Kari Marquis
United States
Summary
Dynamic and results-oriented Chief Revenue Officer with over 15 years of experience in maximizing revenue growth, profitability, and operational efficiency in competitive markets. Known for delivering outstanding results, including driving $700M in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), over-achieving EBITDA growth, and consistently exceeding revenue targets. Expert in building and leading high-performing sales, marketing, and customer success teams, maintaining an average achievement rate of 167% to plan.
Strategic thinker skilled in data-driven decision-making, market analysis, and cross-functional collaboration, fostering strong partnerships with executive leadership and the Board. Played a pivotal role in successfully guiding the company to an IPO on Nasdaq under the symbol FA, bolstering market visibility and investor confidence. Focused on delivering sustainable growth and enhancing EBITDA while fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace culture that drives innovative revenue strategies and customer-centric initiatives.
Recognized for cultivating strong relationships with key clients, leading to substantial upsell, cross-sell, and new logo acquisition opportunities. Committed to aligning organizational goals with sustainable growth, stakeholder value, and operational excellence.
Overview
30
30
years of professional experience
Work History
Chief Revenue Officer
First Advantage
05.2023 - Current
- Company Overview: www.fadv.com
- Spearheaded revenue growth strategies, achieving $700M in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) while consistently exceeding growth targets by 150%.
- Successfully built and led a high-performing sales team across The Americas, driving significant improvements in team productivity and engagement.
- Implemented innovative upsell and cross-sell initiatives that resulted in a substantial increase in customer lifetime value and retention rates.
- Engaged with the Board of Directors to present strategic growth initiatives and performance metrics, ensuring alignment on revenue goals and organizational vision.
- Cultivated relationships with key enterprise clients, leading to the acquisition of numerous new logos and expanding market share within competitive sectors.
- Developed data-driven sales methodologies and performance metrics that optimized sales processes and improved forecasting accuracy.
- Championed cross-departmental collaboration between sales, marketing, and product teams to align go-to-market strategies and enhance customer experience.
- Leveraged market insights and competitive intelligence to inform pricing strategies, resulting in improved margins and accelerated revenue growth.
- Recognized for leadership excellence, earning awards for top-performing revenue growth initiatives and team performance within the organization.
Chief Customer Officer, Americas
First Advantage
02.2021 - 05.2023
- Transformed the Customer Success organization through a verticalized restructuring, establishing performance standards and defining winning profiles for each role, resulting in enhanced team effectiveness and scalability.
- Led a high-performing team that consistently outperformed growth goals year over year, achieving an average performance of 167% of plan, underscoring a commitment to excellence and exceptional results
- Played a pivotal role as part of the core executive team that successfully took the company public on NASDAQ in June 2021 under the symbol FA, contributing to strategic planning and execution that drove investor confidence and market visibility
- Leveraged 15+ years of experience to create best practices and a comprehensive playbook for customer engagement, leading to the implementation of a formalized Quarterly Business Review (QBR) process, Executive Sponsor Program, Regional Vertical Events, and a structured Net Promoter Score (NPS) initiative, which collectively elevated customer retention rates to 98%.
- Fostered a Growth Mindset culture within the Customer Success and leadership teams, enabling effective whitespace management across all verticals and significantly increasing pipeline growth.
- Formalized a strategic partnership with the Sales team, ensuring seamless execution and rapid revenue conversion, achieving record-setting results in customer acquisition and upsell opportunities.
- Co-developed the organization’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) initiatives as an executive sponsor, collaborating with the Chief Human Resources Officer to create a corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy that aligns with corporate culture and drives stakeholder value.
