Skillsoft appoints Melissa Ries to essay the role of VP and General Manager of Asia Pacific

Skillsoft, recently announced the appointment of Melissa Ries as the Vice President and General Manager of Asia Pacific (APAC). Ries will oversee the growth of Skillsoft and SumTotal across the region.

“We’re very excited to welcome Melissa to the Skillsoft team,” said Chad Gaydos, Senior Vice President of Global Content Sales at Skillsoft. “Melissa has spent the last 23 years as a senior software executive, and has a deep knowledge of and experience in selling complex enterprise software and disruptive technologies to customers in APAC. She has a track record for leading high-performing teams to exceed multi-million dollar annual sales targets in highly competitive environments.”

Ries said, “Skillsoft combines my two passions: Software as a Service and Learning and Development. For most of my career I have worked in software, and I’ve always been passionate about helping people develop and grow. The opportunity here at Skillsoft, the global leader in eLearning, is tremendous, and gives me the opportunity to pursue that passion.”

“The workplace is changing rapidly, and the people and skills that organisations need to survive and thrive are shifting just as quickly. Learning and development is the key to help organisations close skills gaps, enable agility and improve performance. Skillsoft and SumTotal are at the cutting-edge of individualised development, learning and content, enabling businesses to develop strong learning cultures.  It’s proven that organisations with strong learning cultures significantly outperform their peers, and I’m looking forward to helping APAC businesses improve their performance by improving their people,” she said.

Ries was previously the Vice President and General Manager for Asia Pacific and Japan at Pivotal Inc, a software firm that provides software and services for the development of custom applications for big data and analytics based on cloud computing technology. Prior to Pivotal, Ries served the same role for EMC’s Greenplum Division, where was responsible for managing the sales and operations across Asia Pacific.  Before joining EMC, Ries held senior leadership roles at SAP Business Objects and SSA Global.

Ries holds a Bachelor of Commerce from University of Queensland, and has a CPA qualification.