Keith Krach is currently the CEO of 3Points, Inc., an investment holding company based in Los Gatos, CA. Krach co-founded Ariba (ARBA on NASDAQ) in 1996, serving as CEO for the first 5 years of Ariba’s history and Chairman of the Board for 7 years. Under his leadership as CEO, Ariba not only pioneered B2B, but also grew rapidly to become the dominant global player in the ever-evolving business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce industry. During his tenure as CEO, Krach took Ariba public, ultimately achieving a market capitalization of $34 billion and becoming one of the fastest growing software companies in history. In honor of his accomplishments in e-business, Ernst & Young named Krach the 2000 National Entrepreneur of the Year, the same year in which he was honored at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, with the Technology Pioneer Award.

After earning his B.S. degree in industrial engineering from Purdue University in 1979 as a General Motors Scholar and an MBA from Harvard University in 1981 as a GM Fellow, Krach worked at GM’s Cadillac Division, New York Treasurer’s Office, and GM’s Technical Center before being named as GM’s youngest-ever vice president at the age of 26, going on to spearhead GM’s first-ever Japanese joint venture, GMF Robotics.

After 10 years with GM, Krach headed out to Silicon Valley to join the founding team of Rasna Corporation as the Chief Operating Officer. Krach helped lead Rasna to be recognized as #3 on the Inc. 100 list of Fastest-Growing Companies. Rasna was sold in 1995 to Parametric Technologies (PMTC on NASDAQ) for $500 million. Krach then became the first entrepreneur-in-residence at Benchmark Capital where he assembled the team to form Ariba in 1996.

Krach has lectured at Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley and IMD in Switzerland. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of XOJet and Collabnet. Krach is committed to numerous philanthropic endeavors, including co-founding the Children’s Autistic Network, serving on the Board of Governors for Opportunity International, the largest issuer of micro loans in the world, and being named as the International President for the Sigma Chi Fraternity, with chapters at 220 universities in North America and over 250,000 members.

Return Interview List