Christine Cross

Customer-obsessed, versatile, results-oriented leader with broad experience in general management, customer success, marketing, operations, product and program management, sales, and corporate communications. Demonstrated success in building and fixing, increasing and consistent revenue delivery, driving large-scale global teams, solving complex problems, client experiences, relationship management, lifecycle marketing, achieving challenging goals and continuous improvement. Talented in and passionate about translating strategy into action, process optimization, storytelling and writing, team development, and finding solutions despite obstacles. Consistently a top-rated, respected leader known for being humble, curious, and decisive with a balanced approach that simultaneously holds people accountable, infuses humor, and inspires.

Testimonials

Mike McLaughlin

EVP & GM of Domains, GoDaddy

“I had the pleasure of working very closely with Christine over a multi-year period at GoDaddy. In a nutshell, Christine delivers. She is a top-notch operator who leads and knocks out highly strategic and complex initiatives. She is strategic and highly structured, yet with the ability to roll up her sleeves and dive into the details when necessary. She’s an excellent leader, great at articulating clearly the vision and goals for teams, removing roadblocks and creating the conditions for success, and inspiring teams to do their best work. Christine is also extremely adept at managing external partner relationships, as she did for GoDaddy’s domain business during a period of industry-wide change. She operates at global scale. It was a fantastic experience being colleagues during our run at GoDaddy and I’d jump at the opportunity to partner up with Christine again.”

Katherine Webb

Senior Director, Edgio

“Christine is an extraordinary leader. Focused, authentic and driven, she guides teams with ease, demonstrating integrity, charisma and conviction. Christine’s marketing leadership and customer success expertise spans all facets of corporate identity, go-to-market fit and growth, and product and service positioning. She balances the art and science of integrated marketing leadership nicely, easily navigating experiential brand, engagement and performance. In the short time I was fortunate enough to work with Christine, she consistently showcased grace and professionalism. During times of massive change, driven by M&A, integration or organizational redesign, she was empathetic, realistic and encouraging as teams across the business adjusted. Christine is an effective communicator – clear and sincere – and modeled that behavior for every member of marketing. I thoroughly enjoyed working with her, and each member of my team expressed admiration at how she guided and represented us in the organization. In the short time I had the pleasure of working with Christine, I learned a great deal and felt challenged and supported – I would gladly work with her again, and would enthusiastically recommend her to any leadership team looking to uplevel the contribution an exceptional marketing leader can make to the trajectory of a growing organization. She’s a rock star.”

Raegan Ford

Owner, Raegan Ford Interior Design

“If you’re looking for a consultant that can dive in quickly and provide an immediate impact to your business, you should call Christine. She has a broad background in marketing, sales, client support, operations, and general management and she’s able to quickly assess a situation and form actionable plans. Like a lot of consultants, Christine provides excellent assessments and strategic plans, but what’s most impactful about her is her ability and willingness to roll up her sleeves and help in any area of a business. She worked with me on a range of things that includes building a 5-year strategic plan to defining and executing marketing programs to up-leveling operational functions for our growing business. Christine is an excellent sounding board and will help you solve problems, capitalize on opportunities, and think about your business differently.”

Wayne Peacock

Chief Data & Analytics Officer, GoDaddy

“Christine is without a doubt, one of the most effective executives I’ve had the pleasure to work beside. When I joined GoDaddy in 2018, Christine was one of the first people to connect with me and welcome me to the company. As the leader for analytics at GoDaddy, she quickly became one of my most trusted partners. Not only was she incredibly helpful to me in understanding where analytics needed to evolve, she was a sage counselor to me on all things GoDaddy – helping me understand the business, the complexities of our operating model, and the way things get done. Christine’s strong business acumen, coupled with her strong analytical mind, and her vision, made her one of the most impactful executives to work with.

In our time together, I watched Christine completely remake, reimagine, and reshape one of the most critical parts of our business. She marshalled an incredible team of folks with varying skills and experiences to charge after what might seem to some, an impossible business goal, anchoring a significant portion of our overall P&L. To tackle that, she developed one of the most complete and actionable business strategies I have seen in my career, turning that strategy into actionable business outcomes that the members of her team could align their efforts against, inspired them to innovate, and not just achieved, but well exceeded that goal. One of the strengths Christine has a unique ability to lead and influence across an organization, engage partners from different parts of the company to align their goals to her goals, and then lead her own team to pull together in the same direction to achieve the desired outcomes.

