Vista Equity Partners, a leading global investment firm focused exclusively on enterprise software, data and technology-enabled businesses, today announced the appointment of Lauren Dillard as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Managing Director, effective April 11. She will succeed John Warnken-Brill, who is retiring from the role after over 15 years and will partner with Ms. Dillard to ensure a seamless transition.
Ms. Dillard brings over two decades of experience across financial services and technology to Vista. She most recently served as the Executive Vice President of Investment Intelligence for Nasdaq, where she was responsible for leading the strategic direction of the fast-growing division, driving expansion across Nasdaq’s index, data and investment analytics businesses for a diverse client base of global asset managers, asset owners, consultants, retail brokers and fintechs. Collectively, under her leadership, the Investment Intelligence team delivered double digit growth for Nasdaq, achieving more than $1 billion of revenue in 2021. Ms. Dillard also sat on the executive team that was responsible for strategic decisions, capital allocation and M&A for the organization.
The appointment of Ms. Dillard follows a strong year for Vista in 2021, including the addition of over 100 new investors across investment strategies and the close of Vista Credit Partners’ third fund at $2.3 billion. With more than 100 transactions, the Firm deployed over $11.9 billion and returned $7.4 billion across its private equity and permanent capital investment strategies last year. Additionally, Vista portfolio companies IAS, PowerSchool, Cvent and Vivid Seats became publicly traded companies, while Ping Identity and Jamf held public equity offerings.
Prior to joining Nasdaq, Ms. Dillard spent seventeen years at The Carlyle Group, where she was most recently a Partner and Head of the Investment Solutions unit, overseeing more than $40 billion in assets and 200 professionals across offices in six countries. She served as a member of Carlyle’s Management Committee and played significant roles on other leadership committees during her tenure. Prior to joining Carlyle in 2002, Ms. Dillard worked in the tax practice of Arthur Andersen.
Read more: Businesswire
