Chief Customer Officer Joins SOCi to Drive Customer Growth with CoMarketing Cloud

Mar 11, 2024

Former Gong CCO and Blackbaud VP of Global Customer Success, Ben Brownlee, brings 25 years of expertise to SOCi team, driving vision for digital marketing excellence

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SAN DIEGO — SOCi Inc., the leading CoMarketing Cloud for multi-location enterprises, announced Ben Brownlee as Chief Customer Officer. Brownlee’s appointment comes at a pivotal time for SOCi as it continues to bolster its leadership team and build momentum in the market as a leader in digital marketing and customer success.

Brownlee brings 25 years of experience in working in post-sale functions, with a heavy focus on revenue-generating support and services, account expansion, and customer retention disciplines. He previously served as the Chief Customer Officer at Gong, overseeing the customer journey from point of sale, including monetization of services, renewal, and expansion accountabilities. Prior to Gong, Ben worked nearly two decades at Blackbaud—holding various leadership roles, including Vice President of Global Customer Success—as they scaled from a private $100M company to a $1B+ ARR publicly-traded global organization.

“Ben’s appointment to SOCi’s award-winning success team underscores our commitment to invest in our customers’ success, and to deliver an exceptional experience that matches the power of the CoMarketing Cloud platform,” said Afif Khoury, CEO of SOCi. “With Ben’s expertise and strategic guidance, we will build upon the outsized value we provide to our clients while driving tangible results, solidifying SOCi’s position as a trailblazer in digital marketing automation.”

In his role at SOCi, Brownlee will help build a strong connective tissue between product development, marketing efforts, and customer engagement. This approach is aimed at helping customers navigate their journey with SOCi in a clear and timely manner to ensure they get the most out of the company’s platform and services, while also keeping them informed about what’s coming next.

“I was immediately drawn to SOCi’s unparalleled CoMarketing Cloud, exceptional team, and forward-thinking product strategy. The company’s commitment to simplifying tech stacks and its innovative approach to customer success truly sets it apart in the industry,” said Brownlee. “The knowledge our team holds is just as powerful as our platform. Marry that with the immense amount of data and insights we carry, and we’re in a perfect position to drive key results for our customers and build on the growth the company is experiencing.”

In the last seven months, SOCi has driven momentum in the digital marketing automation market and has assembled a leadership team of experts from tech giants across the industry. These include Ed Calnan, Co-founder of Seismic Software, as President and Chief Revenue Officer; Falk Gottlob, who held leadership positions at Microsoft, Salesforce, and Adobe, as Chief Product Officer; Adam Rochkind from Salesforce as VP of Customer Success; and Jennifer Gause from Upland Software as SVP of Revenue Operations.

Brownlee’s appointment also follows SOCi’s recent accolades from G2’s Annual Software Awards, which include the company’s #5 ranking for Best Marketing and Digital Advertising Products and top 10 ranking for Highest Satisfaction Products based on customer satisfaction ratings.

To learn more about how SOCi empowers multi-location enterprises to leverage AI, drive efficiency, automate workflows, and maximize ROI, visit www.meetsoci.com/genius.

View the full press release here.


Executive Search Partnership: SOCi

ON Partners partner Jake Espenlaub and Danny Bolger is proud to have partnered with SOCi on this Chief Customer Officer search. Learn more about ON Partners by downloading our recent Variance Report, which explores four executive hiring trends of 2023, and our Talent Intelligence Report, where we open up on our data innovation and research, offering a fresh perspective on executive hiring.

SOCi is the leading CoMarketing Cloud Platform for multi-location enterprises. We empower businesses like Ace Hardware, Jersey Mike’s, Kumon, and Ford to automate and scale their marketing efforts across all locations and digital channels in a way that is brand directed, locally perfected, and data connected. Through the use of best-in-class generative AI and machine learning, the SOCi’s Genius layer of the platform provides multi-location enterprises actionable insights and recommendations while automating their most important workflows at scale. With SOCi, businesses can strengthen their digital presence across local search and social pages while protecting their online reputation, driving improved customer engagement and market leading results. To learn more about how SOCi can help fuel your localized marketing success, please visit us at www.meetsoci.com or message us at hello@meetsoci.com.

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