Cockroach Labs, the company behind the leading distributed SQL database CockroachDB, today announced that current Chief Product Officer (CPO) Nate Stewart will join its Board of Directors, effective immediately. This new board appointment comes on the heels of the company's Series D fundraising round of $86.6 million, as it meets the increasing demand in the cloud services market. In both his CPO and board member roles, Stewart will support Cockroach Labs' commitment to building the ideal database for the cloud-centric future, continuing to drive innovation in its revolutionary database.

The addition of Stewart to the board marks the first board seat change in Cockroach Labs' history and he is the first board member that is not a founder or investor in the company. Stewart joined Cockroach Labs in May 2017 as the Head of Product, and has steadily progressed to Chief Product Officer, where he drives product strategy and leads the Product Management, Product Design, and Education organizations. 

"Nate has an incredible understanding of the industry and a unique ability to empathize with the end users of our products, making him an essential addition to our board," said Spencer Kimball, CEO of Cockroach Labs. "In perfecting the product, he has spent years with his ear to the ground to learn what our target customers want and need, which is a crucial perspective we need as we navigate the increasing demands in the market. Nate has been a key leader on our team as we've grown over the past few years, so it's especially gratifying to now have him join us on the board as we execute our plans for rapid growth in the next few years."

As the worldwide public cloud services market grows an estimated 20 percent in 2020 to more than $260 billion, innovation and flexibility become essential components to disrupt slower-moving players operating on decades-old technology or an assembly of odds-and-ends services. Stewart's extensive background in product management and engineering, as well as his proven track record of innovation are valuable assets as Cockroach Labs continues its mission to be a leader in moving and managing critical transactional data in the cloud.

"Customer expectations are rising, data volumes are exploding, and new markets will continue to reward speed. In this environment, developers need a flexible data platform that will enable their plans rather than encumber them," said Stewart. "We've built CockroachDB from the ground up to take full advantage of the nearly unlimited resources available in the cloud. Over the last few years, we've helped startups and enterprises build resilient, scalable, and low-latency applications that were too difficult or too expensive to tackle with legacy relational databases. I'm honored to join the board and help continue that effort in my expanded role."