What do the career path and the day-in-the-life look like for a VP of Customer Success at Paperless Parts?

We connected with Katharine Libby to find out!

Interested in learning more about Paperless Parts and their job openings?  Make sure to check out their company page on VentureFizz!

Where did you grow up?  What did your parents do for work?  

I grew up in a small town in central Massachusetts, Westborough.  I was lucky enough to grow up with a stay at home mom until I was in about 3rd grade when she went back and was the Director of Admissions at Tufts Veterinary Medical school and then worked at Becker College before moving to NH.  She worked as a store manager for a boutique until she recently retired.  My dad was in sales for lawn equipment and then for Kodak and recently moved on to focus on his passion, small contracting work. 

Where did you go to college?  What did you study and what were some of your initial jobs out of school?

I went to Keene State College and played field hockey there.  I studied Occupational Safety and Health Management with a minor in psychology.  I wanted to work in lost prevention for insurance but ended up taking a job with Unum insurance as an Individual Disability Benefit Specialist, managing claims.  It taught me so much about customer communication and dealing with difficult situations. 

What has attributed to your success thus far and has helped propel you to the position you have now?

Great personal pride in my career and wanting to be independently successful as a female leader.  Now that I am a mother, I want to provide a great life for my daughter and also be a great example for her. 

I was lucky to have leaders that gave me the opportunity to take on projects that extended outside of my experience and that led through influence and teaching.  I was always a hard worker but when I transitioned into the technology world, I had great leadership that helped coach me and gave me opportunities to work on projects that helped grow my responsibilities.  I also attribute my success to strong relationships, not just within my department/group but across the organization. 

Can you share the high-level responsibilities of your current position as a VP of Customer Success at Paperless Parts?

I am responsible for customer success post implementation/onboarding.  That means that when our implementation team finishes onboarding them, the customer success managers take over to ensure we are driving adoption, utilization, and maintain a high retention rate.   I also oversee the support group.

I am responsible for customer retention, setting strategy and building processes for our Customer Success and Support teams, hiring and developing great talent, and partnering with the other leaders to deliver on our company objectives. 

Any tips for someone considering a career in your field?

Always be balanced in your evaluation of customer needs, but never lose sight of the customer.  Customers truly don’t want a “yes” person.

Day in the Life

Coffee, tea, or nothing?

Coffee, always. 

What time do you start working? 

It varies, but I am usually fully online by 8:30am after we get the little one out the door.

What are three things that motivate you in your role?

Delivering amazing experiences for our customers, the people on my team - help them be successful, opportunity to innovate and make a material difference.

Every day is different, but can you outline what a typical day looks like for you?

Combination of working on process, documentation, and collaboration with other leaders to move my team and company objectives forward, meeting with customers, meeting with my team members, reviewing our system data to understand customer status and team deliverables. 

What time do you typically wrap up the work day? 

It varies day to day.  If I am on daycare pick up, it’s 5pm and then I wrap up anything that needs to be done for the day after Vivi goes to bed.  Between 5:30 and 6pm on the days I am not on pick up.  

Do you log back in at night or do you shut it down completely?  

See above :)  I shut it down completely from dinner to bedtime.  Dinner is family time and I love to cook for my family!

Any productivity hacks?

I put my 1:1 and team meetings on the same day - I bubble up themes that are relevant to the team.   

Block your calendar with the actual tasks you want to accomplish in that time and stick to it! (silence email during that time) 

What are the 3 apps that you can’t live without?

Evernote, My Bright Day (need those updates on the little one), Asana 

What professional accomplishment are you proudest of?

I will put two here:

1. There is no greater accomplishment than seeing the people you hire into an organization get promoted.  I see the previous leadership team that worked for me at Acquia and I am so proud of the impact they have made for the company and the very well deserved promotions they have received.
2. Being promoted to VP of Customer Success at Acquia and navigating that promotion as a new mom! 

Who do you admire or call upon for professional advice?

I have a personal “board of directors” - it consists of someone who tells me what I want to hear, someone who will tell me what I need to hear, and someone that is in the middle that I brainstorm with.  I am extremely lucky to have many people I have worked with that I admire and respect that I can call on for advice at any time. These individuals are previous Account Management / Customer Success leaders I have worked for and senior leaders from other departments like finance, services, support and operations. 

I am also very lucky to have a husband that works in technology and understands the challenges I face.  He is a great sounding board!

What do the career path and the day-in-the-life look like for a Sr. Customer Engineer at Vestmark?

We connected with Michael Gallagher to find out!

Interested in learning more about Vestmark and their job openings?  Make sure to check out their company page on VentureFizz!

Where did you grow up?  What did your parents do for work?  

I grew up in Topsfield Massachusetts. My dad worked as a Global Commodity Manager and my mom worked part time doing outside sales for a Machine Tooling and Abrasives company.

Where did you go to college?  What did you study and what were some of your initial jobs out of school?

