Morgan Stanley Hires Workday’s Brittany Skoda to Head Software Banking

(Bloomberg) -- Morgan Stanley has hired Brittany Skoda, who was most recently an executive at Workday Inc., to become its global head of software investment banking, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg.

Skoda, who worked at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. before being hired by Workday in 2018, joins a growing team with several senior women bankers in Morgan Stanley’s technology division. She was most recently a member of Workday’s corporate venture capital group, according to the memo from Andy Kearns, the Morgan Stanley’s head of global technology banking.

A representative for Morgan Stanley confirmed the contents of the memo and a representative for Workday confirmed Skoda’s departure.

Skoda, who spent almost a decade at Goldman Sachs, has worked with enterprise software companies including Zendesk Inc. Skoda has a “deep understanding of our space and strong financial acumen,“ Zendesk Chief Financial Officer Elena Gomez said.

Morgan Stanley also said in the memo that Melissa Knox, a banker who joined the firm in 2015 from Citigroup Inc., is the global head of software alongside Skoda. Knox’s clients have included application software company Smartsheet Inc., which she helped advise on an initial public offering in 2018.

“My experience with Melissa ran counter to what I’d been told about the grind of the IPO process,” Smartsheet Chief Executive Officer Mark Mader said in a statement.

Dave Chen is being promoted to be head of West Coast technology banking, alongside Paul Kwan, according to the memo.

Last year, Morgan Stanley promoted Lauren Cummings and Ashley MacNeill to co-head its technology equity capital markets practice in the Americas. Kate Claassen is also a head of global Internet alongside Umi Mehta, who was hired last year from Bank of America Corp.

Morgan Stanley’s software group advised Forescout Technologies Inc. on its $1.9 billion sale earlier this month to private equity firm Advent International. In 2019, it advised on high-profile listings including Uber Technologies Inc and Slack Technologies Inc.

--With assistance from Nico Grant.

To contact the reporter on this story: Liana Baker in New York at lbaker75@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, Michael Hytha, Matthew Monks

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