The finalists for WashingtonExec’s Chief Officer Awards were announced March 25, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place live, in-person on May 11 at the The Ritz-Carlton in McLean, Virginia.
Next is Chief Operating Officer (Private and Public Company) finalist Russel Craig, who’s senior vice president and COO for global public sector at Salesforce. Here, he talks recent key achievements, taking professional risks, career advice and more.
What key achievements did you have in 2021/2022?
Salesforce made the strategic decision in 2019 to create a global public sector business unit. We had been successful in North America, and they wanted to use the expertise we had built working with governments in the U.S. and Canada to digitally transform their missions. With the onset of the pandemic in 2021, the challenge for me and my operations team was to support the global expansion of our public sector expertise and enable our sales teams to meet the demands of our government customers. These efforts enabled them to address a global crisis that only governments can. Salesforce doubled our personnel over 2021/2022. My team worked hard to onboard, train and support that global initiative. We are still trying to catch our breath!
What has made you successful in your current role?
Diversity of experience, by that, I mean the opportunity I had to work cross-functionally with different departments. Early in my career, I was a mergers and acquisitions analyst, creating financial models to value potential acquisitions. The due diligence process provided me with exposure to the inter workings of different organizations. Working the integration of two corporate entities enabled me to view the different business processes that companies utilized and provided insight to areas of the business that were different than finance. Areas like marketing, sales, IT, engineering, real estate, marketing and others. I have remained interested in working and collaborating cross-functionally ever since.
What are you most proud of having been a part of in your current organization?
COVID was a shock to the world, something that had not been seen in 100 years. Only governments have the breadth to address such a global issue. Salesforce worked with government health departments and ministries to adapt our products and services to aid in contact tracing, vaccine management and other human services.
This required us to adapt top to bottom. We had to quickly change not only our products, but our pricing, contracts, policies and procedures to aid in the mission that governments were undertaking. It was very rewarding to have been even a small part of the global response to the pandemic.
What’s the biggest professional risk you’ve ever taken?
I spent the first 10 or so years of my career in the telecom industry. That was during the initial rollout of wireless, it was a very exciting time. With the velocity of that industry at that time, I moved my family several times, from New Jersey to Arizona to Chicago to Maryland. It was very difficult on my family, especially when my children reached school age.
I was living in Maryland, and I was asked to relocate again. I had to say no and that meant leaving the company where I was working. Since I was near D.C., I decided I needed to learn the public sector and federal government industry if I wanted to raise my family here. So, at the mid-point in my career, I changed roles and industries. I was lucky to get an opportunity with the federal division of a technology company and I have been in this sector for the last 20+ years.
What’s your best career advice for those who want to follow in your footsteps?
Whatever the situation or role you are in always ask, “how can I help?” I have been surprised throughout my career on how few people really want to help. I describe my role at Salesforce Public Sector as chief problem solver. It’s difficult, and I’m not 100% successful, but I have always found leaders and peers appreciative of someone willing to commit and help.