I graduated from Salem State University with a bachelor’s degree in Business Management, I took a lot of Computer Science classes in addition to the standard business curriculum. I was lucky enough to intern at Vestmark all four years of my college career and was hired full-time to the Production Support team right after I graduated. 

What has attributed to your success thus far and has helped propel you to the position you have now?

My role as an intern on the support team was key in propelling me into the position I have now. Working as an intern I feel I was able to grow with the company, which gave me a good foundation and understanding of how Vestmark operates. By doing the groundwork during college, I was able to build relationships with people in various departments throughout Vestmark. This allowed me to gain experience in the Vestmark software and gain knowledge of the soft skills needed to thrive in the real world. My education, experience and training has given me the opportunity to be trusted with large tasks early in my career. This type of exposure has helped me build the foundation that allowed me to flourish once I became a full-time employee. 

Can you share the high-level responsibilities of your current position as a Sr. Customer Engineer at Vestmark?

I work on an Agile Scrum team that onboards new clients and tailors the Vestmark software to meet their business needs. I work with our internal team as well as client representatives to efficiently deliver these solutions.

Any tips for someone considering a career in your field?

Establish good working relationships with your peers, I wouldn’t be where I am today if I wasn’t surrounded by great people who want to do things the “Right Way” and are willing to share their knowledge and experience. It's priceless to be able to have a group of people you can trust to bounce questions off of and who will challenge you to be better. Having this type of group of people helps build confidence and increases the quality of the work and product that you deliver. Once you’ve been built up to be a real contributor, it's equally as important to return the favor to the next new hire. This allows for a solid network to be built, and you really find out how much you know about a topic once you try to teach it to someone new. I believe that having these relationships will help you succeed and make the work you do more enjoyable. 

Day in the Life

Coffee, tea, or nothing?

One coffee in the morning and another after lunch. 

What time do you start working? 

When I’m working from home, I start my day around 8 AM, but when I head into the office it may be closer to 9 AM. 

What are three things that motivate you in your role?

Customer satisfaction, being a great teammate, and continuing to grow my own knowledge and learn new skills.

Every day is different, but can you outline what a typical day looks like for you?

First, I log in and check messages and review my assigned tasks for the sprint. Then I meet with my team for our stand up at 9 AM. From there, I work on my assigned stories for the rest of the morning or until the next meeting with our scrum team in the afternoon. The customer engineers usually have daily touch point to review where we each are with the work assigned and plan out the best next steps. 

What time do you typically wrap up the work day? 

My typical workday usually ends between 5:30 and 6 PM depending on when I can find a good stopping point for the day.

Do you log back in at night or do you shut it down completely?  

I try to shut it down completely on a normal day. Of course, there are some nights and weekends where I need to stay engaged. Notice this work ahead of time helps manage the work life balance. 

Any productivity hacks?

I try to keep my mind fresh with different types of puzzles and problem-solving games. Something simple like a daily Wordle or Sudoku or even a 1000+ piece puzzle at night with my fiancé. I find it helpful to challenge myself in different ways as it leads me to approach problems in my day-to-day with a new train of thought. 

What are the 3 apps that you can’t live without?

Zoom, Slack, and BitBucket

What professional accomplishment are you proudest of?

Being able to transition from my role in Production Support to being a Customer Engineer is my proudest accomplishment to date. I had to step out of my comfort zone, away from the team I had worked with for so long, and away from my manager whom I still have a great relationship with. There were a lot of unknowns to this career change, but I evaluated my options and after a few days of going back and forth and restless nights I decided to take the leap and try to establish myself in a new department. I still have a way to go to get myself to where I want to be but so far, I have been able to make the most of my opportunity. It is the willingness to step out of my comfort zone and trust in my own ability that I am most proud of.

Who do you admire or call upon for professional advice?

As I stated above, I have a great group of people I work with every day and many of whom I admire but the first person I always ask for advice is my dad. Although he works in a different industry, he’s always able to understand the issue I’m facing and can relate stories from his work experience. He can’t solve the issue at hand but sometimes him asking “Well did you talk to a subject matter expert?” or just giving me a story that will make me laugh and provides the reassurance that I have good judgment and I can trust in my knowledge and experience.  I truly appreciate and admire my dad and without his help and encouragement, I wouldn’t be where I am today. 

Pedro Souza recently joined SmartBear as the company's VP Customer Care. We connected with Pedro for a Q&A to discuss why he decided to join the team. 

Q: Where were you before SmartBear?

Pedro: Over the past two years, I led Paramount’s customer support team for their main streaming services, like Paramount+, CBS Sports, and Pluto TV. Prior to joining Paramount, I managed Visa Inc.’s Global Emergency Card Replacement service for six years, and before that I performed several technology functions for Citibank over a period of 28 years. I’ve worked in everything from technical support, software engineering, program management, and more.

