Preston So Joins dotCMS as Vice President of Product

Preston So is an institution in the CMS world. A vanguard of the hallowed halls of content.

It's not hyperbole. He's been at it for a long time and made incredible contributions to the industry. 

Not only is So a gifted leader and communicator who's helped drive the product roadmap at places like Oracle, Gatsby, and Acquia, but he's also an adept writer who's penned multiple books on an array of CMS-related topics (it's worth noting that he's also an accomplished polyglot). 

Now, after a recent break, he's continuing his journey with a platform that's also somewhat of an institution: dotCMS, a leading hybrid-headless content management system first released in 2009.

“Having worked in the CMS world for 17 years, I've seen my fair share of market players come and go,” he remarked in a recent LinkedIn post. “But dotCMS has always struck me from the beginning as a formidable source of inspiration and innovation in the space.”

Today, the company announced that So has joined the company as Vice President of Product. In this role, he will be responsible for scaling the dotCMS product team and driving its product management, strategy, and design efforts. 

According to the company's press release, So will also be tasked with building a developer relations team as the company continues to grow its customer base and product portfolio. 

“We are delighted to welcome Preston to dotCMS," said Zain Ishaq, CEO at dotCMS. "Preston is a visionary leader in the CMS space who we have admired for a long time,”  “We are deeply focused on innovation as we solve complex content management challenges for our customers. Preston’s experience will help us bring cutting-edge products to our customers."

A visionary voice in the CMS realm

Preston So is a senior product leader with two decades of experience in software and 9 years of leading product, design, engineering, and developer relations at leading technology and media organizations. 

As mentioned, he is also the author of multiple books, including Immersive Content and Usability (A Book Apart, 2023), Voice Content and Usability (A Book Apart, 2021), Gatsby: The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly, 2021), and Decoupled Drupal in Practice (Apress, 2018).

A globally recognized authority on the intersections of content, design, and code, he is an editor at A List Apart and has delivered keynotes around the world in three languages. 

So is also the founder of Decoupled Days, the first and only non-profit headless CMS conference, held in New York and Albuquerque since 2017. 

“I’m truly excited to join the dotCMS team and to contribute to an organization that has long been at the vanguard of the CMS industry,” said So. “dotCMS has always been a formidable innovator in the space, and I’m humbled by the opportunity to support and learn from our customers’ success with best-of-breed headless APIs like GraphQL and established core capabilities like no-code page building and structured content modeling.” 

Building on a legacy of success

dotCMS has established a clear position in the market as a hybrid solution, providing headless CMS capabilities alongside marketer-focused tools like a page builder. 

That platform was designed to be flexible and developer-friendly, so users can architect around their requirements with an API-first model, allowing for easy integration with an existing tech stack. It's also a multi-site solution, providing simplified management for a broad ecosystem of experiences. 

As a content management system, dotCMS is focused on helping global enterprises with sophisticated content requirements. It's best suited for organizations across industries that manage multiple brands, websites, workflows, and content types across multiple languages. The blending of secure and scalable tools for a development team with intuitive editing tools for content and marketing teams makes it a comprehensive offering. 

dotCMS counts notable brands such as Dairy Queen, Newell, Greensky, Chewy, and Comcast have chosen dotCMS as customers.

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