Co-founder Tim Hale transitioning to Executive Vice Chairman
Coastal, a top-ranked Salesforce consulting partner with multi-cloud expertise across industries, has announced that Eric Berridge, a 23-year veteran of the Salesforce Partner ecosystem, and a member of Coastal Cloud’s board of directors, has been appointed as CEO. Tim Hale, Co-founder of Coastal, is transitioning to Executive Vice Chairman of the board. Co-founder Sara Hale will remain President of Coastal.
Eric has decades of experience in the Salesforce Partner ecosystem. He is the co-founder and former CEO of Bluewolf, an IBM company (acquired 2016), that he built over two decades as the original and preeminent consultancy for Salesforce solutions. Most recently, Eric helped lead Professional Services at Salesforce as the Chief Commercial Officer.
“Having been a member of Coastal’s board of directors since 2020, I have seen up close the unwavering dedication that this organization has shown to its customers and their success. I couldn’t be more excited to deepen our commitment to that mission,” says Eric Berridge, CEO of Coastal. “Tim, Sara, and our entire team have built an incredible foundation over the past 11 years, and I look forward to building on that foundation by growing our relationships with our customers, expanding the impact of technology to drive business results, and investing in helping customers actualize innovation, including using Salesforce as the #1 AI CRM.”
Founded in 2012 as a family-owned business, Coastal is an award-winning Salesforce Partner with multi-cloud expertise, providing consulting, implementation, and managed services support for organizations looking to generate maximum value from Salesforce. The company has worked with more than 1,300 organizations, and deployed more than 6,100 projects. With a team of over 600 experts holding more than 1,700 Salesforce certifications, Coastal Cloud offers insight and expertise to a wide variety of industries, including healthcare and life sciences, manufacturing, non-profit, public sector, private equity and more.
“Sara and I are thrilled that Eric is joining Coastal full-time to lead our next phase of growth,” says Tim Hale, Co-founder and Executive Vice Chairman of Coastal. “Eric is a esteemed leader in the Salesforce Partner ecosystem, and his 20 years of industry expertise, deep relationships with Salesforce executives, and obsession for the customer experience will elevate Coastal’s position in the years to come.”
Coastal has won a Global Partner Innovation Award from Salesforce from 2020-2022. The company was also designated a “Leader” in multiple quadrants in the ISG Provider Lens™ Salesforce Ecosystem Partners 2023 Quadrant Report for the United States.
The company’s relentless focus on client outcomes aligns perfectly with the values of their new CEO, whose profound commitment to customers is evident in his authored work, “Customer Obsessed”, a book that continues to serve as an educational resource for entrepreneurs aspiring to cultivate customer-centric enterprises.
For Tim Hale, an eventual transition away from day-to-day operations was always planned, and he will still be in the Palm Coast office most days. Tim says: “When Sara and I started Coastal in 2012, our children were in elementary school, and we always knew that once we became ‘empty nesters’, we would want more flexibility in our lives. Now that our youngest has gone off to college, we’re excited for this next chapter. In my role as Executive Vice Chairman, I look forward to spending focused time on avenues of expanded expertise for Coastal, including Data Cloud and AI.”
Recognizing the importance of Salesforce Data Cloud for the future of the Salesforce Partner Ecosystem, Coastal also welcomed Brynna Evans, Salesforce’s SVP of Data Cloud GTM, as a board observer earlier this year. A five-year Salesforce veteran, she brings expertise in data and AI with Data Cloud, a fast growing platform within the Salesforce ecosystem.
“Data and AI have enormous potential to transform how companies interact with customers and drive business growth. Coastal is helping clients maximize the value of Salesforce, working with them to develop strategies that leverage AI and insights from Data Cloud to deliver actionable business outcomes,” says Brynna Evans, SVP of Data Cloud GTM at Salesforce.
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About Coastal
Coastal is a leading Salesforce consulting partner with multi-cloud expertise, providing consulting, implementation, and managed services support for organizations looking to generate maximum value from the Salesforce platform. Founded in 2012, the company offers insight and expertise to a wide variety of industries, including healthcare and life sciences, manufacturing, non-profit, public sector, private equity and more.
Coastal has deployed projects for a variety of organizations, including Duke Clinical Research Institute, Marriott International, Vibrant Emotional Healthcare, Atkore, and others. The company has been recognized as the #1 rated consulting partner in customer success, earning the Global Partner Innovation Award from Salesforce the last three years. Coastal attributes its success to a unique company culture, nimble expertise, onshore-only teams, and a relentless focus on delivering quality and forging long-term customer relationships.
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