In early April, CEO Marc Benioff sent Ariel Kelman a direct message on Twitter after he had been away from Salesforce for over a decade. In addition to having worked for Amazon Web Services and Oracle since leaving Salesforce, Benioff wanted to know if the marketing executive was ready to return.

During an interview at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference last week, Kelman said, “I just thought it was good timing.”. In June, Kelman rejoined Salesforce as chief marketing officer following a few months at Fireblocks.

He said that he had a great time working at this company.

Miguel Milano, who led Salesforce’s sales in major international markets for over a decade, returned in June as chief revenue officer. Following three years at startup Celonis, Milano was lured back by Salesforce’s operating chief Brian Millham, who spent some of his vacation in Madrid talking his former colleague into rejoining.

At Dreamforce, Millham said, “It took a couple swipes.”.

As Salesforce approaches its 25th birthday in 2023, Kelman and Milano are two of at least eight ex-executives to return to the company. In the face of a challenging economy and slower growth, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is turning to more of the old guard to lead the company. Co-CEO Bret Taylor left early this year after just a year at the top.