Senior Vice President, Customer Success
First Advantage
03.2018 - 02.2021
- Built a customer-obsessed team focused on elimination of churn, record-setting revenue growth, and year-over-year improvement in customer satisfaction among enterprise and strategic accounts
- Delivered results through continued Customer Success operational improvement to drive margin and increase revenue across the largest support organization at First Advantage
- Exceeded plan numbers for Growth, retention and satisfaction each year supporting highest earning years at FA
- Participated in a select group alongside board members and investment bankers throughout the sales process of Silver Lake Partner acquiring First Advantage in January 2020
- Prepared and delivered company overview to several buying prospects demonstrating value of organization ultimately leading to evaluation and sale of company to Silver Lake Partners
Senior Vice President Enterprise Sales
First Advantage
01.2017 - 03.2018
- Key driver in new logo, upsell, and cross sell opportunities to all customers
- Built and developed an award-winning Enterprise sales team that produced record-setting revenue
- Delivered 245% of goal through consistent delivery and strong execution
- Led top-performing sales team resulting in 100% team participation in President's Club during all 3 years in this leadership position
- Www.fadv.com
Vice President of Customer Sales
First Advantage
04.2016 - 01.2017
- Developed go-to-market vertical strategy to drive increased engagement in alignment with the overall organizational growth strategy
- Developed and drove a high-growth sales team responsible for upsell and cross sell results within enterprise and strategic customer base
- Led team of 15 who far exceeded plan by driving full product suite saturation, execution against whitespace to optimize selling potential, and best-in-class program alignment
- Drove $35M in sales with 100% team participation in President's Club
- Www.fadv.com
Director, Strategic Growth
HireRight
01.2015 - 04.2016
- Managed a team of 7 and directed to the Chief Revenue Officer
- Developed and deployed a consultative, solutions-based approach to develop, retain, grow and harvest a deep understanding of the global customer base
- Enhanced the customer's experience by providing knowledge, support and expertise of all products in order to maximize customers' risk portfolio
- Engaged and built relationships with key decision makers and primary contacts for top 300 strategic accounts
- Partnered with an assigned Account Relationship Manager to drive quality, retention, and new revenue growth as appropriate to ensure ongoing customer program enhancement and high customer satisfaction
- Provided ongoing program and compliance feedback including industry best practice and ultimate risk mitigation strategies
Strategic Relationship Manager
HireRight
01.2007 - 01.2015
- Provided customers with compliance feedback, program alignment, industry best practice and ultimate risk mitigation
- Through strong partnerships with global employers, built in-depth understanding of available services, platforms, integrations, and service delivery operations
Operations Manager
HireRight
01.2000 - 01.2007
- Developed core operations teams globally with a primary focus in the United States
- Supported the strategic customer satisfaction goals of the company in the areas of: productivity, training and development of operations personnel, operations technology, and profit and loss
- Ensured company compliance with all global employment and business laws
- Acquired Six Sigma-Green Belt status
Firm Director
Fitzgerald and Flaumenbaum
01.1995 - 01.2000
- Provided direct case support for assigned Attorneys
- Responsible for general, pre-litigation, commencement of action, discovery, document production, depositions, settlement, pre-trial, trial and post-trial actions on assigned cases
- Maintained relationship with direct clients during all stages of case through Judgment and Collection
- Through time with firm day to day activities included document drafting and review, legal and factual research, interviewing, investigation
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Organizational Leadership
Arizona State University
Skills
- Strategic Revenue Growth: Expertise in developing and executing revenue generation strategies that drive sustainable growth and profitability
- Sales Leadership: Proven ability to build, mentor, and lead high-performing sales teams, fostering a culture of excellence and accountability
- Customer Success Management: Deep understanding of customer lifecycle management, retention strategies, and upsell/cross-sell techniques
- Data-Driven Decision Making: Strong analytical skills to leverage data and market insights for informed decision-making and performance optimization
- Board Engagement: Experience in presenting to and collaborating with executive leadership and board members to align on strategic objectives
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Ability to work effectively across departments (eg, marketing, product, finance) to drive cohesive go-to-market strategies
- Market Analysis: Proficient in competitive analysis, market trends, and customer segmentation to identify growth opportunities
- Change Management: Experienced in leading organizational change initiatives to enhance operational efficiency and scalability
2023 Globee® Award Winner for Women in Business
16th Annual 2023 Globee® Awards Winner for Women in Business. Honored as the Gold Globee Winner for Female Executive of the Year in the Information Technology Products or Services category.
Timeline
Chief Revenue Officer
First Advantage
05.2023 - Current
Chief Customer Officer, Americas
First Advantage
02.2021 - 05.2023
Senior Vice President, Customer Success
First Advantage
03.2018 - 02.2021
Senior Vice President Enterprise Sales
First Advantage
01.2017 - 03.2018
Vice President of Customer Sales
First Advantage
04.2016 - 01.2017
Director, Strategic Growth
HireRight
01.2015 - 04.2016
Strategic Relationship Manager
HireRight
01.2007 - 01.2015
Operations Manager
HireRight
01.2000 - 01.2007
Firm Director
Fitzgerald and Flaumenbaum
01.1995 - 01.2000
Bachelor of Arts - Organizational Leadership
Arizona State University
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