Richard Zobrist to Become Cloudera's New VP of Sales for Switzerland and Eastern Europe

Cloudera has appointed Richard Zobrist as its new Vice President of Sales for Switzerland and Eastern Europe, effective August 2026. In his new role, he will be responsible for sales in the region and will report directly to Yari Franzini, General Vice President of South, Central & Eastern Europe. Zobrist’s mission is to drive the company’s expansion in the region’s markets, support companies in their data and AI transformation projects, and strengthen relationships with customers and strategic partners.

Extensive experience in the technology industry

Richard Zobrist brings extensive leadership experience in the technology industry. Most recently, he served for several years as Country Manager for Switzerland at Red Hat, where he expanded the company’s Swiss operations, particularly in the strategic areas of cloud and AI. Prior to that, he led the Austrian business as Interim Country Manager and, as Head of Partners & Alliances, was responsible for building the partner ecosystem in Switzerland. Before that, Zobrist, who is based in Zurich, held senior positions at Swisscom, IBM Switzerland, and IBM UK, and was a co-owner of a cloud consulting firm. In these roles, he gained extensive experience in managing key accounts as well as in the cloud, infrastructure, and partner businesses.

Digital Sovereignty as a Strategic Priority

«Digital sovereignty is one of the key strategic issues of our time for companies in Switzerland and Eastern Europe,» says Richard Zobrist. «Companies want to use AI but retain control over their data—regardless of where the data is stored. That’s exactly what Cloudera makes possible with its modern data management platform. I look forward to guiding our customers in the region on this journey and helping them unlock the full potential of their data.»

To achieve this goal, Zobrist is currently actively seeking experts in strategic sales and customer service to help companies in the region maximize the value of their data.

Yari Franzini, General VP of South, Central, and Eastern Europe at Cloudera, emphasizes the significance of the appointment: «Switzerland is a strategically important market for Cloudera, and Richard is the ideal candidate for this role. With his in-depth knowledge of the local market and his many years of leadership experience in the technology industry, he will provide strategic advice to companies in Switzerland and Eastern Europe and help them leverage digital sovereignty and Private AI as strategic competitive advantages.»

Source: www.cloudera.com