2023 was a year to remember. 🪴
It was our first full year as a community, with a pledge to deliver you the material you need to progress in your competitive intelligence careers.
But all that time? We were watching. 🫢
Watching for those esteemed individuals others in CI look to for insight and inspiration. The leaders, the special voices that command the trust and attention of competitive intelligence pros the world over.
Through your nominations, some astute social listening, and our internal panel, we’ve compiled our list of the top 20 Ones to Watch in Competitive Intelligence in 2024. 👌
Competitive intelligence mavens, thought leaders, and influencers, it’s your time to shine. ✨
Top 20 influencers
Mimi An - Director of Competitive Intelligence and Blog Content, Akamai
Mimi An is the Director of Competitive Intelligence and Blog Content at Akamai. Mimi has 10 years of experience in competitive intelligence, and even more in market research. In 2023, Mimi appeared on podcasts and participated in webinars and virtual events online to give back to the competitive intelligence community.
Those who nominated Mimi call her “a wealth of knowledge for the CI community”, and call attention to how she’s “able to provide perspective to smaller companies and teams as to what a large organization can achieve with CI”. Mimi’s expertise when it comes to crafting impactful messaging for technical product lines makes her a particularly authoritative voice in the CI space.
Those who nominated Mimi call her “a wealth of knowledge for the CI community”, and call attention to how she’s “able to provide perspective to smaller companies and teams as to what a large organization can achieve with CI”. Mimi’s expertise when it comes to crafting impactful messaging for technical product lines makes her a particularly authoritative voice in the CI space.
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Fouad Benyoub - Director of Competitive Strategy, Everbridge
Fouad is Director of Competitive Strategy at Everbridge, a member of the Competitive Intelligence Alliance’s Customer Advisory Board, and author of The Competitive Intelligence Playbook.
Fouad has been working in competitive intelligence for almost two decades, and has 18 years of experience building profitable SaaS solutions based on a deep understanding of markets, competition, and customers’ needs.
Fouad is a fount of competitive intelligence knowledge, and isn’t afraid to share it. Active in the CIA Slack community, a member of our Customer Advisory Board, and first-ever guest on our Compete Clarity podcast, we look forward to learning more from Fouad in the coming year.
Fouad has been working in competitive intelligence for almost two decades, and has 18 years of experience building profitable SaaS solutions based on a deep understanding of markets, competition, and customers’ needs.
Fouad is a fount of competitive intelligence knowledge, and isn’t afraid to share it. Active in the CIA Slack community, a member of our Customer Advisory Board, and first-ever guest on our Compete Clarity podcast, we look forward to learning more from Fouad in the coming year.
Allen Borts - Technical Marketing Director, Applied Direct Services Corporation
Allen Borts has been a leader in competitive intelligence for over 30 years, pioneering techniques for using generative AI in competitive intelligence, and spearheading a data engineer’s approach to competitive problems.
In 2023, Allen was the Competitive Intelligence Alliance’s AI oracle, leading four webinars on artificial intelligence and its applications in CI for the wider community, and sharing his considerable experience and excitement for the topic.
Interested in applying generative AI to competitive intelligence yourself? Follow Allen on LinkedIn to hear about upcoming talks.
In 2023, Allen was the Competitive Intelligence Alliance’s AI oracle, leading four webinars on artificial intelligence and its applications in CI for the wider community, and sharing his considerable experience and excitement for the topic.
Interested in applying generative AI to competitive intelligence yourself? Follow Allen on LinkedIn to hear about upcoming talks.
David D'Aprile - Vice President, Global Product Marketing, Onapsis
David is Vice President of Global Product Marketing at Onapsis. He has over 15 years of proven success in leading innovation to build, launch, and market products, services, and solutions across various industry segments – from large enterprise verticals to mid-market and SMBs.
David is passionate about coaching and helping others learn and achieve success in, and beyond, competitive intelligence. Contributor to multiple CIA reports and Alliance-brand podcasts, you’re sure to hear more from David as the year goes on.
