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Nashville, Tennessee

Ed Lynch

Enterprise Revenue Leader

Two decades leading enterprise sales — built on a simple conviction: durable growth comes from disciplined process, honest pipelines, and leaders who stay in the deals alongside their teams.

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Ed Lynch presenting at the DreamWorks Animation All-Hands meeting
Keynote · DreamWorks Animation All-Hands
20+ yrs
Leading enterprise revenue
$5M+
ARR delivered annually
20–30%
Win-rate & forecast lift
Fortune 500
Strategic accounts won

About

Revenue is a people business wearing a process suit.

Ed Lynch

I've spent more than twenty years leading enterprise sales organizations — through growth, transformation, and expansion into new markets. I've closed eight-figure agreements, built teams from the ground up, developed scalable revenue engines, and sat across the table from CFOs, CIOs, and boards.

What I've really learned is that revenue is a people business wearing a process suit. The teams that win consistently aren't the ones with the cleverest pitch — they're the ones with the cleanest pipeline, the sharpest qualification, and a leader who is genuinely in the work alongside them.

That's how I lead. I care as much about how we win as whether we win — because the “how” is what makes it repeatable, and what makes a team somewhere people want to build a career.

Today, as Chief Revenue Officer of Ardilawn Holdings, I lead revenue strategy and commercial operations across a portfolio of software, marketplace, and professional-services businesses — applying the same discipline, and the same hands-on leadership, to building scalable revenue engines.

Enterprise Revenue Leader

How I Lead

Discipline and presence, in equal measure.

I run a disciplined operating rhythm, and I stay close to the work. Those two things aren't in tension — together, they are the job.

The discipline

MEDDPICC qualification
Every meaningful opportunity is qualified against Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Paper process, Identified pain, Champion, and Competition. If the team can't articulate those, we don't have a forecast — we have a hope.
Pipeline hygiene
A pipeline you can't trust is worse than no pipeline. I hold the line on stage definitions, exit criteria, and honest close dates. Clean data is what makes coaching, forecasting, and good decisions possible.
Forecast integrity
I'd rather deliver a number I committed to than beat one I got lucky on. Predictability is what earns trust with a board — and that trust becomes leverage for the whole business.
Mutual action plans
Every late-stage deal runs on a mutual action plan, co-owned with the buyer. It surfaces risk early and turns “we hope to close in Q3” into a shared, dated path to signature.

The presence

In the deals
I join as many calls as I can — not to take over, but to coach in real time, model the behaviors I expect, and make sure we never lose a deal to something I could have caught.
Coaching over closing
I measure myself as much on who I've developed as on what we've delivered. The rep I coach this year is the leader who scales the team next year.
Mentorship is the multiplier
Goals matter. But a number hit by burning people out is a loan against next year, not a win. I build teams people want to stay in — and grow in.
Close to the customer
The best forecasts come from genuinely understanding the buyer's world. I keep myself — and my teams — connected to customers and the market, not just the CRM.

Digital Sales Rooms

Selling in the open — and the results that follow.

I'm a strong advocate for Digital Sales Rooms — shared, persistent deal workspaces where seller and buyer collaborate in one place: the business case, the mutual action plan, stakeholders, content, and next steps. I've embraced them fully across my teams, and the results have been substantial.

What that means in the boardroom

A forecast you can trust

Buyer engagement becomes measurable. I can see who's engaged, who's gone quiet, and which deals are genuinely moving — so the forecast reflects reality, not optimism.

Shorter, cleaner cycles

One source of truth replaces the scavenger hunt of email threads and lost attachments. Deals move faster because nothing slips through the cracks.

Multi-threading by design

The room pulls the entire buying committee into the open — economic buyer, champion, IT, procurement — reducing the single-threaded risk that kills deals late.

A premium buyer experience

The buying experience becomes as considered as the product itself. Executives feel the difference — and it sets us apart from competitors still selling over email.

Inspection without interrogation

I can inspect a deal by reading the room rather than grilling the rep. One-to-ones become coaching conversations, not status updates.

Faster ramp, more consistency

New hires learn by working inside proven rooms. Onboarding time drops, and execution becomes repeatable across the whole team.

A look inside the room

Mutual Action Plan
Project Atlas · Enterprise Rollout
Target close · Q3
62%
Complete
  • Discovery & business caseDone
  • Executive alignmentDone
  • Technical validationDone
  • Security & InfoSec reviewIn progress
  • Pricing & proposalIn progress
  • Legal & redlinesUpcoming
  • Mutual sign-offUpcoming
  • Kickoff & onboardingUpcoming
Deal Workspace
Project Atlas
Enterprise Rollout · 1,200 seats
Buying committee
EBEconomic Buyer · CFO
CHChampion · VP Operations
ITIT / Security
PRProcurement
Shared resources
  • Business Case & ROI ModelViewed 14×
  • Mutual Action PlanUpdated today
  • Security & Compliance PackViewed 6×
  • Pilot Results SummaryViewed 9×
Engagement Signals
ChampionHigh
Economic BuyerEngaged
IT / SecurityActive
ProcurementEarly

Illustrative deal workspace. Names and figures are representative.

Experience

Two decades leading enterprise revenue.

2025 — Present

Ardilawn Holdings

Nashville, TN

Chief Revenue Officer

Lead revenue strategy, business development, go-to-market execution, and commercial growth across a portfolio of software, marketplace, and professional-services businesses.

