Susan Van Klink

Vice President of Product Sales and Strategy

Born:
Toronto, ON

Prior Experience:
SelectMinds—Executive Vice President of Sales
Taleo—Vice President of Client Management
Taleo—Regional Vice President of Sales
Taleo—Vice President of Global Pre-sales
Taleo—Director of Services
CNC Global—Manager of Customer Solutions
Bell Canada—Manager of Technical Recruiting

Education:
University of Waterloo—Speech Communication major

What I like to do outside of work:
I like to hang out at my cottage on the water or at my home in New York City with friends. I love visiting the wine regions of the world and sampling all different kinds of wine. I love to read all different kinds of books. And I have to say that I love my work—helping companies to transform the way they do business and the results that they get is a real rush.

Q: Where in your background did you learn the most?
A: I cut my teeth as a software executive at Taleo, where I learned the business of recruiting software sales and support. I joined Taleo in its first year and grew with it through IPO and beyond, learning so much along the way. I learned the most, though, during my two years with SelectMinds. Introducing people to a new concept (corporate social networking) and helping them to understand the value that emerging technology can bring to their organization is a real rush.

Q: If you could meet one person in history, who would you meet and why?
A: My great-grandmothers. They both seem like amazing women and I like to think I inherited a lot of who I am from them. One of my grandmothers traveled by boat to Canada, losing her youngest son along the way. When the boat landed, my grandfather stayed behind to take care of the burial arrangements and my grandmother made her way on to Toronto alone with the rest of her four young children where she set herself up and waited for my grandfather to find them. Talk about strength of character! My other grandmother was a savvy business woman in the days when women weren't business women. She acquired a vast holding of real estate in Toronto from virtually nothing—taking stocks and bonds (worth virtually nothing) from people in place of rent when times were tough. In the end, her generosity paid off and she was a very successful woman.

Q: What's been your biggest surprise during your time at SuccessFactors?
A:My biggest surprise is how fast I have been able to become productive. I have been able to see the power of our solution and the impact that it can have on employee productivity simply by using our solution. In all my previous companies, I was pretty much left to fend for myself and find my own way. With SuccessFactors, I have been given tools that help me to navigate the organization, quickly find the information I need, understand what's expected of me and execute quickly and successfully.

Q: If you had 20 seconds to tell a new client about why they should use SuccessFactors, what would you say?
A: I would tell them that with our technology they really have the ability to transform their business and drive superior results. By ensuring that their organization is aligned to their business strategy and that they have the talent that they need to drive that business strategy, our customers have achieved unparalleled results and they can too.

Q: Why are you proud to work at SuccessFactors?
A: I think people are dying to do good work and to be recognized for doing that work. By providing a suite of solutions that help companies align and engage their workforce, we are making the world a better place. And it’s fun to be a part of that.