Welcome to Surge Growth Consulting, where we specialize in unlocking your company’s full potential. With a team boosting a track record of spearheading high-performance sales organizations, pioneering effective sales growth strategies, and leading companies through pivotal milestones such as public offerings and product launches, Surge is your trusted partner in achieving unprecedented success.

 

Our Journey:

Before Surge’s inception, our team was at the forefront of revolutionizing industries. We set the gold standard for effective selling growth, reshaping the landscape of sales organizations across various sectors. Our expertise extends beyond conventional boundaries as we venture into cutting-edge fields such as technology and pharmaceuticals. We were instrumental in introducing groundbreaking innovations like speech recognition, robotics, artificial intelligence, and critical pharmaceutical advancements to the market.

 

What Sets Us Apart:

At Surge Growth Consulting, we understand that every company is unique, facing its own set of challenges and opportunities. That’s why we approach each client, leveraging our diverse experience and unparalleled expertise to craft customized solutions that drive tangible results. Whether you’re a startup looking to disrupt the market or an established enterprise aiming to stay ahead of the curve, Surge is here to propel you towards success.

 

Our Promise:

When you partner with Surge, you’re not just hiring consultants; you’re gaining a dedicated team of seasoned professionals committed to your company’s growth and prosperity. We combine strategic thinking with hands-on execution to deliver transformative outcomes that exceed your expectations. With Surge by your side, the sky’s the limit – together, let’s unleash your company’s true potential.

Surge Growth Consulting. Unleash Your Company’s Potential.

Sales Leadership

The Surge Growth Consulting team comprises seasoned professionals who foster high-performing organizations.

  • Over 200 years of combined experience
  • Billions in Enterprise sales contracts
  • Hundreds of millions in funds raised

Extensive expertise in:

  • Business development
  • Strategic planning
  • Sales and marketing
  • Finance and fundraising
  • Operations management
  • Product development
  • Technology innovation
  • Leadership and team management
  • Market analysis and research
  • Customer relationship management
  • Mergers and acquisitions
  • Risk management and compliance
  • Industry-specific knowledge Speech, AI, Pharma, Data Tech

Proven track record of:

  • Scaling businesses from startup to enterprise level
  • Building high-performance teams
  • Launching successful products and services
  • Establishing strategic partnerships
  • Driving revenue growth and profitability
  • Navigating complex regulatory environments
  • Delivering exceptional customer satisfaction

Team

Susan Hunt, Founder and CEO

Susan Hunt is a highly accomplished senior executive with extensive experience in driving sales and business development growth for leading companies in the conversational AI and technology sectors. With a distinguished track record in leading high-performing sales teams within the Commercial and Federal sectors, Susan brings a wealth of qualifications to the forefront.

She and her team specialize in guiding startups through pivotal deals and scaling up with large sales organizations, particularly in advanced technology solutions such as AI, Speech Recognition, Machine Learning, and Data. Susan’s ability to attract top executives, outstanding sales talent, and strong industry support fortifies any company as it grows.

During her tenure at various companies, including LivePerson, ASAPP, Salesforce, and Nuance Communications, Inc., Susan consistently achieved impressive results by implementing innovative strategies, building high-performing teams, and driving revenue growth. Her exceptional leadership and revenue growth were recognized by the top honors and awards she received throughout her career.

Steven Chambers, Fractional CEO/CMO

Steve stands out as a formidable C-level executive whose career is marked by remarkable achievements in the realms of technology and business development. With over two decades of dedicated service, Steve has played a pivotal role in pioneering advancements across a diverse spectrum of sectors, including Speech Recognition, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, and Video technologies. His exceptional leadership and strategic vision were instrumental in nurturing Nuance into a multi-billion-dollar entity, a milestone that culminated in its acquisition by Microsoft, underscoring Steve’s capability to drive companies towards unprecedented success.

Steve’s journey is not just a tale of business acumen but also of academic excellence. Holding a Ph.D. from Harvard University in Education, his profound insights into learning theories and pedagogy have significantly enriched his approach to marketing and product development. This unique blend of expertise sets him apart in a highly competitive industry. His extensive background in Marketing, coupled with his deep understanding of cutting-edge technologies, positions Steve as a luminary whose contributions have not only shaped the trajectory of the companies he has led but also the future of technology itself.

Rich Westelman, Fractional CFO

Rich Westelman is a seasoned CFO in the tech space, with over 25 years of experience. Throughout his career, he has been instrumental in guiding numerous startups to success. Notably, in 2000, he played a pivotal role in taking SpeechWork-Nuance, now part of Microsoft, public, demonstrating his adeptness at navigating complex financial landscapes. His Yale/Harvard education provides a solid foundation for his analytical prowess and strategic decision-making.

