Mark Hawkins. Photo credit: Salesforce

Toast, a Boston-based startup that develops restaurant management software and was valued at just shy of $5 billion earlier this year, has announced the appointment of Salesforce’s President and chief financial officer (CFO), Mark Hawkins, to its board. Hawkins’ appointment is effective immediately. His appointment happens to be in the middle of a coronavirus pandemic that has significantly affected Toast’s business. Restaurants have widely shut down across the U.S. and Toast whose business entails selling software to help restaurants facilitate sales has in turn been affected. Earlier this month, Toast laid off 50% of its workforce.

Hawkins is a well-versed tech executive, having worked at technology companies for more than 30 years. Save for Salesforce, Hawkins has also worked at Autodesk, Dell, Logitech, and Hewlett Packard (HP). His appointment adds up Toast’s board headcount to five, the other four being Steve Papa, the founder of Endeca, a software company that was acquired by Oracle in 2011; Kent Bennett, a partner at venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners; Paul Bell, a partner at Lead Edge Capital; and David Yuan, a partner at Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV).