Whether they know it or not, a company’s leaders play an outsized role in its recruitment process. That’s because today’s tech workers look beyond perks and pay when making their next career move. People want to find meaning in their work, to develop professionally and to be inspired. Good leaders help their teams do just that by making their passion for their work apparent and through tackling impactful projects that push people out of their comfort zones.
New York tech companies are hiring at a rapid rate, and many have brought on important leaders in the last few months. We recently had the chance to meet six of these newly minted professionals and learn more about their career journeys, leadership styles and the first big to-do’s on their lists.
What they do: Code3 is out to demystify the marketing industry by distilling digital marketing into three core components: media, creative and commerce. The full-service digital marketing agency’s offerings include media audits, optimization strategy and platform POV, and its ads run across the world’s most relevant social and e-commerce apps and sites, including Amazon, Snapchat and TikTok.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. What position are you stepping into? What’s your professional background?
I have been in the media/marketing industry for 18 years and my career spans a multitude of channels. My passion for media propelled me to go beyond media buying negotiations to understanding media from a holistic standpoint, focusing on the consumer journey, how each media channel fuels the other’s performance and how to analyze performance data to inform strategic insights. At my core, I am a process maven who loves to uncover solutions to infrastructure and day-to-day workflow challenges that make our clients’ and internal teams’ lives easier.
I want to make sure we are working efficiently and concentrating on the joy of media planning. I am joining the Code3 team as the VP of media and have been tasked with bringing forth our vision of an agency that focuses on cross-channel media planning/buying across social, programmatic, search, marketplace and creative. At the heart of cross-channel planning is communication and respect for the role that each channel plays within a campaign’s success. I am excited to build a team that thinks and performs as one but still has the delicate balance of letting the individual lights of our channel experts shine!
At my core, I am a process maven who loves to uncover solutions to infrastructure and day-to-day workflow challenges.”
Beyond onboarding and getting up to speed on the internal workings of your new team, what’s your first order of business in your new role?
My first order of business has been to truly understand the day-to-day tasks, challenges, processes and communication across all channel and account teams. Oftentimes, people in leadership positions can take a bird’s eye view and create new processes or workflows that are broad and may not fit the individual account and team members’ needs. My approach is to enter the media trenches with my team so I can understand firsthand what makes up their triumphs and challenges. Together, we can collectively figure out solutions and paths forward so that we can advance our cross-channel vision as well as improvements in work-life balance.
What they do: SevenFifty is bringing technology to the drinks industry, with a communication and ordering platform designed to bring alcohol buyers, manufacturers and importers, and distributors together in one place. In addition to facilitating sales, the platform also features solutions for marketing, business intelligence and e-commerce.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. What position are you stepping into? What’s your professional background?
I come from a primarily B2B SaaS background, spanning from financial services to hospitality and digital experience. There were a handful of things that got me excited about joining the SevenFifty team.
First, the market — the beverage industry is so interesting to me and I was eager to learn more. Second, the stage of the company — having recently completed a fundraise, SevenFifty is at such an exciting inflection point to really hit the gas on growth. We are hiring across almost every department! Finally, the people — the team is made up of genuinely thoughtful, motivated humans who care about the company and the industry.
SevenFifty is at such an exciting inflection point to really hit the gas on growth.”
Beyond onboarding and getting up to speed on the internal workings of your new team, what’s your first order of business in your new role?
There are so many things to tackle right now, and one of my first orders of business is our rebrand. We have just selected an agency partner who we are thrilled to be working with and we are kicking off the process soon.
What they do: Boston Consulting Group Digital Ventures, or BCG Digital Ventures for short, is the corporate innovation arm of Boston Consulting Group. BCGDV works alongside companies around the world to launch and scale startups, having helped found more than 100 companies since its inception in 2014.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. What position are you stepping into? What’s your professional background?
Prior to BCGDV, I worked in the consumer technology industry as a talent acquisition consultant. I led complex leadership searches, launched new business through talent strategy and drove diversity and equity in the recruitment process. It is important for me to work for an organization that aligns with my values. I’m a huge fan of the digital space, so the opportunity to work alongside passionate entrepreneurs who continually innovate to invent, build and scale businesses to help solve some of the world’s biggest challenges was a huge draw. BCGDV’s workplace culture was the icing on the cake.
I respect organizations that take care of their people and don’t solely measure success by business profitability. In my new role, I will help scale our business, refine our talent and acquisition processes and ensure we are continuing to be intentional about providing equitable opportunities. Looking forward, talent acquisition will work to share insights and provide advisory across the business to drive long-term success.
I respect organizations that take care of their people and don’t solely measure success by business profitability.”
How would you describe your leadership style, and how do you hope to apply this in your new role?
