Why Skience’s New CRO Is More Than a Hire—It’s a Declaration of Intent

HERNDON, VA – September 09, 2026 – In the hyper-competitive world of wealth management technology, personnel changes are routine. But the recent appointment of Starla Hendricks as Chief Revenue Officer at Skience is anything but. It’s a calculated, strategic maneuver that signals a pivotal transition for the company—from a phase of building and proving its technology to an all-out campaign for market expansion.

Skience, a company backed by heavyweight private equity firm Insight Partners, has named Hendricks to lead its entire commercial strategy. This move comes as the firm declares its unified wealth management platform “proven at scale” and ready for its next chapter. For an industry watching the intense race to solve operational gridlock, this appointment is a clear declaration of intent.

A Strategic Pivot to Market Dominance

For years, Skience has been diligently building its arsenal. The company, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2021, has evolved from offering individual fintech products to championing a single, cohesive platform. This system is designed to be the central nervous system for wealth management firms, integrating everything from client onboarding and advisor transitions to data management and compliance.

The claim of being “proven at scale” is not without merit. The company serves thousands of advisors and has been lauded by the industry, earning accolades like the WealthManagement.com Industry Award for its CRM technology and a Stevie® Award for its FinTech solutions. Its deep, native integration with Salesforce has become a core differentiator, allowing it to act as a technology hub that unites the disparate tools advisors are often forced to juggle. Having established this foundation and secured a healthy roster of clients, including a deliberate push into the enterprise segment, the company is now shifting its focus from product validation to aggressive market penetration.

This is where the CRO role becomes critical. Rather than simply bringing in a sales leader, Skience has hired an architect for its next phase of growth. The mandate for Hendricks is clear: take a mature, award-winning platform and drive its adoption across the wealth management landscape. As Co-founder and COO Kripa Shetty noted, “We’re at a point where the platform is proven and our client relationships are strong. As we look to the next phase of growth, we want a leader who truly understands the wealth management industry.”

The Operator Who Learned to Sell

Starla Hendricks is not a typical technology executive. With a career spanning over three decades, her professional DNA was formed not in a sales bullpen, but in the operational trenches of financial services at firms like Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp Investment Services. This foundational experience provides her with a rare and invaluable perspective: she intrinsically understands the daily pain points and workflow inefficiencies that wealth management firms are desperate to solve.

This operational background is complemented by more than two decades in technology leadership at fintech powerhouses including SS&C Technologies, Thomson Reuters, Vestmark, and most recently, Flyer Financial Technologies. Her career path demonstrates a unique ability to bridge the chasm between the complex realities of financial operations and the potential of technology to transform them. She hasn’t just sold software; she has spent a career helping RIAs, broker-dealers, and banks implement solutions aligned with their core business needs.

Damon Gladman, Skience’s Chief Product Officer, highlighted this unique combination of traits, noting her industry knowledge and the “energy she brings to the room.” He added, “She asks sharp questions, connects quickly with people and creates momentum. That combination will make us better.”

For Hendricks, the role at Skience represents a convergence of her entire career. “My career has spanned operations, technology, and commercial leadership; and Skience sits exactly at their nexus,” she stated. Her focus is not on selling more tools, but on delivering tangible results. “Wealth firms don't need more tools; they need better outcomes for their advisors and clients. To achieve that, they need their front, middle and back office processes to work seamlessly.”

Unifying a Fragmented Landscape

Hendricks’ appointment comes at a time when the wealth management industry is at a technological crossroads. The long-standing “swivel chair effect”—where advisors pivot between multiple, disconnected applications for CRM, portfolio management, compliance, and account opening—has become a major impediment to efficiency and growth. This fragmentation creates data silos, increases compliance risks, and detracts from the time advisors can spend with clients.

In response, the demand for unified platforms has surged. Firms are actively seeking single-system solutions that can streamline workflows and provide a holistic view of their business. Skience is positioning itself at the forefront of this trend, competing in a space populated by giants like Orion Advisor Solutions and Envestnet. Its strategic advantage lies in its Salesforce-native architecture, which leverages the world’s leading CRM as a foundation to build a comprehensive wealth management ecosystem.

This approach allows the company to offer highly specialized, patented solutions for critical processes like digital client onboarding and multi-custodial account opening—historically a major source of friction for firms. Furthermore, its platform is built with robust compliance capabilities, including tools specifically designed to address regulations like Reg BI, which are top-of-mind for every C-suite in the industry.

With Hendricks now at the commercial helm, Skience is armed with a leader who can translate these technical capabilities into a compelling business case for change. Her operational fluency allows her to speak the language of her target clients, articulating not just what the platform does, but why it matters to their bottom line, their advisors’ productivity, and their clients’ satisfaction. The company is betting that her ability to connect technology to tangible business outcomes will be the key to unlocking its next stage of significant growth.