The Thread Podcast · 2026-03-13 · 20 min
Justin sits down with Allison Skidmore , Chief Customer Officer at Optimizely , the world's first operating system for marketing teams. Allison brings a rich perspective shaped by stints at Adobe, Stackla, Gigya, and SAP across Asia Pacific before landing in the US to lead customer success at Optimizely. This episode explores how AI is fundamentally reshaping the marketer's daily workflow, what great onboarding looks like in an AI-native world, and what the CCO role must become as organizations race to stay ahead. Episode Notes & Key Topics 1. Allison's Career Journey Started in SEM at a Sydney agency later acquired by Adobe, rode the wave of digital marketing's early SaaS transition. Spent six years at Adobe running customer success across Asia Pacific, building offshore teams and subscription services models. Moved through Stackla and Gigya (acquired by SAP nine months in), then scaled the CS role across all SAP lines of business in APAC. Joined Optimizely two years ago after reconnecting with CEO Alex Atzberger, bringing global enterprise CS experience to a fast-growing martech platform. 2.
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