Building Revenue Engines: Kaya Adams on Marketing Ops, ABM, Sales Enablement, and Growth

Kaya Adams, a Seasoned Marketing Leader, shares her journey from sales to leading global demand generation, marketing operations, and sales enablement teams. She dives into balancing data and creativity, driving sales-marketing alignment, leveraging technology for ABM, and building high-performing, revenue-focused marketing cultures.

Welcome to the interview series, Kaya. Could you tell us more about yourself and your journey?

I’ve spent my entire career in sales and marketing. I majored in Marketing but started my career in sales, building books of business and outbounding. I quickly moved to agencies where I spent about 10 years. Agencies are a great training ground for young marketers: you get exposure to a wide range of clients and projects, and you quickly learn how to collaborate with stakeholders and deliver results.

In more recent years, I transitioned to in-house roles at B2B companies. I started at Avalara, leading internal database marketing, ABM, and direct mail efforts. Most recently, I served as VP of Revenue Marketing at WatchGuard, where over the past four years, I built and scaled the global demand generation engine. I also launched and led the BDR function, evolved the marketing ops team, created efficiencies in field marketing, and developed sales enablement strategies and tools that supported revenue growth across global markets.