The B2B Innovator Awards were created to celebrate the most progressive marketing and sales practitioners pushing the envelope to effectively engage prospective customers and meet their buyers’ needs in the age of digital transformation.
The Awards honor innovators who:
- Helped break new ground and/or drive specific results within their company;
- Successfully implemented an innovative strategy or concept — especially related to performance marketing and driving revenue;
- Creatively and effectively engaged prospective buyers and met buyers’ needs; and
- Conceptualized and/or launched a specific and innovative B2B strategy, campaign or idea.
Though the competition was stiff, 23 practitioners were selected and honored at the 2024 B2B Marketing Exchange East in Alpharetta, Georgia. This year’s winners include:
Category: Data Scientists & Operations Optimizers
Marketing executives who have excelled at leveraging data at their disposal to enhance marketing campaigns and deliver insightful reporting and intelligence to sales and other lines of business.
Timothy Hillman, PhD, Director, Analytics and Customer Insights, ICF
Hillman’s leadership and innovation in data science have had a transformative impact on the energy utility sector. His ability to translate complex data into actionable insights has empowered utilities to offer tailored, effective solutions that drive meaningful business outcomes.
Laurie Cremona Wagner, VP, Marketing Operations and Strategy, Pure Storage
Wagner spearheaded the launch of a transformative global go-to-market strategy, which redefined the company’s approach to account-based marketing and territory targeting. Her ability to align the entire organization around this initiative and drive a comprehensive execution plan within a short timeline showcases her expertise in operational excellence and innovative thinking.
Category: C-Suite Strategy
C-level execs that truly understand and apply performance marketing and revenue marketing.
Jeanne Hopkins, SVP, Revenue & Growth Marketing, The Pedowitz Group
Hopkins’ industry influence extends beyond her roles. She has been an advisor to multiple companies, sharing her extensive marketing knowledge, and she engages with her vast network, educating and mentoring the next generation of marketers. Hopkins developed and currently moderates a CMO Community, fostering collaboration and growth among senior marketing leaders.
Ashley Capps, Interim Chief Revenue Officer, ArmorPoint
Under Capps’ leadership, ArmorPoint has not only grown its market share but also significantly enhanced its reputation as an innovator in cybersecurity solutions. Her strategic vision and hands-on approach have ensured that the company remains at the cutting edge of technology and customer service.
Category: Sales Drivers
Marketers that have seen notable success enabling their sales counterparts to engage, educate and close deals with prospects in the latter stage of the buyer journey.
Rashmi Trikha, Sr. Manager, Account Based Marketing (AMS), ServiceNow
Trikha has led her team to support over $150M in revenue from just a handful of accounts. Driven by an unwavering determination to succeed, she navigates the fast-paced world of marketing with a blend of creativity, strategic insight and a tight relationship with sales. Every challenge is met with a solution-focused mindset, and she relentlessly pursues excellence in her work, knowing that innovation is the key to standing out in a crowded market.
Paul Hernandez, Director, Lifecycle Marketing, Affinipay
After implementing an account-based strategy to support its meetings-focused endeavors, Hernandez led his team to realize some promising early results, including a nearly 70% MQA acceptance rate by sales, with an extremely high sales qualified lead-to-win ratio of 33%.
Category: B2B Technologists
Practitioners who have successfully helped roll out new tools to support business initiatives.
Lisa Farris, Chief Marketing Officer, Soundtrack Your Brand
Farris is a visionary marketing and digital media executive known for her innovative approach to leveraging music and technology to transform brand and consumer engagement for businesses, ranging from startups to nationally recognized brands. She helped her company launch the Soundtrack’ AI Playlist creator, which is used regularly by museum and hospitality groups, hospitals, retail and iconic restaurant brands to streamline and enhance their brand’s music strategy. In just five months, Soundtrack’s AI Playlist Creator has been used to create 8,300 playlists across 2,400 business accounts.
Tyler Newberry, Global ABM Lead, Hexagon
Newberry’s collaborative approach is recognized by the organization as a strong contributor to the company’s overall success. He has not only led the strategy around the account-based transformation, but he’s been a foundational driver of adoption of Demandbase across the organization. Newberry has also led key initiatives around transformation of the company’s reporting efforts and has made himself a go-to for other teams to help drive success with its platforms.
Category: B2B Vanguards
Women who have not only had successful careers in B2B and driven results for their organizations but have also helped to break new ground for women to advance their careers and roles.