Q: Why SmartBear? What drew you there and what have you observed in your first 30 days?

Pedro: I always want to be somewhere where I see an opportunity to help a company and its employees really exceed customer expectations and demands, and I saw that here very early. This was also an exciting career growth opportunity for me, personally. SmartBear is a great place to advance your career, no matter what stage or level of experience you come here.

Another big factor for me was how much collaboration I spotted here, and how much I continue to see between every team. I’m not just a believer in collaboration, I think it’s critical, especially when trying to continuously impress your customers. The teams at SmartBear aren’t just willing to jump in and help out in a situation, they seek out those opportunities, and leap at the chance to provide their own unique perspectives to help others solve big challenges.

Lastly, I have to be somewhere that welcomes people challenging the status quo. A place that looks at the way things have always been done in this area or that and really trying to uncover new approaches that might be faster or more efficient. You can do such an excellent job on something, and six months later, look at it again and wonder, “What was I thinking?” There’s always room for improvement.

Q: Tell us about your support team. What qualities make up a great support/customer care staff?

Pedro: Our customer care engineers all possess that quality I described above about challenging the status quo. They’re always willing to talk about and evaluate new processes, but they also understand the need to adhere to strong, robust processes, especially when dealing with enterprise-level support cases.

This team is also very passionate about resolving problems for our customers and coming up with creative ways of doing so. Being able to do this requires being technically savvy, of course, but it also requires a high level of curiosity. Curiosity to learn about new features, new products, new use cases, and more.

When this team is presented with a difficult challenge, they listen closely to the customer, ask questions, conduct research, try things out, and collaborate with each other to come up with impactful solutions.

If this sounds like the kind of work that you’d enjoy and would thrive in, I encourage you to check out our current openings, and to apply!

Q: Before we go, what’s something your passionate about outside of work?

Pedro: Lots of things. I'm originally from Brazil, so naturally one of my biggest passions is football, or soccer as it’s called here in the U.S. I really am completely crazy about both watching and playing football. I play on most Saturdays and am proud to still be able to keep up with my son during a game. I’m also super passionate about family and am very lucky to live near my children here in South Florida. I also enjoy snowboarding, and last but not least, going to concerts. Being close to Miami, there’s amazing live music here year-round. I’ve also been known to travel outside the country for can’t-miss concerts.

What do the career path and the day-in-the-life look like for a Enterprise Sales Executive at RaySecur?

We connected with Brad Buchman to find out!

Interested in learning more about RaySecur? Make sure to check out their company page!

Where did you grow up? What did your parents do for work?

I grew up in Tampa, FL. My mom was a legal investigator, and my dad was a CPA.

Where did you go to college? What did you study and what were some of your initial jobs out of school?

I played 4 years of collegiate level baseball at a couple of schools in North Carolina. I finished at Florida Atlantic University with a BS in Ocean Engineering. While completing my degree at FAU, I worked full time at Whole Foods, did boat and engine maintenance, and I was a Saltwater Charter Captain. After I completed my degree, I worked as a Trade Expansion Manager and then was promoted to a Technical Sales Specialist for my previous company in Montreal, QC, Canada.

What has attributed to your success thus far and has helped propel you to the position you have now?

I would say personally, playing baseball at a collegiate level taught me how to work effectively in a team as well as setting high personal standards and having relentless determination. On the business side of things, adopting the phrase, “understand before being understood” has opened the doors for better professional relationships and great effective communication.

Can you share the high-level responsibilities of your current position as a Enterprise Sales Executive at RaySecur?

High level responsibilities would be being an effective team player, confident in your abilities but open to new ideas and suggestions, and most importantly, having a great determination to deliver on your quarterly and yearly sales goals.

When comparing to other companies you’ve worked for, what makes RaySecur different and/or special?

The team and the work environment. Everyone has one common goal and that’s to see this company grow exponentially. There is open communication, everyone is willing to help each other in different situations, and we want to see the entire team succeed.

What are two to three things about RaySecur that you would want someone considering joining the company to know?

I would say don’t be shy and don’t think you have to do it on your own. A lot of other companies out there expect you to do everything on your own or don’t provide enough support. We are interdependent here, everyone is working independently but, the lines of communication are always open for comments, suggestions, and new ideas.

Any general tips for someone considering a career in your field?

Be determined and confident in yourself but be open to input from everyone in the company. There is one common goal.

Day in the Life

Coffee, tea, or nothing?

Tea, Coffee if you want to hear me talk non stop for 4 hours!

What time do you start working?

I always start before 8am.

What are three things that motivate you in your role?

We have an innovative product that could save peoples’ lives, high personal goals, and I don’t like to lose.

Every day is different, but can you outline what a typical day looks like for you?

Lots of calls and emails with potential and existing clients.

What time do you typically wrap up the work day?

No set time, if there is an email or phone call at 10pm, I will answer it.

