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Products That Count Announces the Winners of the 2026 CPO Awards, Honoring the Product Leaders Redefining Their Craft in the AI Era

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The annual Awards recognize Chief Product Officers whose scope, influence, and impact have expanded dramatically as AI reshapes every organization.

SAN FRANCISCO, May 1, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Products That Count, the world’s largest nonprofit community of product managers with over 600,000 members, today announced the winners of the 2026 CPO Awards. The Awards, produced in partnership with Mighty Capital, celebrate the Chief Product Officers whose leadership is shaping how products are built, shipped, and scaled in a moment of unprecedented change.

“The CPO mandate has fundamentally expanded,” said SC Moatti, Founder and Managing Partner of Products That Count. “Our winners this year are setting the standard for what the role becomes when AI is woven into every layer of the business. They are the builders other builders learn from.”

The role of the Chief Product Officer has never been broader. Today’s CPOs are architecting the systems, teams, and decisions that determine whether their companies win in the AI era.

The 2026 CPO Award Winners, by category:

President / CEO: Former CPOs who have elevated to the top role.

Eglae Recchia, CPO, Keyway

Maria Thomas, CEO (promoted from CPO), Rebrandly

Nabil Bukhari, President, Extreme Networks

Shiven Ramji, President & Chief Product Officer, Okta

Investor Mindset: Treating product like a portfolio of bets, with M&A as a strategic lever.

Achuth Rao, CPO, New York Life Insurance Company

Andrew Tsao, CPO & Analytics Officer, Audible

Dane Glasgow, CPO, Paramount/Skydance

Diana Benli, Chief Product Officer, Cognizant

Diego Dugatkin, Chief Product Officer, Box

Mike Bidgoli, CPO & CTO, Tubi

Vasu Murthy, CPO, Cohesity

Vrushali Paunikar, CPO, Carta

Ambrish Verma, Chief Product Officer, Ingram Micro

Enterprise Scale: Operating in complexity. Not speed alone, but transformation at scale.

Carla Guzzetti, Chief Product Officer, Cloud Applications, Extreme Networks

Eddie Garcia, Chief Product Officer, eBay

Gautam Shah, Chief Product Officer, Carelon

Ghazal Badiozamani, SVP of Product Management, Cengage

Kelli Fielding, Chief Product Officer, Europe, TransUnion

Mikhail Vaysbukh, Chief Product Officer, Elsevier

Monica Ugwi, GM, Copilot + Agents for Manufacturing & Mobility, formerly Microsoft

Randall Hounsell, SVP Connected Living Product, Comcast

Rita Khan, Chief Consumer & Digital Officer, formerly Optum

Ryan Bergstrom, Chief Product Officer, Paychex

Tim Simmons, Chief Product Officer, formerly Walmart International

Tina Tarquinio, Chief Product Officer, IBM Z and LinuxONE, IBM

Todd Garner, CPO, Sam’s Club

Trey Courtney, Global Chief Product & Partnerships Officer, Mood Media

Wyatt Jenkins, SVP Product, Intuit

Shayani Roy, SVP Product Management and Design, OpenTable

Scale Up: Growth-stage leaders putting the scale in place.

Aaron Seevers, Chief Product Officer, Noom

Avijit Sinha, SVP Corporate Development, EDB

Hannah Park, Chief Product Officer, Planned Parenthood

Joe Futty, CPO & CTO, Pipedrive

Jonathan Shottan, Chief Product Officer, Tonal

Kimberly Bloomston, CPO, 6sense

Kousthub Raghavan, Chief Product & Digital Officer, CLEAR

Natalia Williams, Chief Product Officer, Qonto

Nikita Miller, Chief Product Officer, Perk

Nilesh Khandelwal, Chief Product Officer, Rakuten Rewards

Paul Burke, CPO, Reveleer

Randhir Vieira, CPO, formerly Healthify

Renn Turiano, CPO, Gannett – USA Today Network

Sarah Turrin, CPO, Color

Emerging: On an amazing trajectory, regardless of tenure.

Adam Kelsey, EVP, Product Management, SignalWire

Apurva Garware, SVP, Head of Product, Invisible Technologies

Chai Atreya, Chief Product Officer, ActiveCampaign

Jack Brody, Chief Product Officer, Suno

John Barrus, VP of Product Management, Niobium

Kevin Swint, former Co-Founder & CPO, RemixAI

Nirmal Kumar, CPO, Aliaswire

Rafael Flores, Chief Product Officer, Treasure Data.ai

Sarah Jacob Singh, CPO & CTO, Medbridge

Sarosh Waghmar, CPO & Co-Founder, Spotnana

Vanessa Davis, CPO, LegalOn

Vikas Seth, CPO, ARIS

Platform: Multiplying impact beyond their own product by leveraging the ecosystem at scale.

