MoneyINC Logo
25+
Years of
Trust
13,000+
Articles
Written 
10M+
Annual 
Readers
300+
Global
Mentions

10 Things You Didn't Know About Marc Olesen

Marc Olesen

Marc Olesen is an American businessman. He is the current chief executive officer and president of Sift. Marc has made remarkable progress in his career by becoming the head of a leading digital trust and safety startup. After looking into his personal and career history to learn more about him, we made some interesting discoveries about him that we found inspiring. To help you become better acquainted with Sift's CEO, here are 10 things you didn't know about Marc Olesen.

1. Marc Olesen is a Stanford graduate

According to his LinkedIn profile, Olesen graduated from high school and applied for acceptance into the prestigious Stanford University. His application was accepted and he began attending classes in 1983. He studied in the field of Economics and earned his AB degree in 1987. He didn't take a break from his studies and continued forward in pursuit of a graduate degree He earned his MS in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University in 1988 after just a year in the program.

2. He began his professional career as a manager

Marc's first listed job was as a manager. He landed a job with KPMG Consulting in April of 1998. He worked for the firm in management for 1 year and 5 months, leaving in August of 1999.

3. Marc moved up quickly on the corporate ladder

Olesen left KPMG Consulting to accept a position with Qwest Cyber Solutions in a joint venture between Qwest and KPMG Consulting. It isn't that he abandoned his job after a year and a half. It was more of a promotion than anything else. Under Qwest, he worked as senior director of customer service, which was a step up in responsibility and pays. He stayed in the position for 2 years and 1 month, leaving in September of 2001.

4. Olesen worked as a Principal

Marc left Qwest to accept a job with Insight Consulting Services Inc. He worked as a Principal from October of 2001 through June of 2003. He left after spending 1 year and 9 months in the position. Olesen had established a pattern of working for short periods at his various positions, then finding jobs that were higher in responsibility or being promoted. This shows that he was a fast learner who prepared for the next step up in his career with these early jobs. There are no gaps in his employment record, to his merit. He was following his strategy for achieving success in the business world in executive leadership.

5. Marc achieved executive status in 2003

Marc left Insight for the opportunity to take on a new role. He was hired at Mercury Interactive in July of 2003 in the position of vice president of software as a service. This was a big step up in his career. He stayed at the job for 3 years and 6 months, gaining a lot of experience at a higher level of leadership than ever before.

6. He worked for Hewlett-Packard

In January of 2007, Marc Olesen was assigned as the vice president of software as a service for the Hewlett Packard company. HP had recently been acquired by his employer Mercury Interactive and it was a migration and somewhat of a lateral move. He remained in the position under HP for 2 years and 2 months, leaving in February of 2009.

7. His career continued to thrive

Marc Olesen moved from one good position to another, always climbing a little higher and gaining a little more authority. In February of 2009, he was hired by McAffee as the senior vice president and general manager of network and cloud security. he stayed in this position for 3 years and 2 months before leading I'm March of 2012. According to Crunchbase, he led a team of 700 staff during his time at McAfee. He was also in charge of McAfee's worldwide growth strategy as well as the drive for unified operations in sales, marketing, and engineering.

8. Marc worked for DNAnexus

In May of 2012, Marc was hired by DNAnexus as the president and COO of the firm. This was one more step up in responsibility. He stayed at the Mountainview, California firm for 6 months, leaving in October of 2012 to accept a job with Averail, which is an intuitive mobile app management, and tech company. He stayed with Averail as its president and chief executive officer for 1 year and 9 months before moving on to a senior vice president and general manager position in cloud solutions for Splunk. He also remained at this post for 1 year and 9 months, leaving in June of 2016 to work for Sift.

9. Marc was Senior VP and GM at Dynatrace

Before accepting a job as president and COO at Sift, Marc Olesen worked for the Dynatrace company. He was hired to lead the Digital Experience division of the company, according to Topio. He started the job at Dynatrace in October of 2016 and left the post to join the team at Sift in June of 2018.

10. Marc Olesen followed his career-building strategy

While some successful executives have spent decades at a single company, working their way up the career ladder, Marc Olesen had a different strategy. He seldom spent more than 2 years in any one position, but he was careful to keep a constant flow with no gaps in his employment history. He consistently moved from one job to another. Although some of the career moves he made were lateral, he did not once move backward to an inferior position. He continued his upward climb by moving on to new job opportunities that presented greater challenges and opportunities for professional growth and development. This was how he built a strong reputation as a competent leader. He is a versatile executive with experience in many different industries in various leadership roles. This has made him a valuable asset to any tech company and it is how he came to be the current CEO of Sift.

Allen Lee

Written by Allen Lee

Allen Lee is a Toronto-based freelance writer who studied business in school but has since turned to other pursuits. He spends more time than is perhaps wise with his eyes fixed on a screen either reading history books, keeping up with international news, or playing the latest releases on the Steam platform, which serve as the subject matter for much of his writing output. Currently, Lee is practicing the smidgen of Chinese that he picked up while visiting the Chinese mainland in hopes of someday being able to read certain historical texts in their original language.

Read more posts by Allen Lee

Related Articles

Stay ahead of the curve with our most recent guides and articles on , freshly curated by our diligent editorial team for your immediate perusal.
As featured on:

Wealth Insight!
Subscribe to our Exclusive Newsletter

Dive into the world of wealth and extravagance with Money Inc! Discover stock tips, businesses, luxury items, and travel experiences curated for the affluent observer.
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram