Katleen De Witte

Accomplished commercial leader with 15+ years' experience scaling complex enterprise sales, building high-performing sales teams, and driving revenue growth across EMEA. Proven expertise in quota-carrying sales leadership, enterprise deal orchestration, ABM strategy, and repeatable go-to-market process design. Track record of managing enterprise teams, closing high-value deals ($5M-$30M+), and transforming sales operations through data-driven insights, world-class enablement, and cross-functional excellence.

Strategic thinker with deep capability in enterprise account strategy, complex deal structuring, consultative selling, stakeholder alignment, and commercial negotiations. Known for building best-practice sales processes, coaching and scaling teams, and fostering high-performance cultures where exceptional communication, transparency, and cross-team partnership drive results.

Career Break / Professional Development at Career Break / Professional Development (2024-01 – 2025-12)

Completed MBA in commercial strategy, Gen AI Leader Certification, and Non-Executive Director Certification (finance & corporate governance). Developed expertise in AI strategy, scaling commercial operations, innovation leadership, and sustainability/climate tech landscape. Positioned for leadership roles in dynamic, startup-style, high-growth environments.

Head of EMEA Large and Complex Pursuits at ROCKWELL AUTOMATION (2021-01 – 2024-12)

Built and scaled Rockwell's EMEA pursuit function during organisational transformation. Led team of 5 (dedicated lead generator, 3 pursuit managers, 1 bid manager) across enterprise deals >$5M. Reported to VP Commercial.

• Player-coach leadership: Personally closed 5–6 complex enterprise deals annually ($5M–$30M+) while coaching AEs and pursuit managers on consultative selling, deal orchestration, and negotiation tactics
• Pipeline acceleration: Built $500M+ new-logo pipeline in 12 months through enhanced lead generation, targeted ABM, and team scaling
• GTM & ABM strategy: Led GTM-aligned lead generation and ABM programmes across manufacturing, automotive, semiconductor, and energy sectors (incl. Green Hydrogen initiatives)
• Process & enablement: Designed repeatable pursuit governance, qualification gates, and comprehensive bid playbooks; reduced bid cycle time by 20%
• Team scaling: Built pursuit team from 2 to 5; structured training programme improved bid quality, win rates, and enterprise selling capability
• Cross-functional leadership: Led strategy workshops on 20+ complex multi-country bids; coordinated inputs from sales, solutions, delivery, finance, legal, and compliance
• Reporting & analytics: Established performance dashboard tracking pipeline quality, conversion rates, cycle time, deal size, and win rates; data-driven insights guided team performance management
• Results: FY22 $20M target achieved at 120%; FY23 $25M at 240%; FY24 $32.5M at 150%. Improved pipeline quality: +60% qualified leads, doubled conversion rate, +40% win rate.
• Automotive programmes (Japan HQ) - Serbia $30M / Romania $25M: Supported the Pursuit Lead by shaping the commercial and capture strategy, aligning internal stakeholders (sales, legal, finance, product, delivery) through governance, and helping position Rockwell as the mandated Automation/Professional Services/SI standard, excluding competitor platforms once specified. Partnered with the executive board to secure $2M deal-funding per programme to strengthen competitiveness and execution confidence
• US Food & Beverage client (Ireland plant modernisation) - $20M: Supported pursuit lead by coordinating cross-functional inputs, maintaining governance cadence and bid quality, and ensuring on-time, compliant submissions aligned to client and internal decision deadlines
• US Semiconductor manufacturer - $15M: Supported the Pursuit Lead by influencing the OEM/SI ecosystem and internal stakeholders to embed Rockwell as the specified equipment standard across the programme, strengthening partner alignment and reducing competitor access
• Japanese rail technology client – Intrusion Detection System, $5M: Acted as Pursuit Lead owning win strategy, stakeholder alignment, and solution positioning to secure the award, an essential prerequisite to progress into the wider $28M programme

Senior Commercial Lead & Head of Strategic Deals, Cloud & Security Division at VODAFONE (2017-01 – 2021-12)

Led end-to-end bid management, win and pricing strategy, contract negotiations, and deal P&L/commercial development across large enterprise bids. Managed a team of 5 Bid Managers and reported to the Head of Commercial.

