Howard Friedman Email & Phone Number

Minneapolis, MN, US

Providing premier buy-side due diligence services tailored for private equity firms and other investors who are looking to evaluate and maximize their investments in their portfolio companies who are in the Microsoft partner ecosystem.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, US

• Directs, hires, mentors, and leads a team of 4, establishing OKRs in alignment with company strategic growth plan and vision.
• Leads the management of Microsoft/Ascent relationship, building key relationships to drive sales growth and direct technical growth.
• Oversees strategic alliances, managing sales and channel incentives, accounting for 25% of 2023 revenue.
• Liaises with cross-divisional, global business teams to drive growth and profitability on targeted partner accounts while steering positive direction of contract negotiations.
• Partners with marketing to develop collateral outlining group goals, strategy and milestone achievements to internal and external stakeholders, increasing visibility and support.
• Owns all executive relationships in security and Microsoft field sales resulting in 95% of all revenue started via Microsoft relationships, and over 50% of all sales pipeline.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, US

• Collaborated with 4 senior leaders, overseeing operations and administration, while executing executive search.
• Supervised, managed, and co-leader for 90 employees, ensuring seamless transition between outgoing CEO and incoming President.
• Continued building client base through implementation of effective networking strategy among established and new potential customer territory.
• Provided consultation to clients regarding strategy development, operations management, revenue growth and expense reduction.
• Developed and implemented strategic business and marketing plan, positioning the organization for growth.
• Continued to build programs, sales plays, and enablement plans to nurture ongoing efforts to ensure success in the key partnership metrics during transitional period.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, US

• Served as primary point of contact, facilitator, and decision-maker for alliance partnerships, communicating requests clearly.
• Drove team building initiatives, establishing Ascent as a National Managed
• Partner, resulting in access to Microsoft resources and programs, including over $50,000/year in Marketing Funds.
• Created service lines, marketing, and sales materials, improving brand presence and market awareness.
• Established sales plans, rolling out sales enablement to increase pipeline YOY 50%.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, US

• Served as primary point of contact, facilitator, and decision-maker for alliance partnerships.
• Drove team building initiatives, growing team from1 to 4, ascending to top tier US security Microsoft partner.
• Established service line offerings, rolling out sales enablement to support 50% sales growth YOY.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, US

• Created and implemented new alliances and services in start-up and high growth phases.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, US

• Led Marketing, Service Lines, Alliances, and Sales during start-up.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, US

Sales and sales leadership

Redmond, Washington, US

• Selected to join entrepreneurial Incubation Team to sell new and emerging products, create new sales processes, and build capabilities new to Microsoft.
• Achieved expected sales numbers for district resulting in U.S. team meeting sales expectations.

Redmond, Washington, US

• Consistently met and exceeded sales quotas.
• Gold Club Award Winner in FY10 – awarded to top 5% of world-wide sellers.
• Two time Gold Star Award Winner – awarded to top district performers.