BSG Team Ventures Finds Chief Commercial Officer for Onyx
October 27, 2017 – Executive search firm BSG Team Ventures has placed Don Kelly as chief commercial officer (CCO) of Onyx CenterSource in Dallas. Managing director and co-founder Clark Waterfall led the assignment. As CCO, Mr. Kelly will be responsible for overseeing the company’s go-to-market strategy, identifying growth opportunities and ensuring the integrated commercial success of the organization.
“Don is a top-performing and results-driven executive who is adept at understanding an operating environment and aligning teams around a clearly defined vision, set of values and strategies,” said Mark Dubrow, CEO of Onyx. “He is passionate about data and uses it to unlock value for customers and find hidden pockets of opportunity. Don also has consulted for hotel brands and companies to create new revenue sources, drive sales and introduce analytics as a differentiator. He is a forward-thinking leader who combines vision, creativity and business acumen to optimize profits while maintaining a competitive edge.”
Veteran Executive
Mr. Kelly was previously a senior vice president, hospitality cloud, for Cvent in McLean, VA. From 2010 to 2015, he was senior vice president, global commercial operations and performance management, for Hilton Worldwide. Before that, he was SVP, chief marketing and sales officer for Sofitel Hotels & Resorts in Paris. Earlier in his career he held the position of SVP of sales and revenue management for AccorHotels.
Onyx CenterSource is a global provider of commission payment processing and recovery services for hotels and travel distributors. Established in 1992, the company facilitates in excess of $1.2 billion in payments annually, partnering with more than 60,000 hotel properties and 200,000 travel booking providers in 160 countries.
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Experienced Recruiters
Founded as Boston Search Group in 1997 and rebranded in 2008, BSG Team Ventures focuses on identifying senior-level leaders. The firm serves a wide range of clients, including public companies and not-for-profit organizations. But the greatest concentration of the firm’s work is with private equity firms and their portfolio companies to expand or upgrade management, and with venture capital firms and entrepreneurs to build teams for early-stage businesses.
For almost two decades BSG Team Ventures has been an active participant in the growth of the education industry, with a track record that includes conducting more than 250 senior level searches.
Over the last 25 years in executive search, Mr. Waterfall has remained focused on privately-held, investor-backed clients both private equity and venture-backed. He has a multispecialty sector focus that includes expertise in technology, energy and healthcare. His functional executive recruiting breadth includes board director search, CEO, president, COO, CFO and the VP levels across sales, marketing, technology, engineering and product. Although he is based out of Boston, Mr. Waterfall splits his client time on engagements between Boston, New York and California.
Chief Commercial Officers
The chief commercial officer is essentially responsible for the commercial strategy and the development of an organization. It typically involves activities relating to marketing, sales, product development and customer service to drive business growth and market share. As a corporate officer position, the CCO generally reports directly to the CEO and is primarily concerned with ensuring the integrated commercial success of an organization. The role typically must combine technical knowledge of the relevant field with strong marketing and business development skills.
Essentially, a CCO takes ownership of the customer and the customer interface with the product or service offering, making sure that all functions of the organization are aligned to meet its strategic commercial objectives. This means that the role is closely linked to the organization’s strategic management function, in drafting, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that will enable an organization to achieve its long-term objectives.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Will Schatz, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
