Inspirational profiles of women in
leadership roles in the tech scene.

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Lead(H)er: Courtney Cunnane, Vice President of Demand Generation at SmartBear banner image

Lead(H)er: Courtney Cunnane, Vice President of Demand Generation at SmartBear

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Courtney Cunnane may have fallen into demand generation by accident, but staying in the field for the past eight years of her career was anything but. Cunnane began in B2B marketing for technology companies like Exchange Solutions and Allurent, then began to stretch her role for nearly 10 years at Experian. 

While Cunnane was a marketing programs director for Experian’s data quality software division, she focused heavily on using marketing as a driver of growth, particularly through generating leads. Without intending to make it her specialty, Cunnane was becoming an expert in demand generation. 

“The longer I did it, the more I really liked that area of marketing,” said Cunnane, now the Vice President of Demand Generation at SmartBear. “I love figuring out who is our target audience and why they need our product. What problems do they have? How can we help?” 

Cunnane had previously spent a few years at each of her employers, so remaining at Experian for almost a decade came as a surprise. When she was ready to embark on the next phase of her career, she knew she wanted to continue in demand generation and work at a company that still had plenty of room to grow. She found the perfect role at SmartBear, where she leads a team of 20, including six current open roles. 

The demand generation team pursues the same questions Cunnane did at Experian: Who needs what we have, and how can we make sure they know we have it? They work to increase awareness of SmartBear’s software testing, developing, and monitoring tools using feedback from sales and marketing teams to determine how well strategies are working and how new potential customers can be reached each day. 

Rather than go back to the drawing board and create an entire demand generation department, Cunnane counted herself lucky that SmartBear had a massive level of engagement with its target market when she joined five months ago. The awareness was there, and it became Cunnane’s job to go through leads with a fine-tooth comb to find the highest quality picks and generate more. 

“There’s enough to build on that you’re not completely starting from scratch, but there’s a lot of work to do in terms of developing the processes and strategies that will help us get from where we are today to be the massive organization we want to be,” Cunnane said. 

Cunnane is supporting this growth by helping implement systems that will allow SmartBear to replicate processes on a larger scale as efficiently as possible. She’s also structuring her team differently, giving each person a more specific role and hiring for brand new positions when necessary. This level of detail helps create a high-performing, motivated, and engaged team in which each member can take ownership of clear goals. 

“I want to be in a position where I feel really proud of having built a team that understands how each person contributes to the overall results and feels really good about the impact we have on the business,” Cunnane said. 


Quick (Q)uestions and A(dvice) 

What do you enjoy doing in your free time? 

I have two little guys at home, a four-year-old and a one-year-old, in addition to a pretty busy job here. I don’t get free time as often as I used to, but I do like being outside, so I’m usually at the beach with my boys, letting them run around. 

How do you manage stress? 

For me, it’s mostly about maintaining perspective. It definitely helps to remember what really is important at the end of the day in terms of both how you’re thinking of your own accomplishments and also in terms of the company and the results that we’re looking for. I try to take a step back and remind myself that we can’t necessarily make everything perfect all at once, and we really need to have perspective about what we need to do and when we can do it. It’s about balancing, having strong expectations of myself and my team but also giving us all a break if things don’t go as planned. 

How many cups of coffee do you drink in a day?

Only one, but a pretty strong one -- I usually have a double cappuccino first thing in the morning. 

What’s one of your favorite places in the Boston area? 

Castle Island is one of my favorites. I spent seven years living in South Boston, and for me, Castle Island is always an awesome spot. You can walk half a mile from where you are in the city and be surrounded by water. I like being out there in the evenings or on the weekend when there are lots of people out and about. It’s pretty easy to get to and very unique in the city. 

What’s one of your proudest accomplishments so far? 

I’m really proud of the fact that over my career, I've been able to stretch in a bunch of different directions and have had different responsibilities across different areas of marketing and product lines. I've even moved across different businesses and of course, have recently shifted into an entirely new space. I’ve spent a lot of time building up my marketing expertise and consider myself a marketing expert and can bring that over to other businesses and product lines, so that feels really good at this point. 

I’m also proud of having helped people on my team develop their own careers in the direction they want. I’ve been able to help people identify where they want to get to, develop the plans that will get them there, and then be able to see them achieve those goals. 

How does where you are now compare to where you saw yourself 10 years ago? 

I think 10 years ago, I would have said marketing is the area of the business that I like being in, so that feels pretty consistent. I think it’s different in terms of how I'm just starting something new. Earlier on in my career, I had been at a couple of different companies for two to three years and would not have predicted that I would have stayed at my last company for almost 10 years. Now I'm starting in a totally new space with a new company and building from there. I also didn’t expect to be doing this much advocating for my team and telling the story of what we do, because I'm someone who hated public speaking and getting up in front of crowds. Now I do that a lot, and it’s something I really enjoy because I feel strongly about the value of the work that the team does. That's something I don't think I would have predicted.

What’s your advice for recent college graduates? 

Try lots of different things, but spend time identifying the things that you like. I don't think that you have to have a path defined or need to be moving in any specific direction, but I think it's really important to take the time to consider, as you’re in a role, what feels good and what satisfies your professional goals. For me, I always liked when I got to focus on storytelling and getting a message out to an audience, especially when it was connected to marketing or sales. It’s important to give yourself a break and not expect that you have everything figured out all at once, but start to develop the list of things that are important to you both in a current role and then in the career path that you eventually decide on. 


Samantha Costanzo Carleton is a Contributor to VentureFizz. You can follow her on Twitter @smcstnz.

Images courtesy of Courtney Cunnane

About the
Company

Smartbear's tools are built to streamline your DevOps processes while seamlessly working with the products you use – and will use

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Lead(H)er: Heather Hartford, Chief People Officer at Acquia banner image

Lead(H)er: Heather Hartford, Chief People Officer at Acquia

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A Human Resources department may seem like a foundational element of any company. But for some start-ups in the tech space, the talent and human resources teams may be not built out until the company has reached a certain size. Companies like this often find themselves lacking a people-first mentality, which can make it difficult to create a strong culture that drives employee engagement, retention, and performance.

