Back in what she calls her "nerdy ops days" at an agency, was implementing CRMs and configuring Dynamics with marketing automation tools, long before she was leading go-to-market teams. This year she makes her Dynamics community speaking debut as the keynote speaker for the at Community Summit in Nashville on Monday, October 12.
Angela is the Senior Vice President of Marketing at , where she leads global go-to-market strategy, drawing on more than two decades of experience leading revenue teams at tech startups and working with enterprise organizations. Her keynote is called The Most Valuable Skill in the Age of AI, but anyone expecting another talk about tools and prompts is in for a surprise. Her focus is on the judgment and confidence people bring to AI, and on why the human side of the work still matters so much (she even has a story about arguing with Alexa while holding a sleeping baby).
I talked with Angela about her keynote, the mentorship session she's sharing with , and why she's flying her daughter and granddaughter to Nashville for the event.
Here's our conversation.
Anya: Tell me about your keynote - "The Most Valuable Skill in the Age of AI". What is it really about?
Angela: It sounds like a lot of jargon at first, right? But what we're really getting at is the human aspect of AI. People talk a lot about human in the loop and the need for really strong prompting, but as we all get more comfortable using AI day to day, I think it's important to remember that some things aren't replaceable, and some things are best served by the humans behind the robots.
Here's a very tactical example. I lead marketing at Map My Customers, and our whole team is now equipped to manage our website. That used to be an entire team of developers and people who could code. So there's this new empowerment in our work, which is great, except that you also have a lot of people who may or may not have the skills behind that work. You have to take the time to understand what they need to do it well, or you can end up spending more time iterating with AI than it would have taken to just do it the traditional way.
Fun fact, in my last house all of our light switches were automated, so you had to talk to a robot to turn the lights on and off. I remember arguing with Alexa in the living room, holding a baby and whispering, trying to get the light to come on without waking her up.
So AI can be helpful, certainly, but it can also get in our way if we're not careful and we overdo it. In the keynote we'll explore how to use it in a way that amplifies our skills and creativity while keeping the human expertise and decision-making that makes it actually more efficient and effective.
Anya: There are going to be a LOT of AI sessions at Summit this year. Why should someone choose yours?
Angela: It goes back to the idea that AI is only as effective as the humans behind it. I sit in on a lot of those talks too, and I'll probably sit in on many at Summit. But most of them focus on the output we get from AI, or on which AI to use and comparing this one versus that one. I'm going a little deeper. Let's make sure AI is the appropriate solution for what we're trying to do and that it isn't better served by a human in that moment. And then let's use our human expertise and skill to get the best output from whatever AI we're using.
Anya: If the audience walks away remembering just a couple of things, what do you hope they are?
Angela: There are two core parts. We talk a lot about human versus machine, or human in the loop, and I think it's really important that we start talking about human with machine. It's a collaboration, and if you think about it that way, the way you use AI will fundamentally change.
The other part is that it's about amplifying strengths, not replacing them. What do you do best that only you can do? That isn't even an AI concept. That's how we should be building teams and building our own professional expertise anyway. AI just becomes another tool to add efficiency and augment the things we maybe aren't the fastest at. AI can evaluate my budget much faster than I ever could, and that gives me more time to be strategic and creative in the things only I can do.
Anya: What made you want to present this talk at Community Summit?
Angela: I'm big on the people behind the work, even outside of conversations about AI. A lot of what I write and talk about is the culture behind the KPIs. I was in marketing back when it was very creative and brand focused and we were considered a cost center, and I've been here for the entire journey of it becoming exactly the opposite. In one of my roles I owned 90% of pipeline creation, so I'm very comfortable with the accountability that comes with leading go-to-market now.
But I think there's a myth about how much the humans on those teams matter to hitting the numbers. We get so caught up in measuring performance and progress and campaigns, when it's really trust, clarity and communication that are the real accelerators behind whether you hit those numbers or not. Without them you're climbing a steep hill the entire time. You can do it, but you're going to be exhausted and probably burned out when you get to the top.
Angela: In any group where you're a minority, whether that's being a woman in tech or, in my case, also being a lesbian in technology, I often stand in rooms representing several small groups alone. That makes it even more important to find your voice and speak up, and it can be more intimidating in those moments. I've been the only woman in a boardroom many, many times, and over 20 years I've had to learn to trust myself and speak up when I may not have another ally in the room.