David is passionate about coaching and helping others learn and achieve success in, and beyond, competitive intelligence. Contributor to multiple CIA reports and Alliance-brand podcasts, you’re sure to hear more from David as the year goes on.
Shannon DeMarco - Customer Onboarding Manager, Crayon
Shannon DeMarco is Customer Onboarding Manager at Crayon. Given that her role involves getting people as CI-literate as possible in short amounts of time, Shannon sits with her hand on a uniquely powerful lever for impacting the competitive intelligence community at scale.
With her influence, Shannon has created over 12 courses dedicated to CI strategy and implementation best practices, working with a variety of customers and industries to pass on CI best practices.
Nominators call Shannon “a wonderful teacher”, and praise her work “creating content that drives our CI pros to strengthen their CI programs”.
With her influence, Shannon has created over 12 courses dedicated to CI strategy and implementation best practices, working with a variety of customers and industries to pass on CI best practices.
Nominators call Shannon “a wonderful teacher”, and praise her work “creating content that drives our CI pros to strengthen their CI programs”.
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Eileen Faucher - Principal & Founder, Brass Tacks Health
Eileen is Principal & Founder at Brass Tacks Health, a consulting service that provides biotech and pharma developers the insights they need today to launch the most clinically-meaningful therapies of the future. This includes insights that’ll give developers a sustainable competitive advantage.
In 2023, Eileen presented at the Pharma CI Conference, arguing that clinical trial diversity is not just right morally, but also a sustainable lever of competitive advantage.
Eileen led competitive intelligence initiatives in previous roles, and continues to advocate its importance as Founder of Brass Tacks. Eileen is also on the Forbes Business Council, and has had her articles and thought leadership featured on the Forbes website.
In 2023, Eileen presented at the Pharma CI Conference, arguing that clinical trial diversity is not just right morally, but also a sustainable lever of competitive advantage.
Eileen led competitive intelligence initiatives in previous roles, and continues to advocate its importance as Founder of Brass Tacks. Eileen is also on the Forbes Business Council, and has had her articles and thought leadership featured on the Forbes website.
Zaven Gabriel - Product Marketing Manager, Locus Robotics
A third-generation electrical engineer, Zavo was flung into the world of competitive intelligence from product management six years ago. Since then, he has leveraged his experience in data-driven research and analysis to support CI functions at high-growth companies in multiple industries.
He is currently in his third competitive role as a full-stack Product Marketing Manager at Locus Robotics, where his technical expertise and industry knowledge empower Locus to stay ahead of the competition and drive innovation in the robotics and supply-chain industries.
Those who nominated Zaven say, “perhaps he’ll be that unicorn who makes it to the C-suite as the Chief CI Officer.”
He is currently in his third competitive role as a full-stack Product Marketing Manager at Locus Robotics, where his technical expertise and industry knowledge empower Locus to stay ahead of the competition and drive innovation in the robotics and supply-chain industries.
Those who nominated Zaven say, “perhaps he’ll be that unicorn who makes it to the C-suite as the Chief CI Officer.”
Pierre Hiller - Senior Director of Global Competitive Intelligence, Veeam Software
Pierre is Senior Director of Global Competitive Intelligence at Veeam Software, and is one of this year’s most voted-for nominees.
With over a decade of experience working his way up from competitive intelligence analyst to the director-level and beyond, Pierre now serves CI to over 8,000 internal CI users and partners.
In the last 12 months, Pierre has mentored others, helping four CI specialists build a CI function from scratch. He has also organized meetups with members of the CI community, and presented at conferences.
His nominators say, Pierre is “a thought leader”, and a “mentor to many in the space.”
With over a decade of experience working his way up from competitive intelligence analyst to the director-level and beyond, Pierre now serves CI to over 8,000 internal CI users and partners.
In the last 12 months, Pierre has mentored others, helping four CI specialists build a CI function from scratch. He has also organized meetups with members of the CI community, and presented at conferences.
His nominators say, Pierre is “a thought leader”, and a “mentor to many in the space.”
