SBI 100 companies employ 689,174 sales professionals who rely on talented leaders to help them be successful. Here, we profile three battle-hardened executives. These are the names many recruiters call when they need to find the next great chief sales officer—or CEO.
Jack Durburg is global president, advisory and transaction services at CBRE Group. He has been recognized internally and externally, receiving both CBRE Chairman’s and President’s Awards as well as being named to Crain’s 40 under 40 and Who’s Who. A leader’s impact is measured by his or her contribution to the business. Under Durburg’s leadership, CBRE reported financial results for 2015 including a 20 percent increase in revenue and a 22 percent increase in earnings per share.
One senior vice president at CBRE described Durburg as “the consummate real estate executive with the vision and intellect necessary to effectively run a global organization.” At the same time, the executive described Durburg as “down to earth and able to relate to each sales professional with whom he interacts.”
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Gus Blanchard has a distinguished career at one of the powerhouse sales driven companies. Blanchard is the senior vice president of sales for Global Enterprise Solutions at Automatic Data Processing (ADP), a group that has over 20,000 ADP associates worldwide. The key driver of his group performance has been to provide ADP’s clients with an integrated experience across over 100 countries.
Last year ADP’s revenue increased by 7 percent and new bookings worldwide increased by 15 percent. Great leaders work not only for great results; they also work to develop great talent.
A former colleague of Blanchard’s described his leadership as “a devotion to execution, talent development, and operational excellence,” saying that this “makes him a magnet for high performing sellers and leaders.”
Derek O’Carroll joined Symantec in 2006 as part of the IMLogic acquisition. In 2014, O’Carroll was promoted to senior vice president of global field sales and marketing for Norton at Symantec. His international experience contributed to substantial company growth. In 2015, the Norton business unit increased operating margins by eight basis points, to 53 percent. A CEO and former colleague of O’Carroll’s said, “Derek is an extraordinarily solid sales and business leader.”
O’Carroll was recently named as Brightpearl’s new CEO. “To manage Brightpearl’s global expansion, the board recruited an executive with a proven record of transforming businesses and formulating strategic operations and plans designed to capitalize on regional opportunities,” said Charles Grimsdale, Chairman at Brightpearl.
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SBI 100 The World's Largest Sales Forces
In this issue, we rank the world’s largest sales forces.