Do you log back in at night or do you shut it down completely?

It depends on what needs to be done. I don’t think I ever completely turn off from working or business.

Any productivity hacks?

I like to work in spurts of 45min -1 hour then take a 5 - 10 minute break. Rinse and repeat throughout the day.

What are the 3 apps that you can’t live without?

Outlook, Teams, and Expensify.

What professional accomplishment are you proudest of?

I was the top performing sales rep for 5 years in a row at my previous company.

Who do you admire or call upon for professional advice?

My brother-in-law who is an entrepreneurial coach for businesses.

What do the career path and the day-in-the-life look like for a Senior THz Systems Architect at RaySecur?

We connected with Linda Marchese to find out!

Interested in learning more about RaySecur? Make sure to check out their company page!

Where did you grow up? What did your parents do for work?

Suburbs of Philadelphia, PA. Owners of two optician stores

Where did you go to college? What did you study and what were some of your initial jobs out of school?

University of Rochester. Physics (undergrad), Electrical Engineering (graduate). Initial
job out of grad school was R&D at Kodak for US government radar imaging systems.

What has attributed to your success thus far and has helped propel you to the position you have now?

My love of science and my perservernce.

Can you share the high-level responsibilities of your current position as a Senior Terahertz Systems Architect at RaySecur?

Technical lead for developing and improving Terahertz imaging systems.

When comparing to other companies you’ve worked for, what makes RaySecur different and/or special?

It is very dynamic, things change quickly.

What are two to three things about RaySecur that you would want someone considering joining the company to know?

Fast-paced with hardworking colleagues

Any general tips for someone considering a career in your field?

Work hard and stay focused, but mostly enjoy it. Science and Technology are the
coolest!

Day in the Life

Coffee, tea, or nothing?

Coffee

What time do you start working?

8am

What are three things that motivate you in your role?

Learning new technical things, contributing to the company’s success, working with smart highly motivated people.

Every day is different, but can you outline what a typical day looks like for you?

Each day is a mix of Teams meetings, some internal and some with external partners and then some lab time taking measurements with my colleagues and then analyzing the results.

What time do you typically wrap up the work day?

5pm

Do you log back in at night or do you shut it down completely?

Yes at night but also early in the morning.

Any productivity hacks?

Try to have at least one or two half days without any meetings planned.

What are the 3 apps that you can’t live without?

Teams, Google, Outlook

What professional accomplishment are you proudest of?

Being project manager and technical lead and first author on the patent that created MailSecur.

Who do you admire or call upon for professional advice?

My spouse

What do the career path and the day-in-the-life look like for a Commercial Executive at RaySecur?

We connected with TJ Kelly to find out!

Interested in learning more about RaySecur? Make sure to check out their company page!

Where did you grow up? What did your parents do for work?

I grew up in North Andover, MA and relocated after starting a family to Ashburnham, in central
MA.

My parents are both retired civil servants of 40+ years. My mother taught middle and high
school in Danvers, MA and my father was an engineer for the US Navy in Kittery, ME.

Where did you go to college? What did you study and what were some of your initial
jobs out of school?

I studied Communications and Information Technology at UMass Amherst. While there, I fell in
love with web development and had several jobs working for the University supporting their
various websites.

After graduation, I landed a full-time job in the marketing department for a travel company as a
Front-end Web Developer. After a few years there, I hopped between a few web development
and digital marketing agencies and spent several years providing those services self-employed
as a sole proprietor.

What has attributed to your success thus far and has helped propel you to the position
you have now?

Starting my career in marketing has given me a unique perspective on how to position
RaySecur’s solutions to sales prospects. All marketing is sales-driven, but flipping that model
(marketing-based sales) has been valuable to me as a salesperson.

It has also given me a deep understanding of our prospect's most common questions and
objections—and the resources to overcome those objectives quickly and confidently.

Can you share the high-level responsibilities of your current position as a Commercial
Executive at RaySecur?

First and foremost, I’m a salesperson. My responsibilities are to bring new customers into the
business and expand on existing accounts.

My background in marketing has also afforded me the opportunity to represent RaySecur in
some of our customer-facing marketing efforts: webinars, videos, conferences, tradeshow
booths, etc.

When comparing to other companies you’ve worked for, what makes RaySecur different
and/or special?

RaySecur’s solutions are novel in the security industry. No one can do what we can do. That
fact offers a tremendous advantage to corner the marketplace—but it’s not without its
challenges. Our uniqueness can pose a challenge if prospects are unfamiliar with our
technology. We’re always working to educate the marketplace on the value of our solutions.

What are two to three things about RaySecur that you would want someone considering
joining the company to know?

We’re growing like crazy, in both personnel and clientele. Now is the right time to get in on the
ground floor!

Any general tips for someone considering a career in your field?