So part of what I'll talk about is finding that confidence. Find an ally in the room and say, "Hey, I want to speak up more, can you encourage me?" Lean into your mentors and ask how to make sure your voice is heard, so you're not just a quiet participant or token representation in the room.
Anya: You're also part of the mentorship segment at Women in Tech. Tell me about that.
Angela: I'll be joined on stage by Illianna Acosta, who formerly led partnerships at LinkedIn. Summit is running a mentorship program as part of Women in Tech, and we want to encourage people to connect at the event and keep that mentorship going afterward.
I would not be the leader I am without my mentors. I'm sure that sounds trite, but it is very, very true. I mentor a lot of young women on the side, both formally and informally, and Illianna does the same. She and I are peer mentors, which is something people don't always think about. When you think mentorship, you think of someone who has gone before you, and I have those people too. But it's equally valuable to have someone with a slightly different skill set who is doing what you're doing. Illianna has a depth of partnership experience I don't have, so I'll call her and say, "What would you do in this situation?" and we'll just riff. My go-to-market and brand side is deeper than hers, so she'll come to me. We're in it together, arms linked.
Anya: You're a new name to a lot of us in the Dynamics channel. Is Dynamics new to you too?
Angela: I haven't spoken in the Dynamics communities before, so yes, my voice will be new. But I'm not new to Microsoft Dynamics by any means. In my agency era, we'll call it, I was implementing many different CRMs and configuring Dynamics with various marketing automation tools. So back in my nerdy ops days I worked with Dynamics a lot, just not as a speaker.
Anya: Your keynote isn't a product pitch, but I'd love to hear how this human-first idea shows up at Map My Customers.
Angela: AI is baked into how we build our product at . If you survey salespeople today, many of them are sitting behind a desk, working from home and selling through digital channels. Field sales is one of the few places that's still human to human. Those reps are in their cars, driving from business to business, and our primary goal is to let them spend more time doing the thing only they can do, which is show up, shake hands and build relationships. Everything else we try to make more efficient, so they can deposit minutes in a bank and spend them on the human side.
That means getting briefed for the appointment on the way there, capturing notes after the meeting, getting the orders and next steps in, and then getting ready for the next thing. And life happens, so we build in the what-ifs. Our founder, Matt, talks about "star salespeople," the ones who zigzag across a city in the shape of a star instead of following an efficient route. If you have a 2 o'clock on Thursday you can't move, you can build the rest of your day around that anchor appointment.
And if that 2 o'clock cancels, we just finished a case study with Sanders Supply where a rep found a $250,000 opportunity because of a cancellation. That's the dream moment for a field sales leader. You think you've lost revenue, and instead Lead Finder, which is built into our platform, helped him find something he wouldn't have found otherwise. It's not the robot doing sales. It's enabling the rep to be the star player in that moment.
Anya: Is there anything you're especially looking forward to at this year's event?
Angela: My daughter and granddaughter are coming to Women in Tech. My daughter will be 32 this year, and my granddaughter turns 3 in January. I'm a big believer in women supporting women. My mom has been part of , a women's higher education organization, for decades, and her mom was involved as well, both in the Santa Monica, California chapter. P.E.O. even has its own college, Cottey College, so women supporting women is built into my DNA. It's meaningful enough to me that I'm flying my daughter and granddaughter into Nashville, because I think it's so important for them to see a community of women coming together to build each other up.
(And yes, Olivia gets to see “Nonna” on stage.)
How to catch Angela at Community Summit
- The runs Monday, October 12 from 1:00 to 4:00pm in the Volunteer D Ballroom, with Angela's keynote kicking things off at 1:00pm. Angela will also hold one-on-one meetings after the keynote.
- She's back at 2:30pm with Illianna Acosta for Make the Connection: Mentorship in Tech, where you can also sign up for the Women in Tech Mentorship directory.
- Angela is also hosting a roundtable on Tuesday October 13, and I'm told it features a fun format that gives everyone a voice (they wouldn't tell me what, so I guess we'll all find out together).
Women in Tech is open to everyone registered for Community Summit, so if you haven't signed up yet, you can . Use code ERPBLOG15 to get 15% off.
There's no extra registration for Women in Tech itself. Just add the sessions to your Session Planner, and since seating is first come, first served, I'd get there a little early.
I'll be there for the whole afternoon, and I hope to see you there too.
By Anya Ciecierski, CRM Software Blog