  • Own revenue-growth strategy and commercial operations across the portfolio — enterprise sales, business development, and strategic partnerships.
  • Build scalable revenue engines spanning customer acquisition, revenue forecasting, and product commercialization.
  • Direct go-to-market execution across multiple businesses at different stages of growth.
  • Portfolio includes Pawsada, Sonaflo, Wexler Gray, and Parallel.
2023 — 2024

Highspot

Nashville, TN

SVP, Global Strategic Accounts

Owned and expanded complex, multi-year global enterprise accounts across regulated industries, partnering closely with legal, finance, procurement, and executive sponsors.

  • Built and converted a $9M–$12M qualified pipeline, delivering $5M+ ARR annually through disciplined execution and executive alignment.
  • Improved late-stage win rates and forecast reliability by 20–30% via structured qualification, mutual close plans, and governance-ready deal management.
BoeingCBRECienaeBayExpediaToyotaBMOABM Industries
2017 — 2023

DreamWorks Animation

Burbank, CA

Senior Vice President of Global Sales

Enterprise SaaS leader closing multi-million-dollar rendering agreements and exceeding quota. Drove adoption across global studios, secured Fortune 500 enterprise licenses, and expanded into emerging tech and gaming through real-time rendering performance.

LVMHMercedes-BenzVW GlobalIHGTommy HilfigerHome DepotUniqloH&M Group
2014 — 2016

Stem, Inc.

San Francisco Bay Area

Vice President of Sales

Closed multi-year energy-management agreements and exceeded quota, delivering measurable cost savings and sustainability ROI for Fortune 500 and commercial clients while expanding adoption of SaaS energy optimization.

AES CorpExxon MobilBoeingGMCMarathon PetroleumNextEra EnergyHuntington Ingalls
2012 — 2013

Nitro, Inc.

San Francisco, CA

Vice President of Sales

Scaled SaaS and software adoption across enterprise and mid-market segments. Built and led high-performing teams, expanded Fortune 1000 accounts, and delivered multimillion-dollar revenue growth in PDF productivity and workflow solutions.

WalmartAmazonAppleCVS HealthExxonMobilCloroxMcKessonBank of America
2008 — 2012

Marin Software

San Francisco, CA

Director of Sales

Led teams driving SaaS adoption in performance-marketing technology. Consistently exceeded revenue goals by building enterprise pipelines, expanding Fortune 1000 accounts, and aligning with CMOs and agency executives to deliver measurable ROI.

WPPVerizonOgilvyFordPublicis GroupeAmazon AdsHuluCoca-ColaDisney

Education

University College Dublin

Bachelor of Science, Information Technology

Certification

Certified Revenue Leader™ (CRL)

Languages

English · Gaelic · French

Areas of Focus

Where I create leverage.

01Enterprise Sales Leadership
02Revenue Growth & Market Expansion
03Strategic Accounts & Complex Deal Execution
04Sales Team Development & Coaching
05Pipeline & Forecast Management
06Go-To-Market Strategy
07Sales Process Optimization
08Private Equity & Growth Environments
09Executive Stakeholder Engagement
10Organizational Scaling & Transformation

In Their Words

What colleagues and leaders say.

Ed's combination of quick thinking, customer insight, and aggressive simplification will prove to be an asset for any enterprise-focused growth technology company. He thrives on complex technical or strategic sales, simplifying the message to the point where the prospect is willing to commit.
Lincoln Wallen
Group CTO, Framestore · ex-DreamWorks, ex-EA, ex-Improbable
Managed Ed directly
Ed has an uncanny ability to understand the customer's needs and to frame complicated technology in a way that is approachable. I watched him quickly convert our backlog into contracts. I would strongly recommend Ed for anyone working to build out their sales process.
Benjamin Kearns
CTO / Head of Engineering
Worked with Ed at Stem
Ed led our sales organization and software commercial strategy. He is a customer advocate who drove the team to exceed goals while meeting customer expectations. I appreciated his rigor and his commitment to closing deals for the company.
John Carrington
Chief Executive Officer, Stem, Inc.
Managed Ed directly at Stem
Managing Ed was nothing short of inspiring. He excelled at both the science and the art of the sale — understanding the tactical aspects and marrying that to reading the people involved. I knew Ed would always have a successful career.
Alicia (Howells) DeBruine
Sales Leader (Retired)
Managed Ed directly
Ed is one of the best salespeople I have ever worked with. Always spot-on with the right message for the right level, from line managers up through the C-Level. After the sale, he provided a level of support I still use as my yardstick against all other vendors.
Jeff Ziemer
Oracle Certified Cloud Implementation Specialist
Worked alongside Ed
Ed is a results-oriented sales executive. He brings an ownership mentality to his work and leads by example to inspire his team.
Christopher Lien
Founder & CEO, Marin Software (NASDAQ: MRIN)
Senior to Ed
Ed completely restructured the sales process. Under his direction the company achieved its most profitable quarter. He is a dynamic leader who strives for success for himself and his team — and helped other departments grow and develop.
Svetlana Gelfand
Technical Program Management Leader
Worked with Ed
Ed is a tenacious closer and a ready mentor in any sales environment. Religiously attentive to detail and razor sharp in its application — a true leader who is very easy to follow.
Robby Bryant
Product Growth & Lifecycle Marketing
Worked with Ed
Whereas some people are reluctant to take coaching, Ed welcomes new ideas and methods. His thoroughness and focus on the customer's needs often bring forth new opportunities. A good communicator and a role model for others.
Peter Kusterer
President, NvestNtech, Inc.
Ed was Peter's client

Contact

Let’s talk about building durable growth.

Whether you’re scaling a revenue organization, sharpening go-to-market execution, or navigating a complex deal — I’m glad to connect.

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