How do you fix such a problem? You call Heather Hartford.

“You can work anywhere, but more importantly, what are the compelling factors that differentiate where you work compared to any other company in the marketplace?” asked Hartford, the Chief People Officer at Acquia.

Over the course of her career, Hartford has worked to make sure employees are able to answer that question with confidence and excitement.

Hartford began her career in marketing at Gardner Preston Moss and Hill Holiday before moving into a Director of Advertising role for Marshalls at TJX, and her transition into human resources and talent organizations happened when she was tapped for an unexpected opportunity. 

Hartford had been at Digitas LBi for a few years when the CEO decided to take a new approach to people management at the company and brought on a new Chief People Officer to help. The CPO promptly asked Hartford to make the switch from marketing to recruiting. If she could sell Digitas to clients, she reasoned, she could sell it to potential employees.

Hartford was uncertain about the new role but went ahead and accepted it on a trial basis, with the understanding that she could return to marketing in a year if necessary. She never did. Instead, Hartford eventually became the General Manager of Digitas’ Boston office and then its Head of Global Talent Operations. In her last role, Hartford traveled extensively to help expand Digitas’ global footprint through acquisitions of several small agencies around the world.

That role helped remind Hartford of how much she enjoyed working with smaller companies and building teams, and she eventually left Digitas to consider her next move. After a short break, she joined Rue La La.

“It was a team of smart people who were disrupting an industry, so I loved it,” Hartford said.

Rue La La also presented an opportunity to enter the startup space with the benefit of a developed infrastructure. As Rue’s Chief People Officer, Hartford infused her people operations strategy and vision at the company while learning more about what it meant to work at a startup.

“The notion of ‘failing fast’ was a pivot for me,” she said. “At an agency, it’s all about transforming great ideas into programs with flawless execution to deliver results to your clients. There is no ‘fail fast’ on a client’s dime.”

But the freedom to take bigger risks, make mistakes, learn from them, and come back stronger appealed to Hartford, so when it came time to move on from Rue La La, she was drawn to the opportunity to build a new people strategy at Acquia.

“I joined Acquia because they had a lot of the right ingredients when it came to people, but they weren’t sure of how to activate them,” Hartford said. “I believed the company would grow and flourish for a long time after it developed some stronger strategy and vision.”

Hartford helped solidify that vision by rebuilding the talent team’s internal brand and building trust and partnership within the organization. Since then, she’s cultivated a company culture that values employees and gives them more than a paycheck in exchange for their work by encouraging managers to give the people on their team opportunities to grow that help them create careers, not just fill jobs. 

“We believe in the player-coach model, which includes transparency and mutual accountability,” Hartford said. “We’re not armchair managers. We get involved.” She went on to say, ”Our app managers are coaches. This means guiding rather than telling."

Hartford herself is involved in every aspect of Acquia’s people management, from developing a strategy and hiring to traveling around the world to meet with teams and better understand their needs.

When Acquia recently acquired a company (Mautic), Hartford ensured that new employees felt they were part of something bigger, integrated, inspired, and connected. 

“People are our lifeblood,” Hartford said. “They’re not just billable hours – they are our talented team members who are making a difference. In order to create a world-class customer experience, you must first invest in your most important customers -- your people”


Quick Q(uestions) and A(nswers)

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

I love going to the beach and spending time there with family. We have a house in Maine, so we go there often.

How do you manage stress?

I always try to make time for myself. That’s a big one for me. I started doing pilates over the winter, and it really helps with my headspace.

How many cups of coffee do you have in a day?

I have two cups of coffee in the morning. It’s a nice ritual to get started.

What’s one of your favorite places in the Boston area?

I love the Common, and I like walking through it to get to the Public Gardens. My son goes to Northeastern, and at first, I wondered why he wasn’t going away to see someplace else. But it’s been really fun to discover the city through him. I commute in from Andover, so I always saw Boston as a place to work, not play. It’s nice to walk through the Gardens every day now as a way to clear my head.

Heather Hartford

What’s one of your proudest accomplishments?

I’m really proud of how we’ve pivoted the mindset at Acquia to think of people first. I truly value the opportunity to create transformation, and I’m proud of our evolution, commitment to world-class experiences, and the people-centric culture we’ve built together.

How does where you are now compare to where you saw yourself 10 years ago?

I didn’t think I would be in tech. I loved the agency world, and I knew I could always go back if I wanted to. The industry has a long way to go in regard to people, but it’s changing, and it’s exciting to be a part of that change.

What’s your advice for recent college graduates?

Take it in bite-size. I always tell my son to be curious, work hard, and don’t worry about the future. Nothing is guaranteed to come in five-year increments. My own career path has not taken me where I thought I’d be, or within the time frame that I thought I’d get there. Worry less about getting from point A to point B and follow your passion, because the rest will follow.


Samantha Costanzo Carleton is a Contributor to VentureFizz. You can follow her on Twitter @smcstnz.

About the
Company

Whether you are a dreamer, doer, maker or builder, we make it possible for every Acquian to thrive and make a lasting impact.

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18 of the Top Leaders in the New York Tech Scene - Lead(H)er Recap banner image

18 of the Top Leaders in the New York Tech Scene - Lead(H)er Recap

It’s a great time to be in the tech industry, particularly in New York, and women are leading the charge.

As part of our Lead(H)er series, I’ve had the great privilege of interviewing so many incredibly talented women who are founders or executives at some of the fastest growing companies in NYC's vibrant startup scene.

They’ve told us about everything from the challenges, successes, and surprises of their careers to how many cups of coffee it takes to get through a day, so take a look at our list of the talented women we’ve spotlighted this year.


