Ken Rufo

Leader with 15+ years advising enterprise software companies on customer-focused portfolios, solutions positioning, and GTM execution. Led positioning and messaging work and constructed core narratives that created a durable “source of truth” across products, solutions, and industries. Translated market insight and competitive intelligence into sales enablement, and improved adoption. Consulting background with hands-on operator orientation: build repeatable processes, align product, sales, and marketing, and drive measurable outcomes. PhD in communications, focused on persuasion and technology, combining academic rigor with practical execution.

• Paychex: Delivered comprehensive competitive intelligence (quant + qual); informed executive-level narrative on data and AI; developed accountant-focused pitch approaches distinct from SMB-owner messaging.
• Microsoft 365: Established product narrative for hybrid and modern work, integrating adjacent products suites (employee engagement, security) and generating customer evidence, resulting in 9100+ leads in 6 months; created enablement and training to drive consistent field conversation based on customer problems and product capabilities, influencing $2.3B in potential pipeline.
• Monotype: Developed Mission, vision, values, positioning and messaging; translated new messaging into campaign ideas and thought leadership; supported executive adoption and product naming/positioning amid complex reputation constraints.
• Hach: Built segmented messaging for ITDM vs BDM audiences, including security-oriented messaging for public utility cloud concerns while maintaining coherence with technical narrative.
• Infobip: Positioned a new comprehensive customer omnichannel engagement communications platform, across 5 business segments, 7 industry verticals, 18 channels, and 5 product platforms; developed product messaging framework tied to campaigns and thought leadership; partnered closely with C-suite and marketing leadership.
• Microsoft Education: Built customer evidence program standards and templates across 3 geos, 3 educational levels, and the entire Microsoft education suite (office, teams, lms, security, copilot); ran qual and quant research that reshaped partner deal construction; produced thought leadership research used in competitive displacement motions.
• Pitney Bowes: Built a unified positioning and messaging framework across three major lines of their digital business, working with CMO and ELT. Transitioned framework into operational product campaigns.
• RocketFuel: Ran research institute to elevate thought leadership; built corporate narrative and strategic plan; delivered challenger sales methodology training and enablement production across segments.
• Goodyear: Developed and applied a buyer persona methodology to improve sales effectiveness.

University of Washington | Instructor, Communication Leadership Program
2008-2014

• Taught graduate-level courses in persuasion, marketing communication, technological disruption, usability research, and gamification with an applied, practice-first curriculum.
• Designed curricula and coached industry professionals on message clarity, audience strategy, and presentation effectiveness, as well as marketing theory and practice.

Other Teaching Institutions include: MBA Program at the University of Washington-Bothell, which included graduate level courses on persuasion and negotiation, as well as the University of Georgia and DigiPen Institute of Technology.

The most effective product and industry positioning is built on coherence, wherein information and method work to build a unified whole. That requires:

• Executive partner to CMO, CRO, CPO, and GM leaders.
• Cross-functional orchestration: product, sales, marketing, and customer success.
• Repeatable systems: positioning a unified source of truth, launch readiness, enablement cadence, and customer evidence pipeline.
• Research-driven decisions: quantitative and qualitative buyer insight, competitive intelligence, and message testing.
• Leading through communication: listening, empathy, clarity, and coordination.