Phil Draper

Chief Executive Officer Manago AI (formerly SALESmanago)

Last Reviewed: September 29, 2026

Executive Summary

Phil Draper is Chief Executive Officer of Manago AI, the Polish customer engagement platform that until recently traded as SALESmanago. He took the role in November 2025 after more than a decade at Dotdigital, the marketing automation company, where he most recently ran the EMEA division and earlier held roles including chief marketing officer and general manager for EMEA. At Manago AI his stated brief is international expansion, the development of the platform’s AI capabilities, and a company culture he describes as people-first.

Career Highlights

• Appointed CEO of SALESmanago in November 2025, succeeding Brian Plackis Cheng, who had led the company since April 2024.
• Leads the company through its renaming as Manago AI and its positioning around agentic AI for marketers.
• Led Dotdigital’s EMEA division, covering its commercial, marketing and professional services teams.
• Spent more than a decade at Dotdigital in roles including CMO and General Manager EMEA, during which the business grew to more than $90 million in annual recurring revenue.

Professional Journey

Draper built his career at Dotdigital, the email and omnichannel marketing platform, where he spent more than ten years. The company that later hired him describes those years as including spells as chief marketing officer and as general manager for EMEA, culminating in leadership of the EMEA division with responsibility for its commercial, marketing and professional services teams. Over that period Dotdigital grew, organically and through acquisitions, to more than $90 million in annual recurring revenue.

In November 2025 SALESmanago, a customer engagement and marketing automation platform founded in Poland and based in Kraków, appointed him chief executive. He succeeded Brian Plackis Cheng, who had led the company from April 2024 through a period of expansion that included the acquisitions of Leadoo, a conversational marketing tool, and Thulium, a contact-centre software business. The company, backed by Perwyn and SilverTree Equity, sells mainly to mid-market and eCommerce brands. On his appointment Draper said his focus would be “driving growth, expanding AI capabilities, and ensuring that every customer touchpoint delivers measurable impact”.

The company has since renamed itself Manago AI, presenting Manago AI, Leadoo AI and Thulium AI as an integrated family and arguing that marketing software should become simpler as it grows more powerful, with agentic AI taking on manual work. Its About page describes Draper’s priorities as accelerating global expansion, enhancing the platform’s AI and building a people-first culture, and quotes his view that “meaningful success is never achieved alone”.

Education

No education record was found in any source read for this profile.