Koa Club Spotlight -
Cyril Treacy

Founders Marc Benioff and Parker Harris and just 16 other employees have been here longer than Cyril Treacy. With over 20 years of tenure at Salesforce, Cyril has seen it all. See his career story below.

Cyril came to Salesforce less than a year after the company was founded. That means he has been at the company for over 20 years and is a proud member of the Koa Club. In his first role as a Support Manager, he was instrumental in helping to build out the the EMEA support team and launching our outsourced service model at the time. After 20 years and 8 different jobs in 3 business units, Cyril currently works as the Vice President of the EMEA Center of Excellence for Nonprofit & Education Clouds. In this role, Cyril leads a team of thought leaders that help support Salesforce EMEA customers in the Nonprofit and Education industries.

Why the move to Salesforce.org and helping support our Nonprofit and Education customers? Cyril says it is all thanks to Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff. At Dreamforce in 2013, Cyril tells us, “Marc was giving his keynote speech and started talking about the thirds of his life. The first one being education. The second one being building this company, Salesforce. And finally, the last third, giving back. This inspired me greatly. What would my legacy be? How will people remember me?” With that in mind Cyril inquired internally about making the move, and when the opportunity opened he didn’t look back.

With his latest move to the nonprofit space, he is currently working on two globally impacting projects that he is extremely proud of. The first is Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Gavi is currently working with Salesforce to help equitably distribute two billion COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2021. You can read the press release for this project here. The second project is around the work Salesforce is doing with the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Together, Salesforce and CEPI are working to automate funding and impact management in the fight against emerging infectious diseases. You can read the press release for his project here.

Whether it is your first week at Salesforce or the start of your fifth year at the company, Cyril was able to give some important advice that everyone can benefit from. Cyril told us, “In Salesforce, a now 55,000+ person company, your value to the organization is your brand and your network. Who knows you when you aren’t in the room yourself? Who will stand up and champion you when you aren’t there in the discussion?” He continued, “We have created this culture of winning as a team and losing as a team. You need to be able to choose to help people that need help. Don’t always think about what may be in it for you. Think about the bigger picture.”

We asked Cyril for specific advice to others on his career journey at Salesforce and how he attained the numerous different roles that he has held over the last 20 years. He told us, “I started as a Customer Support Representative here - a very entry-level role at the company at the time. I was able to work my way to being the Support Manager in EMEA. After 5 years in that role, I decided it was time for a new challenge. My first piece of advice here is to network, network, and network! Reach out to others on teams you are interested in. Learn about their roles. What do they like and dislike? My second piece of advice would be to give yourself options. Most people have options A and B but I believe you need to develop options C and D as well. When you give yourself more options you will come out better for it.”

Cyril is an active member of Genforce in the Salesforce Dublin office. Genforce is a community dedicated to representing all generations in the workforce by combating age discrimination and connecting employee pathways across all ages. Cyril told us, “Genforce is all about how to share information across generations and age gaps. In our Dublin office we have close to over 2,000 employees. We have people from 18 to 62 years of age. This is not only a massive range of ages but a massive range of cultures as well. For example, parents want to know about TikTok from their younger colleagues at the company. The younger generations really want to learn and absorb knowledge from the older generations. They want to know what mistakes people have made in their careers. They want to learn what they should be aware of and look out for in their career journey. All the young people are going mad over Bitcoin. The older generation has no idea what it involves.” Cyril has found these conversation enlightening and hopes this bridges the gaps we will continue to develop as the company grows. 

Giving back is a big part of Cyril’s story both inside and outside of his professional life. He does a lot of work with the St. Dominic’s College, Ballyfermot. Cyril told us, “I get to mentor girls that are interested in technology at the school. This past year was a big success as four girls were able to get into Trinity College in Dublin.” He continued, “The girls happen to be born into an underserved part of Dublin. Naturally, they have set low standards or ambitions for themselves but they could be so much more. My message to all of them is always to be whatever you want to be. Chase your dreams.” Salesforce Dublin just started a brand new apprenticeship program and Cyril tells us that he is encouraging many of the girls at the school to apply for the program. 

Cyril is an avid runner and belongs to the Blackrock A.C. running club in Dublin. Cyril told us, “It is all about getting out of the house and going for a run. It has a great social aspect to it as well.” Now, in this new world of COVID, obviously the social aspect isn’t possible. He went on, “We have started virtual races where you find yourself competing in 5k or 10k races. I have also started my own little home gym so I can keep exercising during the lockdowns. You need to work on your physical and mental resilience to keep up with your ambition, keep up with your career, and improve your abilities.” Cyril also told us, “I can’t thank my wife, Marie Therese, enough for training with me during the pandemic with our new running program.” He credits his wife for the new routine they have and the ongoing support she has given him during his career. 

We asked Cyril what his favorite part about being a member of the Salesforce Koa Club is. He told us, “The Koa Club is one global family. I obviously miss that we are unable to get together during the pandemic this year - that has been challenging. It reinvigorates me to meet Koa members from Sydney to Dallas to Dubai and so on. It is a lot of fun to bump into old colleagues and teammates I have met through my 20+ years at the company.”

Want to learn more about Cyril’s career journey? Connect with him on LinkedIn! Or, if his story has piqued your interest in careers at Salesforce, go ahead and explore open roles today.