Arnab Bose, CPO, Asana

Kishan Chetan, EVP & GM, Agentforce Service Cloud, Salesforce

Shardul Vikram, Chief Product Officer, SAP Application AI, SAP

Tom Occhino, Chief Product Officer, Vercel

Rohit Badlaney, CPO & General Manager, IBM Cloud Platform, IBM

Terre Layton, former CPO, BetterHealth

B.J. Boyle, Chief Product Officer, MacroHealth

Winners were selected by an Independent Advisory Council of seasoned product executives based on impact and leadership.

ABOUT PRODUCTS THAT COUNT

Products That Count is the world’s largest nonprofit community, engaging 600,000+ product managers and Chief Product Officers (CPOs) united by a mission: to empower everyone to build products that truly count. In a world flooded with products, only a few ignite passion, deliver value at scale, and transform lives. Behind those exceptional products are visionary CPOs and high-performing product teams driving innovation at the most bleeding-edge companies. We recognize these trailblazers through our coveted Awards, accelerate careers from PM to the C-suite and beyond through daily best practices, and serve as the trusted advisor to nearly all Fortune 1000 CPOs. Our Corporate Alliance includes Walmart, Ford, Cisco, Johnson & Johnson, Amplitude, and more. The most admired product leaders across industries serve on our Advisory Council, guiding the future of product leadership. Together, we’re shaping a future where every product counts. Learn more at productsthatcount.org

ABOUT MIGHTY CAPITAL

Mighty Capital is the VC firm that leverages the Product Alpha Effect, a data-backed framework for outperformance that proves great products drive great businesses. Founded in 2018 by SC Moatti, a product visionary and former Meta product leader, and Jennifer Vancini, a veteran of tech investing and M&A, we bring a differentiated edge to venture. Through Moatti’s 600,000-strong Products That Count network of product leaders, we see where the world is going before others do. That proprietary signal gives us an advantage in sourcing, diligence, and post-investment value creation. Our portfolio speaks for itself: 1 in 5 companies is a category leader like Amplitude (NASDAQ:AMPL), Groq, and Netskope (NASDAQ:NTSK). Founders consistently call us the most value-add investor on their cap table, and use our global product ecosystem as a marketplace to accelerate time to revenue, scale, and exit. Anchored by GCM Grosvenor, we’re deploying Fund III with both prior funds in top decile DPI and TVPI, more than $20B in value created, and 6 IPOs to date. Learn more at Mighty.Capital.

Media Contact

Emma Shirlin, Products That Count, 1 8287020154, emmashirlin@productsthatcount.com

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Legrand Launches Starline T5 DoubleBar, the Highest Ampacity Open-Channel Track Busway with Most Pluggable Space

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WEST HARTFORD, Conn., Oct. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Legrand, the global specialist in electrical and digital building infrastructures, today launched the Starline T5 DoubleBar track busway. Engineered specifically for high-density environments, the T5 DoubleBar offers the highest ampacity open-channel busway available on the market with the most pluggable space, addressing the exponential power demands of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.

By featuring a configuration with two T5 bars in parallel, the system delivers up to 2000A, enabling robust power distribution for high-density environments. This hybrid busway design successfully combines open-channel flexibility with busduct-level ampacity for maximum adaptability.

“As AI workloads push rack densities past 100kW, data center operators have been forced into a clear trade-off: install heavy, rigid busducts to get high amperage, or use track busways to maintain operational flexibility,” said Mark Swift, Vice President of Engineering for Starline, a brand of Legrand. “With the T5 DoubleBar, we’ve completely eliminated that compromise. By delivering 2000A in a continuous open-channel architecture, we give operators the raw power density of a traditional busduct without forcing them to clutter their white space with redundant  busway runs or sacrifice the agility to reconfigure on the fly.”

Key Features and Benefits of the Starline T5 DoubleBar

The T5 DoubleBar eliminates spacing constraints common in traditional busduct systems and minimizes the whitespace footprint in dense data center layouts.

