Christopher G. Smith

Director - Global Cloud Strategic Alliances & Marketing

OpenSesame

As the Head of Partner Success at OpenSesame, I am responsible for leading a worldwide team of strategic partner managers, driving onboarding, management, and expansion of global partnerships. Key achievements include:

- Contributed 50%+ of top line bookings via the referral, reseller, and OEM partner
channels.
- Grew partner bookings across referral, reseller, and OEM partnerships 55%+ YoY,
enabling company growth of 20%+
- Worked cross functionally with Sales, Marketing, Product to meet or exceed the partner
revenue goals, achieving overall company goals and objectives.
- Oversaw critical business initiatives including AWS partnership launch, partner influence
strategies, and the build out of OpenSesame's first partner program.
- Senior Management and Team Development: Played  a pivotal role in the OpenSesame Senior Management Team, focused on setting and achieving key objectives. Mentor and develop junior team members, balancing leadership and individual contributions.

Head of Partner Success | Growth to Scale Mode (Co-Sell / Resell, Product/API)

Partnership Leaders

Partnership Leaders is the industry association for Partnership/Channel/ Alliances/Business Development leaders.

Executive Member

NexHealth

As the Head of Partnerships at NexHealth I lead and strategically manage Partner Acquisition and Success teams, driving recruitment, onboarding, and accelerated go-to-market (GTM) strategies for diverse Referral, Reseller, and Product partners. Achievements include:

-Improved Sales win rates on partner referrals from 30% to 50%+.
-Achieved 162% growth in partner referral volume, resulting in a remarkable 279% increase in partner MRR and over $1.5M in ARR.
-Implemented Partner Influence strategies, achieving a remarkable ~90% win rate and an additional ~$400k ARR.
-Negotiated committed reseller contracts in excess of $500k ARR
-Revamped partner program with NexHealth's API, securing the company's first tech partnership.
-Built and mentored high-performing Partner Acquisition and Success team, driving the most efficient GTM motion (CAC) company-wide.

By optimizing partner processes, I drove revenue growth, strengthened partnerships, and enhanced NexHealth's market position.

Head of Partnerships | Growth to Scale Mode | Partner-Led Growth (Referral, Reseller, Product/API)

Checkr, Inc.

As Head of Partner Success at Checkr, I led post-signature activities with Channel and Alliance partners, driving the transition from growth to scale mode and preparing the company for IPO readiness. Achievements include:

-Achieved exceptional 100% YoY growth, managing $30M+ in partner revenue streams and sales pipeline contributions.
-Architected Checkr's comprehensive Partner Program, optimizing benefits, financial levers, and GTM strategies.
-Implemented a segmented approach for partner engagement, maximizing team performance and efficiency.
-Led the acquisition and growth of strategic co-selling partnerships with industry leaders.
-Successfully diversified partner portfolio through key technology partnerships.
-Contributed $40M+ in pipeline contributions, expanding Checkr's presence across industries.
-Developed account plans and KPIs for joint go-to-market alignment with strategic partners.

My strategic leadership and collaborative approach drove revenue growth and established Checkr as an industry leader.

Head of Partner Success & Strategic Alliances | Growth to Scale Mode (Co-Sell, Product/API)

Zayo Group

As Director of Cloud Service Provider Alliances at Zayo Group, I optimized partnerships, developed new relationships, and drove joint go-to-market strategies with top cloud service providers including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle, IBM, and Alibaba Cloud.

Achievements:

-Established and led the business development function, enabling successful collaboration between sales teams and partners.
-Managed channel partnerships and secured agreements with major cloud service providers, achieving AWS Network Infrastructure Competency status.
-Accelerated the AWS relationship, resulting in contracts valued at over $20 million and enhancing the Zayo brand.
-Achieved remarkable funnel growth of 120% and a significant 62% year-over-year increase in cloud partnership bookings.

With strategic leadership and collaborative efforts, I drove revenue growth and positioned Zayo Group as a leading player in the cloud connectivity market.

Director, Business Dev & Cloud Alliances | Enterprise B2B | Product-Led Growth (Strategic Alliances)

Peak 10 + ViaWest

As Senior Director of Strategy, Portfolio, and Governance at ViaWest, I played a crucial role in the business transformation of the technology services organization. Key achievements include:

-Established a robust governance program, optimizing business processes and enhancing project management practices.
-Created a technology investment steering committee, ensuring strategic alignment and maximizing the value of investments.
-Implemented efficiencies in vendor management, enabling cost savings and improved project outcomes.
-Established performance metrics and accountability mechanisms for vendors, fostering strong partnerships and driving continuous improvement.
-Operationalized portfolio management, reducing annual run-rate spend by over $1.1 million and streamlining operations through consolidation.

