CHICAGO  — IRI Wednesday announced the appointment of Baljit “Bal” Dail as president of IRI Global, effective April 1. In this role, Dail will lead and support IRI’s go to market commercial efforts in the U.S. and internationally. He will also join the IRI board of directors.

“We are thrilled to welcome Bal to IRI,” said Andrew Appel, president and chief executive officer of IRI. “Bal is an exceptional leader with a distinguished reputation and deep experience in the retail and technology sectors. His familiarity with the CPG and retail market, our business, (Bal previously served on IRI’s board of directors), and portfolio of solutions will enable him to hit the ground running, and his years of global operational expertise at the executive level will help IRI better serve our clients and deliver growth around the world.”

Dail joins IRI from New Mountain Capital (NMC), a major investor in IRI, where he serves as a senior advisor. Since joining NMC as managing director in 2012, he has been actively involved in helping IRI maximize the value of its Liquid Data platform for clients. From 2014 through 2017, Bal served as chairman and chief executive officer of JDA Software, a global market leader in supply chain software serving the CPG and retail sectors. Under Dail’s leadership, JDA developed a new strategy and brand, increased sales, and enhanced its partner ecosystem and completed a material investment by Blackstone Group L.P.

“Through NMC’s investment in IRI, I have had the opportunity to work closely with the company, and gained a deep appreciation for IRI’s innovative technology, talented leadership team and unparalleled market opportunity,” said Dail, “I am excited to build upon IRI’s progress and further advance its industry-leading platforms to help clients leverage the most actionable insights in the market to achieve fundamental growth.”

From 2005 to 2012, Dail served in a number of executive roles at Aon Corporation, including chief executive officer of Aon Hewitt Consulting and co-chief executive officer of Aon Hewitt.

Dail joins IRI as Piyush Chaudhari, president of the Americas and Strategy, will be departing IRI to pursue a new opportunity as CEO at Sgsco. “We thank Piyush for his wisdom, vision and contributions” continued Appel. “He’s been instrumental in helping bring IRI’s client strategy to life, and we wish him all the best as he embarks on his next chapter.”