BETH COMSTOCK, Change Maker and Author
A marketing veteran and torch bearer for women in business, Beth Comstock has contributed to the rise of well-known companies like General Electric, Hulu, and NBC Universal. A former Vice Chair of GE of 25 years, Beth has been featured in many notable publications including New York Times, Fortune, Forbes, and Fast Company. Her honors include being named as one of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes and one of the 100 Most Influential Chief Marketing Officers by Richtopia. Beth’s newest book, “Imagine It Forward: Making Change Work for You, Your Team, Your Company” will be released in September 2018.
GEOFFREY MOORE, Author
Dedicating his life’s work to the market dynamics surrounding disruptive innovations, it’s no surprise that Geoffrey Moore will have much to share with attendees of Pulse 2018. Author, speaker, and advisor, Geoffrey is known for publications like, “Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers,” “Escape Velocity: Free Your Company’s Future from the Pull of the Past,” and, “Zone to Win: Organizing to Compete in an Age of Disruption.” He currently holds positions as Venture Partner at Wildcat Venture Partners and is chairman emeritus at his firms, The Chasm Group, Chasm Institute, and TCG.
KRISTA ANDERSON, CCO at Okta, Inc.
Krista Anderson has not only watched Customer Success grow, she’s played a part in shaping the discipline. Throughout her tenure at Salesforce, the company responsible for bringing Customer Success into the spotlight, Krista was delivering customer satisfaction as the SVP of Global Support & Customer Success and SVP of Customers for Life. Now the current Chief Customer Officer at Okta, Inc., the leading independent provider of identity for the enterprise, Krista ensures customer outcomes across their global customer base.
NICK MEHTA, CEO of Gainsight
As CEO of Gainsight, Nick Mehta has directly contributed to the massive growth Customer Success has experienced in the last decade. He jumped into the technology and leadership worlds simultaneously when he co-founded a golf e-commerce company in college. Since then, the self-proclaimed wanna-be Pittsburgh Steelers football player has led companies like LiveOffice and Symantec and currently holds the role of General Partner at Acceleprise San Francisco alongside his CEO position at Gainsight.
JOHN JESTER, VP of Worldwide Customer Success at Microsoft
Spending the majority of his career at Microsoft, John Jester has had a front row seat to watch the evolution of Customer Success within the tech landscape. His specialty is leadership and he continues to develop high-performing enterprise sales and services organizations. With a track record of delivering outcomes at scale, he’s got much to share at Pulse 2018.
PAT WADORS, Chief Talent Officer-CHRO, at ServiceNow
People are Pat Wadors’ passion. With over 25 years of experience in Human Resources, Pat has a track record of cultivating strong cultures and teams at companies like Yahoo, Twitter, LinkedIn. A builder by nature, she enjoys working with growing enterprise partners to re-design, envision, and scale world-class talent orgs. She currently works as Chief Talent Officer at ServiceNow where she will be helping them transform and scale to keep up with their rapid growth.
ALAA BADR, Vice President Customer Success and Cloud Services, End User Computing at VMware
Alaa Badr runs a global team of customer-focused individuals dedicated to moving the needle on adoption, consumption, and customer health score. He is customer obsessed and passionate about sharing his experiences as an international speaker. He currently leads worldwide business development for desktop in the cloud (Saas) and productivity applications at VMware.
ALLISON PICKENS, CCO at Gainsight
Allison Pickens is the Chief Customer Officer at Gainsight and an industry-recognized thought leader on Customer Success and scaling teams during hyper growth. She hosts the highly-ranked podcast, “The Customer Success Podcast” and has been featured on various podcasts including those run by SaaStr, Bowery Capital, and Customer Marketing Radio. Pickens has also been recognized as a top 50 sales leader, holds a board member position at eCompliance, and is an advisor at Bowery Capital and Entelo.
WENDI STURGIS, Chief Customer Officer at Yext
Wendi Sturgis is no stranger to the tech space having spent 20 years supporting media and internet companies. Currently the Chief Customer Officer at Yext, her career history includes well-known names like Yahoo!, Oracle Corporation, and Gartner. Wendi currently serves as a board member for Dailyworth.com, Student Transportation Inc., and the Georgia Tech Advisory Board. She is also the Vice Chair of Step Up Women’s Network board and was named in the 40 Women to Watch Over 40 in 2013.
JB WOOD, CEO at Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA)
Author, leader, and speaker, JB Wood works with the world’s largest technology companies to create innovative strategies that align their customer experience with the age of cloud and managed services. He has held the role of CEO at TSIA for over 13 years and is a well-known influencer in the Customer Success space. He’s been featured in several publications including Fortune, The New York Times, and Wall Street Journal and is the author of several books including, “B4B: How Technology and Big Data Are Reinventing the Customer-Supplier Relationship” and “Consumption Economics: The New Rules of Tech.”
JESSICA LIN, Co-Founder & General Partner at Work-Bench
Jessica Lin is Co-Founder and General Partner at Work-Bench, an enterprise technology venture capitalist fund that supports go-to-market enterprise startups. Prior to Work-Bench, she was the Learning & Development Manager at Cisco Systems and a board member at X-Cel Education. Passionate about “transforming workforce development through tech.” Jessica also currently serves as New Media Tech Advisory Board Member at LaGuardia Community College.
JOHN SABINO, Customer Success Officer at Splunk
With over 1000 employees in his org and 15,000+ customers, Customer Success is a way of life for John Sabino, Customer Success Officer at Splunk. He’s passionate about delivering critical customer outcomes and transforming businesses with Splunk’s variety of data-focused product offerings. His past positions include Chief Operating Officer at GE Digital, Senior Vice President of Commercial Excellence at GE Capital, and Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations at NBC Universal.
