APPEALIE has announced the thirty-two winners of the 2022 SaaS Leader Awards, a software leadership award honoring the cloud’s top marketing and customer success executives.
“The raving nominations and demonstrated achievements our 2022 honorees received reflect the high standard of excellence in SaaS today.”
Driven by a record number – up 95% versus 2021 – of peer/employee nominations, the 2022 SaaS Leader Award Winners were selected based on their track record of achieving goals, leadership skills, and ability to attract and retain talent.
Consistent with APPEALIE’s software awards methodology, Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)-like data points were incorporated along with each executive’s specific accomplishments.
The award process featured two categories:
SAAS CUSTOMER SUCCESS LEADER AWARD WINNERS
- Dutta Satadip — ActiveCampaign
- Maayan Arbili — Aqua Security
- Tiffany Timmermann — Canopy
- Kristi Faltorusso — ClientSuccess
- Lauren Dill — Ellevation Education
- Angela Najab — Envisio Solutions
- Ariel Benzakein — Flosum
- Cassie Williams — FORM formely GoSpotCheck
- Kellie Capote — Gainsight
- Malgorzata Mikulska — GetResponse
- Joshua LaMarche — Gong
- Kim Riedell — impact.com
- Scott Thomas — Integrate
- Jessica Green — Lever
- Tarik Hart — Movable Ink
- Tydus Mana — Passport Inc.
- Mike Lee — PublicInput
- Kelly Wilson — Threekit
- Grant Freeman — Thryv
- Wayne McCulloch — WalkMe
SELECTED SAAS CUSTOMER SUCCESS LEADER AWARD PERSPECTIVES
“I am honored to receive APPEALIE’s SaaS leader award and am grateful to be recognized for the immense care ActiveCampaign provides our customers,” said Dutta Satadip, Chief Customer Officer at ActiveCampaign. “My team works hard every single day to bring SMBs the best technology on the market for growing their businesses. For our accomplishments to be acknowledged is a testament to our product, employees and our amazing customers.”
“It’s great to be recognized as a Customer Success leader, but I’m more honored to appear beside some of the most respected names in SaaS. It’s important, now more than ever, for all of us to lead with empathy, focus on our customers, and retain the talent that’s the engine of our business.” – Kellie Capote, Chief Customer Officer at Gainsight
“Working with such passionate teammates and customers over my career has made being a leader of a Customer Success team in SaaS, very rewarding. To then be recognized for an award, caused me to pause and reflect on all those who contributed and I am so thankful for the successes and fun we had in the process. Thank you Appealie for this reflection and recognition.” – Angela Najab, Vice President of Customer Success at Envisio Solutions
“I am humbled to be recognized for my work at Passport. Our clients are the leading force in helping drive innovation and delivering the best possible product and service. Software is a critical component in our mission of assisting cities, and I’m fortunate to work alongside an amazing team to bring that vision to life.” – Tydus Mana, Client Success Executive, Passport Inc.
“I am honored to be selected as an APPEALIE SaaS Customer Success Leader award with the other CS community giants. I don’t take recognition lightly and applaud all leaders worldwide for growing this great community. Thank you to those who nominated me, and thank you to APPEALIE for the recognition. I am truly grateful.” – Mike Lee, Director of Customer Success at PublicInput
“I am incredibly humbled and honored to have been nominated and selected again this year, especially considering all of the other individuals that have been selected. The team at Ellevation is absolutely incredible, and they continue to pave the way for what best-in-class customer success looks like in EdTech. Perhaps most important is that this award is an affirmation that our products and services will continue to reach educators and students and drive impact.” – Lauren Dill, Director of Success & Services at Ellevation Education
“I am humbled and honored to accept this award on behalf of our incredible Customer Support team at Gong. I’m so proud of their hard work to create raving fans each and every day, and proud of this validation that Customer Support teams can serve a strategic and innovative role in driving deeper customer value. Thank you to our customers who entrust us to help them reach their full potential, and thank you to Gong for building a culture where every employee is responsible for customer success.” – Joshua LaMarche, Head of Customer Support at Gong
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“I humbly serve alongside a talented and passionate team of professionals who deliver every day on Integrate’s promise to help marketers activate, govern, and measure their marketing campaigns across demand channels. To be recognized among such a great set of my peers is a testament to this work by our team for which I’m extremely proud of being a member. I want to thank those who nominated me and to APPEALIE for the recognition.” – Scott Thomas, Vice President of Customer Success, Integrate
“Aqua’s customers are our most important asset. I am proud to lead the Customer Success team, which is centered around positive customer experience, long-lasting partnerships and mutual growth. The team is devoted to working with our customers, to guide them through their journey, and challenge them to achieve their next level of desired outcomes from Aqua’s Platform. This award is a recognition to our commitment to inspire customer-centricity across the entire company as we scale.” – Maayan Arbili, VP Global Customer Success at Aqua Security
SAAS MARKETING LEADER AWARD WINNERS
- Heidi Lorenzen — Accela
- Maria Pergolino
- Matthew Richards — Aqua Security
- Linda Schwaber-Cohen — BrightHire
- Susan Ganeshan — Clearwater Analytics
- Ashley Deibert — Piano
- Michael Freeman — Skilljar
- Courtney Cunnane — SmartBear
- Nicole Wojno Smith — Tackle.io
- Trinity Nguyen — UserGems
- Stacey Bright — XOi Technologies
- Ryan Dunagan — Ziflow
SELECTED SAAS MARKETING LEADER AWARD PERSPECTIVES
“It’s an honor to be recognized amongst my peers in the SaaS industry, and I’m humbled that my team felt inspired to nominate me for this award. My achievements and successes are fueled every day by the hard working people around me—at XOi, the SaaS world, and in the blue collar industries we serve.” – Stacey Bright, Vice President of Marketing at XOi Technologies
“I’m incredibly grateful for this recognition. In an ever-changing environment like high-tech SaaS, it’s exciting to wake up every morning, do the work I love, and continually learn from each day’s challenges and opportunities.” — Susan Ganeshan, CMO at Clearwater Analytics
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“I am humbled by this award. I have the privilege of leading a team of smart, savvy marketing professionals who work tirelessly to elevate Aqua’s brand and fuel growth across key markets. In the past year, we’ve over delivered on goals across the board, doubling pipeline value and conversion rates. We’ve also expanded programs into new territories with success. This award may have my name on it, but it validates what we have accomplished together.” – Matthew Richards, CMO at Aqua Security
“I’m excited to be included among the SaaS Marketing Leader winners by APPEALIE this year. Recognition for this award extends to the entire marketing organization at SmartBear, who, as always, worked tirelessly to create our Customer Spotlight series. My thanks goes out to my team as well as our customers and champions who told their stories about how SmartBear software development and visibility tools help them to be successful.” – Courtney Cunnane, Senior Vice President of Growth Marketing at SmartBear