Unmatched AI & HPC Support: The system handles rack loads up to 150kW, meeting next-gen data center demands. It is also compatible with LVDC installations to 1000VDC.Increased Pluggable Space: The high-density double-bar architecture utilizes parallel conductors to increase amperage and pluggable space without increasing the system’s footprint.Zero-Downtime Reconfiguration: Hot-pluggable tap-off capability allows for the safe, live installation and removal of tap-off units without a system shutdown, maximizing operational continuity.True Modularity and Scalability: The modular design supports multiple ratings without system redesign. Furthermore, it is designed for future expansion up to 5000A, protecting long-term capital investments.Complete T5 Ecosystem Compatibility: The system maintains open-channel plug-in access and full compatibility with all existing T5 plug-in units.

Launching Alongside High-Capacity Plug-in Unit (HCP)

To complete this end-to-end high-density power distribution system, Legrand is simultaneously launching a new High-Capacity Plug-in Unit (HCP) designed for seamless integration directly on T5 infrastructure, including the new DoubleBar.

These new plug-in units offer up to 250A capacity and multiple enclosure formats, delivering more power through a single unit. By powering high-density AI and HPC racks directly, the HCP reduces the need for multiple lower-amperage plug-ins, simplifying the overall power delivery architecture.

For more information on the Starline T5 DoubleBar and High-Capacity Plug-in Units, visit the Starline website.

About Legrand:

Legrand is the global specialist in electrical and digital building infrastructures. Its comprehensive offering of solutions for residential, commercial, and datacenter markets makes it a benchmark for customers worldwide. The Group harnesses technological and societal trends with lasting impacts on buildings with the purpose of improving life by transforming the spaces where people live, work and meet with electrical, digital infrastructures and connected solutions that are simple, innovative and sustainable. Drawing on an approach that involves all teams and stakeholders, Legrand is pursuing a strategy of profitable and responsible growth driven by acquisitions and innovation, with a steady flow of new offerings that include products with enhanced value in use. Legrand reported sales of €9.5 billion in 2025. The company is listed on Euronext Paris and is a component stock of the CAC 40, CAC 40 ESG and CAC Transition Climat indexes (code ISIN FR0010307819). www.legrand.us

Media Contact:

Jaymie Scotto & Associates
+1 866.695.3629 ext. 19
jsa_legrand@jsa.net

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SOURCE Legrand DPC LLC

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Trinity Acquires Verix, Adding AI-Powered Next-Best-Action and Omnichannel Orchestration to the TrinityEDGE Platform

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Verix’s patented Tovana™ platform and its full team join Trinity, extending TrinityEDGE™ from what commercial teams know into what they do next

WALTHAM, Mass., Oct. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Trinity, the leader in integrating human and artificial intelligence for life sciences commercialization, today announced it has acquired Verix, the pharma-native commercial intelligence company behind the patented, AI-powered Tovana™ platform. Tovana is live today in global pharma, biotech, and specialty pharma commercial organizations, where it turns prescription, claims, clinical, and engagement data into continuous next-best-action, dynamic targeting, and omnichannel orchestration for brand, field, and digital teams. The acquisition brings Verix’s entire team into Trinity and adds an AI execution layer to TrinityEDGE. Terms were not disclosed.

Why now

Pharma has already bought AI but has not yet realized the pay off. Trinity’s 2025 Commercial and Medical IT benchmark found that 100 percent of surveyed organizations had adopted generative AI in some capacity, yet innovation confidence averaged just 3 out of 5, and every respondent described their organization as only somewhat prepared to respond rapidly to industry change. A separate Trinity benchmark of new product planning and commercial strategy leaders found only 10 percent had a clear AI strategy they were scaling across workflows. Adoption is universal yet impact is not.

The reason is rarely the model. It is the distance between an insight and the moment someone acts on it. Targeting lists go stale between planning cycles. Omnichannel plans degrade. Next-best-action tools get ignored because reps cannot see why they should trust them. Brands pay twice, once for insight and again for a separate execution vendor, and still struggle to show impact. Closing that insight-to-action loop is the problem TrinityEDGE with Tovana will solve.

The acquisition also advances Trinity’s growth strategy. Over the past three years Trinity has augmented its advisory and insights services with the TrinityEDGE productized commercialization platform, adding software, data, and AI alongside 1,500 professionals in 14 offices on five continents. Verix deepens Trinity’s presence with the brand, field, and digital buyers who sit beyond its traditional strategy and insights relationships, and establishes a dedicated AI and product development center to build and ship commercial AI at scale.

Proof, not promise

Tovana is not a new build. It has been developed and validated in live pharmaceutical and biotech deployments since 2007, across large global pharma, mid-size biotech, and specialty and rare disease organizations.