Jodi Lebow, Vice President, Global Demand Center, Hexagon
Lebow’s leadership has been a motivating force among her female employees. It has instilled confidence and fostered a sense of purpose within them. Her belief in their abilities has led to enhanced morale, and her dedication to their growth has created a sense of excitement for the future. With an open and collaborative working environment, Lebow’s leadership has allowed her team members to envisage a progressive professional pathway. They look ahead eagerly, knowing they are valued, capable and empowered to make significant contributions. Undoubtedly, her effective leadership has generated a vibrant atmosphere of optimism and ambition.
Nancy Caplan, SVP, Marketing, Energy, ICF
Caplan is a visionary and influential leader in B2B marketing in the energy sector, leading a team of talented and diverse professionals who deliver exceptional results for commercial and industrial utility clients across the country. She has a passion for innovation, sustainability and customer-centricity, which she applies to every aspect of her work. She has been instrumental in developing and implementing cutting-edge marketing strategies and solutions that drive energy efficiency.
Beyond her technical expertise, Caplan is also a champion of talent development, culture building, and industry recognition for her team. As a role model and inspiration for women in marketing, her influence extends well beyond her immediate team. Her passion for mentoring is evident in her active involvement in mentorship roles, where she helps shape the next generation of marketing leaders.
Category: Vertical Virtuosos
B2B marketing leaders outside of the SaaS space who are incorporating innovative go-to-market strategies in their unique industries.
Scott Russell, Director, Hilton
Russell has demonstrated exceptional leadership and innovation in his role at Hilton. Under his guidance, Hilton has achieved considerable advancements in CRM strategies, particularly with the implementation of cutting-edge technology and data-driven approaches to enhance customer engagement and loyalty.
Additionally, Russell’s contributions have not only driven business results but have also fostered a culture of innovation within his team. His ability to inspire his colleagues to embrace new technologies and methodologies has been key to Hilton’s ongoing success in the competitive hospitality sector.
Category: Gen Z Trailblazers
30 and under B2B marketers who are bringing new ideas and new energy to their companies and their roles.
Hannah Jordan, Director, Digital Marketing, Demandbase
Jordan has demonstrated remarkable business results and positive outcomes through her innovative strategies at Demandbase. Her creativity and analytical intelligence combine to create powerful results, positioning her as a true leader in her field, even early in her career.
One of Jordan’s notable achievements was building out 250 display campaigns in one quarter alone. Her leadership in this area led to a significant impact on the company’s success. She is revolutionizing B2B marketing by integrating advanced ABM techniques with sophisticated analytics and personalized engagement.
Allison Manning, Demand Generation Specialist, Nexthink
Manning’s strategy to incorporate PathFactory’s templated experience page into a “Best of Experience” virtual event campaign resulted in $3,606,100 accelerated pipeline impacted with 374 registrations and 154 attendees, a 41% attendance rate.
She loves the grit that is needed to drive and accelerate New Logo pipeline and continues to learn from the B2B marketing community while advocating for continued advancement for other minority women. In just a few years, she has been noted as a rising marketing leader at Nexthink and have been named a “buddy” to new hires under 30 years old.
Category: Buyer-Focused Marketers
Creative and innovative approaches to building, launching and refining hyper-personalized campaigns.
Michael Phelan, Principal and Founder, Go-to-Market Pros
For the past few years, Phelan has been concerned about B2B Buyer Engagement with solution providers. As a result, he and his team engaged in a two-year study of companies who have been successful at engaging buyers, driving buyer interaction and ramping discovery meetings. Phelan helped develop several proprietary and unique methodologies to engage buyers and pressure tested them in the market, resulting in various educational workshops among other programs, offering buyer-led value through creative programming.
Ali Magas, Senior Marketing Manager, Blue Yonder
Magas’ strong expertise in managing digital platforms, while formulating marketing plans based on business objectives, vertical and global market research, and historical sales and campaign metrics has led her to process improvements and propelling product enhancement and marketing initiatives to stimulate revenue growth for her company.
Her campaign set a new standard for future campaign strategies at Blue Yonder, including depth of content analysis across the buyer’s journey. Magas truly kept the buyer in mind from planning to execution within the campaign. Her campaign deck is now used as the campaign marketing team’s template for future integrated campaigns, and she has set the standard for how to work cross-functionally at a global level within the organization.
