Chris Sullivan

VP Customer Success | Customer Experience & Retention Leader

🌎 Global SaaS | B2B | GTM | NRR Growth | CX Strategy

Atlanta, Georgia

20+ Years Leading
Customer Success

🚀 I help SaaS businesses scale, transform, and drive revenue growth—with particular expertise in navigating complex M&A transitions.

Having led enterprise-wide GTM transformations and CX organizations ($70MM+ P&L, 300+ team members), I specialize in turning fragmented customer operations into high-performing revenue engines that consistently deliver 40%+ profitability gains.

Whether you're scaling for growth, optimizing post-merger operations, or transforming your customer success strategy, let's connect and explore how we can drive exceptional results together.

Open to Opportunities

Executive Leadership

Chief Customer Officer
VP Customer Success
VP Professional Services
Head of Customer Experience
Global Services Leader

Strategic & Advisory

Fractional Leadership
Strategic Consulting
M&A Advisory
CX Transformation
300+ Team Members Led
40%+ PS Margins
$70M+ P&L Management
Get in Touch View Experience

Professional Summary

Customer Success executive with a track record of architecting and scaling global post-sales organizations (300+ team members). Expert in transforming fragmented or nascent customer experience teams into high-performing Customer Success engines aligned to financial excellence, scalable growth, and strategic retention ($MMM+). Drove double-digit NRR gains, multimillion-dollar renewals, and best-in-class NPS across B2B SaaS, enterprise, and private equity-backed environments. Proven builder of systems, teams, and philosophies that elevate Customer Success as a revenue-generating powerhouse.

Startup to Enterprise Transformation

  • Led Silverpop's evolution from growth-stage startup to enterprise-ready acquisition target for IBM, developing scalable CS frameworks
  • Established BetterCloud's first customer health scoring model, enabling data-driven retention strategies
  • Successfully unified multiple mid-market SaaS acquisitions into cohesive enterprise functions at IBM
  • Transformed BetterCloud's startup-oriented CS function into structured, metrics-driven organization during critical scale phase

Revenue & Retention Impact

  • General Manager with full P&L ownership ($70MM+) across go-to-market, sales, delivery, and financial accountability
  • Achieved 40%+ services margins and 70%+ utilization at IBM/Acoustic while maintaining NPS above 50
  • Drove 400% ARR growth in IBM's LatAm services business through Success-aligned sales and delivery models

Post-Acquisition Integration

  • Core due diligence executive responsible for selling IBM's Watson Marketing to PE, creating world's largest private marTech company
  • Led post-acquisition customer migration of 200+ Vtrenz customers to Silverpop with near-zero churn
  • Executed full "blue washing" of Silverpop services into IBM, maintaining customer retention through transition

Technology & Infrastructure

  • Built comprehensive CS tech stack integrating Gainsight, Salesforce, FinancialForce across multiple organizations
  • Deployed industry-leading Success forecasting engines, improving renewal prediction accuracy and revenue visibility
  • Created proprietary customer health scoring methodology now used across multiple B2B SaaS companies

Executive Competencies & Skills

Built & Scaled Global Customer Success Teams

Designed CS frameworks, health scoring, onboarding, advocacy programs, and segmentation models across multi-segment portfolios

Drove Double-Digit Net Retention Growth

Deployed lifecycle strategies, QBR processes, and customer journey mapping to expand ARR and renewals

Architected Tech Stack for Scalable Success

Led Gainsight, Salesforce, multiple PSAs and analytics integrations enabling proactive account management and expansion triggers

Built Voice of Customer & Success Metrics Engines

Established NPS, CSAT, CES programs and Success forecasting to drive insight and action across the customer lifecycle

Professional Experience

2023 - Present

Partner

Stealth Startup

Co-founded and launched a consumer SaaS business, overseeing product strategy, customer journey design, and operational scaling. Built customer experience philosophy from inception, integrating support, onboarding, and success automation workflows.

