Zendesk Appoints Lila Tretikov to Board of Directors

AI expert will advise on Zendesk industry-leading AI offerings

Zendesk, the company providing the most complete AI solution for CX on the market, today announced Lila Tretikov has joined its Board of Directors. Her appointment comes as the company delivers the industry’s most powerful AI Agents backed by 100 percent quality assurance and workforce engagement management.

Tretikov currently serves as Partner and Head of AI Strategy at NEA and was formerly Microsoft’s Deputy Chief Technology Officer. Her life’s work is focused on bringing together interdisciplinary and diverse teams to help solve the world’s most challenging problems and empower humanity through technology. Her career is marked by an exceptional ability to identify and navigate transformative technological shifts and market disruptions. With a distinguished record of leadership on five international public boards and more than 10 private boards across six countries, Lila is adept in navigating diverse governance landscapes across the globe. Her previous experience also includes founding and scaling companies, operating a top-5 web and media property, a top-10 US retail bank, the largest global energy private-public partnership and a first-tier venture capital firm.

“Zendesk AI is the only AI solution purpose-built for human connection. With AI sitting at the core of our offering, we can connect and orchestrate every part of the service experience, building trust in this powerful technology without sacrificing quality or security. Lila’s expertise is critical and only going to ensure we make the experience of using our AI products better for our customers,” said Tom Eggemeier, CEO, Zendesk. “Lila is a strategic, customer-centric operator. Her career working on some of the world’s most challenging problems makes her a critical advisor as we tackle the rapid growth of AI in CX and deliver on our mission to power exceptional service for every person on the planet.”

“I am excited to join Zendesk at this time of immense opportunity to help every company raise the bar on customer experience and to bring their culture to every customer interaction. Zendsesk’s focus on helping its customers leverage the best of AI and stay ahead of its developments is inspiring,” said Tretikov. “Zendesk products are backed by the world’s latest CX dataset with 18 billion anonymised interactions, making it uniquely capable of delivering exceptional experiences for its customers. Its responsible approach to AI provides a solution customers can trust. This unique combination of data, focus and deep CX expertise sets businesses up to be successful with AI.”

Tretikov’s career spans over 20 years and includes work with AI, renewable energy and CRM. She serves as an advisor on innovation to the United Nations and as an independent director on the boards of Volvo Cars, Xylem, and Sophia Genetics. She joins the current board members: Stephen Ensley, David Erlong, Hisham Hasan, Hilarie Koplow-McAdams, Ryan Lanpher, Kelly Grier and Tarim Wasim. She is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and was named as a Forbes World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.