Sponsors Five Executive Women in Customer Success for Membership to Athena Aspiring Director Program
[San Francisco – June 4, 2018] – Gainsight™, the Customer Success company, partnered with Athena Alliance, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating gender diversity in the boardroom, to sponsor five women for the Athena Aspiring Director Program. Nominations were announced and opened to executive women in Customer Success leadership positions at Pulse 2018, Gainsight’s annual industry conference. Gainsight’s sponsorship waives the $7,500 first year membership fee, and includes all membership benefits such as 1-on-1 executive coaching, board package development, personal brand presence and impact strategy, interview guidance with a board director, hands on workshops, board matching facilitation and more.
Women today make up 47% of the US workforce and drive 70 – 80% of consumer purchasing. Meanwhile, the representation of women on corporate boards remains low with only 12% of board seats and 4% of chair positions being held by women. Companies with diversity in leadership give businesses a competitive advantage, empowering decision making based on a better understanding of the market. The Athena Aspiring Director Membership coaches women on their brand and thought leadership, assisting them in highlighting their relevant experience to the modern boardroom. The program also provides networking connections well in advance of opportunities to increase the potential of being in the right place at the right time.
The Athena Alliance was founded in 2016 to accelerate gender diversity in the boardroom by making the connections that make the difference. They have partnered with over 75 organizations to sponsor women across a variety of industries, mentoring and coaching them into leadership positions and visibility within their respective boards. Since their founding, Athena has made 442 presentations of women and secured 172 interviews in support of 97 boards seats. 55 of these board matches are in progress today and 14 have resulted in board placements to date. Together, Gainsight and Athena Alliance are working to champion the functional presence of Customer Success executive leadership on corporate boards.
“We know that the Customer Success profession is fairly progressive in its diversity relative to other job categories, however, there’s a great imperative to advance that diversity into senior leadership and board levels,” said Nick Mehta, Chief Executive Officer at Gainsight. “We are deeply aligned with the mission that Coco and Athena Alliance are tackling and are honored to both drive awareness of this important conversation and to play a small role in the solution of accelerating parity in the boardroom.”
“The opportunity that we have together with Gainsight is to change the system from the top,” said Coco Brown, Founder and CEO of Athena Alliance. “Companies are taxed by issues of customer engagement, retention and expansion like never before. Customer and public sentiment can impact brand deeply and immediately and no function understands this better than Customer Success. Modern boards need to widen the aperture on the roles they bring to the table, as Larry Fink, CEO of Blackrock points out. One of those roles must be one dedicated to the customer. Nick and Gainsight are showing incredible leadership in understanding this value and pushing for the Customer Success seat at the board table.”
The five winners were chosen for a year-long Athena Aspiring Director Membership, winners will receive one-on-one executive coaching that includes Journey Planning, Board Package Development and Writing, Verbal Impact and Presentation Coaching, Board Recruiter Screening, Board Mentoring, a Mock Interview with a Board Director, Visibility and Network Coaching, and Thought Leadership Coaching. In addition, they will have opportunities to participate in intimate group networking and learning events and workshops.
Here are the five winners chosen for Athena Aspiring Director memberships:
- Marina de la Torre – VP of Customer Success, FastSpring
- Angela Stelle – Head of Customer Experience, Dun & Bradstreet
- Mari-Frances Bentvelzen – VP of Client Success, SAP Concur
- Julie Hogan – VP of Customer Success & Partner Program, Drift
- Tania Goldszmidt – VP of Customer Success & Digital Transformation, GE Power Digital Solutions
About Athena Alliance: Athena Alliance is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing gender diversity in the boardroom by directly connecting boards to the right women for their board. The Athena Alliance has a curated network of over 500 C-Level women from top tier companies. Sponsors include Autodesk, Intuit, OpenView Venture Partners, PwC and more. Founded in April 2016, the Athena Alliance is headquartered in Moss Beach, Calif. For more information, visit http://athenaalliance.org.
About Gainsight: Gainsight™, the Customer Success company, helps businesses grow faster by reducing churn, increasing upsell, and driving customer advocacy. The industry-leading platform helps companies manage customers relationships effectively, track customer health and transform the way organizations orient around the customer. Gainsight provides a 360° view of customers and drives retention across Customer Success, sales, marketing, executive and product management. Learn how leading companies like GE Digital, Box, Adobe and Workday use Gainsight to help their customers succeed at www.gainsight.com.
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Contact: press@gainsight.com