“What’s been really fun as the business gets bigger is that the challenges change for myself and my co-founders,” Choi said. “Today, it’s really thinking about the next phase of growth and how we keep the foot on the gas."


Laura Zax, Vice President of Marketing at Splice

“I was really passionate about change at scale,” Zax said. “I fundamentally saw two levers for change at that kind of change. One was government, and that wasn’t a route I was going to go at this stage in my career, and the other was the corporate world. I had to figure out how business works, because it shapes our lives unlike any other force.”


Xiaodi Zhang, Chief Product Officer at 1stdibs

“I wanted to be a sponge and to learn as much as possible from those around me,” Zhang said. “I’m a big believer in the idea that you need to spend 10,000 hours on something to become an expert.”


Devra Prywes, Chief Product Officer at Applicaster

“Having an app suddenly means that wherever you are in the world, geography is not a factor in terms of access to information, entertainment, or education,” she said. “I see the work we’re doing now being able to help break down these borders to help people connect with content and  form communities.”


Joanna Lin, Head of Marketing at Simon Data

“I love having the ability to understand everything about the organization and be a part of what the business is trying to accomplish every day,” Lin said. “Everyone is working so hard to get to the same place, because we know that we’re all building it together and have a part in it. At the end of the day, if we’re successful, it’s a group win.”


Lillie Green, Head of Product for Wix Experts at Wix

“Part of what I love about working in product management and in the tech space, in general, is that there’s always something new to learn,” Green said. “It’s always changing, and for me, that’s what really keeps me excited and drives me to really build the best products we can.”


Tu Nguyen, VP, Head of Finance and Analytics at 1stdibs

“I learned from experience that I get the most out of taking the biggest risk and exploring the unknown,” Nguyen said.


Lindsey Fielding, Vice President of Marketing and Growth at YieldStreet

“I really love building, and enjoy early-stage companies where there's not really much there,” Fielding said. “It's sort of a blank slate to really think through what we’re trying to accomplish and how we’re going to do it.”


Lindsey Andrews, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Minibar Delivery

“When you’re creating a startup, one day will be the best day ever, and then something bad will happen the next and take you to the lowest of the low,” Andrews said. “I feel like Lara and I are really happy to have each other. Having someone to be a sounding board, to rely on if you're having a bad day, and really having that partnership to do it together has made it easier to weather the storms.”


Jessie Lazarus - Head of Mobility Business Development at CARMERA

“I think working for great people who trust you and will have your back is important. Someone in college once told me to choose classes based on the professor, not on the syllabus, and I think that’s how I’ve approached jobs. Work for people who will let you step beyond your qualifications because they trust you and will give you the freedom to learn, grow, and even mess up. Bosses who have your back is key.


Dorothy Chang, Vice President/Head of Marketing & Communication at Paxos

“I think the hardest thing you can do is to develop a more long-term perspective on life and realize that your first job isn't the end-all, be-all. I think a lot of people spend a lot of time worried about what that first job means for them and whether they’re making the right choice or not. But you’re 22 years old, and there's no way to know the answer to any of those questions until you do it. You just have to dive in, and then as you continue to grow, you'll learn more about life, what is best for you, where your strengths are, and what your desires are. You can figure all of that out as you go, so don't stress. Just go for it and keep putting yourself in a position to learn and grow and have the kind of impact you want to have on the world.


Amy Jacobowitz, Head of Content at Getaway

“I think the benefit of working in the world of advertising is that it has some of the most creatively-minded people and smartest people who are really trying to tackle things strategically,” she said. “It got me into a different mindset.”


Marybeth Sheppard, Senior Vice President of Marketing at SevenRooms

“I don’t really know what that’s going to look like 10 years in the future,” Sheppard said. “But I can tell you, I’m super excited for it.”


Jackie Trebilcock, Managing Director at New York Fashion Tech Lab

“There’s new things happening all the time, and we really don’t know what the next thing will be. That’s the exciting part.”


Marie Myers, CFO at UiPath

“I had this opportunity to create a big startup in less than 10 months, which was a pretty exciting experience, to say the least,” Myers said.


Neha Kumar, Director of Product Management at Oscar Health

“I’ve had amazing, strong, female leaders that supported me through each step of my career,” Kumar said. “They saw something in me and gave me opportunities, so now I’m doing the same.”


Dana Cordova

Shivani York, COO at InRhythm

“In business, so much is about empathy and relating to people,” Shivani said. “It took me a while to realize that. People want to not just be heard, but they want to feel like their ideas are valuable.”


Stephanie Manning, Director of Platform at Lerer Hippeau

“I really had to hustle for that first job, and I wish I knew how many applications I had to send because it would be a funny number to look at now,” she said.


Cara Reisman, Head of Betterment for Advisors

“I liked being able to collaborate across teams and translate big-picture ideas into execution in order to scale client-focused businesses,” Reisman said. “That’s how I came to Betterment.”


Laila Zemrani, Co-Founder and CEO of Fitnescity

“People want to take actions to learn more about their health,” Zemrani said. “We just needed to make it easier for them.”


Samantha Costanzo Carleton is a Contributor to VentureFizz. You can follow her on Twitter @smcstnz.

Lead(H)er: Joyce Bell, Chief Financial Officer at PrismHR banner image

Lead(H)er: Joyce Bell, Chief Financial Officer at PrismHR

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When it comes to acquisitions, Joyce Bell is a pro. She has a knack for joining companies poised for serious growth and helping build them up. Eventually, many of these companies have become part of something bigger. Bell doesn’t set out to get these companies acquired -- she simply makes a point of choosing to work in environments that create products of immense value. When other companies recognize that work, it’s a bittersweet transition for Bell.

“You’re very proud and very sad because you helped a company grow up, and now you have empty nest syndrome,” Bell said. “But I’m proud of the fact that multiple companies that I’ve been with have been acquired because means that someone found additional value in it. The product we built lives on.”