Christine’s an adaptable executive. When the situation calls for her to be a visionary, she is a visionary. When the situation calls for operations, she’s a deft operator. When the situation calls for strong leadership, to push through adversity, Christine is that inspiring leader. She builds strong teams that are incredibly loyal to her. She leads by example, willing to take on any task herself, to support her team. She’s smart and curious, and willing to learn from anyone, at any level, to grow herself as a leader, and help her team grow. She’s the first one in line to take accountability for any shortcoming in her team’s execution and the first to give credit for the successes of her team. I’d highly recommend her to anyone looking for an amazing addition to the senior leadership of their company.”

Meg MacSparran

Senior Director, GoDaddy

“Christine is the first person that comes to mind when you think of the consummate operator. She just knows how to get things done, and the things she focuses on stem from an analytical, data driven lens, so they are always well thought out. She is so effective for a wide array of reasons though. She knew the business inside and out by taking the time to work across various teams in the company, rounding out her knowledge and experience across product, customer care and marketing. She clearly understands how to size and prioritize the right opportunities by taking a data driven approach; so if you give her a goal, she knows what she and her team need to do to hit that goal. And, maybe most importantly, she organizes her team to be as effective as they possibly can. She instills clear goals and ownership while also ensuring the roles and responsibilities support all aspects of the work that needs to get done as efficiently as possible, capitalizing on the strengths of her team members in the process.

I reported to Christine at GoDaddy and I am beyond thankful for how she supported my own growth through recognition, being open and direct about where I could improve and providing me with endless guidance. She is a champion for her team and helping them be successful. She builds strong performers and when she changed roles in the company, they followed – the true sign of an incredible leader.”

Christine Perkins

Senior Director, GoDaddy

“Where to start?! I was lucky enough to be a part of Christine’s organization for the better part of 6 years at GoDaddy. If you have a tough/complex problem to solve, a team that needs motivating, or lofty goals to reach – Christine is your person. Her approach is incredibly organized, methodical, reasonable, and most of all – human.

I witnessed Christine tackle huge tasks and transformation in the Domains, Care, and Marketing Organizations that she led and the teams that she developed. She has made a lasting impact at GoDaddy and for the people that she has led and mentored.

One particular skill that I deeply admire about Christine is that she is able to so consistently convey a message, strategy, or direction to a wide audience of people. A moment I will never forget is when the former CEO of GoDaddy remarked after Christine’s team presented at the Quarterly Business review, “Single best presentation of Strategy I have ever seen…” That comment was certainly a reflection of the high quality and skills of Christine’s team – but for the weeks and months prior, Christine coached and shaped the team with a clear vision of where to focus, which translated to execution and then, to delivering value in terms of presenting and delivering results.

I miss having Christine at GoDaddy, but I know she would be an asset to any organization that she is a part of.”

Nicole Healey

Director, GoDaddy

“I had the good fortune of reporting directly to Christine for ~5 years at GoDaddy. During that time I watched her navigate and lead teams through uncharted waters of onboarding over 300 new domain products, scaling complex technical process, negotiating contracts, managing partner relations and driving incremental revenue through outbound marketing communications. Christine tackles complex problems with gusto and has a competitive nature and determination that is inspiring. She is hands down the most clear and concise communicator I’ve ever worked with. When reporting to Christine, expectations are clear, rules of engagement are clear, and when friction emerges she systematically gets to the root cause and helps her teams find resolution. Her teams quickly learn to approach her with the same solution mindset she pours into her work. My business skills sharpened exponentially during the time I reported to Christine. She’s a natural leader, and bonus: she’s wicked funny.”

Robert Brown

Senior Director, GoDaddy

“Christine Cross is a leader of people and driver of outcomes.

From a people management perspective, Christine has a long track record of building loyalty among her team members. She does this by holding individuals accountable to their responsibilities which helps the whole team consistently achieve. She maintains focus and attention on each team member’s career aspirations and performance and provides regular, candid and constructive feedback so people know where they stand and where their opportunities for improvement reside. She publicly celebrates individual and team success. She communicates and sets clear expectations which takes unnecessary ambiguity out of people’s daily activity. And finally, she likes to have fun with people at all levels and from all backgrounds. In short, she cares about people in a professional context which inspires loyalty and a willingness to go the extra mile on her behalf.

Regarding driving outcomes, Christine is uniquely focused on the outcomes that matter for the business. If Christine has a goal in sight, her team will be made very clear on what that goal is and all will be expected to overachieve to that goal; if you ask Christine to go 10 yards, she’ll set a goal of 15. She is able to assemble the talent and work with them to set the strategy and clearly visualize up and out into the business what the strategy is, the component pieces necessary to deliver the outcome and the status. Christine’s teams are known for their cohesion of vision, preparedness and delivery against goals.

