Solutions Engineering leader
I build SE teams that win the technical decision.
20+ years in customer-facing technical roles, from individual contributor to Director of Solutions Engineering. I hire, coach and scale pre-sales teams across AdTech, MarTech, product analytics and enterprise software, and I write about what makes them work.
- based in
- Bay Area, CA
- most recently
- Director SE, LiveRamp
- spaces
- AdTech · MarTech · Analytics
- education
- B.S. Computer Engineering, CWRU
- also speaks
- Japanese (minor)
Experience
8 companies · 3 acquisitionsLiveRamp · San Francisco
Director, Solutions Engineering
- Hired and led strategic, enterprise and new-logo SE teams across travel, sports and entertainment, tech, healthcare, financial services and agencies.
- Supported a $44M book of business across 18 AEs, 3 RVPs and a VP.
- Put SE attribution and metric-based KPIs in place to measure SE impact across the business.
- Built AI applications and agents that coach, enable and personalize GTM playbooks within live deals.
Amplitude · San Francisco
Director, Solutions Consulting
- Led Enterprise and Corporate SC teams of 11, and developed a new Corporate SC leader.
- Supported a $30M book of business across 32 AEs and 4 RVPs.
- Launched standard processes for technical sales, hiring and SC career paths.
Optimizely · San Francisco
Director, Solutions Engineering
- Grew scope from Digital to the North America and APAC regions, covering $30M+ ACV across 30+ AEs.
- Owned SE and TAM for pre- and post-sales customer management, including a CS operations center of excellence.
Demandbase · San Francisco
Director, Sales Engineering
- Promoted from Senior SE to SE Manager to Director in under two years.
- Ran a 15-person pre-sales org across Strategic, Enterprise and Mid-Market, backing 60+ sellers and $70M+ in quota.
Gainsight · Redwood City
Senior Solutions Consultant
- Led pre-sales for strategic accounts on an $8M quota and redesigned the pre-sales discovery process.
Alfresco · San Mateo
Manager, Solutions Engineering · previously Senior SE
- Doubled the SE team and managed 7 SEs across 3 sales orgs covering $11M+ in quota.
- As Senior SE, covered the western US and earned President's Club (top 10%). Enablement work grew average deal size 30% and cut sales cycles 40%.
IBM · Bay Area & Cleveland
Principal BPM Tech Sales
- Led technical sales for process, rules and event management on a $55M+ quota, finishing at 200%.
- BPM expert and mentor for a 200+ person sales team and a 75+ person technical sales team.
Earlier: Senior Solutions Engineer, Lombardi Software (acquired by IBM, 2010)
Oracle · Cleveland
Senior Sales Consultant
- Ran presentations, demos and proofs of concept for Fortune 100 companies.
Earlier: Senior Systems Engineer, BEA Systems (acquired by Oracle, 2008) · Solutions Consultant, Flashline (acquired by BEA, 2006)
Expertise
SE playbook
practices from 20 years of technical sellingdiscoveryEarn the demo
No demo before discovery. Know the business pain, the people who feel it, and what success looks like in their numbers.
demoShow three things, not thirty
Open with the outcome, show the few workflows that solve their stated pain, and stop. Every extra feature is a new objection.
pocNo POC without exit criteria
Agree on written success criteria, a timeline and a decision date before any proof of concept starts.
metricsMeasure SE impact
Track technical win rate, stage conversion and SE attribution so the team's value shows up in the forecast, not just in anecdotes.
enablementMake the playbook reusable
Turn what top SEs do into demo scripts, discovery guides and reference architectures the whole team can use.
aiPut AI in the deal, not the slide
Agents that prep account research, draft follow-ups and coach on discovery free SEs for the work only people can do.