RUSSELL PALMER

CEO

As co- founder of Grow and head of Go-To-Market professional services Russell not only oversees the company’s direction, strategy and performance but also the development and roll out of Grow’s GTM services for the Cloud.

His twenty year career has spanned medium to large technology providers in several industry sectors, with the last ten years in the telecommunications industry.  He joined Grow from Microsoft, where he served as Industry Marketing Development Director responsible for the European roll out of Unified Communication services in partnership with major Mobile Operators.

Russell has also managed other positions within Microsoft and prior to that at IBM and has significant international experience in Europe, the US, South Africa and Asia.

Russell is an expert in dealing with the ambiguity and uncertainty that comes with introducing new ideas into his clients’ businesses.  Whether it is strategies for growth, new products and services, strategic alliances or sales and go-to-market approaches and methods, his consultative and collaborative approach simplifies tasks and provides clarity for progress.

With a strong corporate sales career and deep communications industry knowledge, he is able to navigate large corporate organisations and take a business led approach allowing him to operate at senior executive levels to address;

• Go to Market Programmes.

•Strategic Alliances.

• Incubation and Specialist Sales.

• Sales Force Transformation.

He graduated B.Eng. Electrical and Electronic Engineering from University of Northumbria in 1990 

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Founder Director

Chris is responsible for overseeing the company’s sales, marketing and customer care activities. He manages Grow’s Enterprise and SME business and looks after general operations.

Chris has spent the last 18 years in the IT and Telecoms sectors gaining international experience in senior sales and marketing roles. He has managed teams in the US, UK and Denmark and has extensive experience managing operations in European markets. Most recently Chris was at Vodafone Group responsible for Go-To-Market strategy and roll out of the company’s Unified Communications proposition into several markets. Chris has also held leadership positions at IBM, Anite and WPP.
 
Chris specialises in translating business goals into solid, effective plans. With a collaborative approach and focus on concise communications, he is able to bring clarity across different disciplines and levels within the sales and marketing teams that improve overall results and, vitally, instil willing ownership of targets and goals.

Using his sales and marketing experiences allows Chris to understand and execute the entire sales process, from the generation of awareness and recognition for produces and brands through to establishing preference above the competition or alternative solutions that inevitably exist.
 
Chris also leverages his excellent people skills to engage effectively at all levels of the organisation helping ideas and directorship to be effectively communicated.  Key practise areas include:

• Go To Market

• Sales process and management

• Sales & Marketing planning

• Business expansion

Chris studied Business Studies and International Marketing at the University of Greenwich