Bell, now the Chief Financial Officer at PrismHR, considers herself a builder. Throughout her career, that drive to create has pushed her to manage each company’s resources in a way that prioritizes growth and scale.

“I’m attracted to companies that are looking for problem solvers and people who will bring the company to the next stage of growth,” she said.

Bell began her career in public accounting at Ernst & Young, where she immersed herself in client services for a diverse array of companies but wanted to do more in terms of implementing solutions. She joined Boston Communications Group, a startup that marketed swipe phones to livery services and taxis, then moved to Cellular One to help the company expand its distribution channels. The company was eventually acquired by Southwestern Bell and then AT&T, and Bell moved on to Thompson Financial.

“Thompson was a large company with a real entrepreneurial focus,” she said. Bell managed a portfolio of companies at various stages of growth and did what she could for each one, whether it meant implementing systems or getting investors to sponsor international growth. No matter what, though, the customer came first.

When she was ready to make another career move, Bell made sure it was a big one. She dove into the world of Internet startups, beginning with Be Free, Inc., a tiny marketing company that was ready to go public and for which she hired the entire finance team. At first, Bell had wondered if making such a drastic career change would hold her back. Instead, the move opened up a new world.

Be Free survived the collapse of the tech bubble thanks to how much it had raised during its IPO, surviving enough to be acquired, too. Bell then joined Compete, a predictive analytics company that had 21 other employees. She was responsible for supporting funding rounds, determining vertical markets, and building the company’s management strategies. When that company was sold, so was her next employer, ClickSquared. Through a series of acquisitions, ClickSquared is now part of Verizon.

“At the time it was very exciting to help build it and to see how customers were shifting how they spend marketing dollars,” Bell said. “People were trying to determine where their advertising would be most effective, and a lot of it was online.”

With this insight, Bell came onboard at Brand Networks, which focuses on social media marketing, and then became the CFO at PrismHR.

“What I've learned is that I love problem-solving, and what's interesting is, no matter the size of the company, there are always new challenges and problems to solve,” she said of her career path. “Your competitive landscape is always changing, so it’s always causing you to ask whether you’re using best practices, what to do to implement them, and how to make sure the client is getting what they need.”

At PrismHR, Bell’s latest challenge is, of course, helping the company scale. Prism HR is the leading software for HR service providers, supporting their hiring, onboarding, reporting benefits, payroll, and admin processes in one convenient, end-to-end platform. The company is in the midst of its latest growth phase, and Bell is working to further develop in-house processes to make them as effective as possible by evaluating various metrics and identifying opportunities. Bell is also interested in using insight gained from how clients use PrismHR’s software to make it more efficient. Whether it’s an interface update or consolidating reports so that clients have a one-stop shop for their information, Bell is constantly on the lookout for ways to accelerate client growth.

“On the personal side, one of my objectives is to learn as much as I can,” Bell said. “I’m new and submerging myself so that I can get up to speed and make an impact as soon as possible.”


Quick Q(uestions) and A(dvice)

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

For me, nature is very inspirational. I love skiing, bicycling, hiking, playing tennis, and doing yoga. I also think continuous learning is something that is just a gift in our lives and there are so many technologies makes that possible, so I listen to a lot of books on Audible. I love spending time with my family and friends as well. I’m also involved in two finance organizations and the YMCA. There's the CFO Leadership Council, which I've been a part of since its inception. I am really proud of what we do because I think it gives back to the finance community and helps people develop their skills and their network. The second finance organization is called the FEI, and I'm on the academic relations committee, where we give scholarships to college juniors that are majoring in finance, accounting, or economics. I always feel proud of the students -- if this is our next generation, we're in good hands. Then I’m on the Huntington YMCA board. We serve about seven different communities, and we are doing a lot with healthy living and social responsibility. We also do a lot with seniors and bringing them together with younger people for classes. There's a value in having the multi-generational connection there.

How do you manage stress?

I don’t consider myself a very high-stress person. I tend to be someone who takes it all in stride. My approach usually is to craft a plan of action and understand what is mission critical and who can help me get this done. I really focus on what needs to get done. Yoga and mindfulness help a lot with that. I listen to this podcast called 10% Happier, and every week they interview a meditation expert, so I feel like I’m always learning tips and techniques about keeping life in perspective from that. Meditation encourages you to create stillness in your life, so that’s something I’m trying to learn.

If you're a coffee drinker, how many cups of coffee do you drink in a day?

Believe it or not. I'm not a coffee drinker. It's been years since I've had coffee, but my choice is hot water. I love the warmth of it and I find it relaxing, so I drink hot water throughout the day. When I switched to it, someone said to me one day, “Are you exhausted? Because you're just pouring hot water, and you're a coffee drinker.” Well, not anymore! Fast forward years later, an old colleague and I met up for lunch. I hadn't seen him in forever, and when I ordered a cup of hot water, he said, “That stuck? And you ask for it in public?”

What’s one of your favorite places in the Boston area?

I enjoy bicycling, and there are a couple of streets that I bike in Lincoln and Lexington that really invigorate me. I find that when you’re bicycling, you see things that you wouldn't if you were driving or even if you were walking. You'll see wild turkeys and other birds, and I feel so fortunate that we have such beauty so close to the city. It always makes me grateful.

What do you consider one of your greatest accomplishments?

I believe deeply in developing people and connecting others. When the tech bubble burst and I was on the job market again, there were hundreds of people out searching. I remember feeling like I couldn’t call old connections because I hadn’t talked to them in years – I was always so focused on my deliverable that I hadn’t prioritized the networking side. People were happy to reconnect, but I promised myself that in the future I would make time to cultivate those relationships and also to help other people develop in their career. I’ll offer them my time and perspective and introductions if they can be of value. Now I'm watching them do that again with others. I love the fact that we’ve learned and helped one another grow, and I’m proud of that.

