UKG Names New President, GTM: Meet Rachel Barger

UKG, a leading provider of HR, payroll, workforce management, and culture solutions for all people, today announced that Rachel Barger, current Senior Vice President of the Americas at Cisco Systems, will join UKG as President, GTM on May 13, 2024. Barger will report to UKG CEO Chris Todd and will lead all go-to-market aspects of UKG, overseeing sales, marketing, and customer relationship management.

“Rachel is known for her exceptional ability to cultivate meaningful relationships with customers, partners, and the people she leads. Her exceptional track record speaks volumes about her ability to navigate complex challenges while fostering an environment of inclusivity and innovation,” said Todd. “Rachel’s dedication to change management, value realization, and driving tangible business outcomes will be a tremendous asset for UKG as we continue to grow and scale our business.”

Barger joins UKG at a time of exciting growth, as the company now has more than 80,000 organizations worldwide and has been named to the Fast Company Brands That Matter list. Additionally, the company’s commitment to its Partner for Life promise has resulted in several awards and accolades for its differentiated customer experience (CX) model, which is designed to instill customer confidence, accelerate value, and build great workplaces through technology built for all. 

“I’ve always been passionate about helping organizations succeed through technology transformation, and that’s something UKG does extremely well,” said Barger. “What I’m most excited about is the opportunity to help create a great place to work for tens of thousands of organizations around the world. Improving the employee experience by delivering innovation and driving inclusion at that scale is thrilling, and absolutely what made me so excited to come to UKG.”

Barger has deep go-to-market expertise with more than 20 years focused on driving profitable growth and leading high-performing, highly engaged teams across the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and Asia Pacific regions. As SVP of the Americas at Cisco — which recently ranked No. 2 overall on the 2024 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For^® list by Great Place To Work^® — she is responsible for overseeing approximately $37 billion in annual sales while leading a richly diverse and dynamic team of 6,500 employees across 35 countries. Barger is also the Global co-Executive Sponsor of Women of Cisco and Americas Executive Sponsor of Cisco Pride employee resource groups.

“UKG’s mission to inspire organizations to be a great place to work through inclusive technology isn’t just a slogan, it’s at the heart of its own culture,” said Barger. “It’s critically important to me personally to work for a company that practices what it preaches for its employees and its customers every single day.” 

Prior to joining Cisco, Barger held pivotal leadership roles in various sectors of the technology industry, including several executive sales positions for SAP. Barger, who will be based at the UKG headquarters office in Weston, Fla., holds an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management (UNSW) and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware.

“Rachel embodies a growth mindset — something that is core to our culture at UKG — and she consistently motivates and inspires those around her,” continued Todd. “Rachel will bring together our sales, marketing, and customer relationship management teams to build a greater level of collaboration and optimization as we double down on our focus on our customers.”