Deborah Kathleen Ryan

Hired to uplevel a fledgling advocacy program. Established Cloudflare’s first comprehensive reference and advocacy strategy, executive engagement frameworks, and automated operations.

Top Accomplishments

• Advocacy Program Strategy – Created Cloudflare’s first advocacy strategy, including recruitment goals, a tiered engagement model, and a tactical framework, delivering a scalable, proactive program aligned with sales and marketing priorities.
• Global Customer Awards Program – Conceived and executed the company’s first global awards initiative, engaging over 50 customers across geographies and product lines.
• Analyst Relations Leadership (Zero Trust) – Served as the lead for analyst-related advocacy, driving 50+ customer engagements in Gartner, Forrester, and IDC quadrants, waves, and peer reviews, strengthening Cloudflare’s market position.
• Designed the first formal executive nurture framework, significantly improving the customer engagement experience through win-win thought leadership experiences, resulting in a significant increase in executive engagement.
• Scoped and implemented Cloudflare’s first automated reference management platform, replacing manual Excel tracking.
• Established comprehensive templates and processes to equip the Advocacy team and other customer-facing employees with the ability and understanding of why and how to engage customers.
• Enhanced sales collaboration through the company's first formal Win-Wire sales amplification program, fueling references, and building trust with the sales organization.

• Elevated customer engagement programs to strengthen global brand advocacy and expand executive-level participation.
• Established repeatable advocacy templates and onboarding processes.
• Built and nurtured 20+ strategic customer relationships per quarter.
• Designed and executed C-Suite engagement strategies.
• Launched Elevate, Juniper’s first global customer awards program, praised as 'flawless' and 'best virtual event of 2020.'
• Strengthened analyst relations through customer participation in Gartner, Forrester, and IDC assessments.

• Led customer advocacy strategy at NetApp Insight, delivering 80+ customer-led PR, AR, and video activities annually.
• Re-engineered global awards program, increasing visibility and impact.
• Produced 25+ new video stories per year to amplify customer success.
• Partnered cross-functionally to align advocacy with product strategy.

• Operationalized reference processes to improve scalability.
• Launched Customer Reference Forum, a webinar series attracting 800+ participants and accelerating deal closure.

• Built Polycom’s first global reference program, delivering customer stories, testimonials, and press visibility.
• Launched Executive VIP Forum, engaging leaders from Microsoft, IBM, Deloitte, and Medtronic.