Today, Claris welcomes the newest member of our executive team: Peter Nelson, Vice President of Engineering. Most recently Chief Product Officer at Caavo, Peter brings more than 20 years’ experience leading product and engineering teams. At Claris, he will continue to scale the engineering organization, increase technical depth and efficiency, and support the company’s mission to empower problem solvers around the globe. Peter replaces Frank Lu, who is retiring after more than 20 years at the company.
Engineering at Claris
The Claris Engineering team builds the world’s leading Workplace Innovation Platform for teams of a few to a few hundred. The company’s service offerings, Claris Connect and Claris FileMaker, allow problem solvers to quickly solve a universe of unique problems – even as they evolve.
“Claris is moving into a new and exciting space,” said Peter. “We have a chance to engage some of the most cutting-edge technologies like AI and Machine Learning, pair them with the ease of use we’re famous for, and provide businesses access to a competitive edge they’ve never known before.”
A Proven Leader In Product and Engineering
Peter received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA. His early career was spent between early stage startups and large corporations. In 2007, he joined Claris (then FileMaker, Inc.), and over the next 7 years led three product development efforts to include a 1.0 version of a boxed software product, a personal database (Bento), and two major releases of the product. Peter left FileMaker to become Vice President of Software Engineering at EVA Automation, Inc., then after an acquisition as Chief Product Officer at Bowers and Wilkins. He now re-joins Claris after several years as Chief Product Officer at Caavo, a Bay Area consumer electronics brand. At Caavo, Peter was responsible for developing the product roadmap, ensuring uncompromising commitment to product quality, and discerning what the product needed to feel and be like for customers to fall in love with a new brand.
“When I think back to the places where I’ve been the happiest, it’s been the years I spent at FileMaker,” said Peter. “The opportunity to come back to a place I love and turn it into something that will be as successful as I think it can, has me excited.”
Peter begins immediately and will report to Claris CEO Brad Freitag.