Patrick Nichols CEO, Quest Software

Quest Software, Inc. appointed Patrick Nichols as new CEO.

A software technology veteran with over 20 years of strategy and business development experience, he will lead Quest through the company’s next phase of growth.

Former Quest CEO, Mike Kohlsdorf, who preceded Nichols, will transition to his primary role as president of Francisco Partners Consulting.

“Quest is poised for exciting growth in all areas of the business, including its vast solutions portfolio,” he said. “Patrick’s clear vision for customer engagement, employee success and product innovation will not only enrich the Quest experience but allow us to adopt new and best practices as needed during an uncharted period in our global history.”

Prior to joining Quest, Nichols was CEO at Corel Corporation, where he cultivated a results-driven culture and delivered a product suite focused on design, collaboration, and knowledge worker software for 100 million customers. Under his leadership, Corel improved its growth rate with a shift in business focus that resulted in increasing recurring revenue and enhanced profitability. Additionally, he was responsible for numerous acquisitions that strengthened Corel’s portfolio offerings to address customers’ emerging business challenges. Prior to that, he held executive leadership, product management and technical consulting roles across several enterprise software businesses.

“Industries worldwide are working under unique challenges right now while at the same time discovering new opportunities to create, plan and care for their stakeholders,” he said. “We are no exception and I am excited to lead Quest in continuing to evolve its incredible solutions portfolio and increase the pace of our mergers and acquisitions to deliver the most advanced technology in IT management. I am committed to the success of our customers, empowering our employees and enabling our partners in order to strategically lead us into our next great chapter.“

“It’s an opportune time to capitalize on the strong momentum Quest has built,” said Brian Decker, partner, Francisco Partners. “The future is bright for Quest and we’re excited to be on this journey together under Patrick’s leadership.”