Nick Dawson
Remote,Maryland
Summary
Experienced Salesforce Customer Success Portfolio Leader driving Success Plan retention and transformative change for diverse clients. Expertise in attrition analysis and cross-functional collaboration delivers data-driven insights that enhance customer engagement and increase average order value across the Public Sector.
Overview
14
14
years of professional experience
Work History
Customer Success Area Lead - National Security
Salesforce
Remote, MD
04.2025 - Current
- Drive the strategic engine behind Signature expansion, zooming out to identify swap-eligible accounts at scale and zooming in to build the frameworks, qualification criteria, and cross-functional plays that generated $12.5M+ in Signature Swap pipeline across the National Security territory
- Serve as thought partner to Success Plan Adoption leadership, identify emerging trends in Premier underutilization across National Security segment and built narrative and business case that shaped Success Plan attrition save motions and field enablement strategy
- Translate ambiguous field-level signals into strategic recommendations for CS and Sales leadership — synthesize shelf-ware root cause data across 150+ accounts and $30.7M in AOV into a segmented action framework that aligns executives on remediation priorities and investment allocation
- Partner across Sales, Renewals and Adoption teams to design and deploy customer success enablement programs — translate complex Success Plan portfolio updates (Premier Onboarding, SWE, Signature Swap, ARI) into clear field narratives that promote adoption across A&D and DoW segments
Customer Success Manager
Salesforce
Remote, MD
12.2023 - 03.2025
- Delivered Signature level entitlements to EDU-Public Sector clients, resulting in improved foundational success scoring, ACV, and organizational health.
- Coordinated cross-functional collaboration with Salesforce Architects, Account Team, and Support Engineers, achieving higher engagement and 100% retention within portfolio.
- Led Salesforce resource in critical go-live implementations across campus and company-wide, providing technical analysis and recommendations to support digital transformation.
Principal Associate Portfolio Lead
Salesforce
Remote, MD
07.2019 - 03.2023
- Led migration from 1:1 to 1:many CS model for $45M+ Higher Education portfolio, yielding 91% retention, high CSAT, and transformative operational change.
- Achieved record-low attrition rates (<8%) YoY in Education portfolio by data-driven targeting, cross-selling, and enhancing customer engagement.
- Initiated Customer Success Intake channel on Slack, streamlining cross-functional collaboration and processing 300+ requests within 3 months, driving strategic focus and attrition reduction.
- Established Mid-Market Higher Education triage through cross-functional centers of excellence (COE), enhancing internal partnerships and facilitating adoption-focused engagements to drive usage growth.
Customer Success & Account Leadership Roles
Discovery Education
Silver Spring, MD
03.2012 - 07.2019
- Advanced from Account Services Representative to Customer Success Manager, overseeing portfolios of 1,600+ schools and $2M–$2.5M in annual renewals
- Achieved 86%–90% renewal rates through scaled engagement strategies and targeted outreach
- Boosted product adoption and expansion through strategic upsell efforts, resulting in ~10% revenue growth across key accounts
- Led nationwide implementations of digital learning platforms, supporting adoption across thousands of educators and institutions
- Built and scaled customer engagement programs (virtual events, educator communities), improving usage and strengthening long-term retention
Education
Bachelor of Science - Marketing
University of Maryland
College ParkSkills
- CRM & SaaS
- Retention analysis
- ACV Expansion
- Cross-Functional Orchestration
- Data Driven Insight Expert
- C-suite management
- Strategic vision
- Investment Analysis
- Success at Scale
Profiles - Linkedin
linkedin.com/in/nickdawsonsuccess
Professional Highlights
- Recognized as "Highly Successful" in Salesforce's performance evaluation — the top tier designation awarded to high-impact contributors
- Architected Premier Success intake Slack channel, leading to 100+ requests in the first four months post launch which led to tighter cross-functional alignment
- Implemented various investment programs and increased Premier onboarding adoption leading to a 90%+ FY26 Renewal Rate
- Launched an "Early Warning System" for the National Security territory, aligning CSG, Renewals, and Sales leadership on a unified attrition offense strategy
Timeline
Customer Success Area Lead - National Security
Salesforce
04.2025 - Current
Customer Success Manager
Salesforce
12.2023 - 03.2025
Principal Associate Portfolio Lead
Salesforce
07.2019 - 03.2023
Customer Success & Account Leadership Roles
Discovery Education
03.2012 - 07.2019
Bachelor of Science - Marketing
University of Maryland