Marty Vanderploeg

Biography

Martin (Marty) J. Vanderploeg, Ph.D., is on a mission to transform the way people manage and report business data.

A longtime advocate for increased transparency in business reporting and co-founder of Workiva Inc., a $440 million cloud-based software technology company with a market cap over $3 billion, Marty pioneered the creation of an open, intelligent, and intuitive platform that simplifies complex work for global organizations.

As CEO of Workiva, Marty champions a culture of progress and sustainability. Under his leadership, Workiva has been named to Fortune’s 100 Best Places to Work List for the past four consecutive years. In 2021, Workiva was also the first SaaS company to join the UN Global Compact CFO Taskforce. In this capacity, Workiva will guide its peers in aligning their sustainability commitments with credible corporate finance strategies to create real-world impact.

Marty has over 30 years of experience in scaling software companies from start-ups to global enterprises and is known for his leadership in the technology sector. Before co-founding Workiva, Marty co-founded and served as chief technology officer of Engineering Animations Inc. (EAI) where he led the company through a period of rapid growth and expansion. As CTO, he spearheaded EAI’s development of computer graphics tools used in applications such as crime scene reconstruction, 3D animations of human anatomy and automotive design. In 2000, EAI was acquired by Unigraphics Solutions (now part of Siemens USA).

In addition to being a technology entrepreneur, Marty is also an esteemed educator. For nearly a decade, he served as a tenured professor of mechanical engineering at Iowa State University and was the founder and director of the Iowa State University Visualization Laboratory. Marty has a Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and a Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University.