Rich’s approach combines a deep understanding of financial principles with a keen insight into the dynamics of the tech industry. He specializes in optimizing financial strategies to maximize growth potential and profitability, driving sustainable expansion for the organizations he serves. As a Fractional CFO, Rich brings a wealth of experience and a commitment to excellence, empowering tech startups to thrive in today’s competitive landscape. With a track record of raising hundreds of millions in funding for various tech startups, Rich excels as a Fractional CFO, leveraging his expertise to delve into intricate layers of financial projection models.

Tony Janusky, Fractional CRO

Tony is a tech evangelist, sales leader, mentor, advisor, and strategist who is passionate about the intersection of transformative innovation and human interaction. Tony has a proven track-record of business success fueled by technology and trends for the next-generation of consumers & enterprises, and has been focused on the world of AI-centric platforms and experiences for many years.

With a diverse skill set encompassing sales leadership, tech evangelism, mentoring, advising and strategy focus, Tony is dedicated to driving change and fostering growth in the ever-evolving tech landscape. Merging ground-breaking technology with meaningful human interaction is a key area of interest. With a proven track record of success anticipating industry trends, and with focus on business development and innovation he’s secured growth partnerships with many Fortune 50 firms.

Lisa Middlebrook, Fractional CHRO

Lisa is a forward-thinking global human resource executive, strategist, and powerhouse. She brings over thirty years of extensive global experience helping organizations break through and elevate the enterprise to another level. Lisa is recognized as a thought leader who applies intellectual rigor in decision-making. She achieved a worldwide employee turnover rate of 8% through the execution of comprehensive initiatives. Lisa is an unstoppable force that has been honored to help organizations grow and scale, drive transformation and change, and identify opportunities to advance the company to the next phase of growth. She leverages strong business intelligence and human resource expertise to propel operational excellence, foster innovation, and support sustainable success.

Lisa has been recognized as a dominating positive influencer throughout her career, bringing a vast knowledge of personal development, and industry processes, and delivering a distinctive advantage that sets her apart from other leaders. Lisa adeptly rolled out a formal Performance Management Program, Core Values, Team Development, and a 360-degree assessment program for the leadership team.

Bruce Eidsvik, Fractional CMO

Bruce Eidsvik is a seasoned management consultant specializing in B2B SaaS go-to-market strategies. Recognized for advancing Account-Based Marketing best practices, he has effectively aligned marketing, sales development, and sales operations. With a track record of leading Growth Marketing divisions in businesses surpassing $1 billion in revenue, Bruce has consistently enhanced pipeline quality and conversion rates, ensuring dependable growth while minimizing customer acquisition costs. Presently, Bruce is at the forefront of helping clients integrate and leverage AI technologies, enhancing operational efficiencies, and deepening customer engagement.

Globally experienced, Bruce has successfully led teams in EMEA, APAC, and North America. His entrepreneurial spirit, coupled with his capacity to engage with executive management and board members, has made him instrumental in scaling businesses, both large and small. Bruce is dedicated to extracting peak performance from his clients’ teams and guiding them to deliver exceptional results.

Rick Mack, Fractional CCO

Richard (Rick) Mack is an accomplished communications and marketing executive with more than 25 years of experience working with companies of all sizes from early-stage start-ups and high growth businesses to multi-billion, global organizations. Rick has been a trusted advisor to the C-suite, boards, sales leadership and other executives, partnering closely with each to drive reputation, stakeholder engagement and business growth. He is a respected, thoughtful leader that designs communications and marketing programs to influence key stakeholders through traditional and digital channels.

Rick was the chief marketing and communications officer for Cerence Inc. where he developed the company’s brand and positioning, launched its public offering and significantly raised its profile among customers, partners, investors and the industry. Before Cerence, Rick held leadership and executive roles at Nuance Communications where he led global marketing, communications and several strategic, defining moments for the business. Key initiatives included comprehensive communications for more than 100 M&A transactions and corporate events, a purpose and culture initiative that redefined the organization and its mission, an expansive nine-month crisis communications effort across myriad stakeholders, and rebranding/renaming the company that positioned the business for rapid expansion and growth.

Mariam Reza, Fractional CCO

Mariam Reza serves as Surge’s fractional Chief Customer Officer (CCO). A seasoned professional and leader with over 19 years of experience in the SAAS enterprise space working with Voice, Chat and AI technologies, Mariam’s career spans the globe, including JAPAC, EMEA, and the Americas. She has held diverse leadership roles, including leading enterprise contact center operations, global Customer Success, Managed Services, Go-to-Market, and Field Enablement.

Her super power has been in business transformation and building high-performance teams, while fostering strong organizational culture, diversity, and talent retention. She has successfully transformed business units to deliver annual growth rates ranging from 20 percent to 150 percent, attributable to always implementing customer-value centric strategies and low friction scalable frameworks. Mariam’s start-up experience dates back to 2009, as a founding member of a tech start-up, where she was pivotal in building the APAC market, leading to a successful acquisition within three years.

