Real problems. Real numbers. How I got there.

The situation

I joined Trellix to lead professional services for the West region, including two programs that mattered enormously: Health Watch, a proactive customer-health service, and a large reverse engineering program for Google. Both programs needed to grow, a major renewal was ahead, and the Health Watch team, fully remote, hadn’t met in person in four years.

What I did

• Built the operating rhythm first. I joined every West region sales call and met bi-weekly with the sales leader’s directs on deal strategy, so services became part of how deals were shaped, not an afterthought.
• Used Health Watch as a growth lever. I treated the program as a way to deepen customer relationships and drive renewals and new services, not just as a delivery obligation.
• Streamlined onboarding for the Google program to support the program’s growth.
• Paired people with automation. I led the team to a human-machine collaboration model that increased output without sacrificing accuracy.
• Invested in retention and care with regular 1:1 cadences, onsite customer visits, recognition, and a plan to bring the Health Watch team together in person.

The results

“You’ve made a tremendous impact in a short time… Covering the West, driving engagement with Google, and diving deep into Health Watch have all been critical areas where your leadership has shined.”

The situation

I led a national team of technical specialists serving State & Local Government, a market with high stakes, strict compliance needs, and fierce competition from Google. We had a $1B+ quota, a limited travel budget, a compliance issue affecting government cloud customers, and the kind of organizational change that tests any team.

What I did

• Built a Google Compete engine. I formed a virtual team, created heat maps and a Google Compete Playbook, and delivered an SLG “Blitz” to about 80 sellers. That drove competitive wins in West Virginia and Virginia.
• Led Copilot Readiness for the SLG business, creating collateral and virtual teams that scaled best practices across SLG.
• Solved a compliance problem. When government (GCC) customers’ calls were failing over outside the U.S. boundary, I wrote the SBAR and brought together customers, legal (CELA), product, and engineering until the fix was applied.
• Scaled reach without travel by leading the team to deliver one-to-many customer events locally.
• Led people first: bi-weekly 1:1s, career development plans for 100% of the team, wellness check-ins, recognition, and a return to Technical Close Plans for rigor.
• Shaped strategy by helping develop the three-year SLG strategy: big bets, market outlook, sales plays, and compete themes.

The results

“Karen has been the most encouraging, respectful, and honest manager I’ve worked with. Her guidance and blunt honesty have been key to my growth.”

The situation

Every organization I talk to has AI ambitions. Far fewer have a repeatable way to sell AI services, partner for the capabilities they lack, or help people actually adopt the tools. I’ve worked on all three sides of that problem.

What I did

• EY-Parthenon: working with the Europe West CTO office, I created a unified AI go-to-market framework, enabled country-level leads to commercialize AI service offerings, and built reusable assets (an AI Playbook, sector activation, and GTM materials) to scale pre-sales.
• Softura: I developed the global partner ecosystem strategy, signed and onboarded AI partners Vantiq and Palantir, and revitalized the Microsoft partnership by aligning it to high-growth AI offerings and increasing co-sell activity.
• Joliet Junior College: I created AI curriculum and taught generative AI tools (Microsoft Copilot, Google NotebookLM, ChatGPT, Claude, Midjourney, and more), including sessions for faculty and staff at EDUCON, the college’s faculty development conference.

The results

Inclusion isn’t a side project for me. It’s built into how I hire, lead, and sell. At Microsoft, that looked like:

• Removing biased language from job descriptions and referring diverse candidates for open roles
• Mentoring neurodiverse candidates and employees through the Neurodiversity Hiring Program and Neurodiverse Community, plus a mentee from the Chicago Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities
• Presenting to teams on neurodiversity and inclusive hiring practices, and speaking on panels
• Serving as Accessibility Lead for State & Local Government and ensuring inclusive imagery in customer presentations
• Co-leading the SLG Connect & Grow Program

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