The more sales and marketing can understand each other and act as one group, the better the
company can achieve its growth goals. Marketing pros need to understand how salespeople
think, and salespeople need to understand why marketing does what they do. Whichever team
you’re on, I recommend that you get more familiar with the other one!

What do the career path and the day-in-the-life look like for the Area Vice President of HCM Sales at PrismHR?

We connected with Cristen Justiss to find out!

Interested in learning more about PrismHR? Make sure to check out their company page!

Where did you grow up?  

I grew up in a suburb of Dallas, TX. True born and raised Texan ya’ll.

Where did you go to college?  What did you study and what were some of your initial jobs out of school?

I went to the University of North Texas and was a dual major in all level special education and elementary general education. I graduated early with honors and went straight into being a special education teacher at an elementary school. I continued as a special education teacher for just over 4 years before entering the world of sales. What a fun segway that allowed me to continue teaching others but in a different way than I had never known before.

What has attributed to your success thus far and has helped propel you to the position you have now?

I attribute a large part of my success to my father who was profoundly gregarious and tenacious. He taught me the importance of loving what I do and differentiating myself by truly caring about each person I work with. Our careers are not about our titles and our job descriptions but rather all the little things we do that aren’t expected or requested, that make a huge difference. Genuinely seeing the good in everyone and helping them to see it in themselves is the way I was raised and will forever be in the office and outside of it. 

Can you share the high-level responsibilities of your current position as a Area Vice President at PrismHR?

I am responsible for supporting a team of incredibly talented sales professionals in generating opportunity, moving it forward in deal process, and bringing it across the finish line to produce new recurring revenue for our company. This requires working closely with each individual contributor to ensure we strategize our deal process, find potential vulnerabilities, and proactively stay in front of our competition by differentiating our technology and our process from the rest. My favorite part of the deal stage is when we get to the negotiation phase. If you are there you are one step away from a win and those challenging conversations reviewing T’s & C’s make the victory that much sweeter. When we win, the happiness I feel for each person that supported in that close is overwhelming in the best way. Our team deserves the wins and they work incredibly hard for each and every one. The effort and passion that goes into the process is never unnoticed so we celebrate every hurdle we cross each step of the way.

Any tips for someone considering a career in your field?

You’ve got to absolutely love coaching and supporting plus truly believe in your people and your product. This is the key. I know each person on my team is insanely talented and can crush their goals, making sure I block anything that can keep them from doing so is imperative. It’s the job of a leader to “take the heat and radiate the cool” as our CSO would say. Your team needs consistency in their leader regardless of what happens in the day, because in sales, each day is different and we’ve got to be ready for it all. 

Day in the Life

Coffee, tea, or nothing? 

Coffee! My nespresso and frother set can compete with any bistro (get one if you don’t have one already, trust me).

What time do you start working? 

At my computer and camera ready at 7:00 am for my east coasters

What are three things that motivate you in your role? 

Seeing each team member meet and exceed their goals, being a consistently dependable resource and support system, and truly believing in our company, our people, and our product. 

Every day is different, but can you outline what a typical day looks like for you?

A typical day is made up of individual team member coaching calls reviewing their active opportunities in the pipeline as well as the specific metrics that will support them in hitting their monthly, quarterly, and annual goals. Every day is prospect facing where I attend first time meetings, discovery calls, proposal presentations,and contract reviews alongside each rep. Prior to, and following each call, we often precall plan and debrief, as well as discuss solutions with other resources internally, to ensure we are bringing our best to each prospect. In addition to this, frequent communication with other teams like marketing, operations, service, and implementations ensure I am in the loop on anything that can support our sales team in staying ahead of the curve with our technology advances, client testimonials, and best marketing resources.We have the most talented people in every department and making sure I strategize internally is just as crucial as my one on one time with each person on the sales team. My team members depend on me to provide current information so I do just that day in and out. If something could distract or hinder a rep from doing what they do best, it is my job to take that on so they can stay focused on deal process and getting our company new revenue.

What time do you typically wrap up the work day? 

7:30 pm for my west coasters.

Do you log back in at night or do you shut it down completely?  

I am always accessible after hours via cell or slack. The reps work extremely hard to generate opportunity so I will always make myself available to them, their prospects, and clients regardless of the hour. If it matters to them, it matters to me.

Any productivity hacks?

Compartmentalize, Prioritize, and Delegate!!!

What are the 3 apps that you can’t live without?

Spotify, Slack, and Google Mail 

What professional accomplishment are you proudest of?

Earning this role of AVP of HCM here at PrismHR.

Who do you admire or call upon for professional advice?

David Farrell and John Whisner. They both have extensive experience in leadership, sales, and the HCM industry. In addition to this, they are two of the most passionate and caring individuals I have come to know from a career standpoint which leads me to admire them for who they are professionally and personally as well. 

What do the career path and the day-in-the-life look like for an Enablement Specialist at Onapsis?

We connected with Eric Zadorian to find out!

