Melissa Risteff

Experience

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  GE

  Jan 1994 - Jan 2000

  Led business process engineering and change management initiatives resulting in operational efficiencies of $5M. Mentored Chief Information Officer (CIO) and 120-person Information Technology (IT) team through Six Sigma Green Belt certification. Led software development initiative to design and build a proprietary, enterprise sales force and marketing automation suite. Developed and executed marketing campaigns for two-tiered distribution channel of value-added resellers and technology vendor partners.

  • Information Technology Black Belt, Six Sigma Quality

    Jan 1999 - Jan 2000

  • Group Manager, Database Marketing

    Jan 1994 - Jan 1999
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  Sun Microsystems

  Jan 2000 - Jan 2006

  Led R&D team focused on accelerating time to market of IT enterprise systems management SaaS offerings. Developed innovation management and business performance mechanisms for $100M R&D investment portfolio. Led the acquisition integration of StorageTek's remote servicing, online support, managed services and utility service offerings. Led product management and software engineering teams to deliver an enterprise collaboration and business intelligence system that reduced service delivery costs by $59M per year. Developed international mentoring program in partnership with the Scottish Enterprise, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Glasgow to cultivate talent in Advanced Computer Information Systems.

  • Director, Strategic Planning & Business Intelligence

    Jan 2004 - Jan 2006

  • Senior Software Engineering Manager

    Jan 2000 - Jan 2004
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  Jones Knowledge

  Feb 2007 - Mar 2008

  VP, Strategy & Product

  Led business planning, market intelligence, and product management across corporate training and certification, K-12, and higher education product lines. Developed business plans and channel strategies that achieved 25% growth in year-over-year portfolio revenues.

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  Lyzasoft, Inc.

  May 2008 - Sept 2009

  Chief Marketing Officer

  Led global marketing, business development, and customer support for an emerging B2B collaborative analytics product suite. Named Gartner 2009 “Cool Vendor in Business Intelligence (BI)” 6 months post new product introduction. Signed VMWare as the inaugural enterprise client.

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  NEWSGATOR TECHNOLOGIES, INC

  Feb 2010 - Jan 2014

  Conceived and launched human capital management (HCM) technology solutions and built $5M pipeline for new product introduction in 9 months. Developed proprietary consulting practice, certified 120 implementation services partners globally, and led professional services organization. Owned acquisition integration of two international mergers. Drove strategic alliances initiative; awarded Microsoft US Partner of the Year 2011. Drove the marketing engine that achieved 8x revenue growth over a 3-year period. Named a Leader in the Forrester Wave for Enterprise Social Platforms from 2011-2014.

  • SVP, Enterprise Engagement - Product Management | Professional Services | Corporate Development

    Jan 2012 - Jan 2014

  • Senior Vice President, Global Marketing & Strategic Alliances

    Feb 2010 - Jan 2012
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  Placeable

  Jan 2014 - Dec 2014

  VP Marketing

  Built the team and marketing engine from the ground up for a geomarketing SaaS platform startup. Launched research series to provide framework for customer education and planning, sales enablement and outbound prospecting, and content marketing.

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  Couragion Corporation

  Jan 2015 - Jun 2021

  Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder

  Designed and developed an education technology software as a service (SaaS) product suite proven to boost the pursuit of STEM education-to-career pathways. Served as the National Science Foundation Principal Investigator (PI) from 2016 thru 2020 to improve the awareness and perception of STEM careers in order to broaden participation in these critical fields. Developed workforce analytics solution to help education and business understand how to best cultivate a skilled pipeline and to improve talent recruitment and career readiness programs. Show less

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  National Science Foundation (NSF)

  Jan 2017 - Jan 2023

  Panel Reviewer

  The NSF supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. All proposals are reviewed under the NSF merit review criteria - including the intellectual merit of the research, its potential broader impact on society, and the commercial potential of the project.

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  Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

  Jan 2018 - Jan 2020

  Advisory Council Member - Equitable Futures

  The Equitable Futures initiative builds stronger connections and alignment between industry and education to improve labor market outcomes and promote paths to upward mobility and economic opportunity for Black, Latino, and low-income young people. http://equitablefutures.org/

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  MindSpark

  Apr 2021 - May 2024

  Chief Strategy Officer (CSO)

  Lead strategy, product, marketing, and technology teams across learning and development product portfolio. Driving the product vision, design, development, management, and product led growth strategy for SaaS platforms. Creating learning paths for Responsible Artificial Intelligence and Applied Artificial Intelligence certifications and professional learning experiences.