Understanding leading and lagging indicators, how a lagging indicator for one department can be a leading indicator for another, communicating these indicators up and down your organization.
Almost every company wants to be "data led". But how do you do it? The first step is identifying what indicators are leading (i.e. telling you are on the right track), and which are lagging (i.e. telling you about what's already happened). So, we are excited to present our expert session with Jay Nathan, Co-Founder of Gain Grow Retain, Ryanne Laredo, Chief Customer Officer at Smartly, and Kerry Cunningham, Product Marketer at 6sense who will take a closer look at leading and lagging indicators in, and around, Customer Success.
Christian Jakenfelds
Senior Account Executive
Forecastable
Christian is a customer success and revenue leader with a flair for community-led growth. He currently serves as Senior Account Executive at Forecastable and Go-To-Network Evangelist at Commsor, helping companies drive revenue through trusted networks over traditional outreach. Previously, he spent nearly three years at Planhat, where he earned Top 25 CS Thought Leader recognition and played a key role in product-led research and GTM. Christian began his career at Tessian, rising from CSE to Customer Operations Manager while leading major U.S. accounts and building internal CS tooling. He brings a unique blend of operational depth, storytelling, and strategic thinking.
Jay Nathan
Chief Executive Officer
Balboa Solutions
Jay is a seasoned SaaS executive and growth advisor with over two decades of experience leading product, customer, and go-to-market functions. He is the CEO of Balboa Solutions and Co-Founder of GreenShot Innovation, where he helps SaaS and AI-driven service companies scale through customer-led strategies. Previously, he served as CCO and then COO at Higher Logic, and co-founded Gain Grow Retain—the world's largest Customer Success leadership community. Across a series of senior roles spanning CS, product, and operations, Jay has developed a proven methodology for building and operating customer-centered organizations.
Ryanne Laredo
Chief Customer Officer
Smartly
Ryanne is a senior customer experience and operations executive with over 20 years in SaaS, adtech, and digital marketing. As SVP of Customer Experience at Nielsen, she leads global CX strategy and transformation. She previously served as Chief Customer Officer at Smartly.io and Amobee, where she scaled global teams and modernized customer success, support, and service delivery. A longtime advocate for women in leadership, she also co-founded AdTechCares and holds board roles with She Runs It and the Ad Council.
Kerry Cunningham
Research
6sense
Kerry is a renowned B2B thought leader with over 25 years of experience in demand generation, sales, and marketing operations. At 6sense, he leads research and thought leadership, shaping how revenue teams approach buying signals, intent data, and go-to-market strategy. Prior to 6sense, he was a principal analyst at Forrester and SiriusDecisions, where he co-authored the widely adopted Demand Unit Waterfall and advised hundreds of enterprise clients. His career spans leadership roles across product marketing, telesales, and demand process design, bringing both academic rigor and practical insight to modern revenue challenges.
