Taylor Rhodes named Applied Systems next CEO
Reid French, Applied's previous CEO, will continue to advise the company as a member of its board of directors.
Applied Systems has named Taylor Rhodes as the company’s next CEO. Reid French, Applied’s previous CEO, will continue to advise the company as a member of its board of directors.
Most recently, Rhodes served as CEO of SMS Assist, a cloud-based software platform for multisite property management. He is a former United States Marine Corps infantry officer and holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“My experiences at both Rackspace and SMS Assist have focused on enabling companies in other industries to adopt and leverage new technology to create revenue growth and cost savings in their own business models,” says Rhodes. “I think that insurance agencies in this time of change and digital transformation are no different. Our job at Applied is to enable agencies and brokerages to consume technology in more valuable ways.”
Related: 6 P&C insurers in top 100 employers for vets in 2019
Past experience
Rhodes joins Applied with more than two decades of technology and tech-enabled services leadership experience.
Before SMS Assist, he was CEO of Rackspace, which was consistently recognized under his leadership as a technology and customer service leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, the annual ranking of top cloud companies. Rackspace was also recognized for its company culture, earning spots on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list multiple times, and named the #2 Best Midsize Employer by Forbes for 2017.
“I’m very excited to be joining Applied during this period of digital transformation for the insurance industry,” Rhodes said in a press release. “I look forward to working with Applied’s outstanding executive team and talented employee base to extend and accelerate the company’s product leadership.”
Related: 18 insurance companies among America’s best midsize employers