Exceptionally Effective Communication, Balanced by a Good Workout - An Interview with Ashley Baber

Ashley Baber is currently the Director of Account Management and Customer Success at Cvent, a leading cloud-based enterprise event management platform, where she brings a decade of experience in customer success and SaaS technology. Recognizing customer success as a primary pillar of company growth, Ms. Baber built the Cvent AM department from inception to a 40-person team and has since increased renewal rates from 78% to 97%. Her ultimate goal is to ensure Cvent customers derive maximum value from their investment in meetings and events technology. Ms. Baber graduated with a BS degree from James Madison University. She is motivated by human psychology, customer experience and obsessively looks for ways to improve time-to-value.

Asked about managerial skills that she values, Ms. Baber cites her currecnt company, Cvent, which was founded by 3 lawyers. Among them, now President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing Chuck Ghoora, Ms. Baber cites as an exceptionally effective communicator, highlighting for her the importance of honing communication as a skill. It can always be improved upon, she reflects, manifesting itself in better public speaking and leadership. Even in managing a team of 50, Ghoora remained level-headed, which Ms. Baber aims to emulate on a daily basis. Using these skills, she has driven the adoption of new technologies across the organization and is a vocal supporter of embracing automation, new software, data-driven team building, and a host of disruptive approaches to growth, which have paid off immensely for the company.

When the going gets tough, Ms. Baber turns to exercise. She describes herself as a workout fanatic, enjoying 20-30 minutes as soon as she comes home from work. It helps balance the day and put everything in perspective, she says. She loves to listen to house music while working out and is also learning to play the guitar, so she can strum along with her favorite country tunes.

When she’s not busy racking up sales and introducing new ideas at Cvent, Ms. Baber is an avid travel fan. She wants to go “everywhere”, citing Bali and Indonesia at the top pf her list. Visiting friends abroad is one of her favorite types of travel, with visits in the works for Amsterdam, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.

Ms. Baber is currently an active member of Women in Technology. She is passionate about serving as an influencer on social media channels, Twitter in particular. She has nearly 3,000 followers and tweets about women in technology, women in leadership and customer success. She has found this is a great way to connect with younger women in technology in particular.  Ms. Baber is beginning to take on speaking engagements outside of Cvent to further be a role model and an example for other women in the technology industry. The Young Professionals were glad to catch her in a calm moment between her busy schedule hours. We look forward to following her future success!