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Boston, MA, USA

Todd J.

Customer Success Leader | Risk & Escalation Strategist | SaaS Retention & Growth

Customer Success executive who builds global post‑sale programs that convert reactive support into proactive, revenue‑generating functions. I design escalation frameworks, predictive risk models and AI‑driven health systems that reduce churn, accelerate resolution, and create expansion opportunities—delivering measurable wins (e.g., GRR/NRR improvements, 58% reduction in attrition for escalated accounts, 63% faster defect resolution). Built and scaled programs at Salesforce, Zendesk, Forcepoint, Citrix and Marketo. Currently leading global CS/TAM teams and advising SaaS companies; open to executive, fractional leadership, and consulting engagements.

Hire Todd
Todd J.

Experience

May 2025 — Present
Asset Class

Asset Class

Head of Customer Success

We're on a mission to become the global leader in software solutions for the PE, Asset Management, Commercial Lending and Wealth Management Sectors. Follow along to see how we achieve this, and aim for a public listing no later than May 2031.

  • Built Customer Success strategy to protect and expand recurring revenue (NRR/GRR) by aligning health metrics to measurable customer outcomes.
  • Designed scalable onboarding and enablement frameworks that reduced time-to-value and shifted routine delivery from engineering to CS and partners.
  • Launched tiered onboarding and certification programs to accelerate adoption and reduce time-to-competency across customer segments.
  • Created an AI-driven risk & health model aggregating Salesforce, product telemetry, and behavioral signals to surface churn risk and prioritize action.
  • Established PS commercialization: moved ad-hoc configuration work into a billable Professional Services model to monetize services and free engineering capacity.
  • Operationalized executive reporting and governance cadences to prioritize high-impact accounts and embed CS into company-level planning.
  • Developed customer advocacy programs (case studies, thought leadership, strategic partnerships) to increase visibility and referenceability.
Dec 2023 — May 2025
Forcepoint

Forcepoint

Director, Customer Success - Strategic Accounts

  • Re-launched and redefined Forcepoint’s Global Escalation Management (GEM) program — evolving it from a reactive, support-overflow function into a strategic, account-centric risk mitigation model designed to reduce churn and protect revenue across our most critical customers.
  • This transformation positioned GEM as a proactive force in Customer Success, focused on executive alignment, data-driven risk modeling, and cross-functional coordination.
  • Highlights:
  • Repositioned GEM from case-based escalation support to a strategic program focused on holistic account risk and renewal protection
  • Lead a global team of 15 (including 2 managers) across AMER, EMEA, and APAC, responsible for executive-level engagement and cross-functional issue resolution
  • Built predictive risk models and tooling in Salesforce, Gainsight, and Power BI to identify churn signals and prioritize intervention
  • Created the Global Risk Awareness (GRA) model to align executive leadership and operational resources
  • Partnered with Product & Engineering to prioritize high-impact issues, accelerating resolution by 63%
  • Results include:
  • $65M+ in ARR under active escalation management
  • % reduction in churn within high-risk accounts
  • % customer satisfaction score for GEM program
  • This role reflects a broader transformation in how enterprise SaaS organizations approach customer health — and it’s one of the most impactful program turnarounds I’ve led.
Jan 2022 — Jul 2023
Zendesk

Zendesk

Customer Success: Strategic Accounts and Escalations

Discover AI-powered, award-winning customer service software trusted by 200k customers. Make customers happy via text, mobile, phone, email, live chat, social media.

  • Designed and launched the 'Account Save & Growth' program to reduce churn and convert at-risk accounts into expansion opportunities.
  • Built data-driven health scoring models combining usage, sentiment and behavior signals to prioritize CSM engagement and interventions.
  • Founded and chaired a CX Governance Council to align CS, Sales, Product and Support on retention and experience KPIs.
  • Led strategic planning and executive-level success plans for top-tier enterprise accounts to ensure renewal readiness.
  • Operationalized cross-functional playbooks for escalations, custody of customer outcomes, and repeatable save motions.
Jul 2020 — Dec 2021
Citrix

Citrix

Executive Customer Success Manager

Citrix provides virtualization, secure workspace and cloud-delivery solutions that help organizations deliver apps and workspaces securely across devices and networks.

  • Owned strategic engagement and post-sale success planning for 12–15 enterprise customers, including largest cloud-adoption accounts.
  • Led major cloud migration initiatives and delivered migration roadmaps tied to measurable business outcomes.
  • Drove a 65% increase in product adoption across a $30M+ ARR portfolio through targeted success plans and adoption playbooks.
  • Provided executive-level engagement to guide customers through platform transitions and reduce churn risk.
  • Partnered cross-functionally with Sales, Product and Engineering to mitigate risks and surface expansion opportunities.
Jun 2018 — Jul 2020
Salesforce

Salesforce

Customer Success Director

Salesforce is a global cloud computing company that develops CRM solutions and provides business software on a subscription basis.

  • Managed a portfolio of Enterprise and Scale customers across Sales, Service, Marketing and Commerce clouds.
  • Developed and executed cross-cloud adoption strategies to increase platform utilization and drive retention.
  • Implemented lifecycle playbooks and KPIs to detect risk early and connect adoption milestones to renewal outcomes.
  • Led executive business reviews and aligned success plans to customers' strategic objectives.
  • Coordinated with Sales and Product teams to identify expansion and cross-sell opportunities during EBRs.
Sep 2015 — Jun 2018
Salesforce

Salesforce

Director, Critical Escalation Management

  • Designed and led a global Critical Accounts Program to retain at-risk enterprise customers and resolve high-stakes escalations.
  • Developed proactive/reactive engagement models for events such as M&A, product migrations and infrastructure changes.
  • Orchestrated cross-functional war rooms and executive escalation protocols to stabilize fragile customer relationships.
  • Created post-acquisition retention playbooks and trained CS teams in crisis engagement and executive communication.
  • Institutionalized playbooks and governance that became the enterprise model for critical-account recovery.
May 2014 — Aug 2015
Adobe Marketo

Adobe Marketo

Critical Accounts Director

Marketo Engage specializes in customer engagement over complex B2B buying journeys.