Interested in learning more about Onapsis? Make sure to check out their company page!

Where did you grow up?  What did your parents do for work?  

I grew up in Pembroke, which is a town on the south shore of Massachusetts. My mom has worked in the financial services industry for over thirty-five years. My dad recently retired but he spent time working in the golf and fitness industries.

Where did you go to college?  What did you study and what were some of your initial jobs out of school?

I recently started taking classes as part of the MBA distance learning program in Colorado State University’s College of Business. As an undergrad, I attended UCONN and graduated in 2008 with a degree in Economics.

Upon graduation, I decided that working 9-5 in a cubicle was not where I wanted to be, so I decided to follow my passion for golf and began a career in the golf industry as an Assistant Golf Professional. Don’t worry, I’ve since learned that not every job out of college is 9-5 in a cubicle. I was very fortunate to work at three golf facilities in the Greater Boston area. My responsibilities included organizing member and charity golf tournaments, managing the golf merchandising operation, providing instructional lessons to members, and representing the club in local tournaments. Part of my experience included completing the PGA of America’s rigorous certification program and becoming a P.G.A. Golf Professional.

After working in the golf industry for 10 years, I decided it was time for a career change.  Fortunately, I had a couple of former colleagues who had undergone a similar transition before me and they provided incredible guidance.  My first role post-golf was as a Business Development Representative (BDR) position at a cloud security startup in Boston. After that, I joined Onapsis in November 2018 as a Strategic BDR and was a part of that team for 2+ years before joining the Sales Enablement team in July 2021.

What has attributed to your success thus far and has helped propel you to the position you have now?

First and foremost, I have had the opportunity to work with great people in my professional life who I have learned a lot from and who have supported me throughout my career. I think my work ethic, intellectual curiosity, and willingness to learn from others has led me to where I am today. In addition, I pride myself on following through on my commitments which I hope bring reliability and accountability to my role.

Can you share the high-level responsibilities of your current position as an Enablement Specialist at Onapsis?

The Company Enablement team is a part of the broader Strategic Programs team at Onapsis. As an Enablement Specialist, my responsibilities include: strategic initiatives such as global onboarding and bootcamps for new Ona team members, implementing certification programs for our GTM teams, and helping to organize various internal and external training sessions.

Any tips for someone considering a career in your field?

I am early on in my Enablement career, and it has been a winding road to get here, but I think it is important to define end-goals for the projects that you are working on and design a plan to get there. This will provide clarity and direction towards achievement. I also think it is important to be task-oriented and have the ability to juggle multiple projects simultaneously.

Day in the Life

Coffee, tea, or nothing?

Both. Iced coffee year-round with iced and hot tea mixed in from time to time.

What time do you get into the office? 

Around 7:30 AM. I am an early riser and like to walk to work, so I can’t blame it on the #7 bus being late.

What are three things that motivate you in your role?

• Helping others achieve their goals
• Taking part in projects that have a meaningful impact
• Working at a company that makes a difference

Every day is different, but can you outline what a typical day looks like for you?

I live in Boston and like to walk to the office, unless the weather prevents me from doing so. This helps set the tone for the day. Once I arrive, I usually eat breakfast and clear my inbox. Throughout the rest of a typical day, I meet with colleagues on our current projects, attend company-wide or team-specific meetings, and then perform work tasks related to those projects. I think it is important to break up the day a bit so I like to go for a walk around the city during my lunch break.  

What time do you head out of the office? 

Between 5:15-5:30

Do you log back in at night or do you shut it down completely?

Shut it down completely. One thing the pandemic has taught me is the importance of work-life balance.

Any productivity hacks?

• Build short breaks into your schedule and block off your calendar for lunch
• Block off time at the end of the week to get caught up on things that got pushed back during the week
• Create a ‘To-Do’ list each night for the next day which will help you stay organized and hit the ground running in the morning
• Take notes during meetings, especially if you have several meetings each day

What are the 3 apps that you can’t live without?

• Spotify for music and podcasts
• 98.5 The Sports Hub for Boston sports talk radio
• GHIN mobile golf for posting scores, tracking stats, and handicap updates

What professional accomplishment are you proudest of?

When I was in the golf industry, I was elected President of the New England PGA’s Assistants’ Association, which is a volunteer association responsible for organizing a tournament schedule and career development opportunities for members of the Association.

Who do you admire or call upon for professional advice?

I typically reach out to my mentors and friends within my professional network who have helped me in the past. I try to identify someone who has been in a similar position before and pick their brains for advice. 

We connected with Dan Faulkner, Chief Product Officer at SmartBear, for a Q&A to discuss why he decided to join the team. 

Why join SmartBear now?

SmartBear is an exciting company at a critical stage. The company has maintained a rapid growth rate and expansion over recent years. During the interview process, it became very clear that the entire executive team is ambitious for even more success. I’m excited by that desire for more. I believe I can help the company position itself for and execute on the next stages of growth. 