Benjamin Hoffman - Senior Competitive Intelligence Manager, Adobe
Benjamin is Senior Competitive Intelligence Manager at Adobe. Three-time presenter at past Alliance-brand events, CIA ambassador, and member of our Customer Advisory Board, he is a he has over 10 years of experience working in cutting edge technology firms.
Benjamin has been involved with both agencies and vendors, where he has consulted internal teams on competitive and market intelligence, sales enablement, and positioning and messaging.
Benjamin has been involved with both agencies and vendors, where he has consulted internal teams on competitive and market intelligence, sales enablement, and positioning and messaging.
Holly Jackson ⭐ - Director of Competitive Intelligence, Talkdesk
Holly is the Director of Competitive Intelligence at Talkdesk and is a bona fide competitive intelligence expert, having spent nearly her entire decade+ career in this discipline.
Holly spun up, and currently leads, the strategic CI program at Talkdesk, a rapidly growing pre-IPO contact center software leader. Holly is a highly sought-after voice in competitive intelligence, regularly speaking on the subject, advising folks who are building their first CI programs, and sharing findings with the larger CI community.
Those who nominated Holly didn’t hold back in singing her praises. One nominator said, “Holly is one of the best CI professionals I've ever worked with”. Others celebrated Holly’s “depth of knowledge”, and her “exceptional contributions, innovative solutions, and unwavering commitment to the principles of CI”.
Holly is this year’s most voted-for One to Watch! Head over to Holly’s LinkedIn to congratulate her. ⭐
Holly spun up, and currently leads, the strategic CI program at Talkdesk, a rapidly growing pre-IPO contact center software leader. Holly is a highly sought-after voice in competitive intelligence, regularly speaking on the subject, advising folks who are building their first CI programs, and sharing findings with the larger CI community.
Those who nominated Holly didn’t hold back in singing her praises. One nominator said, “Holly is one of the best CI professionals I've ever worked with”. Others celebrated Holly’s “depth of knowledge”, and her “exceptional contributions, innovative solutions, and unwavering commitment to the principles of CI”.
Holly is this year’s most voted-for One to Watch! Head over to Holly’s LinkedIn to congratulate her. ⭐
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Farhan Manjiyani - Senior Manager of Commercialization and Pricing, Grafana Labs
Farhan is Senior Manager of Commercialization and Pricing at Grafana Labs, and thrives at the intersection between product marketing and competitive intelligence.
He earned his stripes as a quota-carrying rep at various early-stage startups around the world before transitioning into launching products for premiere developer platforms across industries including point-of-sale (POS), speech-to-text, and observability.
Farhan has driven developer products from $0-10MM ARR through a combination of win/loss analysis, competitive enablement, and customer-facing price & value positioning.
Farhan happily shares his enthusiasm and his learnings with the competitive intelligence community, and appeared on both podcasts and events stages in 2023.
He earned his stripes as a quota-carrying rep at various early-stage startups around the world before transitioning into launching products for premiere developer platforms across industries including point-of-sale (POS), speech-to-text, and observability.
Farhan has driven developer products from $0-10MM ARR through a combination of win/loss analysis, competitive enablement, and customer-facing price & value positioning.
Farhan happily shares his enthusiasm and his learnings with the competitive intelligence community, and appeared on both podcasts and events stages in 2023.
Andrew McCotter-Bicknell - Head of Competitive Intelligence, Apollo.io
Andrew is Head of Competitive Intelligence at Apollo.io, heads up his own much-loved competitive intelligence community, and is one of the most active and influential voices in competitive intelligence today.
We’ve not had the pleasure of working with Andrew yet, but have had the pleasure of admiring his work from afar.
Always injecting his brand of humor and personality into CI (just check out his community merch), adding a liberal sprinkling of competitive wisdom to everything he shares, this is one CI influencer no best-of list would be complete without.
We’ve not had the pleasure of working with Andrew yet, but have had the pleasure of admiring his work from afar.
