KIM HIGHTOWER
Houston
Summary
Senior sales leader in the enterprise software industry with a track record of surpassing revenue targets and driving growth. Known for transformational and coaching leadership style, successfully building strong teams and fostering a collaborative culture. Expertise in leveraging data-driven analytics to identify opportunities for revenue and market share growth. Exceptional business, finance, and operations acumen to drive success in any organization.
Overview
16
16
years of professional experience
Work History
Azure Infrastructure Sales Director - Strategics
Microsoft
07.2022 - Current
- Company Overview: Azure cloud computing business
- Manage Strategic Infrastructure sales team for South Enterprise region
- My team is the Azure leader for our largest accounts in the South, responsible for cloud migration, data and AI wins, security, and application innovation
- Exceeded100% of infrastructure quota in FY23 and FY24, both years in excess of $1 billion across8 sellers and20 accounts across Oil & Gas, Transportation/Logistics, and Telco, exceeding25% organic growth both years
- Personally recruited and hired top talent from AWS and GCP to grow team; new hires also exceeding quota
- Empowered team to achieve large competitive wins by bringing multiple stakeholders together across Azure sales teams and account teams to deliver more than $2 billion in MACCs (Microsoft Azure Commitment to Consume) in the last30 months, directly impacting stock price
- Created strategy and delivered Azure Infrastructure Seller Playbook, now in use by many Operating Units across Microsoft
- Consistently received highest scores on bi-annual employee feedback surveys compared to more than100 managers, achieving91+ with Microsoft average being77, showing that my team loves to work for me and perform under my leadership
- Received Manager of the Quarter distinction in Q3 FY24
- Accomplishments:
Strategic Enterprise Account Executive
DocuSign
07.2022 - Current
- Company Overview: Public SaaS company focused on providing electronic agreement signing, storage, and AI for contracts
- Manage global enterprise install accounts
- Key member of committee driving change for company-wide account planning initiative
- Achieved394% of quota in first year; earned President’s Club achievement (top10 on North America Enterprise Team)
- Mentored and coached numerous reps in sales and account strategy
- Trained account teams on O&G best practices and selling strategies
- Key member of global Account Planning and Playbook initiative
- Drove Enterprise team’s playbook design and development, system requirements, and instrumentation
- Accomplishments:
Global Strategic Sales Director
SingleStore Inc.
11.2019 - 03.2021
- Company Overview: A cloud database start-up (Series E) focused on real-time/operational workloads and Predictive/AI/ML streaming models at scale
- Recruited to direct top5 global strategic accounts and create and build Energy team
- Implemented MEDDPIC sales process and mentored account reps on deal progression and negotiation
- Closed over $6M by close of Q3 with over $2M in new business
- Delivered over $3M in new business ($1.8M quota) and over $9M total
- Worked across Sales, Marketing, Engineering, and Product teams to deliver Asset Performance Management and Financial Close go to market (white papers, sales materials, sales enablement) for Energy and Manufacturing
- Built a collaborative team culture and significantly improved team dynamics and performance
- Coached reps on best practices for MEDDPIC and Close Plan
- Established SingleStore Master Mind group to solve existing sales cycle and close ratio issues
- Accomplishments:
VP of Sales
ThoughtTrace Inc.
02.2018 - 10.2019
- Company Overview: A start-up AI company (Series B) delivering an AI application for cloud-based contract intelligence and analytics
- Built and grew sales organization, including enterprise AEs, Inside Sales, and SDRs
- Major focus on understanding the TAM for the application and growing into new markets
- Grew ARR522% in2018,200% in2019, and participated in securing Series B funding as part of executive leadership team
- Built enterprise sales team for scale, solidifying strategy across Account Executives, Inside Sales, and SDRs
- Designed the ThoughtTrace Partner and Alliance program and Alliance GTM messaging for Strategic, Technology, and SI partners
- Delivered the ThoughtTrace Sales Playbook, resulting in fast ramp-up time of new hires
- Provided assets around all areas of the sales cycle
- Implemented Value Selling methodology across sales team to improve win rates and forecasting accuracy
- Developed GTM strategy for new markets and secured growth beyond Oil & Gas into Renewables, Utilities, Manufacturing, EPC, Retail, and Chemicals
- Accomplishments:
Head of Analytics Sales, Americas (2017-2018)
TIBCO Software Inc.
01.2012 - 01.2018
- Company Overview: Analytics division of a large private software company specializing in big data and software integrations
- Promoted to direct Analytics sales for all verticals in North and South America
- Responsible for $46 million new business quota
- Coached and trained all middleware Account Executives (core TIBCO business) on incorporating analytics products into infrastructure deals
- Developed defined, repeatable process around delivering the value proposition for high-value deals
- Created and executed plan for exceeding revenue target of $46 million in new business
- Built and delivered Analytics Playbook, used by entire global sales team
- Provided assets around all areas of the sales cycle, including lead generation, prospecting, account planning and management, demonstration skills, managing meetings, presenting pricing with ROI, building business cases, negotiation, and closing skills
- Built and delivered Partner Portal to provide global partners similar assets to the internal Analytics Playbook
- Accomplishments:
Enterprise Accounts Director – Energy & Manufacturing (2015-2017)
TIBCO Software Inc.
