Chief Outsiders CEO and leadership

Karen Hayward is Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer at Centerbeam. With 20 years of strategic marketing and sales experience, Karen Hayward is responsible for driving CenterBeam’s go-to-market strategy and Human Resource programs. In Ms. Hayward’s previous role as EVP of Sales and Marketing, she was instrumental in building CenterBeam’s sales organization, sales processes and lead generation which resulted in CenterBeam’s business growing in excess of 35% compound annual revenue growth over a five year period. Prior to joining CenterBeam, Ms. Hayward served at Accelio Corporation. As their SVP of Industry Marketing and Alliances, she was responsible for North American sales operations, professional services and global go-to-market alliances. At BeyondWork Inc., Ms. Hayward was VP of North American Sales where she was responsible for the sales operation and business development team selling to human resources and business line managers. Ms. Hayward began her 20-year career at Xerox Canada Ltd., where she held a variety of corporate marketing, sales and training positions including VP and General Manager, Financial Services; VP of Marketing, and Director of Product Marketing for the Production Printing Systems business. In 2008, CenterBeam was honored with a DemandGen Top 10 Award for ''Using Sales and Marketing automation to fuel Corporate Growth'' and received a Stevie Finalist recognition for ''Best Marketing Department'' from the American Business Awards. In 2004, Selling (a monthly publication of Institutional Investor) selected Ms. Hayward as its “Selling All-Star.” Ms. Hayward has also been a featured speaker at Interop 2007, On24 Webcast on Lead Farming, and a guest lecturer at USC Hayward. In 2010, Ms. Hayward was distinguished by CRN as one of the ''Power 100: The Most Powerful Women of the Channel.'' Ms. Hayward was recognized for driving top-line revenue growth and revving up CenterBeam's social media program. Ms. Hayward holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Paul is a business growth expert with over 25 years of strategic development and execution in a variety of industries and organizational settings including Fortune 50, startups, turnarounds, and emerging growth.

Experienced in leading and executing calculated pivots and growth initiatives, Paul is a creative business strategist with an eye for minimizing blind spots and internal limitations. He is skilled at leveraging proficiencies against external threats and opportunities. Paul has been involved in a dozen mergers and acquisitions in his career and is comfortable and effective in navigating the complexities of change management.

He is proficient in building sustainable growth initiatives that deliver significant market penetration and revenue acceleration. Skillful at near and long-term planning and execution, Paul excels in developing and delivering high performing channel strategies and initiatives.

Topher is a Chief Outsiders Partner and CMO based in Philadelphia. He helps B2B and B2C startups, mid-sized organizations, corporate divisions, and new product launches develop go-to-market strategies to generate rapid growth and revenue gains. A change agent for various Fortune 1000 companies, Topher redefines brand identity to clarify value proposition, foster business awareness and increase ROI. With an innate love of technology, he implements digital marketing, earned media and content marketing strategies to drive business and communicate unique value.

Co-directs a tribe of world-class, executive-as-a-service marketers to accelerate growth for clients with infusions of instant senior marketing talent. He is also the co-author of “The Growth Gears.”

Ahmet Abaci is the Partner and Chief Marketing Officer of Chief Outsiders. He attended University of Rochester - Simon Business School.