I’m Marietta Colston-Davis, award-winning global leader whose passion for corporate and non-profit governance has spring boarded many global tech sales organizations to high levels of performance while championing innovation, collaboration, and most importantly, diversity and inclusion. I help to ensure that shareholders are represented in corporate and enterprise decision making. The roles I’ve held on public company boards have been especially rewarding professionally in the impact across a company’s operation.
As an accomplished worldwide technology executive, strategic advisor, and industry thought leader with more than a decade of board service, I bring a diverse perspective and approach to growth and business. I’ve inspired large sales organizations to deliver triple-digit market share growth with my line-of-business expertise in optimizing business strategies.
I retired from Microsoft in 2016 as the company’s highest ranking African-America female executive in North and Latin America and had influenced over $8B in revenue in a 10-year period. Persuaded by IBM to re-join the corporate executive ranks in 2019, I’ve led global efforts to drive Cloud and AI solutions in collaboration with Accenture. In my present role I am IBM’s Worldwide Global Managing Technology Director for the Coca Cola account with business in 175 countries.
From cybersecurity to social media reach to optimizing technology to reducing SG&A costs, I understand how tech and digital transformation impacts organizations. I counsel CEOs on how technology should and can influence streams revenue to achieve gross profit targets. Additionally, I help companies understand how to leverage Cloud and Multi-Cloud solutions in order to focus their ‘main line’ business versus the mechanics of the technology. A Sales executive at heart, I bring an expansive network to help a company position its offerings in new segments beyond the mid-market. The breadth of this expertise allows me to add value to corporate boards in the CPG / Distribution, Travel, and Enterprise Technology sectors.
As the first African American non-executive director on two public boards and the first female director on one of these, I’ve led executive compensation teams in building a new footprint or perspective on how the “C-Suite” is compensated and in developing employee incentive option programs. SharpSpring (SHSP) implemented my recommendations in 2019 and it was ratified in their annual report offering. In addition to corporate board roles, I’ve served on national, regional, and local non-profit advisory boards focused on diversity initiatives, tech enablement programs, economic development, the arts, and social services.
Since 2015 I’ve been sharing insight, inspiration and thought leadership as a contributing writer for Thrive Global and HuffPost. In February of 2022, I published my first authored non-fiction book, From Autism to Beyond: A Mother’s Journey of Hope, earning best-seller honors on Amazon.
Would you like to meet and find out how I can add value to you as you grow in your corporate career? Can I tell you how to own a seat at the table? Maybe you want to know how to break the glass ceiling, or how the 7 ways to achieve healthy Work-Life Balance will benefit you and your company.
I’m here for you. Reach out and let’s get acquainted. Let me help you to become a bigger success than you already are.
Contact me at colstondavisgroup@outlook.com