Robert Ambrogi Blog
The e-discovery company CS Disco today announced that its board of directors has named Eric Friedrichsen as president and chief executive officer, filling the slot vacated when the company’s cofounder Kiwi Camara stepped down as CEO last September in the wake of allegations that he had groped a female employee.
Since Camara’s departure, Scott Hill, who had been a member of DISCO’s board since 2021, had served as interim CEO while the board searched for a permanent successor. Hill will take the position of board chair and work with Friedrichsen in transitioning to his new role, the company said.
Friedrichsen, who will start as CEO on April 29, comes to DISCO after having been CEO of Emburse, LLC, a provider of expense management products, from January 2020 to January 2024.
Previously, he was global head, commercial, SMB and growth markets, at Marketo Inc., a provider of marketing automation technology and a subsidiary of Adobe Inc. From 2008 to 2018, he held a series of executive and leadership roles at SAP and SAP Concur.
Read more about DISCO in the LawNext Legal Technology Directory.
Krishna Srinivasan, the current chair of DISCO’s board, said that the board conducted a months-long search to find the right candidate to take the company to its next stage of growth.
“We are confident Eric is that person,” Srinivasan said. “He is a seasoned technology veteran with a track record of scaling businesses, building best-in-class products and customer experiences, and developing and inspiring teams.”
“I am delighted to have been appointed to lead DISCO,” said Friedrichsen. “I’m inspired by DISCO’s mission to make the law work better for everyone. DISCO’s talented team and cutting-edge technology and products give me confidence we can deliver on that vision while creating value for our customers and investors.”
Under Camara’s leadership, DISCO in July 2021 became one of just a handful of legal technology companies ever to go public, listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
But, even before his departure, he stirred controversy when the Wall Street Journal reported that he was due to earn almost $110 million in 2022 — more than Apple CEO Tim Cook. Much of that was attributable to stock options that he forfeited when he existed the company.
Camara, who was also the youngest-ever graduate of Harvard Law School, was on my LawNext podcast in 2021 where he shared his backstory and discussed DISCO’s IPO.