How does where you are now compared to where you saw yourself 10 years ago?

I think I’ve always wanted to be in a place where I could contribute. Every company needs something different, so I would say I’ve always had that passion to help create growth, and I’m in the right place now. Entrepreneurial companies have always appealed to me because they have that chance to innovate and try new things and refine after seeing the impact of each action.

What’s your advice for recent college graduates?

I would ask them to find their passion and spend time figuring out what they want to pursue. And it may be stating the obvious, but always act with integrity and treat other people the way you want to be treated. If you do that, you will always feel like you’re making a positive contribution. When I think of what’s valuable in work, especially as a newcomer in your career, it’s important to develop your critical thinking skills and an independent point of view. You tend to think that everyone else knows better when you’re just starting out because you're just absorbing and learning, but you need to develop an informed perspective. You have to learn a lot, be curious, and be open. When you have an independent point of view, you become a go-to person because people will know you’ve given that opinion thought. Invest in continuous learning.


Samantha Costanzo Carleton is a Contributor to VentureFizz. You can follow her on Twitter @smcstnz.
 
 

About the
Company

PrismHR creates exceptional software and services for HR service providers and their SMB clients.

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Lead(H)er: Leanne Orphanos, Vice President of Account Management at Applause banner image

Lead(H)er: Leanne Orphanos, Vice President of Account Management at Applause

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When Leanne Orphanos graduated from college, large accounting firms were looking for a different kind of employee. Instead of the classic finance, business, and accounting majors they had previously pursued, these firms were interested in people with liberal arts degrees in subjects like English, history, and psychology.  They were looking for individuals who had the ability to think critically and to write, with an understanding that they would be able to learn to account on the job.

In her role at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) – then called Coopers & Lybrand– Orphanos learned as much as she could about various business models and operating principles, feeling particularly drawn to process improvement, internal controls, and risk management. With the legislation of Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) being created, she dove further into implementing internal control frameworks and driving change management programs for her clients.

“I have always had a passion for process,” Orphanos said. “I want to look at how an organization operates and figure out the best way to develop new processes, drive adoption and lead change. ”

Over the next 11 years of her career, Orphanos worked her way through NTT Data Services in various roles spanning client management, delivery operations, and managing the global resource planning and fulfillment function. She had the opportunity to manage teams across the US, India, and Canada. Now, her clients were internal ones, and she implemented large-scale systems and strategic initiatives for the company.

Her latest role, at Applause, represents a refreshing change of pace. She continues to draw on her past experiences in client service as the company’s Vice President of Customer Account Management.

“It’s an incredible opportunity to apply process improvement and account management strategy at a fast-paced, high-growth company, like Applause.”

Applause takes its customer success seriously, and the idea that everyone is responsible for that success – regardless of their role – pervades the company’s philosophy. Orphanos describes her job as providing the glue that binds customer needs and company actions together. She and her team ensure that customers receive the maximum value from Applause, overseeing the adoption and renewal process of Applause’s services and monitoring customer health.  Changes her team identifies can be made quickly at Applause, due to its size and culture.

“When you’re at a larger organization, you can’t be as nimble in decision making,” she said. “In a company that’s smaller and high growth, you have the opportunity to plug into something, establish new processes or organizational models, and drive change.  The scale is much more manageable and the organization has fewer barriers to overcome.”

Orphanos has been at Applause for about six months now, and she’s looking forward to what lies ahead. She’s working on new programs and strategic initiatives that will positively impact both internal operations and the value delivered to Applause customers.  She’s excited to continue to support an environment in which she and her coworkers can drive meaningful business impact, while still being able to have some fun.

“I want to be in a workplace where you can enjoy the camaraderie,” Orphanos said. “Let’s identify a challenge and go after it, together.”


Quick Q(uestions) & A(nswers)

What do you like to do in your free time?

I have three kids, and so a lot of my free time is spent with their activities, whether it’s going to my son's baseball and football games or my daughter's basketball and soccer games.

How do you generally manage stress?

I definitely think seeking the work-life balance has been a journey at different phases of my life. At each chapter that I’ve passed through, I have tried to be self-aware about where I want to be now.   Am I where I want to be? How do I go out and achieve that balance? I think the biggest lesson that I've learned is that no one can prescribe the work-life balance formula. You have got to seek it within yourself and say, “This is what it is for me.”  It's trying to be in the moment. It’s not perfect, but you need to find your own version of what works.

How many cups of coffee do you drink in a day?

Probably two, and I’m usually drinking iced coffee.

What do you consider one of your favorite places in the Boston area?

Probably the Cape --somewhere by the beach is my happy place.

What do you consider one of your greatest accomplishments?

Two years ago, I set a goal to ride the Pan-Mass Challenge. I think all of us are affected by cancer in some way, and it was a cause very near and dear to me. I set out that year doing a sort of reflection, and I did it because it wasn’t for me, it was something bigger than myself. I had ridden a bike before but never a road bike. I made the commitment and then I had to go figure it out.  I rode in honor of my twin sister’s 10-year breast cancer survivor anniversary, and I rode with a group of friends from NTT on team Morse Force, a dear friend, also a breast cancer survivor. It was an amazing experience that was obviously deeply touching and personal.

Is this where you thought you’d be 10 years ago?

Being in environments where I could help build things and contribute value and be a part of something that seems fun has always been my goal. I am enjoying where I am at and it has been a great journey to get here.

What’s your advice for recent college graduates?

I would tell them to take initiative, seek a mentor, learn what you can, and have a lot of energy and a can-do attitude. Take control of the opportunities that are in front of you, and don’t expect them to fall into your lap. Over my career, I’ve seen that it’s the people that have high energy and a can-do attitude that others want to bring along with them. They see the potential and want to make a personal investment in mentoring. It becomes a win-win.


