Meet Matthew Lorenz, Nuxeo’s Vice President of Global Sales Operations. He is the man working relentlessly behind the scenes to enable our Sales team.
Here’s his story.
Q: What is your favorite thing about working at Nuxeo.
My favorite thing about working at Nuxeo is that I know when I start each day I am going to be working with extremely talented, dedicated, and affable colleagues all around the world. I get fired up to come to work. And to be able to do that here really is a privilege; it is at the heart of why I joined Nuxeo. I am surrounded by a great group of people who bring out the best in me, who help me grow professionally and personally, and whom I get the pleasure of helping every day.
Q: Tell us a little about yourself.
It is a poorly kept secret that I like to push myself as hard as I can to get the best possible outcomes. This is true at the office and at home. My wife jokes that I only came wired with two settings: 150% and 0% - no dimmer switch. She knows me better than anyone, and I’m fortunate to have such a wonderful and patient spouse.
When I was in my very early twenties, my late father gave me what I now know to have been the best piece of career advice ever: “Go to work for a small company, you’ll learn how to do everything.” He knew me well, and he was right. Nuxeo is no longer a small company, but we operate with the same drive and passion as a small company. I look back now and know that my father’s words were the seed of what has turned into an incredibly fulfilling career.
Throughout my life I’ve never veered from the path of trying to learn as much possible, and I have always taken great pride and placed great value in being the colleague and partner who will put it all out there and give as much as I can give. For the doubters, just watch me on the tennis court. I think I’m the type of player who always believes that no matter how far away I am from the tennis ball, I can get to it. Thank goodness I play on clay courts because if I played on hard courts I’d have so many injuries I wouldn’t be able to come to work!
Q: As the VP of Global Sales Operations, what does your role entail?
Broadly speaking, my role is to enable the Sales team. It entails serving a diverse group of people (including the Sales Executives, the Solutions Engineering Team, the Professional Services Team, and the Customer Success Team) and figuring out how to get this group what they need when they need it - and that’s uniquely challenging. It means providing the tools, information, and effort to move the sales processes forward. Today we spend most of our time working with Sales Executives to provide our prospective and current customers with the best information on our product and service offerings, and paving the way for a smooth deal process. My role also includes territory management, lead assignment, product pricing, contracting, sales systems and processes, and reporting and analytics.
Q: With Nuxeo scaling at such a rapid pace, how do you handle the many challenges that come across your desk?
It can certainly be daunting, but let’s face it – it’s a wonderful circumstance to find oneself in, and a lot of fun.
I try to remind myself of three things:
- That I am not an expert in everything. The risk is that the minute we start believing we’re experts, we’ll underestimate the challenge and find ourselves in trouble. I have been absolutely thrilled with the accessibility of information at Nuxeo, the willingness of all my colleagues to help, and the executive commitment to bringing in the most talented resources available. - To work towards better prioritization and communication. I do this every day because I know that it is not in my nature to say “No”. I like to be accommodating, but that also comes with risks. This is the toughest part of my job. - How fortunate I am to be surrounded by so many great people. I believe that a big part of meeting the challenge of scaling up is cultivating a collegial environment and understanding how we can work better together every day.
Q: You worked as a consultant for many years prior to joining Nuxeo. How has that experience influenced your role here?
I worked in consulting from 2001 to 2015 at a company called the Exeter Group. It was a very formative time for me. Exeter specialized in IT strategy and advisory, as well as implementation assistance. About four years into my career, I started focusing on what I call “distressed project recovery”. These projects were in a bad state, and our customers hired us to turn things around. Each was different and had a unique and diverse set of issues. That experience has helped to prepare me for anything, and is what has given me the confidence and capability to really make an impact and persevere.
A little anecdote from my past that has really shaped who I am today: In 2009 we were engaged by a large, well-known organization to help develop the strategy and approach for re-launching and successfully completing the transformation of their most essential mission critical systems. Previous efforts had not gone well, and this was going to be the last shot. A disruption to operations could mean the difference between life and death. We arrived on site in Washington DC on January 21, the day after the inauguration. Four years later we completed the first of 16 nation-wide deployments. It took an implementation team of over 600 people, and the contributions of nearly 10,000 employees. On that day, after four years of tireless effort and of building relationships that will last a lifetime, I could do little else but to reflect in private under my desk on what we had achieved. It was very emotional. I think about that moment every day and I think about how, at Nuxeo, we are on such a similar journey to achieve so much and to share that kind of experience with each other.
Q: What do you like to do in your free time?
I have spent most of my working life traveling for business. So, when I am home and free, I try to spend as much time as possible with my family. My wife and I have two daughters and an 11-year-old Golden Retriever (Georgia). I sometimes call Georgia my executive assistant - she is my work buddy when I work at home (and helps bring the cortisol level down)!
This time of year, our focus is on spending time at the pool, playing a bit of tennis, and keeping up with Formula One. We all love F1. I have the F1 schedule on my calendar so I know the dates and times of all the practice and qualifying sessions, as well as the races. We have an F1 season tradition of building menus around the cuisines of the weekend’s race location. The Italian Grand Prix is a home run for the menu, but the Malaysian Grand Prix is a little tough.
We also travel extensively for pleasure, and spend part of every summer near Acadia National Park and on holiday in Europe – with a focus on Italy, where my wife and I met 20 years ago. Six years ago I started taking my daughters on father-daughter trips, which has been incredibly rewarding and one of the best decisions of my life.