James Smith

Principal & Strategic Growth Advisor | GTM Strategy | Scaling P&L and Operational Excellence

Austin942 followers

Multiple

ex-Smarsh

ex-Micro Focus

I am a Principal and Strategic Growth Advisor with more than 20 years of executive leadership experience driving revenue operations, GTM strategy, forecasting, and operational excellence across technology companies, private equity-backed firms, and growth-stage businesses.
More
I specialize in aligning growth strategies with operational execution. My work focuses on optimizing revenue workflows, implementing predictive forecasting models, structuring profitable agreements, and leading cross-functional transformations that improve P&L performance and accelerate sustainable growth. Throughout my career, I have partnered directly with CEOs and leadership teams to deliver predictable revenue outcomes, scale operations, and unlock competitive advantages. My leadership experience includes roles at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Micro Focus, UBS, Smarsh, and advisory engagements supporting both established enterprises and emerging ventures. I am passionate about helping companies simplify complexity, drive consistent growth, and build scalable revenue operations that support long-term success.

LinkedIn Browse people

Claim profile

Career Timeline

JobSchool

GTM Index

MULTIPLEJOB
1. Principal & Strategic Grow…
  3Y 5M
SMARSHJOB
1. Senior VP
  1Y
MICRO FOCUSJOB
1. VP and Global Head of Arch…
  11Y 6M
MICRO FOCUS (FORMERLY HP / HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE)JOB
1. VP, Information Governance
  3Y 8M
HEWLETT-PACKARDJOB
1. VP, Information Governance…
  6Y
AUTONOMY, A HP COMPANYJOB
1. VP, Information Governance…
  1Y 8M
RENEW DATAJOB
1. VP, Enterprise Solutions
  4Y
UBSJOB
1. Product Mgr, Messaging Com…
  5Y 10M
2. Lead Technical Program Mgr…
  6M
3. Information Services Divis…
  1Y 10M
UNIVERSITY AT ALBANYJOB
1. Project Leader - Instructi…
  2Y 11M

