CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--General Catalyst today announced that Tom Ebling, an accomplished executive who has led some of the Boston area’s most prominent technology companies, has joined the General Catalyst XIR program.

Most recently, Ebling served as the CEO and Chairman of Demandware (a former General Catalyst portfolio company), a provider of cloud commerce solutions. He led Demandware’s highly successful IPO in 2012 and led the company to the top spot in the commerce category. The company was acquired in 2016 by Salesforce. Prior to Demandware, Ebling was the CEO and Chairman of Lattice Engines, a provider of predictive marketing solutions. Earlier, he was the Chairman and CEO of ProfitLogic (a former General Catalyst portfolio company), a retail software provider, which was acquired by Oracle in 2005.

XIRs -- proven entrepreneurs and executives with deep domain expertise in key technology sectors -- leverage their industry knowledge and operational experience to “hatch” new start-ups or to take an active role counseling the management teams of existing founder-owned portfolio companies. They often take a board chairperson role, providing leadership and mentorship, and offering operational and strategic support.

As an XIR with General Catalyst, Ebling will leverage his strategic, operational and domain expertise to support businesses in a number of industries including commerce, analytics, and marketing technologies.

“General Catalyst has tapped into the region’s innovation ecosystem -- through its existing portfolio and the network of entrepreneurs they support who are currently creating great companies,” said Tom Ebling. “Having led two of GC’s former portfolio companies, I know the value the GC team places on ‘entrepreneurs helping entrepreneurs’ -- and am thrilled to lend my expertise to transform ideas into companies and support founders on their journey.”

“Tom brings two critical capabilities to our XIR program -- deep expertise in commerce and marketing technology, and a strong track record of leading companies through fast growth and acquisition,” said Larry Bohn, managing director, General Catalyst. “His unique insights and domain knowledge will be invaluable to our new investments and portfolio companies.”

About General Catalyst

General Catalyst is a venture capital firm that makes early-stage and transformational investments. The firm backs exceptional entrepreneurs who are building innovative technology companies and market leading businesses, including Airbnb, BigCommerce, ClassPass, Datalogix, Datto, Demandware, Gusto, The Honest Company, HubSpot, KAYAK, Oscar, Snapchat, Stripe, and Warby Parker. The General Catalyst partnership leverages its broad experience to help founders build extraordinary businesses. General Catalyst has offices in Cambridge, MA, Palo Alto, CA, San Francisco, CA, and New York City. For more information, visit: www.generalcatalyst.com or www.twitter.com/gcvp.