Always injecting his brand of humor and personality into CI (just check out his community merch), adding a liberal sprinkling of competitive wisdom to everything he shares, this is one CI influencer no best-of list would be complete without.
Alex McDonnell - Director of Product Marketing, Airtable
Alex is the Director of Product Marketing at Airtable, and has been an active voice in the Competitive Intelligence community for longer than the Competitive Intelligence Alliance has been around.
He’s the esteemed instructor of our Competitive Intelligence: Masters course, and headed up a session for the Virtual Competitive Intelligence Summit last Summer on how competitive intelligence is best suited to working with product teams.
A trailblazer for competitive intelligence and its effective application in product marketing contexts, Alex continues to give back to the competitive intelligence community.
He’s the esteemed instructor of our Competitive Intelligence: Masters course, and headed up a session for the Virtual Competitive Intelligence Summit last Summer on how competitive intelligence is best suited to working with product teams.
A trailblazer for competitive intelligence and its effective application in product marketing contexts, Alex continues to give back to the competitive intelligence community.
Raphael Moraes - Market Intelligence Specialist, NeoWay
Raphael is a full-time market intelligence specialist at NeoWay, Brazil’s largest AI enterprise, where he enjoys his responsibilities conducting market research and analysis to identify competitive advantages. His background is in Economics, and he completed his postgraduate studies in Market Intelligence and Marketing from the St. Paul Business School.
Raphael is based in Brazil, where the competitive intelligence community is still small. Already a mentor in various venture capital and social business ventures, we’re excited to welcome Raphael as one of our newest ambassadors, and watch what he’s able to accomplish in building Brazil’s budding CI community in the coming year.
Raphael is based in Brazil, where the competitive intelligence community is still small. Already a mentor in various venture capital and social business ventures, we’re excited to welcome Raphael as one of our newest ambassadors, and watch what he’s able to accomplish in building Brazil’s budding CI community in the coming year.
Nadav Moshes - Competitive Intelligence Team Lead, Playtika
Nadav is the Competitive Intelligence Team Lead at Playtika, a pioneering developer and publisher of mobile games. Nadav spent a little over a year as CI Manager there before being promoted to his current position, from which he leads Playtika’s competitive intelligence & market insights activities across all game aspects.
Last year, Nadav gave back to the community by appearing on podcasts and speaking at community events, including our own Virtual Competitive Intelligence Summit last Summer.
Nadav was also featured in the CI-by-Industry eBook, which explored approaches to competitive intelligence in different industries. You can grab a copy here.
Last year, Nadav gave back to the community by appearing on podcasts and speaking at community events, including our own Virtual Competitive Intelligence Summit last Summer.
Nadav was also featured in the CI-by-Industry eBook, which explored approaches to competitive intelligence in different industries. You can grab a copy here.
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Jayde Phillips - Senior Competitive & Market Intelligence Officer, Egencia
Jayde is a senior competitive and market intelligence leader at Egencia, a branch of American Express Global Business Travel. She has ten years of experience in shaping strategic direction through data-driven insights, cross-functional collaboration and creative problem solving. In her role, Jayde is dedicated to delivering actionable insights, and constructing innovative, scalable strategies that drive growth, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
Jayde’s nominators describe her as a “force” and a “change agent” within her organization, who has been able to “drastically improve the company’s win/loss program”.
Jayde joined us this year on the Compete Clarity podcast, where her structured thinking and organizational approach to intelligence made her a hit with listeners.
Jayde’s nominators describe her as a “force” and a “change agent” within her organization, who has been able to “drastically improve the company’s win/loss program”.
Jayde joined us this year on the Compete Clarity podcast, where her structured thinking and organizational approach to intelligence made her a hit with listeners.
Mindy Regnell - Head of Market Intelligence, Klaviyo
Mindy Regnell is Head of Market Intelligence at Klaviyo (and expert quilter) with a career lasting over 15 years in ecommerce, and 8 years in CI. Passionate about cross-functional collaboration and strategy, Mindy has rapidly become one of the most valued voices in the competitive intel community.
