GitLabs announced that Bill Staples is the company’s new CEO, replacing co-founder and CEO Sid Sijbrandij, who is resigning to focus on his health.

Sijbrandij has been fighting cancer for some time. Although his prognosis is promising, GitLab’s founder says it’s time for him to focus on his treatment and recovery.

“I am very pleased to welcome Bill to the role of CEO at GitLab. I believe his passion for software, commitment to customers, and strong track record make him the right person to lead the company going forward,” said Sid Sijbrandij. “What started as a collaboration tool for developers is now the leading AI-powered DevSecOps platform. I am confident GitLab is well-positioned for continued success in the next phase of our journey. This is the right time to focus on my cancer treatment and health. My treatments are going well, my cancer is not metastatic, and I’m working towards making a full recovery.”

Staples previously served as CEO of New Relic, a company specializing in helping companies achieve full-stack observability of their projects. During his tenure in the role, Staples helped drive revenue and profits for the company.

“For the past twelve years, Sid and the team have established GitLab as the most comprehensive AI-powered DevSecOps platform that developers love, and enterprises around the world rely on for software innovation,” said Bill Staples, CEO, GitLab. “I am honored and excited to lead the company into this next chapter and to help our customers and partners accelerate innovation and deliver business value.”

The board of directors expressed its support of Staples taking over for Sijbrandij.

“I’d like to thank Sid for his vision and leadership throughout the last decade. Over that time, GitLab has grown to be a market-leading DevSecOps company which now serves more than 10,000 customers with over $750M in run-rate revenue,” said Godfrey Sullivan, lead independent director, GitLab board of directors. “Looking ahead, the board and I could not be happier to welcome Bill to the role of GitLab CEO. His track record of bringing teams together, experience scaling enterprise software organizations, and focus on innovation makes him the right person to lead the company.”

GitLab has become increasingly important, especially since Microsoft’s purchase of rival GitHub. As Microsoft has integrated its Copilot AI into GitHub, some developers have looked for an alternative, with GitLab the logical choice.