Diva Tech Talk interviewed Kimberly Kaminski, Vice President of Global Marketing for rapidly-growing TMaxSoft, a 20-year old worldwide software innovator focused on infrastructure and data modernization to support digital business. Kim’s rich technology marketing career spans both Fortune 500 companies and emergent technology innovators. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, TMaxSoft (www.tmaxsoft.com) offers enterprise solutions to empower and modernize IT infrastructures, and dynamically drive competitive advantage.
Kim graduated Northern Illinois University in journalism with an emphasis on advertising. She began her journey, as a writer/producer for a post-operative medical products manufacturer. “The job was perfect for me because it allowed me to pursue my love of science, while also perfecting the craft of writing and learning marketing.” Having “cut her teeth” in marketing, Kim then moved into advertising for several years including a stint in the tech practice for J. Walter Thompson (https://www.jwt.com/). Then she went to Texas Instruments (www.ti.com) as marketing communications manager. “It was at TI where my marketing career took off,” Kim said. She was then recruited for Novadigm (later acquired by Hewlett Packard: www.hp.com ) and “I have been in the software industry ever since!”
From Novadigm, Kim moved to CA Technologies (www.ca.com), the 5th largest enterprise software company in the world. “It was an exciting time to join CA, who was trying to move from being a very technical company to being a customer-facing, market-driven company.” Kim spent 11 years at CA, evolving into progressively greater leadership roles, and eventually became Vice President of Field Marketing within CA’s Northern Division sales organization. Then she went to Avocent (acquired by Emerson Electric - http://www.emerson.com/en-us ) in Huntsville, Alabama, as Director of Global Field Marketing. After that, she became Vice President, Marketing for privately-held Vision Solutions for 2 years (https://www.visionsolutions.com/) leading their global marketing team. Subsequently, Kim worked for Infogix (http://www.infogix.com/) in global marketing leadership for 2 years, before moving to her current role at TMaxSoft.
Kim is having fun in her current job. “My personal mission is to grow the marketing discipline, grow the team” at TMaxSoft, she said. “We’re working to create, within the company, a culture of customer-focused marketing.” To achieve her success, Kim believes three key personal characteristics are essential: patience, tenacity, and a sense of humor. She stressed “it takes a lot of patience, diplomacy, tact, and tenacity to go around and through roadblocks that inevitably always pop up in business. When you’re leading a team, it’s the leader’s responsibility to help the team navigate those roadblocks, to make their jobs fun and easy. “
For Kim, being a woman in tech has affected her “in both positive and not-so-positive ways.” She shared a story from her early career where a male manager felt that women should be exclusively at home, raising kids. “Instead of reacting negatively, I decided to just do a great job, and prove him wrong. And I ended up becoming one of his most trusted employees!” Kim is thrilled she has had the chance to mentor younger women. “This has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my career,” she said. To her, “it’s important for every woman not to measure themselves against another woman. You must find what works for you. That can take many different forms throughout your career.”
Kim’s three key pieces of advice, especially for tech marketing leaders are:
Stay humble and be willing to learn from everyone. Continue to study hard. “Learn how to talk the language of development,” and additionally “speak the language of business.” Remember that “marketing has the responsibility to be the headlights of the business; really going out there, shining the light on the markets and the customers.”One precept Kim tries to live by is “everything in moderation.” She advises to keep things simple.
Along the way, Kim worked with a coach at the Master of Business Leadership Program (http://www.masterofbusinessleadership.com/), which focuses on helping leaders find their unique value and capitalize on that. “That was pivotal for me to realize that no one was standing in my way, except for me.” One of Kim’s favorite current quotes is “You are a lot more powerful than that which scares you.” Finally, for Kim, “my faith is my anchor in my work, and in my life. We are called to love one another, and this applies to all facets of my life, including working relationships.” To sum it up, Kim says: “I approach everything with a spirit of kindness, loving what I do, and loving the people I am with.”
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