As more and more tech solutions emerge, the demand for customer success professionals has increased in recent years. Customer success was included in Linkedin’s 2020 emerging jobs report, and customers have grown accustomed to receiving personalized, reliable support from CS professionals when they begin using new software. With all of this in mind, staying on the cutting edge of customer success is essential for leading software companies that wish to stay ahead of the curve. 

However, in 2023, the B2B landscape and economic climate is shifting, and CS professionals must iterate processes accordingly. Many organizations are trimming budgets, slowing down with hiring, and focusing on customer retention in the midst of the economic downturn—which places more responsibility upon customer success teams. The customer success leader of 2023 needs to be prepared to do more with less, scale programmatically, communicate product value, and work cross-functionally with other departments.

As your CS team moves into a new year with new goals and challenges, here are 10 top innovative customer success influencers to follow for insights, tips, and thought leadership in 2023.

Diana De Jesus, Customer Marketing Manager at Catalyst

Diana is a Customer Success Manager at Catalyst Software. She helps people pursue CS jobs, helps companies retain customers, and works on several projects supporting the CS community. She founded The Customer Success Project and co-created the Open Book of Customer Success, shares CS insights across social media platforms, and has been included in several top CS influencer lists. Follow her on LinkedIn for her innovative customer success insights. 

Dan Ennis, Scale Team Manager US, Customer Success at Monday.com

Recognized as one of EverAfter’s Most Creative CS Leaders of 2023, Dan is an experienced SaaS CS leader with a demonstrated history of increasing adoption, driving outcomes, and increasing revenue and retention. He is an advocate for the voice of the customer and is passionate about helping people grow in their careers. Follow Dan on LinkedIn for customer success insights. 

Kristi Faltorusso, Chief Customer Officer at ClientSuccess

Kristi Faltorusso is a CS executive with experience in building, scaling, and transforming customer success organizations at hyper-growth B2B SaaS companies. Kristi was listed as a 2020, 2021 and 2022 Top 25 Customer Success Influencer and has led customer success and experience teams at several companies. She is also the Founder of Keeping CS Simple, where she provides helpful resources for CS professionals. Follow Kristi on LinkedIn for insights on customer success, SaaS, customer experience, and leadership.

John Gleeson, Vice President of Customer Success at Motive

As a customer success leader at Motive, John has helped fuel massive and fast growth—under his leadership, the company grew from $1 million to more than $50 million in annual recurring revenue in 12 months (source: Crunchbase). John is recognized as a top influencer in the CS community and provides mentorship for other CS professionals. He hosts the popular San Francisco Customer Success Meetup and has been featured on several CS thought leadership podcasts. 

Daphne Costa Lopes, Head of Customer Success at Hubspot

Daphne is a customer success leader at Hubspot that has years of experience building processes, systems, and teams from the ground up. Passionate about delivering great experiences and excellent outcomes to clients, Daphne hosts the This is Growth! podcast where she explores what growth looks like from multiple angles. Follow Daphne on LinkedIn for insights on customer experience and customer success. 

Nick Mehta, CEO at Gainsight

Nick Mehta is the CEO of Gainsight, The Customer Success Company. Nick has been named one of the Top SaaS CEOs by the Software Report three years in a row, one of the Top CEOs of 2018 by Comparably, was a finalist for EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year. He also co-authored “Customer Success: How Innovative Companies Are Reducing Churn and Growing Recurring Revenue.” Follow Nick on LinkedIn for insights on leadership, and customer success, and more.

Andrew Marks, Co-Founder, COO & CPO at SuccessHACKER

Andrew Marks is a leader of SuccessHACKER, a CS-focused coaching, training, and advisory consulting organization. Throughout his 25 years of experience as an operational executive in customer-facing roles, he has supported the customer success community as it has grown into an industry standard. Named one of the Top 50 Most Influential People To Follow In Customer Success, his mission is to create lasting value for clients by empowering them to succeed with their own customers. Follow Andrew on LinkedIn for customer success insights.

Jay Nathan, EVP, Corporate Market & Chief Customer Officer at Higher Logic

Throughout his experience in functional executive roles in customer success, product, services and account management, Jay has developed a methodology for building, leading, and scaling SaaS companies. He founded Customer Imperative and is the co-founder of Gain Grow Retain, a community where CS leaders share their work, collaborate, and grow their careers. Follow Jay on LinkedIn for more customer success insights. 

Ashna Patel, Manager, Customer Success, Ascent Cloud

Ashna Patel is an award-winning customer success professional with 7+ years of experience in CS and account management. She works with teams to improve processes and supports CS professionals as they grow in their careers. She is a co-founder of CS Insider, a website and newsletter that provides resources for CS professionals to help them level up in their careers. Follow her on LinkedIn for insights on leadership, customer success, customer experience, and emotional intelligence.

Anika Zubair, Founder & Consultant at APA Group

Recognized as one of the 25 Most Creative CS Leaders of 2023, Anika knows that customer success “is not a destination, it is a journey.” As an award-winning customer success leader with a growth mindset, Anika is passionate about scaling CS strategies and operations while investing in and developing people. She specializes in a wide range of customer success related tactics and is the host of The Customer Success Channel podcast. She provides leadership & customer success insights on LinkedIn.

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