Rackspace Taps Former VMware Marketing Guru as CMO

Cloud service provider and hosting company Rackspace (RAX) has tapped former VMware (VMW) CMO Rick Jackson as the company’s new CMO, looking to leverage his industry knowledge and Rackspace’s leadership position around hybrid cloud computing.

Jackson, who joined the company at the beginning of July, will direct Rackspace’s global marketing strategy and execution toward the company’s hybrid cloud goals and initiatives.

Before Rackspace, Jackson was responsible for leading VMware’s global marketing strategy, a CMO role he held since early 2009. He also held chief marketing roles at Borland Software and BEA Systems.

Rackspace President Lew Moorman said in his prepared remarks that Jackson’s background makes him a valuable addition to the team.

Jackson said in a prepared statement that hybrid cloud will lead the future of cloud computing.

Rackspace hired John Igoe, former executive director of cloud and big data solutions in the Dell (DELL) Datacenter Solutions group, as the company’s new vice president of private cloud in late April 2013.