• Owned capture strategy, pricing model design (incl. SaaS), ROI/TCO analysis, and governance approvals for major enterprise pursuits
• Led contract negotiation, risk management, and commercial structuring; protect margin and ensure compliance with commercial guardrails
• Built bid management upskilling programme; improved deal quality, consistency, and on-time submission rates
• Develop pricing strategies and commercial modeling aligned to customer CAPEX/OPEX needs and customer value outcomes
• American conglomerate (London Datacentre services) - £11M: Led pursuit and commercial strategy, achieving 19% EBIT margin
• Major UK gas distributor (multi-tower cloud & security) - £30M: Led pursuit and commercial strategy for client's first-ever cloud order; secured 20% EBIT margin
• UK-based insurance company (cloud & security) — £35M: Led pursuit and commercial strategy; critical success factor was securing Managed Hosting, Co-location, and Network Security Services ($3.4M, 22% EBIT)

Strategic Opportunities Sales Lead, EMEAR at CISCO SYSTEMS (2015-01 – 2017-12)

Owned strategic opportunities across Scandinavia and Benelux, coordinated multi-functional pursuit teams to deliver complex enterprise outcomes.

• Pipeline & quota: Owned $122M opportunity pipeline; delivered $13M closed-won business (2016/2017), exceeding $5M annual target
• Sales methodology: Led "Deal Discovery" training equipping account managers with structured, data-driven qualification and pursuit methodology; helped customers realise >25% IT cost reductions
• Deal strategy: Developed and executed capture plans, pricing strategies, and competitive positioning based on market intelligence and customer insights
• Results: Delivered consistent commercial impact through rigorous qualification, customer intimacy, and competitive positioning
• Global satellite provider (IT & business transformation) - $2.4M services: Led pursuit for strategic services agreement supporting major transformation programme; this initial win established Cisco as a trusted partner and strengthened candidacy for broader $50M programme
• Portfolio of strategic wins across region: Delivered consistent commercial impact through rigorous qualification, customer intimacy, and competitive positioning

Role not specified at Xerox

Directed global bids across 40+ countries during a highly competitive period. Owned commercial strategy, bid qualification, contract negotiation, and cross-functional collaboration.

• UK-based financial services (managed services) - $45M: Improved bid team performance metrics and win consistency
• Major global manufacturer (print management) - $52M: Delivered 26% cost savings; demonstrated industry-leading negotiation, strategy development, and stakeholder management
• UK financial institution (print & document outsourcing) - $24M: Delivered 16% cost savings; created a stepping stone for future large-scale opportunities.

Global Account Director, ICT Deal Architect, Business Development Consultant at BT Group

• Dutch technology global (voice & networks outsource) - €250M: Architected commercial proposition for BT International's largest-ever Benelux opportunity (voice migration to IP); deal closed within 9 months.
• Global conglomerate (voice services & CPE) - £130M over 3 years: Created and developed opportunity for BT to provide EMEA voice services and global Cisco CPE supply; deal recognised as groundbreaking transformation for BT Retail and start of managed European voice services (lead time: 6 months)

Proposition Architect (UK & international markets) at Airwave

MBA in commercial strategy – University of East London / Ducere Business School (2025-01)

Gen AI Leader Certification (2024-01)

Non-Executive Director Certification in Finance and Corporate Governance (2024-01)

Value Management Professional – Institute of Value Management

MEDDPICC Masterclass Certified

Miller Heiman & Korn Ferry Sales Training

PRINCE2 Certification (2017-01)

Leadership Excellence Acceleration & Coaching Programmes – Korn Ferry

APMP Foundation Certified