It was a pleasure to work along side Christine and hope our paths cross again some day.”

Erin Bashaw

Senior Director, GoDaddy

“I had the privilege of working directly with Christine on multiple teams at GoDaddy over a span of 7 years, and she was a tremendous mentor and leader. She excels in many areas, but has a true knack for taking complex opportunities, problems, and operations and streamlining them to optimize productivity and results. She is uniquely capable at leading different types of organizations, and I’ve seen her succeed in marketing, product, and sales orgs. She is adept at assessing an opportunity, identifying actions required, and aligning teams to move toward successful outcomes – whether this entails launching a new product line, transforming a struggling sales team, working with a new engineering group, or building a massive marketing operation. She’s also laser focused on growing and managing a business once it’s up and running, and knows the types of systems, processes and monitors that need to be in place to understanding performance at a deep, actionable level. She encourages her teams to closely monitor key facets of a P&L, understand trigger points of concern, and act quickly to adjust as needed. She is right by their side digging into key metrics and asking the hard questions, and is a servant leader in this capacity – always working together to understand, solve, and grow. She’s often called on to rescue struggling business groups and I’ve seen her do so time and time again. She’s tenacious and never afraid of a challenge…in fact, I think those are the situations she thrives in the most, and enjoys rolling up her sleeves to solve the problem at hand.

Beyond that, she’s a strong relationship builder that engages easily across levels of seniority and is just as adept at presenting to the Board of Directors as she is engaging with the team’s newest and most junior members. She cares deeply about those she works with, and is widely recognized as building successful, fun, engaged teams.

I’ve worked with many individuals that felt that Christine truly launched their career – and I can attest to this personally! She helped me grow in more ways that I can measure and has been instrumental to my personal growth and success. She’s an exceptional leader and an asset to any organization.”

Sara Borland

Director, GoDaddy

“There are two important qualities of a leader: the ability to relate to people and the ability to drive to a result. Christine embodies the perfect blend of both. She led our team with a balance of humanity/relatability combined with the constant drive toward our common team goals. As a member of her team, I always understood my goals and my expected contribution toward them. If there was ever a blocker or impediment, Christine was the first to ask how she could help. She also kept our team motivated and fun, by being real with her employees through acknowledging her own limitations and weaknesses creating a connection through the ranks.

Christine’s leadership has been the model by which I strive to emulate in my own career. She has been a wonderful mentor along the way and I would absolutely recommend her for any opportunity.”

Nick Koenig

Senior Director, GoDaddy

“I’ve worked with Christine over the past several years, and I have nothing short of praise for her professional abilities and our working relationship.

Christine is a highly skilled leader, marketer, and collaborator. She works with integrity as her north star, and has the distinct ability of balancing the demands of business performance with the satisfaction of the customer and engagement of her team and other employees.

Christine has evidenced aptitude in a multitude of areas (particularly in seeing the big picture and deconstructing complexity), but she is not afraid to admit when she’s not a subject matter expert, and empowers her team and business partners in doing their best work and honing their own skills in driving the business forward. This has resulted in individuals like me being challenged, encouraged, and inspired to do better under her vision and leadership, in addition to growing our careers and impact as a result.

To sum it up: Christine is a thoughtful, barrier-breaking executive. She manages both up and down with her humor, compassion, innovation, and expediency. From my experience, she is an undeniable asset in driving the strategy and tactics at the helm of any marketing organization.”

Karen Paulson

President, Paulson Training Programs

“I had the privilege of working with Christine for 5 years at Paulson Training Programs, Inc. Christine managed our marketing department and played an integral part of our business development and day-to-day operations. She was an extremely hard worker and very dedicated employee.

Christine has so many outstanding qualities, but I think the one that sticks out for me the most is her remarkable ability to seamlessly manage several projects at once, and do it well. She welcomes challenges and isn’t afraid to tackle tough situations, whether it be work related, employee related or client related. Christine is a very direct person, but in a very professional way. You always know where you stand with her, which I find refreshing. She will invest extra time and effort into helping anyone who seeks her advise/counsel.

Through all the years of knowing Christine, and it’s been about 22 years now, as we still keep in touch, her sense of humor and her ability to laugh at herself are two qualities that I particularly like. She has help me and my family over the years and we continue to remain very good friends.”