Samir Bodas, 1964-2026: The leader of Icertis puts human values ​​at the center of the company’s culture

In 2021, the independent judges of the GeekWire Awards named Samir Bodas as one of the finalists in the CEO of the Year category. He said no thanks.

The founder of Icertis, one of the most important startups in the region, has asked to withdraw from consideration. “It’s a great honor and we appreciate the support,” its chief marketing officer explained in an email at the time, “but we like to stick to our policy of group and individual rewards.”

His friends and colleagues will see this moment as Samir of old – building and leading a multi-billion dollar company while insisting that the limelight was elsewhere.

That’s one of the highlights this week after the company announced that Bodas had died following a battle with cancer. He was 61 years old, and resigned as CEO of Icertis last August, saying at the time that he planned to focus on his life.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, in an email to GeekWire, described a friendship with Bodas that began more than 30 years ago when both started at Microsoft. They lived in an apartment near the company’s Redmond headquarters.

“As a leader, he was ambitious, he took risks, and he had an entrepreneurial spirit that we all loved,” Nadella said. And as a friend, he was happy, welcoming, and had a zest for life that was evident to those around him. I truly loved every moment I spent with him.”

The two joined Microsoft in the same year, 1992. Bodas spent seven years there in sales and marketing roles. Nadella, of course, never left, stepping up to become CEO in 2014. But they stayed close, eventually owning the Seattle Orcas, a Major League Cricket franchise.

S. “Soma” Somasegar, managing director of Madrona Venture Group who was also part of that Microsoft group and owner of Orcas, was an angel investor in Icertis.

“I had a front row seat to Samir and how he built and grew Icertis to what it is today,” Somasegar said. All these years, he always said, ‘This is the most important thing in my professional life and I want to do this forever.’ Until the end, he lived like that.”

When the team got the chance to bring Major League Cricket to Seattle, Somasegar said, Bodas jumped at the chance. “He was very vocal about this being one of the ways he wanted to give back to the Pacific Northwest community.”

His way to Seattle

Born in Pune, India, Bodas came to the United States in 1982 to attend the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a degree in computer science. His first job was as a programmer at National Instruments in Austin, where he was employee number 42.

“The start-up bug bit me then, and it lasted 16 years,” Bodas said in 2021, explaining that the experience gave him “a deeper appreciation of why tenacity, hard work, creativity, timing, and ultimately calmness are key ingredients for startup success.”

After receiving an MBA from Wharton in 1992, he joined Microsoft and later managed two IT services companies – Disha Technology and Aztecsoft – with rapid growth and successful exits.

In 2009, he met Monish Darda, former CEO of BladeLogic, and the two founded cloud computing startup Icertis.

The Bellevue-based company creates software that helps large businesses manage the complex web of contracts that govern their relationships with suppliers, customers, and partners. Bodas saw contracts not as immutable legal documents but as strategic assets — sources of insight that could help companies save money, move faster, and manage risk.

Icertis was the first company in the contract lifecycle management category to reach the $1 billion mark, in 2019. It was reportedly worth $5 billion at one point in 2021. The privately held company has raised more than $500 million. More than a third of the Fortune 100 are customers.

Anand Subbaraman, who succeeded Bodas as CEO of Icertis last year, called him “a pioneer in every way” in the company’s announcement of his passing this week.

“His belief in Icertis — its work, its people, and its strengths — has been unwavering,” Subbaraman said, adding that the company “will continue to be guided by the principles he has set.”

Darda, a co-founder and CTO who co-founded the company with Bodas in 2009, said his longtime business partner has a rare ability to inspire.

“He challenged us all to think big, act with integrity, and build a company that matters and lasts,” Darda said. “The company we are today is a testament to his vision.”

Laughter as the main value

Bodas was not always a cultural evangelist. He was open about his conversion.

“When I came out of business school, I thought culture was all BS,” Bodas said at the TiE Seattle event in 2019. “I thought it was all about making money, and as long as you put enough money in people’s pockets, they’re going to suffer. That’s totally wrong.”

At Icertis, he and Darda created a framework they call FORTE – Fairness, Openness, Respect, Collaboration, and Execution. The company’s internal letter “Culture at Icertis” says that its founders want to build a company “based on values ​​and where they will laugh more than any place they have worked before.”

Kellan Carter, who led Ignition Partners’ investment in Icertis in 2016 and is now a founding partner at Fuse, saw those values ​​in action early on. He and Ignition co-founder John Connors traveled to India in 2017 for an annual town hall, where Bodas introduced Connors as a new board member.

“After introducing John, he asked the whole company – ‘but do you know the first reason why we chose to work with Ignition and John?'” Carter recalls. And the whole company shouted ‘FORTE.’

It was a powerful example of what happens when a company aligns with core values.

“Samir leads by these values ​​every day,” Carter said.

Seth Nesbitt, who worked as chief marketing officer at Icertis and is now chief revenue officer at Zuper, said Bodas meant it. “A lot of CEOs focus on efficiency and execution – Samir did – but he also thought that laughter and happiness at work was important,” Nesbitt said.

When the pandemic hits, they introduce the “Four Rings of Duty” – a prioritization framework that puts self-care first, then family, then community, and finally business. Bodas compared it to an airplane safety instruction to put your oxygen mask on first.

“When things get tough – which they always do in the beginning – Samir will have to deal with the team and the culture again,” Nesbitt said. “The Four Rings of Responsibility, emerging from the fog of the first COVID, are a good example of that.”

It was heard beyond Icertis. GeekWire founder John Cook, who moderated a panel during the Bodas riots alongside business leaders Rich Barton and Elena Donio, often cited the Four Rings as a philosophy that helped him navigate the time.

In his email, Nadella said he was comforted knowing the Bodas would continue.

“He has had a profound impact on many people over the years,” the Microsoft CEO wrote, “and while we mourn this loss, I am comforted by how his legacy will continue through his family and loved ones and through the company he built at Icertis.”