With strategic leadership, I drove organizational change, resulting in improved efficiencies, cost savings, and enhanced governance at ViaWest. My accomplishments in portfolio management and vendor optimization positioned the company for future success.

Senior Director of Strategy, Portfolio and Governance - Digital Platforms

As the Director of Shared Services at VCE, I played a pivotal role in driving customer success and go-to-market execution. Key achievements include:

-Co-founded VCE, propelling the company to become the leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Converged Infrastructure and achieving exceptional revenue growth from $250 million to $1 billion.
-Led the Project Management Office (PMO), Service Offer Management, and Strategic Alliance teams, enabling successful go-to-market execution and revenue sharing opportunities of $10 million annually.
-Negotiated key OEM/reseller contracts and conducted Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) with partners, fostering strong relationships and revenue growth.
-Developed the first Authorized Service Partner (ASP) program, securing a significant $20 million memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Datalink and expanding service offerings.
-Led Voice of the Customer programs, consistently achieving high Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) ratings, resulting in excellent customer experiences.
-Spearheaded demand generation efforts for a pioneering value-add service offering, driving annual service revenue from $500,000 to $5 million over three years.

Through my leadership, strategic alliances, and customer-centric approach, I significantly contributed to VCE's growth and success in Shared Services. By driving innovation, fostering partnerships, and delivering exceptional experiences, I positioned VCE as a market leader.

Director, Shared Services

Selected as a member of EMC Customer Support Services Leadership Development Program to drive collaborative engagement with counterparts at VMware, Cisco and EMC, bridging together three separate support models into a single support experience.  Implemented this next generation support model to enable investors to be the first to move in the integrated infrastructure market, capturing 50%+ initial market share.
•	Drove services product design sessions outlining remote and onsite support delivery strategy.  Bridged company and organizational boundaries to overcome numerous challenges and gain cross functional consensus necessary to enable rapid go to market
•	Led $2mil+ project requirement gathering and operational design sessions to define the industry’s first multi-directional, synchronous sharing of service request data, a key enabler in driving lower cost of service and faster time to resolution KPIs 
•	Delivered quarterly business reviews to combined VMware, Cisco and EMC executive teams detailing status, next steps, risks and mitigation strategies.  Engaged with cross functional leadership team to define strategy and execute accordingly

Manager, VCE (Partner Alliance) Operations

Received President's Award of Services Excellence, helping to optimize remote technical support processes to enable efficiency gains resulting in millions of dollars in savings.

Gained Six Sigma accreditation and went on to mentor others in Six Sigma processes, tools and methodologies.

Program Manager

Worked as part of a global team, support EMC's flagship storage line the Symmetrix.  Drove resolution of customer issues, working cross functionally and across global theaters to ensure customer satisfaction and problem resolution.

Platform Support Engineer

Provided both remote and onsite IT support to a variety of clients including operating as a named resource for high profile executives, providing desktop and infrastructure support.  Responsible for customer satisfaction and problem resolution for multiple physical and virtual sites.

Information Technology Specialist

Worked as part of small team to test firmware and microcode for Symmetrix storage.  Provided direct feedback to engineers in order to enhance stability and product quality prior to general availability.

Quality Assurance Engineer Intern

Experienced GTM leader specializing in Partner-Led Growth, API-First strategy, B2B SaaS, Product, and Cloud Partnerships. Successfully built and scaled high-performing partner teams in referral/affiliate, reseller, and technology partner motions. Instrumental in growing PLG new user acquisition and driving multi-million dollar contributions to the sales pipeline through partner referrals and reseller revenue.

Nexer | Head Of Partnerships

Lead Partner Acquisition and Success teams to recruit, onboard and accelerate GTM with a wide variety of Referral, Reseller, and Product partners.  Responsibilities include Partner Onboarding, GTM Planning and Execution, Partner Growth and Retention. Accomplishments include:
• Achieved 20% QoQ growth, increasing top line value of partner contributions, materially impacting Sales pipeline and win rates
• Evolved growth mode operations to scale mode, standardizing operations including Ideal Partner Profile, Partner Onboarding, and Partner Go-to-Market
• Recruited, onboarded, and coached high performing team of Partner Acquisition and Partner Success Managers, raising overall productivity and team efficiency

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