Dinesh Senanayake

Chief Executive Officer RethinkFirst

Last Reviewed: September 26, 2026

Executive Summary

Dinesh Senanayake has been Chief Executive Officer of RethinkFirst since 2 March 2026. RethinkFirst is a health technology company that provides cloud-based treatment tools, training and clinical support for behavioral health and neurodiversity. Its customers are employers, school districts and ABA providers. He is an operator by background rather than a clinician or founder. Before RethinkFirst he held chief operating officer and chief financial officer roles at the software companies Paessler and Ventiv Technology. Earlier he held leadership roles at the healthcare software companies Optima Healthcare Solutions and Net Health. Since taking over he has emphasised customers and disciplined execution and has filled out the company’s commercial leadership team.

Career Highlights

• Appointed Chief Executive Officer of RethinkFirst effective 2 March 2026. The appointment was announced on 12 March 2026.
• Previously served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer at Paessler and Ventiv Technology, where RethinkFirst says he led global expansion and SaaS and AI-driven transformations.
• Held leadership roles at Optima Healthcare Solutions and Net Health, guiding founder-led and growth-stage companies through transitions.
• Earlier held executive positions at BIAS Corporation and IBM, where RethinkFirst says he led acquisitions and managed international operations.
• As CEO, added Rob Kennedy as SVP of Enterprise Sales (April 2026), Shane Wilson as Chief Customer Officer (August 2026) and Joe Folan as SVP of Marketing (August 2026).

Professional Journey

RethinkFirst’s account of Senanayake’s career starts at IBM and BIAS Corporation. There he held executive positions in which he led acquisitions, expanded market presence and managed complex international operations. He then worked in healthcare software, in leadership roles at Optima Healthcare Solutions and Net Health. RethinkFirst describes this as guiding founder-led and growth-stage companies through pivotal transitions while growing revenue.

He then served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer at Paessler and at Ventiv Technology. In those roles he led global expansion, improved customer retention and oversaw SaaS and AI-driven transformations. RethinkFirst’s announcement describes him as “a proven value creation leader”.

RethinkFirst was founded in 2007 to provide scalable, evidence-based autism treatment training tools and support for caregivers. It has since grown into three businesses: RethinkBH for behavioral health providers, RethinkCare for employers and RethinkEd for schools. The company says its products serve more than 11 million employees, a third of the Fortune 100, many of the largest US public school districts and more than 96,000 individual behavioral health providers. The board, chaired by Salil Donde, named Senanayake CEO in March 2026. Donde called him “the right leader at the right time in the growth and innovation journey of RethinkFirst”, and pointed to AI as a way for the company to move faster.

Senanayake described the change as “a moment of continuation and acceleration, not reinvention”. He said the mission was personal to him: behavioral health, he said, “sits at the heart of something personal for so many families, including my own.” He set out the company’s priorities for 2026 as “grow, retain, innovate”, with every strategic decision to be tested against whether it improves outcomes for customers. In his first six months he built out the commercial team. He hired a senior vice president of enterprise sales for RethinkCare and RethinkEd and created the role of Chief Customer Officer, calling it “a clear investment in strengthening that promise” to customers. He also appointed a senior vice president of marketing to cover all three business lines.

Education

No education record was found in the sources consulted.