I was particularly pleased that the executive team and investors would like to drive more of the company’s growth through organic product investments. That means building more products from scratch, and it means expanding the capabilities of our existing products to expand our user base and increase pricing. While I love utilizing M&A as part of a growth strategy (and I do expect that to continue), supplementing that with our own innovations presents an opportunity to compound growth. It also creates new technical and career opportunities for the entire product organization, as well as creating a greater sense of cohesion and common mission throughout the product and engineering community at the company.

So that combination of scaling the organization, continuing M&A, and setting up the company to accelerate organic growth is very attractive to me. 

What are your first impressions of the teams you are working with here?

Very positive, and I expected them to be. The SmartBear culture comes through in all my interactions. I’ve found the entire team to be friendly, committed, smart, driven, and curious; all traits I love to see in my colleagues. There’s a high degree of technical excellence, also as expected. 

With that said, there are clearly opportunities for us all to improve and evolve as the company grows, and I’ve been grateful that the people I have worked with so far have been candid about where they feel we excel and where we have opportunities to improve. 

It’s also rare to see such outstanding sales and marketing lined up behind the product portfolio as we have at SmartBear. Product, Marketing, and Sales really support each other, and the sales and marketing teams are real powerhouses that catapult our great products into the market. 

I recently had the opportunity to have in-person meetings with the teams in Bath, UK, and Wroclaw, Poland, and there really is no substitute for meeting people face-to-face. I have more listening to do over the coming weeks and months, and I’m looking forward to hearing from as many people in the organization as possible. 

Coming from a larger company (Nuance), is there anything you can see bringing into SmartBear from what you helped to build over many years?

I believe I can. I was with Nuance as it grew from a few hundred employees to over 14,000. Like SmartBear, Nuance executed many acquisitions, had offices all over the world, and generally operated with a high degree of complexity. There are very clear parallels in SmartBear that are familiar to me, and I believe I can help the company get the most out of the opportunities that lie before it based on that experience.

While Nuance did experience outstanding growth, it also made mistakes along the way. All companies make mistakes, and we will obviously make them, too. My goal is to try to help SmartBear repeat the best practices that Nuance developed during its best phases and to achieve them earlier than Nuance did. And of course, to help us avoid some of the issues and pitfalls that Nuance encountered. 

I learned at Nuance that it is critically important to have a conscious set of values and a conscious culture to get the best from your organization. I can see the management team here really cares about its people and is invested in making everyone in the company successful and rewarded. It probably doesn’t always feel like that to everyone – it never always feels like that to everyone – but it is clear to me, from the executive team to individual managers, there’s a deep commitment to team welfare, growth, and advancement. 

Are there any particular strengths our product and dev teams have that you see as important to continue?

I expected a high level of technical acumen and I see it. So that is – for me – a given. 

One thing that has resonated with me is the extreme degree of customer focus throughout the organization. Every developer I have met so far has a keen sense of the end-users of our products, what they need, and what they’re going to need. That’s fantastic to see, and long may it continue. Deep customer knowledge is invaluable – it helps developers work more efficiently and make better decisions day-to-day. 

There’s also a higher than usual level of accountability, which I absolutely love to see. Caring about the complete performance of your products – rather than just the tasks to be completed in the sprint – is one of the key markers of excellent software teams.

What surprised you most in your first few weeks here at SmartBear?

Well, there’s a lot of orange 😊. Seriously, very little has surprised me so far. This is a highly, highly competent organization that demonstrates operational excellence daily. The strengths are as advertised, the areas for focus are as anticipated. The company is very much as I expected it to be based on the interview process, which speaks well of the interviewing team. 

Fill in the blank in this the sentence: “Expect …. from the product and development team in the coming year”

A technical vision for the SmartBear portfolio, expressed quite specifically and concretely: our target portfolio to address a well-defined target market. From that, a logically prioritized roadmap and execution strategy that gets us from where we are today to our target, with urgency. Greater velocity both through streamlined processes and increased investment in R&D. A tighter technical integration between our products. A focus on reusability across the portfolio to free up more bandwidth for new product developments and innovative enhancements to our existing products. An intense focus on a delightful end-user experience that is common to SmartBear users, whichever of our products they are using. A more integrated product and engineering organization whose members are excited to contribute to the SmartBear technology mission, wherever they are and whatever product they are working on.  

What do the career path and the day-in-the-life look like for an Inside Sales Technical Enablement at Nexthink?

We connected with Rory O’Connor to find out!

Interested in learning more about Nexthink? Make sure to check out their company page!

Where did you grow up?  What did your parents do for work?  

I grew up in Quincy, MA just 5 minutes South of Boston. My mother is a teacher and my father was in law enforcement.

Where did you go to college?  What did you study and what were some of your initial jobs out of school?

I attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst. As a shameless plug, I will say they were some of the best 4 years I experienced. Between the culture, education, people, and overall environment, UMass was top notch. 

I was a political science major with a minor in macroeconomics. I loved political science because the classes involved discussion, thought leadership, and opinion, which has always been of interest. 

In high school, throughout college, and even on the side with my first job, I caddied. Caddying to this day has had the biggest influence on me workwise. I was able to spend time with accomplished individuals for hours on end, making conversation, seeing how they carried themselves, and getting exposed to new ideas. To this day, I still keep in touch with some of them, one in particular who has become a mentor. 

Caddying indirectly led me to my first job. A year or so after graduating from college, I was at a bar making small talk a year with some older golfers. Long story short, after we realized we had some mutual connections, learning that I was looking for a true first job and an “interview” over some libations, I was given a job at a boutique marketing firm in Boston.  

That marketing job was the perfect first job. I gained work experience and learned how marketing operated. However once that job wrapped up, I realized I wanted something to work towards on a daily basis. This led me to look into BDR (Business Development Representative) roles and ultimately Nexthink. I read a small article in the Boston Business Journal about a Swiss startup making inroads in Boston and sent in my resume. A few days later, I got a call from the Director of the team and told him about my prior experiences (bar story included), and he loved it. I knew little to nothing about enterprise IT but I think my ability to make conversation and connect with individuals helped!

What has attributed to your success thus far and has helped propel you to the position you have now?

I am a firm believer in keeping an open mind towards work. I think coming into a new job and ‘being a sponge’ is key to success. You want to learn from those around you, whether they do the same thing or not. Their experiences and knowledge will only allow you to better yourself. 

Can you share the high-level responsibilities of your current position as a Inside Sales Technician at Nexthink?

Some of it is classified info but I can let you in on a little… My responsibilities consist primarily of finding ways to allow the business development team to exceed. I also work with the sales enablement team. This encompasses how we pitch, the cadences, onboarding, finding new ways to get to our prospects’ attention, working through the lows and the highs, and everything in between.  

Any tips for someone considering a career in your field?

For anybody who is considering getting into this, they should ask themselves if they want to work with others by helping them learn and be in a team environment. It’s all about passing knowledge on as well as seeing how you can add value to make a colleague that much more successful. 

Day in the Life

Coffee, tea, or nothing?

Coffee! Trenta Hazelnut from Starbs!

What time do you get into the office? 

I’d be lying if I said I was a morning person... let's just say the Red Line is always ‘delayed’.

What are three things that motivate you in your role?

Passing on knowledge and seeing it work, finding new ways to win/learning from failures, and watching someone excel in their development.

Every day is different, but can you outline what a typical day looks like for you?

I like to have a coffee and see what's happening in the news. I usually have the new BDRs do the same. It is amazing how a news tidbit can then lead to a quality sales call down the line. Then, depending on the week, I have some calls with the team in Europe to see how they are doing. Right before lunch and for the afternoon, I will do some training sessions/exercises depending on where people are at. Then there is a mix of calls with the Boston team and miscellaneous activities. It really depends where we are with new hires and the time of the quarter. 

What time do you head out of the office? 

Usually, we will start heading to the train around 5:30pm depending on the night and what line you take home. We have a good group in the office and later in the week, predominantly Thursdays, there is an ‘understood’ consensus that we’ll all go grab a beer at a local bar...and I'll never say no to a beer or two!

Do you log back in at night or do you shut it down completely?  

Very rarely. I think shutting everything down is important and most of the time it can wait for the morning. I think that if you truly do not have work to do past 6pm, then being on your work computer for appearances could be better spent with family, friends, working on oneself, or just taking a breather!

Any productivity hacks?

My boss once showed me the importance of putting time on my own calendar to get work done. It has been very helpful and prevents distractions from creeping in, but also keeps you accountable. 

What are the 3 apps that you can’t live without?

I admit I have an Instagram addiction. Spotify is key, especially for podcasts during the commute to and from work. Then, oddly enough, Yelp. I love finding new food spots and bars. It always cracks me up at some of the reviews people leave, too. 

What professional accomplishment are you proudest of?

A couple of years ago here at Nexthink, I won BDR of the year. It was a great experience because the company event was in Malta, where most of us had never been, and I won it with the sales rep and sales engineer I worked with at the time. When I first started as a BDR, I was pretty bad at it and it took me a while to get it down. Eventually, it all started to click and I was able to contribute and help bring in some logos for the company. However, it was a great experience because when I see someone struggling on the BDR team, now I tell them I was no ace either… it takes a while, but eventually, if you keep trying to improve, you’ll get there. 

Who do you admire or call upon for professional advice?

It would be my father. His background is law enforcement which is a completely different world from enterprise software. However, the leadership skills I have learned from him are unparalleled. Whether it is decision making and owning that decision or staying calm when things might not be going well, those are things I look to emulate and work towards.