Scott Harper, who co-founded Dallas-based Dialexa in 2010, is stepping down as CEO. Monday marked his last day at the company.
After 14 years at the helm, Harper announced on LinkedIn that he’s passing the leadership of Dialexa—now an IBM company—to longtime colleague Ellen Dowd.
The transition marks a new chapter for the digital product engineering firm, which Harper built with co-founder Mark Haidar from the ground up. In 2022, IBM acquired Dialexa to “deepen its product engineering expertise and provide end-to-end digital transformation services for clients.”
For Harper and Haidar, the acquisition represented a major milestone in a journey that began with “$50, a domain name, and big dreams.” Reflecting on the early days, Harper has said, “We were dead broke and working from a garage, but for whatever reason, we never had a doubt.” Their goal, he explained, was simple but ambitious: to help companies build “great technology products alongside a team of people we loved working with.”
IBM Consulting brought Dialexa into its fold, with Harper leading the charge to steer IBM’s efforts in the digital product engineering market, a field Harper described as “the tip of the spear for competitive advantage.” The deal underscored Dialexa’s contribution to what was a $700 billion market at the time, which Harper and his team helped shape as a distinct sector.
“It feels surreal that it has now arrived,” Harper said on LinkedIn of his decision to step down. “I could be sad that it’s over, but I’m not. I’m celebrating. I’m celebrating the journey, the friends I made, and the Product Engineering market we helped create.”
Dialexa has helped bring many companies to life, including Vinli Inc., Rosy Wellness, and Robin as they found their own footholds in the industry.
Harper attributes much of Dialexa’s success to his team, or “Dialexans.” As he put it in 2022, “Founders start companies. Teams build companies. There are literally hundreds of people whose blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifice got us here.”
Looking forward, he expressed full confidence in Dowd as she steps into the CEO role: “There’s nobody better to take it from here… I have no doubt that under your leadership, Dialexa will continue to thrive, innovate, and set new standards in the industry.”
In her own announcement, Dowd noted that her five years with the company have been the most rewarding of her professional career, which spans about 15 years in leadership roles at Hitachi and over five years at PwC. “When we’re firing on all cylinders, there’s nothing we can’t do,” Dowd expressed in her own post. “Onward!”
Harper thanked IBM for entrusting Dialexa with a “critical role in building IBM’s Product Engineering business,” extending gratitude to IBM’s Dixie Adams for her guidance through the transition. He also shared a personal note for his wife, Rosy Wellness founder Dr. Lyndsey Harper, calling her his “anchor” and for his children, who he said have been his “biggest motivation and joy.”
Now, Harper says he looks forward to more family time and the chance to explore new adventures. “All things considered,” he wrote, “I’d do it all over again—without hesitation.”
But his LinkedIn tagline may give a hint of things to come: “Retired for now.”
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