Mindy is a CIA ambassador, and gave back to the community last year by appearing on podcasts, leading webinars, and broadly sharing her evident enthusiasm for all things CI.
Her nominators say, “Mindy is an expert in her field”, calling her “a powerhouse of in-depth CI knowledge” who is “always willing to teach others”.
Mindy is a CIA ambassador, and gave back to the community last year by appearing on podcasts, leading webinars, and broadly sharing her evident enthusiasm for all things CI.
Her nominators say, “Mindy is an expert in her field”, calling her “a powerhouse of in-depth CI knowledge” who is “always willing to teach others”.
Clinton Sprauve - Director of Product Marketing, Delphix
Clint is the Director of Product Marketing at Delphix, and a results-driven technology strategist with over 20 years of experience in executive-level sales and marketing roles.
Clint is a regular contributor to the competitive intelligence and product marketing communities. A frequent events speaker and talk show guest, last year Clint shared expertise on topics including: “How to make the most of limited resources as part of a small team”, and “Why iteration beats perfection for your CI deliverables”.
Clint is skilled in aligning customer business objectives with technology strategy, and uses his experience in enterprise software sales, product strategy, and competitive intelligence to boost business revenue.
Clint is a regular contributor to the competitive intelligence and product marketing communities. A frequent events speaker and talk show guest, last year Clint shared expertise on topics including: “How to make the most of limited resources as part of a small team”, and “Why iteration beats perfection for your CI deliverables”.
Clint is skilled in aligning customer business objectives with technology strategy, and uses his experience in enterprise software sales, product strategy, and competitive intelligence to boost business revenue.
Gal Toren - Competitive Intelligence Team Lead, JFrog
Gal Toren is Competitive Intelligence Team Lead at JFrog, and a Competitive Intelligence Alliance ambassador. Gal has a background in academic and think tank research, and has spent the last eight years tackling competitive intelligence hands on. Across tech, from cybersecurity to devops, Gal has made her mark on CI.
Last year, Gal shared her expertise with listeners of our own Compete Clarity podcast, as well as across a number of other competitive intelligence podcasts and platforms. Gal also organized and led a competitive intelligence meetup in Tel Aviv with fellow local competitive intelligence professionals. Gal has become an influential, in-demand voice in the CI community, helping those who are starting out, and participating in community initiatives.
Last year, Gal shared her expertise with listeners of our own Compete Clarity podcast, as well as across a number of other competitive intelligence podcasts and platforms. Gal also organized and led a competitive intelligence meetup in Tel Aviv with fellow local competitive intelligence professionals. Gal has become an influential, in-demand voice in the CI community, helping those who are starting out, and participating in community initiatives.
Pat Wall - Director of Competitive Intelligence, Imperva
Pat is Director of Competitive Intelligence at Imperva. Beginning as a sales engineer, and working his way through product marketing to land on competitive intelligence as a full-time responsibility, Pat is a veteran of working with internal teams to take CI programs to the next level.
A member of our Customer Advisory Board, Pat is always the first to volunteer and share his knowledge with others. Always generous with his time and willing to help, Pat is upbeat, enthusiastic, and a mainstay mentor to CI’s up-and-comers. Nominators commend Pat and his “great presence in the industry”.
A member of our Customer Advisory Board, Pat is always the first to volunteer and share his knowledge with others. Always generous with his time and willing to help, Pat is upbeat, enthusiastic, and a mainstay mentor to CI’s up-and-comers. Nominators commend Pat and his “great presence in the industry”.
⭐ There you have it, folks! ⭐
The top 20 competitive intel influencers to keep an eye on in 2024, as voted for by you. 🙌
Congratulations to all nominees, and a heartfelt thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate a peer for inclusion in this list. Don’t forget to continue championing leading voices in competitive intelligence, using them as figures of inspiration for yourself, and shining a light on selfless thought leadership wherever you see it. Start now by congratulating a member of the top 20 on LinkedIn.
Someone missing you feel should have made the list? Nominate them for the next installment here.
