Gerardo Salandra

Gerardo (“Jerry”) Salandra is the Co-Founder and CEO of Respond.io, an AI-powered customer conversation platform.

Born and raised in El Salvador, he developed a global outlook early, earning a scholarship to study in Germany before completing his MBA at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He speaks four languages, is a Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia honoree in Enterprise Technology, and serves as Chairman of the Artificial Intelligence Society of Hong Kong.

Jerry has built his career at the intersection of enterprise technology and high-growth startups, with roles spanning IBM, Google and Runtastic in Europe, where he was part of the early team that helped scale the fitness app to tens of millions of users ahead of its acquisition by Adidas in 2015. Over more than a decade living and working across continents, he learned firsthand how critical it is for businesses to meet consumers on the channels they actually use.

Convinced that most tools were still built for an email‑ and desktop‑first era, Jerry founded Respond.io in 2017 to give companies the infrastructure to communicate with customers in a messaging‑ and mobile‑first world. Today, Respond.io is a Malaysia‑based customer conversation platform that helps businesses in high‑consideration sectors turn interactions into revenue, unifying messaging, email, web chat and voice in a single workspace and layering in AI so teams can deliver fast, personalized support at scale. More than 10,000 brands, including British Airways, Mazda and Radisson Hotels, now rely on Respond.io to engage customers with speed and accuracy.

Jerry was selected as an Endeavor Entrepreneur in the 106th International Selection Panel in Singapore.