Category: Account Targeters & Strategists
Innovative practitioners who are helping to support account strategies to target, engage and close deals with key accounts.
Oceane Li, Founder & CEO, NextGenABM
During her tenure as the Enterprise ABM Campaign Lead at Shopify, Li championed the development and execution of the TCO Integrated ABM Campaign, which set a new standard for personalized, data-driven marketing in the B2B space. Her commitment to innovation in B2B marketing, focusing on strategic, data-driven approaches that not only meet but exceed business objectives has proven her to advancing B2B marketing strategies and commitment to delivering exceptional results.
Mike Madden, VP, Marketing, Boomi
Madden has demonstrated exceptional leadership and innovation in his role at Boomi. Under his guidance, Boomi has achieved considerable advancements in its sales and marketing approach. Specifically, Madden’s vision and intricate understanding of both sales and marketing has enabled Boomi to align in Sales and Marketing GTM strategies by using consistent targeting.
Additionally, Madden’s contributions have not only driven business results but have also fostered a culture of innovation within his team. His ability to inspire his colleagues to embrace new technologies and methodologies has been key to Boomi’s ongoing success in the competitive technology sector.
Category: SMB Maestros
B2B experts heading small (or even one-person) marketing teams and driving impressive results for their growing businesses.
Arathi Rajagopalan, Founder & CEO, iSportz
Under Rajagopalan’s leadership, iSportz has become a key player in the sports tech industry, helping organizations manage their operations more effectively and connect with their communities in meaningful ways. Her experience in leading complex projects for Fortune 500 companies, combined with her passion for sports and technology, makes her a powerful force in driving the company’s success.
Category: Marketing Mentors
Teachers and team builders in B2B bonds across teams and departments to promote maximum success.
Ariel Sasso, Head of Customer Success, Stack Moxie
Sasso recognized early on that cookie compliance was becoming a critical issue, not just for legal reasons but for maintaining user trust and engagement. She spearheaded the development of a tool that allows organizations to compare their published cookie policies with the actual user experience and cookie behavior on their sites. Sasso is also a mentor, a leader and a champion of the customer voice.
Kristine Sheikh, VP of Marketing & People Operations, RedTeam
Sheikh has played a transformative role since joining RedTeam in 2022. She spearheaded the rebranding efforts, establishing the company’s presence within the construction software industry. Sheikh’s vision and leadership have led to the development of a cohesive marketing strategy, completely redesigning the company website, forming a new marketing team, and setting up RedTeam’s messaging, values and branding.
Category: Diversity & Inclusion Champions
Practitioners spearheading initiatives to build a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce and company culture at their organizations.
Veair Green, Associate Director of Partnerships, Black Marketers Association of America
Green is active in his company’s Black Resource Group where he holds the title of National Co-Lead. By working with Catchafire, Veair has also saved both black and white non-profits more than $70 thousand dollars by doing pro bono video editing, allowing those organizations to use their funds elsewhere. His work with key suppliers like Amazon and Sprout has opened the doors for many black marketers to get opportunities they may not have had in the past.
Category: Content, Creative & Execution
Storytellers who have found new ways to engage B2B audiences with different formats and approaches across channels and screens.
Maureen McCormick, Sr. Account Based Marketing Manager, ServiceNow
McCormick gets the power of visual storytelling to amplify brand and drive revenue, and this is the red thread that runs through her work. Championing world-class storytelling across strategic marketing efforts, the trademark of her marketing programs is powerful content. From landing pages to events, McCormick’s hyper-personalized and creative content converts — pure and simple. By blending research, powerful storytelling and unique content, she has driven millions in net new revenue over the last year alone at ServiceNow, thanks to her innovative campaigns and top-tier execution, which repeatedly leave recipients in awe.
Alice Stevens, Channel Marketing Director, Video Conferencing, Aver Information Inc.
Stevens led the execution of a comprehensive and innovative B2B strategy designed to amplify brand presence and engage with the AV industry. Based on the theme “A Camera for Every Room,” which communicated the company’s commitment to delivering tailored camera solutions for diverse meeting spaces, from small huddle rooms to expansive conference areas. AVer embraced the Las Vegas theme with an interactive “Spin to Win” game at their booth, which drew attention and increased foot traffic. The multichannel promotional campaign spanned social media, email marketing, press releases and a newly designed email banner, ensuring consistent messaging across all platforms, resulting in successful outcomes, including exceeding lead generation targets and securing multiple industry awards.