01.2015 - 01.2017
- Promoted to direct Analytics sales for global Energy vertical at TIBCO
- Developed defined, repeatable process around delivering the value proposition for high-value deals
- Spearheaded all energy-related marketing activities to align with strategic sales goals
- Aided Account Executives in pipeline reporting and deal negotiation while maintaining individual quota
- Exceeded FY16 targets by300%
- #1 Analytics Director globally for third year in a row
- President’s Club achievement (Club and Super Club – Bali)
- Exceeded FY15 targets by380%
- #1 Analytics rep globally for second year in a row
- President’s Club achievement (Mauritius)
- Grew TIBCO Energy Forum visibility and attendance by400%
- Significant thought leadership and presentations across TIBCO regarding sales strategy and process
- Accomplishments:
Senior Account Executive (2012-2015)
TIBCO Software Inc.
01.2012 - 01.2015
- Management of Fortune500 Energy and High-Tech Manufacturing accounts, selling Enterprise Analytics Platform solutions and maintaining/expanding strategic accounts
- Significant emphasis on quantifying ROIs of recommended solutions to get buy-in for investment
- Noteworthy, successful work towards building and managing global TIBCO team, from Execs to Inside Sales to International Reps to Professional Services to Pre-Sales to ensure the highest possible deal brought into TIBCO
- #1 Account Executive globally in2014 with $7 million in license sales (350% of quota)
- President’s Club achievement (Bora Bora)
- #2 Account Executive in US, #3 globally in Sales in2013, finishing at190% of quota (first full fiscal year)
- President’s Club achievement (Nevis, West Indies)
- Turned a $300k renewal into $2.8M in new business at a Fortune100
- Turned a $1.8M2015 renewal into a $3.6M deal in December2013 at a $13B Semiconductor company and successfully averted a serious competitive threat that had significant SVP-level support across multiple BUs
- Closed a new logo $1.2M deal at a Fortune500 and beat out2 significant competitors for the business while growing the deal size by2x over the price from the next-closest competitor
- Became a trusted advisor for C-level executives and helped improve their ability to aggregate and evaluate data to make business decisions
- Accomplishments:
Client Manager
LexisNexis
01.2009 - 01.2012
- Company Overview: Provider of legal research, eDiscovery and risk software, and business and risk services
- Drove revenue through territory (named accounts – international and large law firms) in extensive set of technology solutions, including Business Intelligence, CRM, Document Management, eDiscovery and Litigation Management
- Built relationships and consulted with executive teams to fully understand their business problems and initiatives
- Negotiated seven-figure contracts with law firm partners for renewals and new business
- Achieved100% of quota in first year
- Reached100% of annual quota by July in second year
- Secured $2.5 million multi-year contract with top50 international firm (first in the firm’s history)
- Won $1.5 million deal with new customer that had been committed to top competitor for over10 years
- Won Large Law Leadership Award – selected #1 from32 other Client Managers
- Built better and stronger internal team by mentoring attorneys hired by LexisNexis into sales roles and turning them into salespeople
- Accomplishments:
Education
Bachelor of Science - Business Administration, Finance
Liberty University
Certificate - Oil & Gas Management
Thunderbird School of Oil & Gas Management
Skills
- Sales Methodologies
- Value Selling Framework, MEDDPIC, SPIN Selling, Sandler, Challenger Sale
- Sales Tools
- Salesforce, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Outreach, Clari, InsightSquared, Gong, Close Plan, Engagio, Revegy, Proposify, MindTickle, Skilljar, ZoomInfo, Crunchbase
CORE COMPETENCIES
- Team Building & Recruitment
- Compensation Plan Strategy
- Revenue Forecasting & Pipeline Management
- Coaching – Rep Growth/Deal Inspection
- Sales Process/Methodology
- TAM Analysis
- Sales Playbook Strategy & Development
- Channel & Partner Development
- New Market Strategy
- Strategic Planning/Alignment between Sales & Marketing
- Board/VC Management
- Risk & Change Management
- Sales Enablement/Playbook Development
Timeline
Azure Infrastructure Sales Director - Strategics
Microsoft
07.2022 - Current
Strategic Enterprise Account Executive
DocuSign
07.2022 - Current
Global Strategic Sales Director
SingleStore Inc.
11.2019 - 03.2021
VP of Sales
ThoughtTrace Inc.
02.2018 - 10.2019
Enterprise Accounts Director – Energy & Manufacturing (2015-2017)
TIBCO Software Inc.
01.2015 - 01.2017
Head of Analytics Sales, Americas (2017-2018)
TIBCO Software Inc.
01.2012 - 01.2018
Senior Account Executive (2012-2015)
TIBCO Software Inc.
01.2012 - 01.2015
Client Manager
LexisNexis
01.2009 - 01.2012
Certificate - Oil & Gas Management
Thunderbird School of Oil & Gas Management
Bachelor of Science - Business Administration, Finance
Liberty University
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