Dec 5

GSL100

To say this year has been a rollercoaster for enterprise undermines the whiplash that carnival ride can deliver.

Inflation and insane interest rates gave financial markets the jitters, even as the Federal Reserve seems to have engineered an economic soft landing and supply-chain issues have largely been ironed out. The lowest unemployment rate in generations also meant finding talent was near impossible, or at least impossibly expensive, despite mass layoffs at major tech firms. The Israel-Hamas War, as well as the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the hottest year on record, underscored how Black Swan events are happening at an increasing clip. All the while, sales leaders have had to expertly navigate these and other ever-changing local and global realities to ensure their companies not only survived but thrived.

And they did.

Rather than wait for calm, the plucky leaders on this year’s list of Top 100 Global Sales Leaders hopped on board and rode through the year’s ups and downs. They adapted at warp speed to the transformative technology that is artificial intelligence; learned to foster Gen Z talent, for whom most of their work experience occurred during covid and work-from-home mandates; used their moral compasses to determine where and when to spend their political capital; worked hard to create communities that act as brand ambassadors; and so much more. These masterful salespeople elevated their teams through creative thinking, progressive mindsets, and innovative solutions to novel problems, all the while raising the bar on what it means to truly lead.

The 2023 Top 100 Global Sales Leaders list honors a diverse group of trailblazers who have redefined the role of a revenue generator.

They include Judson Althoff, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Microsoft, an artificial intelligence thought leader who helped the tech giant produce uninterrupted commercial cloud revenue growth, powered in part by his company’s $10 billion investment in OpenAI. Among this year’s luminaries is Kristyn Cook, State Farm Insurance’s Chief Agency, Sales and Marketing Officer—a former State Farm agent herself (and daughter of an agent), college basketball player and the force behind her company’s decision to skip the Superbowl and instead invest in upcoming media markets likeTikTok. It features some unconventional winners, such as Sam Jacobs, the Founder & CEO of Pavilion, a members-only support network for business leaders and one of our inaugural influencers to receive the honor. The list pays tribute to Amy Davis, President of the New Power Segment at Cummins, a power and engine company, where she leads more than 1000 innovators across four continents in an effort accelerate the possibilities of electrification, fuel cells and hydrogen production in commercial and industrial markets; Aparna Khurjekar, Verizon Communications’ Chief Revenue Officer, Business Markets & SaaS, Verizon Business, who wrote a case study with Boston Consulting Group on humanizing the digital experience and leads a team of more that 6,000; best-selling author Puja Rios, Chief Revenue Officer of Frame.io, which she helped get acquired by Adobe for more than $1.2 billion; and Brennan Allen, Spire’s VP of Global Sales, Space Services, who is expanding the company’s constellation of satellites to better provide space-based data, analytics and space services. The future, quite clearly, is now.

And let us not forget to tip our hat to the community of Midjourney. With 14 million users and revenue exceeding $200 million, the Midjourney community is the company’s secret weapon, acting as stealth salespeople without them even knowing it. Spreading good vibes (and creative images) is their mission.

These outstanding sales leaders strapped in and traversed the year’s twists and turns, emerging as activists, mentors, communicators, relationship builders, thought leaders, and forces for the change we all want to see — all while delivering revenue on a serious scale.

For the sixth year, we raise a proverbial glass to these 100 pioneers for embodying the types of leaders we all strive to be. Each was among thousands of applicants who were nominated by their peers and vetted by judges who weighed their experience, agility, ability to innovate and overall impact on the sales profession to land them on the final list.

In association with Collective[i]™, The Modern Sale™ is proud to present the sixth annual Top 100 Global Sales Leaders, every one of them a winner.