PARTNERS
Patrick Dennis is an operator-turned-investor, corporate strategist, and seven-time Chief Executive Officer who has spent over three decades building, transforming, and scaling complex technology and enterprise software companies. As the Founder and Partner at Emulsion Partners, he skips the ivory-tower theories in favor of roll-up-your-sleeves execution—partnering directly with founders, board members, and management teams to streamline operations, sharpen strategy, and drive sustainable long-term value creation.
Throughout his career leading middle-market and global enterprises, Patrick has built a reputation for navigating high-stakes corporate turns, optimizing capital structures, and driving significant market outcomes. Most recently, as President and CEO of Avaya, he guided the company’s enterprise CX strategy before transitioning to his current role as Executive Chairman of the Board. Prior to Avaya, he served as CEO of Venafi, where he led the strategy and growth that culminated in its $1.5 billion sale to CyberArk, and as CEO of ExtraHop, where he nearly doubled the company’s scale while establishing its market leadership in enterprise AI.
At Emulsion Partners, Patrick applies a battle-tested perspective to capital deployment and private equity buyouts. His approach to governance is rooted in operational discipline and practical common sense: rigorous cash flow dynamics, clear organizational accountability, and zero fluff. Whether evaluating B2B software platforms, cybersecurity, or tech-enabled service businesses, he looks for durable business models with real substance behind the numbers.
Beyond Emulsion Partners, Patrick serves as Chairman of the Board at Ripcord and is an active contributor to the Forbes Technology Council. Grounded in a career that spans leadership roles at EMC and Oracle, as well as an Information Technology degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology, he balances high-level strategy with a straightforward, founder-aligned mindset for leadership teams that value candid feedback, clear alignment, and results over rhetoric.