Samantha Costanzo Carleton is a Contributor to VentureFizz. You can follow her on Twitter @smcstnz.

Images courtesy of Leanne Orphanos

About the
Company

Applause is the world leader in testing and digital quality.

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Lead(H)er: Marybeth Sheppard, Senior Vice President of Marketing at SevenRooms banner image

Lead(H)er: Marybeth Sheppard, Senior Vice President of Marketing at SevenRooms

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Picture this: When you show up for your dinner reservation at your new favorite restaurant, the host welcomes you back and greets you by name. Your server asks if you’d like a glass of that wine you enjoyed so much last time, and mentions that while the night’s special has dairy in it—you mentioned you had an allergy to it last time—a dairy-free option is available. Have you suddenly become an A-list celebrity without knowing it? Not quite. This restaurant is just using SevenRooms to make you feel like one.

SevenRooms is an integrated reservation and seating platform that makes everything from organizing reservations to making guests feel special that much easier. It’s an approach that Marybeth Sheppard, the company’s Senior Vice President of Marketing, takes to her own career, as well.

“I've always been in these roles where I’ve needed to take a very integrated marketing approach to manage the whole lifecycle,” Sheppard said. “How do we make sure the industry knows who we are and what we do, how do we get leads to talk to sales and engage with us, and how do we make sure they know how to use our product in a way that meets their needs?”

Sheppard earned her bachelor’s degree in communications at Seton Hall University, where a love of writing eventually became a love of marketing and the wider range of activities that fell under that umbrella. After graduation, she took a full-time role working in non-admissions marketing at her alma mater, running events including capital campaign launches designed to raise $150 million and speaker and gala events attended by such luminaries as Hillary Clinton, Kofi Anan, and Toni Morrisson.

Though the work was rewarding, Sheppard had always wanted to work at a marketing agency. She found her opportunity in Zer0 to 5ive, a B2B tech marketing agency. The experience allowed her to get a behind-the-scenes look at how different types of companies worked, from financial services to education.

“Working at an agency is a very intense experience,” Sheppard said. “You’re really working for another company’s success when you do.”

After six years, Sheppard decided to go in-house again. She was looking for a B2B company with a household name, and she found her match in Seamless, the popular food ordering and delivery site. There, Sheppard handled corporate business account sales and restaurant and delivery driver marketing. As she grew into new roles, so did the company, and Seamless eventually merged with GrubHub, with the combined company IPOing shortly after.

When she began to crave a new challenge, Sheppard again knew just what she was looking for. She hoped for company with a New York headquarters, where she could be right in the middle of the action, and for a role that continued to combine hospitality and tech.

“The hospitality industry, with its energy and its excitement, has a way of getting into your blood if it’s something you love,” Sheppard said.

SevenRooms was a natural next stop. In addition to checking all of her boxes, the company also offered Sheppard the chance to work with passionate, driven, and kind founders who had a strong vision for their company.

For Sheppard, her colleagues are often the most exciting part of working at a startup. When each person’s contribution can make such an impact, the workday becomes that much more rewarding.

“You really build a camaraderie with your colleagues around the fact that you’re building something together and that you’re part of the reason that this growth is happening,” she said.

Sheppard looks forward to the many opportunities these connections can bring and is eager to get involved in new projects that her colleagues might someday develop. Her immediate focus, though, is helping SevenRooms bring Amazon’s Alexa into the restaurant industry. In October 2018, SevenRooms received funding from the Alexa Fund, which sponsors programs designed to use voice enabled technology in innovative new ways.

“I don’t really know what that’s going to look like 10 years in the future,” Sheppard said. “But I can tell you, I’m super excited for it.”


Rapid Fire Questions

What do you like to do in your free time?

I love to cook, host, and entertain. It’s probably why I’m so drawn to hospitality and restaurants. I love to think of a big meal and cook it up for friends and family. If the weather’s nice, I’ll go play tennis or go to the beach, but cooking is year round.

How do you typically manage stress?

Luckily I’m not a very stressed or anxious person. I was born with a positive outlook, and I tend to remember that and use that. When I do get nervous about a project or other situation, I have learned that it helps me verbalize it to the people who can help do something about it. The sooner you can do that and talk about it to the people who have the ability to impact it, the better. All it takes is saying, “Hey, I’m starting to think about this. What are your thoughts?” Just being stressed for the sake of being stressed doesn't do much. I like to be action-oriented.

If I’m stressed about a personal thing, I try to ask myself, “What's the absolute worst thing in the whole world that can happen right now?” We all know that whatever it is, it would never happen. Once I ground myself like that, I can manage almost anything. I even joke with my children—freaking out is always the worst response. It always makes things worse, and calm heads always prevail.

How many cups of coffee do you drink in a day?

Two big ones, but they’re decaf, so I get to cheat a little bit. I don’t drink caffeine in theory, but I do drink a ton of decaf coffee, and there’s a little bit in there.

What’s one of your favorite places in the New York City area?

My happy place is Cape May in New Jersey. It’s a Victorian landmark city, and it has these big houses, an amazing beach, and great restaurants and bars. In the summer, we spend as much time there as we can. It’s just a two-hour drive from the city. In the city, there’s nothing like Long Meadow in Prospect Park. If I have an afternoon or a day to spend somewhere, that’s probably my favorite.

What do you consider one of your greatest accomplishments so far?

I think one of the things I’m most proud of is the relationships that I’ve built in my career and the number of people who are willing to work with me again. When people who have worked with you before know the results you’re able to produce, and how you react to good things and bad, and they want to work with you again, I take a lot of pride in that. If people are reaching out to you, that means you’re doing something right. Your professional network is invaluable.

What’s your advice for recent college graduates?

Control what you can control. What I mean by that is, for example, I may not always be the smartest in the room or the person who went to the fanciest college, but I’m on time. I work hard. I try to be the most prepared person in the meeting. So take the time to send the thank you notes and build those relationships and work on the things that don't have to do with the fact that you don’t have a Harvard MBA and someone else does. A lot of succeeding has to do with just working hard, showing up, paying attention, and listening. Do what you say you’re going to do. Be easy to work with. All of those things make an impact, and I think that’ll take them very far.


Samantha Costanzo Carleton is a Contributor to VentureFizz. You can follow her on Twitter @smcstnz.

About the
Company

SevenRooms is a Guest Experience and Retention platform that helps hospitality operators create exceptional experiences that drive revenue and repeat business.

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Lead(H)er - Eliza Becton, Co-Founder and Head of Product at Bevi banner image

Lead(H)er - Eliza Becton, Co-Founder and Head of Product at Bevi

“Water has always been an important and constant part of my life. Growing up outside of Boston, I spent a lot of time sailing out on the ocean. As a result, I was naturally interested in sustainability and ocean stewardship,” said Eliza Becton, Co-Founder and Head of Product at Bevi.

But Eliza’s path to founding her own company wasn’t directly from sustainability. She grew up loving both art and science and graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Yale. After working in New York for a few years at an engineering firm, Eliza quickly realized that she wanted to work on something with a mission while also utilizing her creative skills.

“Fortunately, I soon discovered industrial design and went back to school for a masters degree at the Rhode Island School of Design. It was completely life-changing. It taught me how to ask the really hard questions like why are we doing what we’re doing? As a result, it was not just about creating things for the sake of creating them. It was about purpose and people and user-centered design,” Eliza said.

During research for her masters thesis, Eliza learned about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an ever-expanding, floating mass of plastic waste in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

“That was really shocking to me and got me thinking about how I could design a product that could eventually replace those plastic bottled beverages. How do you create something that’s easier to use, more convenient, and more enjoyable for people?” Eliza asked.

She completed her master thesis with a product design concept that aimed to eliminate bottled beverage waste. After graduation, Eliza went back to Boston to work for startups as a designer, but she always kept this concept in the back of her mind.

And then plastic water bottles started showing up in the news. The town of Concord, Massachusetts, banned bottled water as did many school campuses. Eliza realized that this was the time to pursue her project, if she was ever going to do it.

“About this time, I was introduced to Sean Grundy, Bevi’s CEO, through mutual friends. He was an MBA candidate at MIT Sloan but also a sustainability nerd, like me. We met for coffee one day and spent hours chatting about our ideas. He was crazy enough to work with me and together we began entering business plan competitions. We eventually convinced Sean’s roommate and close friend, Frank, to join as our third co-founder. Sean and Frank Lee met in China before they even started at Sloan, both while working on water-related projects abroad,” Eliza said, describing the catalyst for her future company.

Bevi Founders
Bevi's founding team: Sean Grundy, Frank Lee, and Eliza Becton.

Bevi incorporated in August of 2013. By then, they had proven to themselves and others through several successful business competitions that it was possible to use design and technology to change user behavior from relying on bottled beverages. When they first started out, the Bevi team was doing really crude market tests with cardboard boxes and trying to get people to pay for things as early as possible.

“It was really embarrassing and we failed a lot, but we learned and moved on to the next idea or iteration. Those small failures were very important to understand and learn from,” Eliza remembers.

In the spring of 2014, Bevi was accepted into the Techstars Boston program, which became their early big break. With access to amazing mentors and peers, the team felt really lucky to learn what they did there. Techstars pushed the team a lot and they came out of the program finding Bevi’s product market fit—commercial offices.

“Once we figured that out, our first product, the Standup Bevi, started to take off in sales. People actually liked it -- they wanted it and were willing to pay for it. It felt like things had finally clicked. Our next challenge was figuring out how to scale. We kept improving our product for performance, reliability, and costs,” Eliza said.  

In the fall of 2017, the company released their second product, the Countertop Bevi. Launching a product with a more established, bigger team was a much different experience, than the original product which was built with a team of just five people.

“Moving forward, we will have to constantly ask ourselves the same question -- how do we work smarter and move faster? It’s a lot to do, but it’s a great challenge and fun to think about the sustainability impact that we are making. Right now, we’re saving about 2.5 million bottles per month. I feel lucky everyday that I get to work on something that I truly care about that has a real impact,” said Eliza.


Rapid Fire Q&A

BS: What do you like to do in your free time?

EB: Well, I have a two year old son so I like to spend my free time with him and my husband. I also enjoy cooking a lot. It’s kind of my new creative outlet these days, since I’m not doing as much design as I used to.

BS: How do you manage stress?

EB: [laughs] Not very well! I mean again, creativity is a great outlet for that. I think when I’m really stressed, I also try to make an effort to exercise or be outside. Additionally I enjoy seeing friends. Everyone has their own challenges in life so it’s nice to be able to talk to someone, be there for them and forget about your own stuff.

BS: How many cups of coffee do you typically drink in a day?

EB: I’m actually pregnant right now so I try to limit my coffee for hydration purposes. On a regular day, though, I drink maybe three to four cups.

BS: Where is your favorite spot in the Boston area?

EB: I love being on the water so I really enjoy the seaport. Sitting at a restaurant on the water is pretty amazing. The smell of the ocean, the fresh air—I love it.

BS: If you had to choose one thing other than family, what would you say is your greatest accomplishment?

EB: I’m really proud of Bevi, everything we’ve done and all the amazing people I get to work with every day.

BS: Ten years ago, is this where you would have seen yourself?

EB: No way! In fact, I would love to meet someone who fully anticipated where they were going to be in ten years and congratulate them on that. But I almost feel like I would be doing something wrong if I were living up to all my plans in life. I don’t know if I had even thought about where I wanted to be in ten years, ten years ago. I knew I wanted to be doing design. But other than that, I didn’t have any plans. I just wanted to feel like I was making an impact on the world and I feel like I am.