  • Built and scaled a global Critical Accounts Program to meet enterprise SaaS customers’ needs during escalations.
  • Defined escalation criteria, ownership models and cross-functional resolution protocols from the ground up.
  • Coordinated executive engagement and resource-backed recovery plans to reduce churn in strategic accounts.
  • Implemented training and enablement for CS teams on crisis management and post-recovery account stewardship.
  • Institutionalized repeatable processes for at-risk account intervention and long-term retention.
Apr 2013 — May 2014
SAP SuccessFactors

SAP SuccessFactors

Critical Accounts and Escalations Director

As the market leader in enterprise application software, we’re helping companies of all sizes and in all industries run better by redefining ERP and creating networks of intelligent enterprises that provide transparency, resiliency, and sustainability across supply chains.

  • Built a Critical Accounts & Situation Management engagement model to support cloud subscription customers at scale.
  • Designed escalation playbooks and situation-response workflows tailored to subscription-era demands.
  • Established cross-functional response teams (Product, Support, Engineering) for rapid incident stabilization.
  • Defined executive communication cadences and war-room frameworks for high-impact situations.
  • Implemented post-incident reviews and retention strategies that reduced recurring risk across the portfolio.
Sep 2011 — Apr 2013
Salesforce

Salesforce

Principal Customer Success Technologist

  • Served as trusted technical advisor for enterprise CRM customers to ensure successful platform outcomes.
  • Drove technical adoption and value realization by aligning implementations with customer business objectives.
  • Provided hands-on technical leadership across architecture, integrations and change management.
  • Collaborated with stakeholders at all levels to prioritize engineering work that reduced production risk.
  • Built long-term technical roadmaps that supported retention and expansion.
Aug 2006 — Sep 2011
Oracle

Oracle

Senior Principal Critical Accounts Manager

Oracle offers a comprehensive and fully integrated stack of cloud applications and cloud platform services.

  • Delivered senior-level escalation management for Oracle Global Support Services, focusing on highest-severity situations.
  • Coordinated cross-functional incident response to stabilize enterprise customers and protect recurring revenue.
  • Implemented structured communication plans and recovery milestones for complex technical issues.
  • Served as escalation owner for priority accounts, aligning engineering and support to accelerate resolutions.
  • Strengthened customer trust through transparent status reporting and executive engagement.
Jun 2004 — Aug 2006
Siebel Systems

Siebel Systems

Support Account Manager

  • Owned strategic support and relationship planning for Siebel’s largest accounts to ensure technical support success.
  • Developed communication plans and long-term engagement strategies to reduce escalations and improve satisfaction.
  • Acted as primary liaison between Technical Support and customer leadership for high-value clients.
  • Implemented proactive outreach and status reporting to prevent recurring support issues.
  • Maintained continuity and trust through major platform transitions and organizational changes.
Jan 2000 — Dec 2004
Oracle

Oracle

Principal Technical Account Manager

  • Managed complex technical account relationships, acting as senior technical escalation point of contact.
  • Owned architecture review, incident mitigation and long-term technical planning for enterprise customers.
  • Coordinated cross-team resources to ensure timely resolution of production-impacting issues.
  • Advised customers on optimization, stability and integration patterns to improve platform ROI.
  • Served as customer advocate within product and engineering teams to drive prioritized fixes.
Jan 1999 — Dec 2000

Open Enterprises

Project Manager

Open Enterprises is a company.

  • Managed project lifecycles including planning, stakeholder coordination and delivery tracking.
  • Defined project scope, schedules and risk registers to ensure on-time, on-budget outcomes.
  • Facilitated cross-functional teams and vendors to remove blockers and maintain momentum.
  • Prepared status reporting and led regular steering committee updates for project governance.
  • Implemented process improvements to increase predictability and repeatability across projects.
Jan 1997 — Dec 2000
NEN

NEN

Contractor

NEN is het Nederlandse kennisnetwerk voor de ontwikkeling en implementatie van normen. Sinds 2016 zijn wij Koninklijk NEN, een mijlpaal in de geschiedenis van normalisatie. NEN werd in 1916 opgericht als de ‘Hoofdcommissie voor de Normalisatie in Nederland’ en is uitgegroeid tot een organisatie met circa 280 medewerkers, ruim 500 normcommissies en meer dan 5.000 actieve commissieleden.

  • Supported standardization projects and committees by organizing meetings, preparing documentation and capturing decisions.
  • Coordinated stakeholders across public and private sectors to progress norm development and public comment cycles.
  • Maintained project administration, action trackers and committee records to ensure continuity and compliance.
  • Helped operationalize training, outreach and implementation activities tied to new or revised standards.
  • Facilitated clear communication between experts, consultants and management to move initiatives to completion.
Jan 1993 — Dec 1996
PwC

PwC

Marketing Assoc.

Building trust for today and tomorrow.

  • Executed marketing programs and campaigns supporting advisory and commercial teams across service lines.
  • Managed content development, event logistics and stakeholder communications to drive thought leadership.
  • Supported lead generation through digital channel execution, analytics and performance reporting.
  • Coordinated cross-functional teams (sales, subject-matter experts, external agencies) to deliver client-facing assets.
  • Monitored campaign KPIs and optimized tactics to improve engagement and ROI.