ARIANE CAVENDER
Training & Certification Leader
Austin,TX
Summary
Strategic-thinking leader of customer enablement & certification who thrives in dynamic, challenging and fast-paced professional environments. Assertive and enthusiastic with a diverse background and an unsurpassed work ethic. Passionate about empowering teams and clients to achieve goals through effective training and support initiatives.
Overview
15
15
years of professional experience
Work History
Director of Customer Education & Certification
Confluent
10.2024 - Current
- Responsible for Delivery, Content Development, Operations, Revenue Forecasting & Systems for Customer Education.
- Developed, refreshed and managed the Confluent Certification program which includes both low stakes and proctored exams.
- Led initiative to create persona based learning paths for customer, partner and internal audiences.
- Implemented data-driven assessment methods to track learner engagement and inform development decisions.
- Increased content development output by 50% within last 2 quarters with strategic planning and by optimizing resource allocation.
- Successfully migrated off of legacy LMS and on to an LMS provides a better user experience, is multi-tenancy and the ability to integrate with other key apps.
- Organized and delivered training programs at customer facing conferences globally.
- Cultivated strong relationships internal stakeholders to ensure consistent alignment between product and training materials.
- Collaborated with marketing teams to develop promotional materials, increasing brand visibility and awareness in targeted markets.
Education Strategy & Operations, Senior Manager
Confluent
04.2019 - 09.2024
- Managed large-scale projects and introduced new systems, tools, and processes to achieve challenging objectives.
- Collaborate with product team, content development team and leadership to identify gaps in current catalog and build & maintain content roadmap
- Led transformation of Education products to align with company strategy to pivot to adoption versus revenue generation.
- Rolled out enterprise level education subscription product, which increased booking and revenue generation by 50%, while aligning with Customer Success team to ensure proper onboarding and consumption
- Migrated off of legacy certification platform apps and consolidated all requirements to one vendor (delivery, item banking, & proctoring).
- Lead operations for delivery operations, forecasting, metrics, project management, systems management, and customer support for Education Services team.
- Implemented monthly infrastructure review with leadership to ensure priorities are aligned and targets are attained
- Collaborate with Data Science team to create dashboards capturing impact and hero metrics for leadership
Partner Development Senior Program Manager
VMware
04.2018 - 04.2019
- Primary contact to key Stakeholders and Partners for ‘Readiness & Customer Education’ organization
- Managed enablement programs globally tied to specific company initiatives and priorities across solutions and products
- Assisted in building supporting metrics for partner enablement activities to understand time to productivity and ROI
- Developed and evolved learning path enablement for all partner roles including sales, pre and post sales
- Partnered with Content Development, GEO COEs and other stakeholders to ensure content is developed that is relevant to current priorities both globally and regionally
Business Operations Program Manager
VMware
09.2017 - 04.2018
- Created Customer Success program within Education organization in order to redefine how customers are supported through their experience with VMware Education
- Worked with GEO Leads and sales teams to introduce program, obtain buy in and define swimlanes through feedback
- Transitioned GEO Ops teams into Customer Success roles
- Analyzed all current workflows and processes owned by GEO Ops teams and amended to align with new program
- Then collaborated with all affected teams to implement changes
- Demonstrated creativity and resourcefulness through the development of innovative solutions.
- Supported RACE Partner program; created collateral and workflows that helped set expectations and to also ensure accountability between all parties involved
Sales & Delivery Operations Manager
VMware
04.2011 - 09.2017
- Managed all revenue for direct business within Americas Training and Education to ensure that it is booked correctly and in a timely manner
- Handled resource management of VMware’s instructor pool while ensuring that all utilization targets were met
- Managed AMER Education Operations team and its daily functions
- Owned operational processes for all aspects direct business; constant review and linearization of processes to optimize productivity
- Handled all escalations; elevating to director level only when necessary
- Project managed key initiatives within org; communicate and meet with all players to ensure that all meet their deadlines
- Trained not only new hires on daily process but also introduced new processes; creation of training materials when necessary
- Set and meeting performance targets for speed, efficiency, sales and quality
- Collaborated with players in Education Sales, Business Development, and VMware Partners to increase business and fluidity of processes.
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Psychology
The University of Texas At Austin
Austin, TX 05.2001 -
Multiple Subject Credential - Education
Chapman University
Orange, CA 05.2001 -
Skills
Analytical & Critical thinking
Program creation & initiation
Collaborative project management
Cost management and forecasting
Team management
Problem-solving
Operations management
Timeline
Director of Customer Education & Certification
Confluent
10.2024 - Current
Education Strategy & Operations, Senior Manager
Confluent
04.2019 - 09.2024
Partner Development Senior Program Manager
VMware
04.2018 - 04.2019
Business Operations Program Manager
VMware
09.2017 - 04.2018
Sales & Delivery Operations Manager
VMware
04.2011 - 09.2017
Bachelor of Arts - Psychology
The University of Texas At Austin
05.2001 -
Multiple Subject Credential - Education
Chapman University
05.2001 -