saw its business grow during the coronavirus pandemic, also just named a new legal chief in Dana Wagner. His hire came after Twilio announced earlier this year its appointment of vice president of ethical use Mark Kahn, who had previously been general counsel and vice president of policy for Segment Inc., a customer data company acquired by Twilio last year.

Christopher Wagner, a principal counsel for mergers and acquisitions integration at Twilio, left the company in August to become the first-ever general counsel for mParticle Inc., a New York-based customer data infrastructure company that in October raised $150 million in Series E financing.