Sonar, the leading platform for clean code, today announced that Derek Smith has joined the company as General Counsel. Smith joins Sonar as an accomplished entrepreneurial legal executive with more than 15 years of experience driving hypergrowth tech companies such as Palantir, Airbnb, and MessageBird to scale.
Prior to Sonar, Derek was the leader of a 20-person international legal department for MessageBird, one of the world's premier omnichannel communication platforms. He brings a record of success in developing and implementing the full scope of legal matters, including facilitating global sales, overseeing data privacy, regulatory compliance, and advising boards on shareholder and corporate governance matters. Smith has also been instrumental in supporting senior leadership on company strategy relating to IPO readiness, employment, litigation, product development, and data security.
“Derek has a proven track record of leading high-performing teams and supporting business growth. We are proud to add such a talented leader to our team,” said Olivier Gaudin, CEO and co-founder of SonarSource. “Derek’s appointment comes at an exciting time for Sonar as we execute plans to grow quickly. His expertise will bring fresh viewpoints to our growth strategy to reach $1 billion in total revenue.”
This new appointment continues Sonar’s momentum this year. In addition to the $412 million funding round, which brought the company’s valuation to $4.7 billion, Sonar also expanded its presence across APAC with the creation of a Singapore regional headquarters, and brought on board a seasoned CMO, Manish Gupta.
“What struck me about Sonar is their impressive team of experts,” said Smith. “Sonar’s unique approach and vision for helping developers deliver better, cleaner code positions them as an industry leader with the trust of over 300,000 organizations. Sonar has experienced tremendous expansion and I look forward to working with the team to advance the business and maximize the opportunities to come.”
Derek holds a BA from Harvard University, a MPhil & DPhil from the University of Oxford, and a JD from Yale Law School.