LONDON—Salesforce is backing its European growth by hiring Avaya's Stacey Elise Torman for a new comms leadership position in the region.

Torman joines Salesforce as senior director of EMEA communications, after spending more than six years with Avaya. She told the Holmes Report that the role, which is a newly-created one, reflects Salesforce's growing "momentum."

"It’s the right time and direction to come up with the commitment for this role," said Torman. "My job now is to make sure that all of these potential customers understand how Salesforce can engage with them." 

The Silicon Valley veteran previously headed EMEA comms at Avaya, and also served as global PR lead for the past year.

At Salesforce, Torman reports to the EMEA senior marketing director Dan Rogers, and is charged with overseeing communications strategy, including the company's external positioning and social media engagement. 

She will also reunite with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, whom she worked for at Oracle. "Honestly, this was a job I really wanted," said Torman.

After starting her career at Blanc & Otus, Torman shifted to Oracle, before stints at Fleishman-Hillard and Bite.

According to Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Europe is the company's fastest-growing region, increasing revenues by 38% during its 2013 fiscal year. Salesforce is set to open its first European data center in the UK this year.