Susan Thesing

Hello! I'm Susan

Creative Customer Success strategist with experience delivering outcomes for high-end customers and strategic partners.

B2B SaaS Software Executive

Servant | Inspirational Leader

Human First | Team Builder

Customer Experience Journey

Customer Success | Professional Services

Bold Customer Advocate

Authentic | Innovative

Business Development and Sales

Susan Thesing

Customer Success Executive

503-828-8347

Phone:

Email:

ssthesing@gmail.com

Address:

Portland, OR

EXPERIENCE

NAVEX

Vice President, Customer Success 2019-Present

Lead and advocate for a 40-member Customer Success Management team which includes Customer Success, Professional Services, Partner Services, Customer Support and Learning & Development. (95% employee retention over past two years).
Boldly advocate for and serve our customers (#1 ranking 9.9 CSAT).
Participate on the Executive Team responsible for executing GTM strategy, operational plan and customer journey initiatives, achieving $25M Services bookings and $500M in ARR.
Execute the M&A integration strategy for a turnaround integrated risk management SaaS company to adapt to all corporate processes.
Due to 20%+ reacquisition churn rate, start new Technical Account Management team (CSM) with 100% customer attachment and reduced churn by 6% YoY, including 3M ARR in customer saves.
Launch a new predictive churn model using Salesforce, Gainsight, 6Sense and Tableau for improvement of customer retention.
Own CSO resource planning, budget, services and support models, core metrics achievement, and team career development.
Collaborate cross-functionally with Marketing, Sales, Product, Finance and Legal to drive GAAP revenue, services bookings, P&L and ARR priorities, KPI targets, and user experience.
Establish a new Partner Services Program to meet strategic revenue goals resulting in new customer acquisition and service offerings.
Crafted company’s overall Purpose Statement and Rally Cry for 2022, approved by Board and Executive Team to cultivate a culture of excellence, grace and elegance to promote, protect and preserve the human aspect.
Promoted 4x over course of employment at NAVEX.

Director, Customer Success Operations 2018 - 2019

Shaped and led brand-new CSO Operations department comprised of Customer Education, Customer Experience (CX), Customer Journey initiatives, Data Analytics, Resource Management and Operations/Enablement.
Strategized with CSO, Executive Leadership and Board to define, launch and drive strategic and operational initiatives for 300+ team members spanning 7 offices in US and EMEA, responsible for 25M in Services bookings across 6 product lines.
Partnered closely with Product Management to ensure successful release management and CSO readiness.
Drove alignment and prioritization of key initiatives across CSO departments including Data Services, Implementation, Professional Services, Customer Support and Customer Success Management.
Delivered CSO Executive-Level reporting on key metrics, projects and customer insights.
Enhanced the NAVEX Voice of the Customer Program and partnered closely with cross-functional leadership to align insights to CX initiatives to drive net retention, seeing a 5% reduction in churn.
Overhauled the NAVEX Global Community and built a new education center - NAVEX Academy to increase customer adoption.
Owned and improved programs for CSO systems and tools, including the launch of Slack across all CSO departments.

Director, Professional Services 2014-2016

Oversaw the Project Management Team responsible for the day-to-day consulting, delivery and implementation of NAVEX’s software applications.
Ensured the implementation team met or exceeded targets for all key performance indicators, consistently hitting Billable Utilization (75%), Revenue (110%+), on-time delivery (96%), CSAT (9.6) metrics, on more than 2000 projects.
Contributed to the continual improvement of implementation processes and procedures to delight our customers.
Developed new on-boarding training program for new hires, cutting the time to production by 30%.
Managed workload, project assignment and resource allocation.
Supported team members and customers with Voice of the Customer escalation issues.
Ensured implementation process was followed and executed effectively by the team for all projects.
Monitored reports and data specific to implementation projects and related metrics.
Recruited, on-boarded and retained a highly functional 55-member team, providing clear individual and team goals to ensure each team member was successful with their career goals while serving our customers.
Delivered successful communication and reporting to Executive Management, critical to the continued growth, strategy and success of the implementation and delivery teams.
Promoted from Manager to Director by being recognized for high potential/next generation leadership rating.

PANOGS

Director, Operations 2016-2018

Led an operational team in the production of Capturing Everest, a Virtual Reality (VR) film that ultimately won an Emmy award in the 360 VR | Outstanding Innovation category.
Collaborated and secured contracts with Sports Illustrated, TIME and Life VR in the production of the film
Organized and project managed production crew comprising of skilled photographers, panographers (360), mechanical engineers, and developers in the creation of the film.

GIGAPAN

Vice President, Business Development & Marketing 2012-2014

Led Business Development, Sales, Marketing strategy & teams in a start-up environment to drive growth.
Transformed the company from a hardware, software and storage company to a true social media platform on which to enhance a user’s experience, build communities and strengthen brands.
Achieved 200% revenue increase in sales over prior year in the first three months.
Landed numerous major contracts including Olympics, Samsung, MLB, MLS, NBA, Sports Illustrated, Disney, BBC, Turner Broadcasting (CNN), Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Showtime, Boston Globe, NASA and TIME.
Collaborated with TIME Magazine on the 1 World Trade Center first only tri-fold cover of gigapixel photo.
Drove sales of software, web content and digital services, resulting in a 40% increase YoY.
Garnered major media and vertical coverage, leading to the largest sale in corporate history with Major League Baseball.
Crafted overall brand and business strategy, rebranding messaging, mission/vision statements and outward expression.
Wrote copy for demand generation and lead campaigns and participated in several news interviews.
Maintained and analyzed CRM database for segmentation.
Collaborated on UX design platforms and partnered with web and product teams to identify new revenue generating software applications.
Developed annual calendar for social media, PR, campaigns, product launches and industry outreach.
Interviewed often by media outlets.

SAGE

Channel Sales Manager 2006-2011

Managed North American & International Sales and Partner channels, driving development & execution of sales, marketing and organizational plans.
Transformed channel partners from exclusive territories to open territory model, resulting in achievement of 110% of annual revenue in the first year after implementation.
Recognized with Inner Circle Award for exceeding established goals.
Supervised regional account management and sales operations teams.
Recruited and developed new channel partners including contract JBR negotiation.
Provided guidance to existing channel partners to maximize opportunities and drive business development through a best-in-class operational readiness exercise and training.
Led steering committees designed to prepare partners for new product launches and GTM strategies.
Partnered with Marketing to create and launch promotion campaigns to drive revenue for new customer acquisitions.
Managed lead generation and maintained funnel database for each market segmentation and distribution of leads.
Utilized scorecard metrics and MSA reporting for best practice territory management, market penetration and forecasting, delivering weekly reports to executive team.
Served as interim VP Sales.