New Relic, whose software monitors the performance of companies' applications and infrastructure, has named Steve Lucas chair of its board of directors, the company announced on October 29. Lucas remains chairman and chief executive of Boomi, whose software connects companies' applications and data.
The appointment comes four weeks after New Relic changed chief executives, and it gives the chair to the head of another company owned by the same two investment firms. Francisco Partners and TPG, which took New Relic private in 2023, have owned Boomi since 2021.
Lucas's record
Lucas has led Boomi since December 2022, when he succeeded David Meredith as chief executive, and Boomi's leadership page now lists him as chairman too. Before that he ran recruiting software maker ICIMS, which named him CEO effective March 2, 2020, and B2B marketing software company Marketo, which he took over in 2016. Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) agreed to buy Marketo for $4.75 billion in September 2018 and completed the deal on October 31, 2018, keeping Lucas in charge of the Marketo team.
Earlier he was president of platform and analytics products at SAP (NYSE: SAP), Boomi said, and he held senior roles at Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) and Business Objects. New Relic said he has served on the boards of Drift, ICIMS, TiVo/Rovi, SendGrid, Certinia, and Couchbase.
Why New Relic says it chose him
New Relic's announcement ties the choice to AI and to Lucas's record. "AI has rapidly reshaped enterprise technology, making intelligent observability across increasingly complex systems more important than ever," said Nandini Ramani, New Relic's chief executive, who called his record with enterprise platforms "a tremendous asset as we execute on our long-term vision."
As organizations accelerate their AI transformations, observability becomes foundational.Steve Lucas, in New Relic's announcement of his appointment, October 29, 2026
The announcement does not mention Francisco Partners or TPG. The two firms completed their purchase of New Relic on November 8, 2023, for $87 a share in cash, an equity value of about $6.5 billion. Two years earlier they had bought Boomi from Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) in a deal valued at $4 billion, which closed on October 1, 2021. Francisco Partners' list of investments shows both companies as current, and TPG's portfolio lists Boomi as active.
Brian Decker, co-chief investment officer at Francisco Partners, and Art Heidrich, a partner at TPG, were quoted in Boomi's 2022 announcement of Lucas's appointment and again in New Relic's October 1 announcement naming Ramani chief executive.
Changes at the top
When the take-private closed, all 10 directors then on New Relic's board left it, including founder Lew Cirne, its non-executive chairman, according to the company's Form 8-K filed that day. Four new directors were appointed in their place. Ashan Willy became chief executive on December 4, 2023. Since October 2025, New Relic has announced these changes at the top:
Date | Change |
|---|---|
October 20, 2025 | |
March 4 | |
March 24 | |
July 13 | |
October 1 | Nandini Ramani succeeds Willy as CEO and joins the board |
October 29 | Steve Lucas named board chair |
Source: New Relic press releases.
The announcement does not say who, if anyone, chaired the board before Lucas. None of the 107 press releases New Relic posted between the buyout's close and October 28 names a chair. Willy continues as an advisor to the board, the company said on October 1.