2021 - 2023

Executive Sabbatical

Strategic Advisory & Market Research

2020 - 2021

Senior Vice President, Customer Experience

Ventiv Technology

Recruited post-PE acquisition to overhaul customer service and success functions across global teams. Consolidated fragmented operations and built Customer Success as a formal function.

  • Created and launched new CS practice from scratch, establishing lifecycle programs and success measurement
  • Integrated FinancialForce to improve portfolio visibility, resource planning, and revenue forecasting
  • Streamlined Order-to-Cash lifecycle and aligned ASC 606 revenue policies for scalability
2019 - 2020

Vice President, Customer Success & Operations

BetterCloud

Hired during hypergrowth to establish operational excellence across Support, PS, Training, and Customer Success. Redefined customer philosophy and built a scalable Success organization aligned to commercial outcomes.

  • Built new CS segmentation and account coverage model; tied comp plans to renewal and expansion metrics
  • Designed forecasting engine for renewals, improving retention visibility across segments
  • Led overhaul of CX technology stack, including Gainsight, Salesforce Service Cloud, and other tools
  • Delivered company's first NPS baseline in 30 days; launched closed-loop VOC feedback engine
2016 - 2019

Global Services Leader, Watson Marketing

IBM / Acoustic

Led global Customer Experience organization through M&A carve-out and transformation of IBM's martech division into Acoustic. Managed 300+ global team and $70MM P&L.

  • Executive sponsor for largest global clients (Coca-Cola, UPS, Honda, General Mills, Warner Music)
  • Launched Delivery Excellence PMO and Business Transformation consulting practice (100% renewal rate)
  • Created Buenos Aires COE for scalable custom development tied to Success outcomes
  • Achieved 40%+ margins and 70%+ utilization, with NPS sustained above 50
2015 - 2016

Vice President, Professional Services

Silverpop, an IBM Company

Rebuilt and scaled global PSO with integrated Success philosophies. Focused on profitable growth and delivery excellence.

  • 400% ARR growth in LatAm services business
  • Closed record-breaking services deals and transitioned accounts into Success-managed frameworks
  • Led due diligence and post-acquisition integration into IBM
2011 - 2015

Director, Enterprise Services / Integration Executive

Silverpop / IBM

Built new PSO from scratch to support strategic customers. Led full integration of Silverpop services into IBM after acquisition.

  • Designed predictive finance and health models for customer delivery
  • Developed new enterprise onboarding and delivery motion with tailored account success paths
2010 - 2011

Integration Executive (Vtrenz)

Silverpop

Orchestrated migration of 200+ Vtrenz customers, building success programs for customer transition, training, and advocacy.

Technical Expertise

CX & Revenue Platforms

Designed scalable customer success & revenue models leveraging Salesforce (Service/Sales/Community Cloud, CPQ, CLM, Billing), Gainsight and a myriad of CX tools.

Financial & Order-to-Cash Systems

Streamlined post-M&A financial architecture, integrating NetSuite ERP, FinancialForce, OpenAir, Clarizen, Mavenlink, Monday.com, and Workfront to drive faster revenue recognition and operational efficiency.

Business Systems & Tech Stack

Led enterprise-wide SaaS integrations for CRM, ERP, PSA, and RevOps platforms, ensuring seamless data flow and revenue operations across global teams.

Data-Driven Marketing & Analytics

Built CX and revenue growth strategies using CDP platforms, campaign orchestration tools, and BI & analytics dashboards, leveraging AI-driven insights to reduce churn and increase CLTV.

AI & Automation

Leveraged OpenAI ChatGPT, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, DALL-E, Midjourney, Cursor and others to enhance CX workflow efficiency, data-driven insights, and automation strategies.

SaaS Development & Integration

Led custom development and API-driven integrations in PHP, Python, LAMP, HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, Apache, MySQL, and Oracle to enhance platform interoperability and scalability.

Let's Connect

I'm always open to discussing new opportunities in customer success leadership, strategic consulting, and digital transformation.

Connect with me on LinkedIn to start a conversation about how we can work together.