Getting to Know Alteryx Chief Marketing Officer Keith Pearce

[LFinlayson]

Alteryx recently named Keith Pearce CMO, and I was lucky enough to grab 30 minutes with Keith in the days leading up to his start. I learned a bit about how he succeeded in roles within nearly every function of a marketing organization and what makes him excited about the market opportunity ahead at Alteryx. Read on to get to know a little about Keith.   

Question: What stood out to you about Alteryx that made you want to join the company?   

Keith Pearce: Three things made the stars align for me. The first is an excellent product endorsed by more than 300,000 users, as well as some good friends and mentors whom all validated that the product is amazing.   

The next point was looking at the company's performance on this journey to the cloud, especially considering the recent acquisitions of Hyper Anna, Lore IO, and Trifacta. Learning more about the value realization that a customer of Alteryx will get when we deliver our client-server capabilities as a service through the cloud got me excited.   

And finally, it was the leadership team that solidified my desire to join Alteryx. In conversations with Chief Executive Officer Mark Anderson, there was a great synergy in our beliefs that empowering workers to unleash the power of data by uncovering insights can be life-changing to the people in those jobs and those seeking to upskill for new jobs. Further, we share a passion for the role data and analytics can play in evoking positive societal changes.   

Additionally, at least a half dozen industry connections who have worked with Alteryx President and Chief Revenue Officer Paula Hansen, dating back to her days at Cisco, provided glowing recommendations about Paula's leadership. So, everything really came together with this opportunity, and I am excited to join the mission.  

Question A McKinsey report in 2021 indicated that the future of customer experience (CX) is getting easier with predictive analytics. Given your expertise in CX marketing, can you talk about ways in which you see the role of analytics evolving across CX and marketing in general?  

Keith Pearce: Over the past decade, we have seen an explosion of connected devices through the Internet of things (IoT). The abundance of data outputs from those devices can be mind-numbing and serve as a distraction for organizations across the enterprise, including marketing. On the flipside, Alteryx can help line of business users separate the signal from the noise to uncover meaningful insights to drive strategy.   

As a marketer, I am passionate about this intersection of using technology and data to provide customers with the best experience. I see endless analytics applications that benefit customers and have experienced first-hand where uncovering insights unleashes a competitive advantage in providing a personal experience.   

In CX, where I come from, the ability to unleash the power of our data was the competitive differentiation. We knew that this was the next thing we should offer you as a marketer. We knew that if you were getting service experience, you had done all these things in the past. We know that this kind of salesperson would be the best fit based on your personality. It is the combination of all these things that can enrich the experience for customers.  

Question: Your CV almost reads like a roadmap to CMO, having done many of the jobs across marketing. Was that always your goal? And can you offer any tips to those seeking to branch out in their careers?  

Keith Pearce: I fell in love with marketing nearly 30 years ago. I started in sales and learned early on that I prefer the balance of art and science required by marketing. I enjoy creating stories that resonate with customers and helping organizations communicate their purpose. However, my career progression was far more organic than saying I will go from A to B all the way to Z.   

I was fortunate to work in companies where if you demonstrated a strong work ethic and proven results and if you raised your hand to ask for other opportunities, you could get them. I don't think it was so much about having great bosses, which I did, or me being special in any way, though. It was just asking. Too often, people are afraid to ask because they are taught to think that "if I ask to do something else, my supervisor thinks I'm unhappy."  

While seeking out growth opportunities is essential, do not look too far down the road until you have mastered what you are doing. I tell the people that are just starting their careers that the number one thing they can do to stand out is to get good at something and become known as being good at that thing. Roll up your sleeves, don't shy away from challenging work, and never stop being curious about your role or growing your skillset.   

Once you have reached a level of mastery to the point where the person with the ambition and the supervisor are all on the same page, it is time to build off what you are doing to find what the next thing is that complements your skills and passions.   

Question: None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Are there particular mentors who helped you get to where you are?   

Keith Pearce: I hit the lottery with my parents, who instilled great foundational values in me. They taught me that the most important thing is how you treat people. We see a lot of LinkedIn posts about how you can tell the character of a person by how they treat service workers; my parents believed that and instilled these values in me from an early age. They were also passionate about leaving things better than you found them, which holds in so many areas of our lives.    

In terms of marketing, three people stand out. One of my first bosses, Mike Thompson, taught me the analytic side of marketing. Steve Chambers has held several CMO positions and was one of the most brilliant CMO's with whom I have been fortunate enough to work. Joyce Kim, my last CMO at Genesys, helped bring all of my experience together to focus on the marketing mix.  

Working with inspirational leaders like Mike, Steve and Joyce taught me how to apply the craft of marketing to technology and B2B while teaching me how to balance the key components, not getting too over-rotate on one element.   

Thanks to them, I have learned that there are no single acts of marketing or, as Joyce Kim preached, "marketing is a team sport." All groups within the organization need to be integrated so marketers can lead prospects through the sales funnel without being obnoxious. It is the notion of continual engagement and reinforcing the value that, for me, defines excellent marketing.  

Question: Speaking of team sports, we saw that you had spent some time coaching youth basketball. What do coaching sports and community involvement mean to you, and how does this translate to your professional life?  

Keith Pearce: I have always loved basketball, from competing to coaching. In fact, I coached High School basketball before I even had children. That is part of how I got involved in mentoring, which remains important to me to this day. 

Basketball allowed me to build relationships and have access to other communities where I heard their stories and saw some of the struggles my teammates faced. I came to understand more about their experiences and developed a passion for helping to close the gaps in their experiences and opportunities that I was privileged enough to have. 

In tech, unfortunately, people of color are an underrepresented population. As a result, my passion for coaching has evolved to professional mentoring. Currently, I mentor two young Black professionals, and I plan to continue doing so through the next phase of my career.   

Question: You mentioned having children. Are you willing to share a bit about your personal life?   

Keith Pearce: Absolutely, my wife is a career educator, a kindergarten teacher who brings sage advice into the household from her experiences, like the book "All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten." We have two boys, 18 and 20. My 18-year-old is a first-year student at the University of Arizona. My 20-year-old is pursuing a military career as an airman in Texas; this is somewhat of a military family tradition.  
 

Last Question: If you could pick anyone living or dead with whom to share a private dinner, who would it be and why?  

Keith Pearce: Teddy Roosevelt is a hero of mine on many levels, from being a prolific writer, his love of animals and his passion for the outdoors and preserving outdoor spaces. He had an innate ability to deliver a message with enthusiasm, and we have shared experiences in a lot of the areas that shaped me, including military experience and sports. So, I think he would be a fascinating person with whom to share a meal.  

A close second would be Abraham Lincoln, as it would be interesting to hear about the leadership challenges of reuniting a divided country. It would be a compelling dynamic to hear about from the source.