My leadership style is collaborative as I act as a safety net for others to share ideas without fear of judgement. A key component of managing a team is leading with trust, and I trust that I am surrounded by experts and believe every member of my team brings value to our business. As a leader, mentor and coach, I want to provide opportunities for people to shine, share their perspectives and feel comfortable bringing their whole selves to work.
The beauty of onboarding at a new organization is the time that goes into knowledge-sharing with the freedom to question and explore the unknown. As a talent leader, I have the responsibility to ignite and safeguard that collaborative energy while uplifting all voices to positively influence the future of our work.
What they do: Publishers Clearing House, or PCH, may be best known for popularizing giant checks. But the company is about much more than simply sweepstakes. PCH today blends content, e-commerce and gaming and is taking a major focus on both data and analytics to better strengthen its relationship with users.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. What position are you stepping into? What’s your professional background?
I am thrilled to step into the newly created role of chief customer officer to focus on rethinking our digital experience and building the digital business. Before PCH, I led a digital media startup, which was recently sold, from $800,000 in revenue to over $50,000,000. Prior to the startup, I led the digital business at The New York Times, including launching and managing the digital subscription business which generates $750,000,0000 today. In “another life” I worked as a management consultant and a lawyer.
The No. 1 thing we’re hard at work on is reinventing the mobile experience to center around our users.”
Beyond onboarding and getting up to speed on the internal workings of your new team, what’s your first order of business in your new role?
The No. 1 thing we’re hard at work on is reinventing the mobile experience to center around our users. The goal is to forge a deeper, more loyal and more lasting relationship with both new and existing users. When we get that right, we attract and retain more users. We provide more value, and we in turn get more value. In other words, the “flywheel” kicks in.
As part of that mobile reinvention, I’m also excited about the business model opportunities and implications. Our massive first party data store — and growing media portfolio — will drive major advertising upside as identity and relevant context replace cookies as the way marketers target audiences. And our commerce business will shift and go deeper in categories of products our users love, like horticulture. This more specialized, multi-vertical “affinities” approach, is the only way to compete with the generalist behemoths.
What they do: Order is a spend management platform that provides companies a single portal for purchasing products, monitoring spending and paying vendors.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. What position are you stepping into? What’s your professional background?
I spent the first half of my career as a software engineer at several startups, working with a wide variety of technology and gaining experience in diverse industries. I also filled a lot of other roles in those environments, which provided me with a very broad set of technical knowledge and skills. I believe the breadth of my experience has given me a unique perspective in my current role.
Since 2002, I’ve been in engineering leadership positions where I have focused on building high-performance teams. I’ve primarily worked with early growth-stage startups where I built teams that achieved high levels of predictability and that dramatically improved the quality of their work.
My goal is to set the company up to grow exponentially by creating an engineering team that predictably and consistently delivers high-quality features.”
Beyond onboarding and getting up to speed on the internal workings of your new team, what’s your first order of business in your new role?
My goal is to set the company up to grow exponentially by creating an engineering team that predictably and consistently delivers high-quality features that delight our customers and improve our operational efficiency. My first order of business is to lead engineering toward higher levels of predictability and quality while adding exceptional talent so we can deliver more features in the future.
What they do: Despite advances in medical technology, accessing quality mental healthcare can still be incredibly difficult. Quartet Health is working to change that, with a technology platform that makes it easier for primary care providers to refer patients for mental healthcare.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. What position are you stepping into? What’s your professional background?
Healthcare is very personal for me. I have family members and dear friends who have physical and mental health conditions and have been denied basic needs like food, shelter and employment. Most have also struggled with the administrative complexities of our healthcare system and are deeply burdened with the costs.
I have spent my career in healthcare, working at both high-growth startups and driving innovation at large companies, including clinical product development, operational transformation and new market growth. I worked in medical and behavioral healthcare and in social care. My knowledge of these three disciplines helps me understand how to design and develop services in each of these areas to get better outcomes for patients.
As Quartet’s chief operating officer, my first priority is building an action plan around our next stage of growth. We’re committed to helping people quickly and easily get access to high-quality mental healthcare from the primary care setting. I’m passionate about creating products and services that make it easier for all people to access quality mental healthcare.
I know the work I do here every day has a direct impact on someone’s life.”
How would you describe your leadership style, and how do you hope to apply this in your new role?
As a leader, it’s important to me to keep my patients, and those who we serve, as my North Star in all that I do. When working with my colleagues, I value different points of view, opinions and diverse approaches to work. That said, I’m also very results-oriented and like to see collaboration move quickly toward decisions followed by execution.
This is part of what attracted me to Quartet Health: We encourage different perspectives and collaboration across different teams with a bias toward action. We’re here for our patients — that is Quartet’s mission and that is what drives me. I know the work I do here every day has a direct impact on someone’s life.
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