Job: Smarsh — Senior Vice President · 2022-02 – 2023-02 · 1y — OVERVIEW: Promoted to the SVP role following the acquisition of Micro Focus’ Digital Safe and eDiscovery portfolios by K1 Investment Management/Smarsh, Inc. Reported to the CFO. Instituted governance and ownership over the review and approval of enterprise and strategic deals/opportunities. Oversaw the Commercial Office (including Deal Desk) that served as the central authority over deal pricing and contract terms. HIGHLIGHTS: ✅ Enhanced value, margin, and closing efficiency by implementing a deal governance process, enabling precise gross margin analysis. ✅ Identified opportunities for recovering >$10M in 2022 missed revenues, scaling to >$30M in 2023. Explored pivotal KPIs crucial to…
Job: Micro Focus — Vice President and Global Head of Archiving & Risk Management GTM (acquired by K1) · 2010-08 – 2022-02 · 11y 6mo — OVERVIEW: Held full P&L ownership for top-line bookings, revenue, and gross margin oversight (CxO/GM-level role). Directed and coached large teams, reported to GM of Information Management & Governance in a $450M+ business. HIGHLIGHTS: ✅ Led client/business positioning efforts for the $373M sale of Digital Safe and eDiscovery businesses as the primary leadership resource, with strategic clients including 7 of the 9 financial institutions in the Bulge Bracket, Fortune 50, and business across Financial Services, Insurance, Energy, and Healthcare verticals. ✅ Surpassed FY2021 revenue targets by 116% (noteworthy due to 35% target goal increase from FY2020 and lack of FY2020 adjustment for C…
Job: Hewlett-Packard — Vice President, Information Governance (acquired by Micro Focus) · 2011-09 – 2017-09 · 6y — Gained a progressive increase in responsibilities, with an emphasis on P&L accountability, strategic deals, and negotiation/drafting of major multimillion-dollar agreements with some of the largest financial institutions in the world. Maintained continuous standardization and improvement of GTM offerings. HIGHLIGHTS: ✅ Built an empowered, top-performing Commercial Operations team from the ground up that was responsible for revenue forecasting, P&L, agreement negotiation, and services scoping activities. ✅ Generated over $103M in top 2 deals negotiated in 2016. Previous business development successes included driving dozens of new logo wins from RfX through deal closure in a period of hyper-…
Job: Autonomy, a HP company — Vice President, Information Governance (acquired by HP) · 2010 – 2011-09 · 1y 8mo — OVERVIEW: Initially hired as a SME and transitioned within less than 1 month to ownership of strategic proposal/deal review due to expertise within markets HP Autonomy was competing in, including finance, contracts, and pricing. Established list pricing, pricing calculator, and standardization of offering. HIGHLIGHTS: ✅ Accountable for all approvals covering strategic/major opportunities within the Protect product portfolio (~40% to 50% of overall Autonomy business). ✅ Created integration programs affecting 100s of clients and $16M+ in annual revenues for the transition and conversion of the client base from acquired technologies (Computer Associates and Iron Mt. Digital).
Job: Renew Data Corp. — Vice President, Enterprise Solutions · 2006-12 – 2010 · 3y 1mo — OVERVIEW: Recruited and hired to spearhead growth for Enterprise Solutions as the principal executive, including the archiving SaaS product line ActiveVault. Directed and coached a team of 4 direct and 50+ indirect reports in business and technology specialization areas. Planned and managed a $7M+ operating budget. Served as the primary Subject Matter Expert and advisor to key clients on complex litigation and regulatory matters. Led, coached, and mentored Project Management and Client Advisory teams, with a focus on excellence in project management, client communications, and other KPIs. HIGHLIGHTS: ✅ Captured market leading position for ActiveVault. Led a full-scale, 14-month analysis…
Job: UBS — Product Manager, Messaging Compliance, Archiving, & eDiscovery for the Americas · 2001-02 – 2006-12 · 5y 10mo — OVERVIEW: Product Manager, Messaging Compliance, Archiving & E-Discovery, Americas (2003-2006) Lead Technical Program Manager & Engineer, Enterprise Communication Services (2003) Information Services Division Associate (2001-2002) As a Product Manager, promoted and led 4 direct reports and a matrixed team of over 70. Planned and managed a $10M+ operating budget. Oversaw vendors on a global scale, owned all change control and incident reporting, and drove Global Data Management Program change activities. Advised Legal and Compliance, as well as communicating progress/status to the CTO, CIO, GC, and other senior leaders. As a Lead Technical Program Manager and Engineer, promoted to stabili…
Job: UBS — Lead Technical Program Manager & Engineer – Enterprise Communication Services · 2003-01 – 2003-07 · 6 mo
Job: UBS — Information Services Division (ISD) Associate · 2001-02 – 2002-12 · 1y 10mo
Job: University at Albany — Project Leader - Instructional Web Team · 1998 – 2000 · 2y
Job: Micro Focus (formerly HP / Hewlett Packard Enterprise) — Vice President, Information Governance · 2017 – 2020-09 · 3y 8mo
Job: Multiple — Principal & Strategic Growth Advisor · 2023-05 – present · 3y 3mo
School: Stevens Institute of Technology — MS, Information Systems
School: University at Albany — BS, Information Science and Policy

Skills

SalesforceSales ExecutionM&A IntegrationSales EngineeringFull P&L ResponsibilityBusiness PlanningAnalytical SkillsOperations ManagementProcess ImprovementSales ProcessesExecutive ManagementPortfolio ManagementBusiness DevelopmentStrategic Organizational LeadershipLarge-Scale Contract NegotiationsSalesTeam LeadershipBusiness-to-Business (B2B)Account ManagementManagement

Playbooks

No playbooks indexed for this profile yet.

James Smith

Skills

Playbooks

More GTM Engineers