Deployed at scale in oncology and specialty markets. Tovana supports commercial teams at global pharmaceutical companies and emerging biotechs, including publicly referenced work and support for the U.S. launch of a targeted oncology immunotherapy in a market its sponsor estimates at more than $400 million.

Measured commercial lift. One of the largest pharmaceutical oncology divisions in the United States increased leading KPIs, including new prescriptions, by 15 to 25 percent with Tovana. A rare oncology therapy team improved field-facing NPS by 12x.. A medical device commercial team improved sales outcomes within three months of implementation.

Time to value measured in weeks. Tovana’s pharma-specific data foundation, automated data pipelines, and pre-built model toolkit mean clients adopt targeting and engagement models already proven in live deployments, with rapid configuration and deployment inside a single planning cycle.

What clients get

A plan that holds up between quarters. Targeting, segmentation, and channel mix update against what the market is actually doing, so the engagement plan approved in January is still the plan operating in June.

Guidance the field will actually use. Recommendations arrive sourced and explainable, grounded in Trinity’s therapeutic, launch, and benchmarking depth, and delivered inside the field workflow through FieldAdvisor. That is the difference between a next-best-action a rep follows and one a rep ignores.

One partner instead of two. Existing Trinity clients get a path from insight they already own to execution, without standing up another vendor or rebuilding integrations. Existing Verix clients keep the product, roadmap, and support they rely on, and gain Trinity’s launch, market access, and competitive benchmarking context.

Tovana capabilities will be progressively integrated into the TrinityEDGE single sign-on environment over the coming months, strengthening CustomerEDGE™ execution, with the first joint offerings expected to reach clients in 1H 2027. Verix CEO Doron Aspitz joins Trinity’s leadership team and will continue to guide the Tovana roadmap.

Leadership perspective

“Every commercial leader I meet is asking how to put AI to work where it actually changes a call, a channel mix, or a forecast,” said Scott Evangelista, Chief Executive Officer of Trinity. “Insight has outpaced execution. Teams are rich in disparate analysis and thin in decisive action in front of a customer. Verix closes that gap. Next-best-action, dynamic targeting, and omnichannel orchestration now sit inside TrinityEDGE, proven in live pharma deployments and backed by 30 years of therapeutic and commercial judgment. That is what it means to lead in integrating human and artificial intelligence for life sciences commercialization.”

“We built Verix on one conviction: commercial teams deserve intelligence that is timely, explainable, and usable in the flow of work,” said Doron Aspitz, Chief Executive Officer of Verix. “Joining Trinity is the natural next step. Clients keep the product they rely on and gain the launch, access, and competitive context that tells them whether performance is genuinely competitive. I am proud of what our teams have built and energized by what we can now build together.”

About Verix

Verix is a leading provider of advanced commercial optimization solutions for the life sciences industry. Its flagship product, Tovana™, is a patented, AI-powered SaaS platform that enables life sciences companies to optimize commercial strategy and execution. Tovana integrates advanced machine learning, agentic workflows, and deep domain expertise into a single, intuitive platform, supporting dynamic targeting and segmentation, next best action, omnichannel orchestration, patient discovery, therapeutic landscape analysis, opportunity assessment, and bottom-up forecasting. Founded in 2007, Verix serves pharmaceutical, biotech, and specialty pharma commercial organizations from offices in the United States and Israel.

About Trinity

Trinity is a life sciences commercialization company that combines deep therapeutic, functional, and commercial expertise with AI-powered platforms. For more than 30 years, pharmaceutical, biotech, and medtech companies have relied on Trinity to connect strategy, data, and execution—supporting better decisions, more confident launches, and sustained commercial performance. Trinity helps clients turn insight into action and bring innovations to market with greater speed and confidence. Learn more at trinitylifesciences.com.

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Baker Hill Launches $10,000 Battle of OKC Pitch Competition for Veteran Entrepreneurs

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New competition brings Baker Hill, The Verge OKC, IVMF, Gradient, and Oklahoma SBDC together to support Oklahoma veterans as they build and grow businesses

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oct. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Oklahoma veteran entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to compete for $10,000, showcase their businesses and connect with resources to help them grow through Battle of OKC, a new business pitch competition culminating live on Veterans Day in Oklahoma City.

Baker Hill today announced the competition in collaboration with The Verge OKC and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), Gradient and Oklahoma SBDC. Battle of OKC will bring veteran entrepreneurs together with business leaders, mentors and community resources while giving them a platform to put their ideas and businesses in the spotlight.

