Wendy Lea is an accomplished business leader with 25 years of experience driving strategic sales and marketing methods that effectively connect brands to their customers. An expert in complex distribution systems, Wendy has served in a variety of roles including CEO, corporate executive, angel investor, strategic advisor and board member to dozens of innovative start-ups and public companies.
Wendy’s career has made a recognizable impact on the sales and marketing field and developed her expertise in go-to-market strategy, demand creation, sales effectiveness and partner strategy. In 1999, Wendy established Siebel Systems’ eBusiness Consulting business unit which she joined after the company’s acquisition of OnTarget, where she served as VP of Marketing and Alliances. Prior to that, Wendy co-founded The Sales Consultancy (TSC) in the U.S., where she developed two innovative sales methodologies: CHAMP (Channels and Alliance Management Process) and TMP (Territory Management and Planning) adopted as global standards by IBM Software, Hewlett Packard, Cisco, Microsoft, and Oracle.
In 2001, Wendy founded The Chatham Group, where she served as an angel investor, board member and strategic advisor for startup companies including UStream, Eventvue, Metallect, and Aegis Analytics. In February 2009, Wendy joined San Francisco-based Get Satisfaction as CEO. At Get Satisfaction, Wendy is focused on applying her expertise to drive the convergence of social media and customer service through the deployment of Web 2.0 technologies that bring brands closer than ever to their customers.
Women 2.0 Interviews Wendy — April 2009
Wendy spoke with Women 2.0 and shares her advice about when to admit that you don't understand, raising capital, and how female leaders can authentically manage effectively. You can watch the video at YouTube, Facebook or at Women2.org.
Destination CRM Blog Interviews Wendy — February 26, 2009
CRM Magazine’s Lauren McKay interviews Wendy just two weeks into her new role as CEO at Get Satisfaction — “A CEO Who Gets It”
SEASONED SALES AND MARKETING EXECUTIVE WENDY LEA JOINS GET SATISFACTION AS CEO
February 17, 2009 - San Francisco, CA, Today Get Satisfaction announced Wendy Lea will join the company as CEO. Wendy’s experience ranges from entrepreneur to fortune 500 senior executive to active angel investor, board member and strategic advisor.
"Wendy joining Get Satisfaction as CEO is a huge milestone for us," says founder and former CEO Thor Muller. "Her enterprise software sales and business background, combined with her online savvy and deep Silicon Valley relationships, make her the right person at the right time in the development of Get Satisfaction. Wendy is the person who is going to take our success to the next level.” (Read Get Satisfaction’s Press Release)
Corporate Visions Launches Executive Advisory Board as Part of Growth Strategy
Incline Village, NV — February 6, 2009 — Corporate Visions Inc. announced today that it has created an Executive Advisory Board to infuse the company with additional, outside business strategy, experience and expertise as part of an aggressive growth plan. The company also recently created a Customer Advisory Board, the Marketing and Sales Messaging Alignment Agenda, consisting of 10 world-class company executives.
The first two members of the Executive Advisory Board are Wendy Lea, who brings domain expertise in the Marketing and Sales effectiveness category and Peggy Taylor, who brings strategic corporate planning and business development-related experience.
Summary
An accomplished leader and passionate innovator, Wendy Lea has over 25 years of experience in the sales and marketing industry. An expert in multi-channel strategy, Wendy has served as a CEO, corporate executive, angel investor, strategic advisor and board member to dozens of innovative start-ups and public companies.
CEO of Get Satisfaction
2009- Present
As CEO of Get Satisfaction, Wendy is using her expertise to drive the convergence of social media and customer service through the deployment of Web 2.0 technologies that bring brands closer than ever to their customers.
Principal at The Chatham Group
2002 - 2009
As Principal of The Chatham Group, provided consulting, angel investments and board to dozens of venture-backed technology start-ups and selected public companies.
VP of eBusiness Consulting at Siebel Systems
2000 - 2002
As Vice President of eBusiness Consulting unit, established and drove successful consultancy giving Siebel’s global customers insight and education on implementing multi- channel strategies.
Co-Founder, The Sales Consultancy (merged with OnTarget, acquired by Siebel Systems
1992-1999
Co-founded The Sales Consultancy, serving Fortune 500 technology, telecommunications and services brands with highly targeted sales marketing processes.
Successfully drove merger with OnTarget, which was acquired by Siebel Systems for $250M in December 1999.
VP of Sales and Marketing, Acclivus Corporation
As VP of Sales and Marketing, drove sales and training services company from $500,000 to $8M in revenue. Key clients included high tech brands Dell, Hewlett Packard, IBM, and Federal Express.
Education
- University of Mississippi (1975), cum laude in Business Administration, Marketing major
- Stanford University, Graduate School of Business Stanford Directors’ Forum (September 2007)
Through her work as Principal of the Chatham Group, Wendy has been actively involved on the Boards of a wide range of start-ups, including:
Board of Directors
- Aegis Analytics
- Eventvue — Chairman of the Board
- Metallect
Board of Advisors
- Ustream TV — the live interactive video broadcast platform that enables anyone with a camera and Internet connection to quickly and easily broadcast to a global audience of unlimited size.
- Eventvue — helps attendees network, find their next business partner, customer, or employee before attending a conference.
- Medioh! — a video search engine powered by RSS video aggregation.
- Iggli —provides invite services to the sports and entertainment ticketing industry that leverages friend to friend communication to promote events and increase numbers of tickets sold.
- About Records — focus on the discovery and development of great performers and great songs.
- Morgan Creek Ventures — focuses on urban property development in forward thinking markets like Boulder and San Francisco.
- Green River Holdings LLC — co-owner of 80 residential apartment units in Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex.