Salvatore D’Auria, Regional Vice President for Italy, the Middle East, and Africa at MongoDB, discusses his career journey and the strategic importance of the Italian market for the company. Having joined MongoDB in 2018 as its first employee in Rome, D’Auria has been pivotal in driving the adoption of MongoDB in the Italian government sector, exemplified by the Green Pass initiative. The Italian team is characterized by organic growth, meticulous team selection, and a strong presence in public administration, with a focus on sales, consultancy, and marketing. MongoDB's Italian market growth aligns with the global hyper-growth trend, supported by new data centers from Google and AWS. D’Auria's leadership style emphasizes leading by example, drawing from his experiences as a young Scout leader and an instructor at a military school. He believes in the endless opportunities at MongoDB, highlighting a culture of transparency and meritocracy, and encourages individuals to join the Italian team to advance their careers in technology sales. Furthermore, MongoDB's APAC Innovation Awards celebrate organizations leveraging MongoDB's database to deliver significant technological transformations across various industries, such as healthcare, banking, telecommunications, and aviation. In a separate announcement, Dev Ittycheria, President and CEO of MongoDB, shared his decision to retire in 2025, with Chirantan “CJ” Desai set to succeed him. Desai's experience at ServiceNow and Cloudflare positions him well to lead MongoDB into its next growth phase, MongoDB 3.0, emphasizing the company's readiness to capitalize on the rise of AI and data-intensive applications. Ittycheria will remain on the Board, ensuring a smooth transition, as MongoDB continues to strengthen its leadership for future innovation.