Rackspace - Woman of the Year

Company: Rackspace, San Antonio, TX
Entry Submitted By: INK Communications Co.
Company Description: Rackspace delivers modern IT as a service, helping customers in more than 150 countries drive business results with technology. Our comprehensive portfolio of managed services spans public, private and multi-cloud solutions, applications, data, and security.
Nomination Category: Management Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Woman of the Year - Business Services Industries

Nomination Title: Lisa McLin, Vice President of Channel Sales & Channel Chief, Rackspace

Tell the story about what this nominated woman has achieved since January 1 2018 (up to 650 words). Describe the impact she has had on your organization and/or industry. Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms.

Lisa Heritage McLin began her journey at Rackspace in 2002 as a Staff Accountant, and then transitioned into Account Management. After being recognized for strong business acumen and ability to build trust with a wide range of customers, Lisa was promoted to a Business Consultant role in 2004, where she assisted new and existing customers with their IT strategy.

After continuous delivery of strong results, Lisa was promoted to Team Lead and eventually named Director over multiple sales teams. In 2013, she led both Sales and Support for Rackspace’s Enterprise Organization. The following year, under the supervision of Rackspace’s Chief Revenue Officer, Lisa spearheaded a Sales Transformation overhaul for Rackspace’s U.S.-based operations that has enabled smoother customer engagement for Rackspace’s three business segments (Small and Medium-sized Business, Mid-Market and Enterprise).

Promoted to Vice President, Sales, Lisa led Rackspace’s Commercial Install Base with SMB and Mid-Market sales segment, which focuses on companies ranging from startups to companies that generate between 100 million and 1.5 billion in revenue annually.

Today, as Vice President of Channel Sales & Channel Chief, Lisa is responsible for strategy and execution of growing partner relationships and propelling organizational revenue, while serving as a visionary. Known for her ability in directly mastering the development of high-velocity sales organizations, Lisa focuses on repeatable sales process & methodologies, while owning accountability for profit-generating programs, and building alliance & partnership strategies across North America’s market segments. Lisa leads with her servant leader style, develops strong winning teams, and heavily invests in mentoring and advancing the careers of those around her.

In 2018, Lisa led Rackspace’s channel strategy of delivering a Fanatical Channel to the partner community, which included rolling out the first-ever strategic partner incentive program. She is focused on implementing this strategy to expand the company’s reach through and with strategic partnerships grounded in a programmatic approach, which promote market opportunity and differentiated solutions. The focus of this strategy is to be proactive with tools and systems, along with driving repeatable solution selling, to develop in-depth expertise around specific practice areas.

In the past year, Lisa has been key in leading Rackspace to build a Channel Program for the future of modern technology as a service. Selective accomplishments in this role include:

-Resetting the strategy to create a Partner-first focus on cloud enablement and expanding Rackspace’s Fanatical Experience throughout the Channel.

-Resetting the company’s go-to-market strategy, focusing on allowing all Partners to sell managed services their customers need as they go through their destination cloud journey to drive increased revenue for all. Through evolving Rackspace’s go-to-market Channel strategy, Lisa has led the Channel’s contribution to Rackspace new bookings by approximately 50%. The majority of the Channel business is considered new to Rackspace.

-Launching new tools to serve Partners, delivering a strong partnership with analytics and Business Intelligence.

With her deep expertise in strategic sales, service delivery and business management, Lisa is known for her ability to engage the C-suite, assess enterprise opportunities, and build cross-organizational strategies that drive customer satisfaction and revenue profitability. She is a champion of equity and fairness in the workplace. She ensures that diverse perspectives are sought and heard on her teams and works hard to call other leaders to that same standard.

Through involvement with the company’s inclusion and philanthropic activities, Lisa challenges the notion that work is focused on a singular set of roles and responsibilities, suggesting that getting involved with the culture and life of a company brings a richness, not only to the company, but also to the employee. Lisa advocates for those growing in their careers, regularly spending time mentoring upcoming leaders to positions of greatness.

Lisa serves on the Board of Directors for Texas Conference for Women and serves on the Board for the Rackspace Foundation. She also serves as Executive Chair for Professional Organization for Women Empowerment at Rackspace (POWER), the largest resource group at Rackspace.

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) of the chief accomplishments of this nominated woman since the beginning of 2018.

-As Rackspace evolved its positioning and market strategy in 2018, Lisa was integral in building Rackspace’s new Partner Program for the future of modern technology as a service.
-She reset the strategy to create a Partner-first focus on cloud enablement and expanded Rackspace’s Fanatical Experience throughout the Channel ecosystem.
-Evolved Rackspace’s go-to-market Channel strategy and led the Channel’s contribution to Rackspace new bookings by approximately 50%.
-Under Lisa’s leadership, Rackspace’s Channel business launched new tools to serve Partners, including the Rackspace Partner Cloud Guide which is focused on enabling the next-generation of solution sellers.
-Lisa was recognized as one of the 50 Most Influential Channel Chiefs of 2018.
-She was honored by CRN 2018 Women in the Channel and awarded Channel Partners Circle of Excellence for her executive vision, innovation and advocacy of the indirect channel.
-LATINA Style named Lisa as 2018 Top 12 Corporate LATINA Executives of the Year.