BS: What one piece of advice would you give to a recent college graduate?

EB: I feel like I’m lucky to have found what I want to do in life that also makes me happy. I’d recommend finding whatever that is for you and to consider paths that maybe aren’t as conventional. I’ve seen too many people take the safe route and do what their peers are doing, and one day they wake up realizing that their job isn’t fulfilling for them. If you have a vision for the career that will make you happy, go for it and work hard to get there. If you don’t yet know what will make you happy, take the time to understand what you really care about and find fulfilling. The saying is true: life is too short to waste your time doing something that you don’t love.


Brianne Shelley is a Contributor to VentureFizz and an Account Executive at ezCater. Follow Brianne on Twitter: @MuddleandMix.
 
Images courtesy of Eliza Becton and Bevi.
Lead(H)er - Jennifer Hogan Mahoney, Vice President of Customer Success at SmartBear banner image

Lead(H)er - Jennifer Hogan Mahoney, Vice President of Customer Success at SmartBear

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“I realized I wanted to be in customer success after I realized the impact customer success can have on relationships, both internally and externally. It’s interesting just how powerful relationships can be - it leads to customer expansion and transforms how a company views its customers,” said Jennifer Hogan Mahoney, Vice President of Customer Success at SmartBear.

Jennifer grew up in the tight-knit community of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. After graduating high school, Jennifer went to Assumption College and pursued a degree in communication and education.

“Halfway through college, I changed my direction and thought I wanted to be a teacher. Although I was uncertain where my life would lead me, upon graduation I decided to take a teaching opportunity. This was a great experience, but ultimately I realized I wanted to be in a traditional business environment.”

She moved on to start her career as a sales support person for a private healthcare system in Waltham. Moving on from sales support, she became an account manager at Tufts Healthplans where she first got to experience the impact of relationship management. Once she spent several years in the space, she decided to switch things up.

Ultimately her career in Customer Success truly started when she was recruited to Picis, a high acuity software used in operating rooms. She was their Client Service Director and the main relationship point of contact for the customer.

She went from managing a single software platform at a 600 person start-up vendor to managing multiple platforms and technologies across an 80K person corporation when the company was acquired by Optum. Jennifer’s role expanded into managing larger customers at an executive level. She learned how customer success can benefit an organization by allowing for expansion and growth opportunities.

“I managed the Boston market. I love Boston so it was great because I spent a lot of time in the city working at a lot of hospital systems such as Partners, Boston Medical Center, Hallmark Health, Stewart, Cape Cod Healthcare—all the major health systems. Additionally, I was also part of the pilot program evangelizing one point of contact for the customer, across all products and technologies. This gave me an incredible amount of insight into the importance of continuity for the customer, and continues to drive my strategy today.”

Again, Jennifer’s role expanded when Optum divested their clinical applications to Harris Computer, a Canadian company owned by Constellation Software. Looking to put various healthcare companies together with a set strategy, they asked Jennifer to develop a customer success platform and program that was built with scale in mind.

“I started with the Picis business unit and rolled out a customer success platform that included customer success managers that were located in North America and Europe. I managed the strategy from net promoter program to leads, sales pipeline, and managing customer relationships. Once I had the program solidified for Picis as part of Harris, that program was presented to more of Harris’ businesses as a proven method not only to retain but also to improve customer adoption.”

After almost three years with Harris, Jennifer joined SmartBear, where she is currently the Vice President of Customer Success.

Customer Success team at SmartBear
SmartBear's Customer Success team on an outing! 

“I took the opportunity to come into SmartBear and develop the customer success organization, which is growing in scale and scope internationally. After just under a year, we have global customer programs in support of our strong customer-first strategy.”

“Our customer success teams engage with every functional area of the company. They are the champions of the customer internally, working with support, product management, leadership, and development. We’re able to operate with a feedback loop, being the voice of the customer for feature requests, product enhancements, and overall customer requirements. We also work with sales and marketing, having developed strong relationships with our customers to showcase our product portfolio and support the brand.”

Jennifer is known for having mantras that she instills in her team, a few favorites are “bad news doesn’t get better with time,” “come with solutions not problems,” and “do something amazing.”

SmartBear is currently 375 employees and growing. They have a fast-paced collaborative culture and seven offices worldwide. Their global HQ is located in Somerville at Assembly Row with beautiful views of the river.


Rapid Fire Questions

BS: How do you manage stress?

JHM: I have an acoustic mix on Spotify that I listen to. When facing a stressful situation, I put my headphones on, take a step back before addressing the situation at hand.

BS: How many cups of coffee do you drink a day?

JHM: I do a double shot of espresso and that’s it!

BS: What do you like to do in your free time?

JHM: Spend time with my two boys. As you can imagine they have very busy schedules with school, sports, and friends; so if we have any free time I just like to snuggle and watch a movie or take a walk around the pond.

Jennifer Mahoney, SmartBear
Jennifer and her family on vacation in Disney World.

BS: Where is your favorite spot in Boston?

JHM: Anything Back Bay, sign me up! From the architecture to the local coffee shops, even just a stroll by the river is enjoyable.

BS: If you had to choose one thing, what would you say is your greatest accomplishment?

JHM: My greatest accomplishment is being a mom! I am lucky to have two amazing boys and a supportive husband who enables me to balance it all.

BS: Ten years ago, is this where you would have seen yourself?

JHM: Surprisingly, yes. Ten years ago I was well into my career in Customer Success and had the vision of running the team.

BS: What one piece of advice would you give to a recent college graduate?

JHM: Stay focused, keep an open mind and take all opportunities that come your way.


Brianne Shelley is a Contributor to VentureFizz and an Account Representative at BlueGrace Logistics. Follow Brianne on Twitter: @MuddleandMix.

Images courtesy of SmartBear.

About the
Company

Smartbear's tools are built to streamline your DevOps processes while seamlessly working with the products you use – and will use

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