One of the key tenants of accelerating success is through mentorship. Warren Buffet studied under the tutelage of Benjamin Graham. Frank Sinatra took notes from Bing Crosby. Socrates mentored Plato, who mentored Aristotle. Elizabeth Taylor had Audrey Hepburn. The list goes on and on. Whether you’re talking about sports, theater, academics, or business, the underlying premise of shortcutting success by leveraging others’ skills, knowledge and experience is undisputable.
There are two ways to get a mentor- through an organic process where a mentor-mentee relationship naturally emerges; or alternately to pay for one.
However, studies by Christina M. Underhill have revealed that there’s quite a substantial difference. Those who were mentored in a formal setting tended to achieve “slightly more” in professional settings. However, it turns out, “informal mentoring produced a larger and more significant effect on career outcomes than formal mentoring.” You can’t force a mentor.
If you don’t have a mentor how, what can you do to shortcut the road to sales success? Two options. First, as explained in his book Smartcuts, Shane Snow reveals how Jimmy Fallon picked mentors to “study from a distance” and got to know them like the back of his hand. Second, you can find and surround yourself with other rising stars in the industry. Studies have shown this is just as effective as having a mentor. Afterall, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably in B2B sales or marketing. From the title if this post, I’d guess more specifically you’re in sales or account development. If that’s you, you’re in the right place.
You have a tough job. That’s why I wanted to put together this list of the top 50+ sales development and account development leaders. These are the men and women who are doing the work day in and day out. These are people you should follow. These are the people you should get to know. These are the people you should “study from a distance” or, even better, surround yourself with. Consume their content. Be where they are online. Find them at meetups or events.
Again, it’s a tough job, and since the industry is changing, we must all band together. I’ve always been a big believer in the idea “a rising tide lifts all boats.” You’ll find most of the leaders here prescribe to the same belief, which means they’d likely be more than happy to chat. Buy them coffee (hint: Craig loves his Philz). Buy them lunch. Buy them dinner.
Along with my friends, colleagues and coworkers, I’ve done my best to assemble the sharpest minds in sales and account development. The reason it’s 50+ is I’ve probably missed a few. Rather than punish them by my ignorance, I’m more than happy to add to the list.
So, without further adieu, here are the people you should know!
Steven Broudy
Head of Account Development, Americas, MuleSoft
Taft Love
Sr. Director of Sales Ops and Sales Development, SmartRecruiters
Kristina McMillan
Sales Development Practice Leader, TOPO
Nicolette Mullenix
Director of Sales Development, DynamicSignal
Kristin Brey
Director of Sales Development, Optimizely
Ralph Barsi
Senior Director of Global Demand Center, ServiceNow
Eric Gonzalez
Associate Director of Sales Operations, Glassdoor
Ilan Kopecky
Associate Director of Sales Operations, TalkDesk
Ray Carroll
VP of Sales, Engagio
Matt Amundson
Vice President of Sales Development & Field Marketing, EverString
Liz Cain
VP of Go-to-Market Strategy, OpenView Venture Partners
Chad Burmeister
Sr. Director of Sales Development,RingCentral
Daniel Barber
VP of Sales, Datanyze
Craig Rosenberg
Cheif Analyst and Co-foudner, TOPO
Trish Bertuzzi
President & Chief Strategist, The Bridge Group
Kevin Gaither
Senior Vice President of Sales, ZipRecruiter
Lars Nilsson
VP of Global Inside Sales, Cloudera
Ben Brockland
Head of Sales, DataFox
Zach Barney
Director of Sales Development, Teem
Ron Parshad
Director, Sales Development, BrightTALK
Frannie Danzinger
Head of Market Development, 6sense
Franco Caporale
Sr. Director of Demand Generation & Sales Development, Apptimize
Joe Young
Sales Development Manager, Periscope Data
Julia French
Sales Development Manager, Betts Recruiting
Jake Reni
Sr. Director of Sales, Consensus
Kim Maxime-Louis Dill
Head of Sales Development, Fastly
Chris Newton
VP of Sales, Influitive
Wanda Pansky
Director of Sales Development, Intacct
Chris Shrake
Director Sales Development, Invocca
Patrick Purvis
VP of Sales, DiscoverOrg
Diane Updyke
VP of Sales, PandaDoc
Marc Brancaccio
Director of Sales Development, Quantcast
Jake Biskar
Head of Sales Development, Rainforest QA
Dustin Markowski
VP of Sales, Totango
Jesse Osborne
Director of Sales, ZeroCater
Alex Turner
Director of Sales Development, Wrike
Phill Keene
Demand Gen Manager, Octiv
Blake Harber
Account Development Manager, Lucid Software
Roger Topp
VP of Sales, Truly
Matt Heinz
President, Heinz Marketing
Peter Kazanjy
Founder, Modern Sales Pros
Meg Hewitt
Senior Manager of Sales Development, Greenhouse
Danilo Nikolich
Sr Director of Sales Development, Datameer
Dario Priolo
CMO & Demand Generation Practice Leader, Sales Performance International
Henning Gabrielsen
Manager of Sales Development, MomentFeed
Kim Brown
Sales Development Manager, Catavolt
Ashley Kelly
Director of Sales Development, Zenefits
Jon Parisi
Senior Director of Enterprise Sales, GuideSpark
Miriam Olsen
Sales Development Manager, ShowPad