“Veterans know how to lead, adapt and find a way forward when the path isn’t obvious — the same qualities it takes to build a business,” said Andy Ivankovich, chairman and CEO of Baker Hill. “Battle of OKC is about putting opportunity behind that potential. We want to give veteran entrepreneurs a platform to tell their stories, connect with people and resources that can help them grow and compete for capital that can make a meaningful difference in what comes next.”

Battle of OKC is open Veteran entrepreneurs whose business is majority veteran-owned, has operated for at least one year, and is registered in Oklahoma. Applicants will begin by submitting a three-minute video introducing their business, the opportunity they see and why they are ready to take the next step. A panel will select 10 entrepreneurs to advance to finals.

Ten finalists will then advance to the live Battle of OKC on Veterans Day, Wednesday, Nov. 11, at the Verge in Oklahoma City, where they will pitch before a panel of judges and compete for a $10,000 grand prize.

The Verge OKC, a nonprofit community that helps turn ideas into impactful businesses, will help recruit and coach participating entrepreneurs throughout the competition.

“The Verge is all about connecting entrepreneurs with the people, resources, and opportunities they need to turn their ideas into thriving businesses”, said Kristin Garcia, Executive Director. “We’re excited to be part of Battle of OKC and to purposefully create space for our military community to engage with Oklahoma’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Veterans bring valuable skills, leadership, and unique perspectives to business ownership, and they deserve to know there’s a community here ready to support them as they build and grow their businesses.”

The D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), will provide support outreach and recruitment/connect participating veterans with entrepreneurship resources/provide expertise.

“Just last month, we brought together veteran entrepreneurs, business leaders, and community partners in Oklahoma City for the Military Entrepreneurship Forum. Battle of OKC is a great example of how that momentum continues, with the community coming together to recognize, celebrate, and invest in Oklahoma’s veteran-owned businesses, said Barbara E. Carson, Managing Director, Programs and Policy. D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families. “At the D’Aniello IVMF, we know that when veteran entrepreneurs have access to the right networks, resources, and opportunities, they can build thriving businesses that strengthen their communities.”

Oklahoma SBDC will also provide recruitment and pitch coaching for the finalists the week of the event. “This collaboration brings together partners with complementary expertise to support Oklahoma’s veteran business owners,” said Dr. Michele Hockersmith, state director of the Oklahoma SBDC. “Our role is to help entrepreneurs connect their pitch to a sound business strategy, with clear financials and realistic growth plans. That preparation has value for the competition and beyond.”

Battle of OKC is designed to provide more than a stage and a prize. By bringing together veteran entrepreneurs, business leaders and organizations committed to supporting entrepreneurship, the competition creates connections and access to expertise that can continue well beyond the final pitch.

Veteran entrepreneurs interested in competing can learn more about eligibility and submit their three-minute video pitch at www.bakerhill.com/okc. Applications close October 29. Ten finalists will be selected to compete live in Oklahoma City on Veterans Day.

About Baker Hill
Baker Hill is the leading provider of commercial lending technology for banks and credit unions across the United States. Each month, financial institutions use Baker Hill’s platform to process more than $7 billion in lending originations — helping them Lend Better, Lend Faster, and Lend More™ in their communities. Backed by Flexpoint Ford, a private equity firm, Baker Hill delivers the scale, security and innovation required to meet the demands of modern banking. The company is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana, with operations in Santa Barbara, California. For more information, visit www.bakerhill.com.

About The Verge OKC
The Verge OKC, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community that helps turn ideas into impactful businesses, will help recruit and coach participating entrepreneurs throughout the competition. Learn more: https://www.vergeokc.com 

About the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families
The IVMF at Syracuse University is higher education’s first interdisciplinary academic institute, singularly focused on advancing the post-service lives of the nation’s military veterans and their families to serve those who have served. Learn more: https://ivmf.syracuse.edu 

About Oklahoma SBDC
The Oklahoma Small Business Development Center (Oklahoma SBDC) provides confidential, no-cost business advising, training and market research to help entrepreneurs start and grow businesses statewide. Hosted by Southeastern Oklahoma State University, the state-wide network helps business owners strengthen financial plans, prepare for financing and pursue growth opportunities. Learn more at www.oksbdc.org.

About Gradient
Gradient represents the blending of diverse ideas, people, and perspectives, adding texture and depth to our community. As one of the nation’s largest innovation hubs, Gradient fosters meaningful connections, nurtures bold ideas, and provides concierge introductions to entrepreneurial resources. Learn more at www.joingradient.com

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