Malcom De Leo, Product Ideation Specialist

Malcolm De Leo is an accomplished innovation expert with a diverse background in building and developing new markets for Fortune 500 companies and Silicon Valley startups. He has accumulated over 25 years of experience, during which he has showcased his leadership abilities as an evangelist for new ideas, emerging technologies, and cultivating innovative cultures.

He has a deep understanding of the relationship between product development and the customer, having pioneered a range of strategies for delivering value, including the usage of social media data to drive business decisions across the Fortune 500 landscape. He is an accomplished and strategic advisor, helping companies to deliver scalable and repeatable customer value.

Shaun Harvey, Executive Recruitment

Shaun brings over a decade of experience in talent acquisition and executive recruitment, having collaborated with some of the most reputable companies in the SaaS, AI, and healthcare industries. During his career, he has honed his skills in identifying and attracting top-tier talent, ensuring that his clients are able to assemble world-class teams to drive their ambitious growth strategies.

Shaun’s deep understanding of the rapidly evolving technology and healthcare landscapes, as well as his expertise in marketing and online presence, have been instrumental in his ability to source and secure the most sought-after candidates. His extensive network, coupled with a keen eye for identifying both the technical expertise and cultural fit required for each role, has earned him a reputation as a trusted partner to his clients.

Liora Bram, Senior PR Strategist

Liora Bram is an award-winning public relations strategist with a dynamic career marked by creativity, strategic insight, and an unwavering commitment to client success. With over 20 years of experience working with both early stage and Fortune 500 technology companies, Liora has honed her skills crafting compelling narratives, building strong media relationships, and executing impactful PR campaigns across various industries.

Her strategic approach to PR has delivered successful launches, brand repositionings, and crisis management programs, solidifying her reputation as a trusted advisor and problem-solver for her clients. Liora’s passion for storytelling drives her to seek out innovative ways to capture attention and engage audiences, whether through traditional media channels, digital platforms, or experiential marketing initiatives. Her ability to think outside the box and adapt to evolving media landscapes has been instrumental in achieving measurable results and driving business objectives for her clients.

Lauren Nardoni, Legal Consultant

Lauren (Aach) Nardoni has served as an influential business partner and trusted legal advisor for 15 years, primarily within the technology industry. Leveraging deep expertise in corporate and technology law, ranging from AI and AI governance, global privacy and compliance, and data access and usage rights, to business development, operations, and HR. She is widely recognized as a change catalyst and innovator who delivers sound legal guidance for even the most complicated business matters while promoting growth and mitigating risk.

At present, Lauren is the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of CB Insights where she serves as the legal advisor to the organization and oversees all legal and compliance matters and provides strategic advice on the company’s business initiatives, including go-to-market and product development. Prior to joining CB Insights, she served as Deputy General Counsel at LivePerson, Inc. and during her 10-year tenure at the company, she led a global legal team and provided business and technology-focused legal advice and solutions across the enterprise with a strategic focus on all global revenue transactions, go-to-market strategy, data privacy and compliance, legal operations, and risk management. Earlier in her career, Lauren was the in-house counsel for Guardian Life Insurance where she led vendor deals across the organization. She also was employed with The Federal Reserve Bank of New York as an attorney.

Lauren holds a J.D. degree from Seton Hall University School of Law. She completed her undergraduate studies at New York University where she graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in cultural studies, sociology, and law and society. She is a member of TechGC, the premier peer community for Chief Legal Officers and General Counsels where we collaborate to help each other excel in our careers and propel our companies forward.

Bryan Snow, Partner, Make Ready Group

Bryan Snow leverages over 15 years of experience in the DoD and IC intelligence community in the federal government contracting space to align best-in-class capabilities with the USG’s most challenging mission needs. Specializing in technical program management, capture management, and proposal development. Bryan brings expertise in data science, geospatial technologies, and artificial intelligence to help companies bid on and win contracts in the DoD and IC. Since launching Make Ready, he has led successful capture efforts for multiple clients, driving results in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Supratim Biswas, Partner, ScalerZ

Supratim Biswas is a seasoned growth executive, advisor and investor with 30 years of experience in sales, marketing and revenue growth in high growth software companies. He specializes in growth stage companies, helping them build and optimize repeatable sales growth.

His passion is building and implementing end-to-end growth playbooks that drive demand generation, sales, and retention. To this end, Supratim brings extensive new market development experience, having opened up new markets from a cold start in APAC, EMEA, and LatAm. As an entrepreneur with three successful company exits under his belt, he also understands the M&A process and the importance of a solid growth trajectory to company valuation.