Celonis Taps Veteran Exec to Solve North America's AI ROI Problem

NEW YORK, NY – February 04, 2026 – Celonis, a global leader in Process Intelligence, has appointed seasoned enterprise software executive Ewan Henderson as its new General Manager for North America. The move signals a strategic push to help the continent's largest companies bridge the gap between their substantial AI investments and the elusive tangible business returns.

Henderson will now helm the go-to-market strategy and operations in what is a critical market for the enterprise software industry. His primary mission is to guide Fortune 500 companies in leveraging Celonis's Process Intelligence platform to achieve measurable ROI from their artificial intelligence initiatives, a challenge that has stymied many organizations.

The AI Value Gap

Enterprises are pouring billions into AI, yet many are struggling to see a clear return. The issue is so prevalent that Celonis Co-CEO and Co-Founder Alex Rinke frames it as a core industry problem. "Only 11% of companies are seeing measurable benefits from their AI investments today," Rinke stated. "That's not an adoption problem, it's a context problem."

This "context problem" is the disconnect between powerful AI models and the complex, often invisible business processes they are meant to improve. According to Celonis's own 2026 Optimisation Report, which surveyed over 1,600 business leaders, 82% of decision-makers believe AI will fail to deliver a return on investment if it does not understand how the business actually runs. The report further found that 76% of organizations feel their current processes are holding them back from becoming more agile and intelligent.

Celonis aims to solve this by providing the missing context. Its Process Intelligence Platform uses a company's own operational data from various systems and applications to build a living digital twin of its processes. This dynamic model allows businesses to see inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and deviations in real-time, providing the precise knowledge needed to deploy AI for maximum impact. By understanding where and how to apply AI, companies can move from speculative projects to targeted improvements that drive real business value.

A Leader with a Cloud Transformation Playbook

To spearhead this effort in North America, Celonis has brought in a leader with a deep history of scaling enterprise software businesses. Ewan Henderson brings over 20 years of experience, most notably from his 13-year tenure at Informatica. There, he was a key figure in leading the enterprise business and played a central role in navigating the company's critical cloud transformation and sustaining its growth after its IPO. His earlier career included a seven-year stint at Oracle.

This background is precisely what Celonis believes is needed to help its customers succeed. "Ewan has spent his career building and scaling enterprise software businesses that deliver real outcomes," Rinke noted. "He is the right leader to help customers turn AI potential into business value."

Henderson himself sees a clear parallel between his past experiences and the current market challenge. "Every enterprise is trying to figure out how to make AI actually work for their business," Henderson said. "The challenge isn't the technology, it's connecting AI to real operations and driving real outcomes. That's exactly what Celonis does with Process Intelligence. I'm excited to work with our customers across North America to help them achieve tangible ROI from their AI investments."

His track record in cloud transformation is particularly relevant as Celonis, a consistent presence on the Forbes Cloud 100 list, continues to expand its cloud-based offerings to a market hungry for scalable and accessible process improvement solutions.

A Strategic Reshuffle for Global Ambitions

Henderson's appointment is part of a broader strategic realignment of senior commercial leadership at Celonis, reflecting its global growth ambitions. He succeeds Rupal Karia, who will transition from leading the North American go-to-market (GTM) team to a new, expanded role. Starting May 1, Karia will assume responsibility for GTM leadership in the UK & Ireland, Benelux, Nordics, Middle East, and Africa (MEA).

This move appears designed to leverage experienced leadership across markets with different maturity levels. While North America represents a large and mature market with a high concentration of Fortune 500 headquarters, the regions Karia will now oversee present a diverse mix of established and high-growth territories. The MEA region, in particular, is a strategic growth area for Celonis. Governments in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are heavily investing in massive digital transformation projects, such as UAE Centennial 2071 and Saudi Vision 2030, creating immense opportunities for technologies that drive operational excellence and efficiency.

By placing Henderson in the key North American market and redeploying Karia—who has deep experience from his time at both Celonis and UiPath—to these diverse international markets, the company is positioning itself to both solidify its leadership in its largest market and aggressively pursue new growth frontiers.

From Theory to Tangible Results

The ultimate measure of success for Henderson's new role will be customer value. Celonis already boasts an impressive roster of clients who have used its platform to achieve significant, quantifiable results. More than a quarter of Fortune 500 companies, including PepsiCo, AstraZeneca, and Vodafone, utilize its technology.

Customer case studies provide a clear picture of the platform's impact. Siemens, a long-time Celonis customer, applied the software to its order-to-cash process and achieved a 24% increase in automation, an 11% reduction in rework, and the elimination of 10 million manual "touches" annually in that process alone. Packaging giant Smurfit Westrock uses the platform as a "strategic roadmap for AI," allowing it to optimize inventory and boost efficiency with a targeted AI copilot.

Other examples abound. Florida Crystals saved millions in its Accounts Payable department and accelerated its S/4HANA transformation. In the UK, National Health Service (NHS) trusts have used Process Intelligence to prevent thousands of appointment cancellations and improve hospital efficiency. These successes demonstrate how a deep understanding of processes provides the foundation for impactful transformation and a clear return on investment, turning the abstract promise of AI into concrete operational and financial gains.