Justin Schaefer Email & Phone Number

Protopia helps colleges and universities build community. Our app-less artificial intelligence system empowers students and university groups to engage with alumni and donors at scale. We make it easy for alumni to share their expertise, advise future graduates, and support their alma mater.

Reporting to CEO and selling to executive level university administrators and corporate clients. Designed, built, hired and developed the account executive team for this seven-year-old start-up. ● Implemented sales playbook to accelerate revenue growth including strategic GTM planning, territory design, Salesforce CRM redesign, pricing and contracting revamp, sales forecasting. ● Grew revenue from $3 million to $9.5 million in ARR within 2.5 years. ● Hired, trained, developed & retained top sales talent to accelerate revenue growth.● Revised the handoff process from our new business team so as to ensure a smooth transition and launch while teeing up expansion discussions. Particular emphasis on aligning program design with customer metrics and desired outcomes.● In 2022: Forecasted revenue renewal rate within 1% of final result. o Achieved annual renewal goal by end of Q3 2022.● In 2021: Realized 122% gross revenue renewal rate putting MC in the top 5% of SaaS companies.o Exceeded goals with 40% growth in expansion sales (up and cross) while also renewing at 94.5%o Onboarded 57 new partners and moved 65% of renewal contracts to multi-year locked deals.● In 2020: Improved contract renewal rate from 87% in 2019 to 94% in 2020 while upselling to achieve a 109% gross revenue renewal rate.o Onboarded 65+ new university partners to our platform and services in 2020 representing a 93% increase in partners under contract. ● Facilitated 45+ thought leadership roundtables on trends in higher education and student success initiatives for 1000+ senior university administrators. ● Member of the fundraising team that secured Series A funding in 2021 of $21 million.In 2020, Mentor Collective was ranked #1024 on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in America. In 2021, MC ranked #151 on the Financial Times list of the fastest growing companies in North America and 1,282 on the INC. 5000.

Mentor Collective is the leading provider of impact-driven mentoring programs. We partner with universities to design, manage, and assess programs that give all students access to a relevant near-peer or alumni mentor. With the goal of closing the opportunity gap, we support students across the lifecycle from first year through career development, and we help students build a sense of belonging and commitment to their university. Every program is designed to help schools achieve their target outcomes whether the focus is increasing retention, enhancing the student experience, or career readiness.

Strategic B2B leadership of the sales and sales support teams totaling 18 direct reports plus additional support staff.• Analyzed, developed, trained, executed and measured the sales & partnership strategy to grow the business.• Collaborated across the organization with Finance, Marketing, Enrollment (B2C), and Product Development to drive growth of new and existing product lines, and better serve students at home and abroad. • Partnered with colleges and universities to fulfill their need for academically rigorous and fully supported study abroad and intern abroad programming.• Accelerated growth in 2018 from 3% historical annual average to overall growth for 2018 of 7.4%.• Drove a record 12.1% sales growth in 2019, resulting in the organization pushing through the $50 million threshold for the first time.• Doubled the onsite activity of the field representatives by identifying and disposing of redundant busy work and setting the expectation that customer-facing actions are the top priority.• Spearheaded the company’s vision to align programming with higher education’s focus on employability.• Revised RFP process empowering the organization to swiftly conduct gap analyses and proactive proposals.• Increased new partnerships by 94% in 2019.

Madison, Wisconsin Area

Designed and built a new enterprise sales division for this $20m company focused on two main services: award winning information technology certification training and organizational anti-phishing and security awareness software. ● Overhauled all enterprise processes, sales tools, customer analytics and product positioning efforts. ● Analyzed past transactional sales data and policy and revised to align with an enterprise sales approach and the development of repeat and sustained business. Built new strategic account management approach.Clients include some of the most recognizable names in the world including the Federal Reserve, all branches of the US Military, major banks, insurance firms, manufacturers, and many others international and domestic.

A Gates Foundation funded early-stage startup focused on improving student recruitment outcomes for higher education. ● Prospected, engaged, and developed new university partnerships to an online system that matches high school students with university recruiters. ● Pushed through barriers and challenged university presidents, chancellors, provosts & vice presidents to rethink their enrollment management strategies and recruit students in an entirely new way. ● Authored and negotiated partnership contracts. ● Managed the onboarding process and ensured a smooth transition to the partner success team. ● Closed and signed 9 new university partners in first 4 months – the fastest start of anyone in the role.● Built and managed a pipeline of schools across 14 states.● Developed, assessed, improved and executed new strategies for driving partnerships and revenue.● Coordinated with product managers to improve the online system based on customer feedback.

Madison, Wisconsin Area

Strategic leadership of the largest sales district with 15 field-based sales representatives plus specialty staff totaling 25 individuals covering 90 institutions across the upper Midwest, generating over $29 million in yearly sales revenue of digital and print content in a changing and challenging higher education sales environment. Expertise in C-suite negotiations, sales channels, strategies, execution, motivation, coaching and exceeding customer expectations while driving revenue and profits.● 37% increase in digital SaaS sales penetration over 6 years equaling a $8.2 million positive shift.● Top third overall sales achieved every year● Digital sales revenue shifted from 21% to 58% of overall district revenue.● 2016 digital sales quantity 77% greater than the national district average.● 2016 digital activations #1 of 52 districts nationwide and roughly twice the national average.● Below sampling & expense budgets each year, including 82% of T&E budget during difficult 2016.

Technological course solutions and educational SaaS materials for use in collegiate courses in upper Midwest. ● President’s Club for Top Sales Achievement 2006, 2008.● Far exceeded sales goals 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010.● 47.6% increase in technological course solutions sales in 2005.● Won Best Market Feedback peer recognition award 2006. Won Best Editorial Field Work award 2007.

Promoted collegiate Engineering, Science, Math, Health and Technology textbooks and technological solutions to 17 colleges and universities in southern and central Wisconsin.● Exceeded company expectations by achieving 39% increase in territory sales over 2 years. ● Sales performance earned spot in Top 10 of 330+ reps two years in a row.

Sales and Marketing for a networking and contract programming firm focused on providing networking solutions and administrative software for K-12 schools in the state of Wisconsin.

Responsible for sales to 18 colleges and universities within WI, MN, MI, IL & IA. Promoted collegiate texts, tutorial software, websites, and ancillary materials to professors and instructors.