Becoming Outcome Oriented: Scott Neuman Joins Calix to Lead Corporate Marketing

Earlier this month, Scott Neuman joined the Calix team as vice president of corporate marketing. In his new role, Scott will lead the Calix external communication channels, digital strategy as well as content development and thought leadership. A veteran marketer, Scott brings a wealth of experience to Calix across a wide variety of markets, services, and industries. Learn more about Scott in my recent conversation with him.

Matt: Welcome to Calix, Scott! Tell me a little about yourself and your background before joining us.

Scott: I have been a career marketer for 25 years. I initially started in advertising in San Francisco, which is where I got the high-tech bug. I was drawn to high-tech marketing because of the inherent creativity in constructing the “art of the possible” as well as it’s rate and pace. So, I went back to business school to focus on that. And in 1999, I joined IBM and spent 18 years there, all in marketing. There, I developed go-to-market strategies for consulting services, learning how to market skills instead of products for many industries, including financial, consumer, and telecommunications.

I then spent several years shifting to software solutions in the collaboration space. In this role, my team took Lotus brand and related products and evolved them to create a whole new market called “Social Business," applying social networking and collaboration tools to the enterprise.

In my last two roles in IBM, I took on an international assignment. First as the CMO for Central and Eastern Europe. I was based in Prague and led a marketing team spanning 29 countries. In this role, I gained a unique perspective on how marketing can be effectively executed across various cultures and languages with a unified strategy.

Over the last two years, I jumped into a start-up within IBM to lead the go-to-market strategy for the Watson Internet of Things (IoT) business, where we took artificial intelligence and applied it to the business end of IoT, focused on growth markets like automotive, electronics, manufacturing, energy & utilities, and buildings.

Matt: Why did you join Calix?

Scott: It was for two main reasons. First, the leadership team I was meeting in the interview process are all rock stars in their own rights. Each of them has done incredibly impressive things throughout their careers and could have leadership roles anywhere, yet they have chosen to be at Calix. That spoke volumes. There is true excitement around how Calix is positioning itself in the market.

And secondly, for someone who had spent 18 years at one company, albeit different business units, there are some drawbacks to working in a very large company. You never truly get to own something outright. So, my challenge is to take what I have learned and apply it in a place where the leadership team can own creating the vision for the brand. There are so many things we can try and the speed at which we can do it is going to be a lot faster. And that part of the challenge really excites me.

Matt: What are you most looking forward to in this new role?

Scott: I am excited to take my IoT and analytics experience to the next mile, or in this case, the last mile into the network and the connected home. There is some synergy there from my last role at IBM.

And, as amazing as the new portfolio is with EXOS, AXOS, and Calix Cloud, it is easy for marketing to become enamored with what we can provide to our customers. So, we need to be sure the story we tell is outcome oriented. For example, it’s not just that we have the Calix Marketing Cloud, it’s about what our customers can achieve with it.

Marketing’s role is to be the voice of the customer. We must always have the questions in our minds: “Why would the customer care and what is the value to them?” If we are not representing that voice, then we aren’t doing our jobs.

Matt: Tell us something about yourself that we don’t know

Scott: If you aren’t meeting me on Zoom or at a customer event, and it’s the winter, the chances are I am out with my dog or with my kids cross country skiing. It is one of the reasons why I live in Vermont.

I enjoy Alpine Skiing too, and I am an avid telemark skier. But, being close to Dartmouth College in the Upper Valley, there are trails everywhere. It is so easy to throw lunch in your backpack and head out on a gorgeous day. If the calendar allows for it, I can escape for an hour, and be back for my next meeting, invigorated.

Matt: We are thrilled to have Scott join our marketing team and look forward to the impact he will make on our marketing programs.