Beekeeper has announced Nancy Louisnord as its new Chief Marketing Officer. Louisnord will be responsible for leading the global marketing strategy following Beekeeper’s record year in 2023, when it added over 150 new logos to its customer base.
Enterprise Times asked her why she joined the company. Louisnord replied, “I joined Beekeeper first of all, because I was very excited about its mission, which is to equip frontline workers with everything they need to do their job, think they’re often overlooked. I’ve seen that in my experience in digital transformation. For me, that was really a mission I could stand behind.
“Secondly, Beekeeper is at an amazing part of their journey in their growth. They had their best year (in 2023) and the best, Q4 as well. I’m really coming in at this pivotal moment where the company is really driving a lot of growth. I can bring the expertise and skill set to further drive growth within the company.”
Louisnord lives in Florida but began her career in Europe and therefore understands both the US market while working for a European headquartered firm.
Beekeeper CEO and co-founder Cris Grossmann commented, “With an impressive background in the HR and B2B SaaS space, Nancy is uniquely positioned to tackle the specific and nuanced challenges that come with empowering a frontline workforce.
“In filling this role, it was critical that we brought a leader onto the team who not only understands the urgency of closing the frontline disconnect but who is also versed in the needs of our global customer base. I have no doubt that Nancy will help us to continue to set the standard for frontline excellence.”
Who is Louisnord
Louisnord joined Beekeeper in January after serving as the Global Chief Marketing Officer at Manta for just over a year. She left Manta after it was acquired by IBM in October, having helped drive growth at the firm. Prior to Manta, she held the same role at EasyVista. She moved to the US to head up TopDesk operations as MD and President after working in Belgium as CMO and CRO.
She has earned several degrees and qualifications from universities both in the US and Europe with an MBA from the Quantic School of Business and Technology.
What is Louisnord aiming for at Beekeeper?
Louisnord has a long list of responsibilities noted within her LinkedIn profile, as do most CMOs. I asked her what her priorities were after only a few weeks in the role.
Louisnord replied, “My priorities are, first and foremost, to make sure that we can really bring innovation and continuous learning into the marketing department to drive growth. To really drive continued demand generation and make sure that we can expand what Beekeeper does in our current markets and even think about making it accessible to other markets as well.
“Secondly, there’s also a big brand component to that. There are a lot of companies that haven’t always seen the true impact of a frontline success system for frontline workers. It’s really making sure that message gets in front of those companies and that we can really showcase what we can do as a company to make their frontline workers more engaged.”
It feels like Louisnord also believes that some market education was required about frontline worker requirements.
A recent report highlights the disconnect faced by frontline workers
Beekeeper recently published a report, the 2024 Frontline Workforce Pulse Report (registration required), that highlights the disconnect between managers and frontline workers.
What was Louisnord’s main takeaway from the report?
“It’s definitely the fact that there is such a big difference between how frontline workers answered the questions versus the managers. There’s just not always that good understanding of what keeps our frontline workers engaged. One of the things that stood out is that aside from having fun environments.
“The second was about just getting their job done. Also big on the list from the frontline workers’ perspective was safety. Whereas from a manager’s perspective that just showed much lower. That disconnect was very eye-opening to me.
“Beekeeper has a big role to play in closing that disconnect and offering the right tools. We can give the tools so that the frontline workers are safer in their jobs and, in the end, feel more engaged.”
How does Beekeeper fit in?
Louisnord commented, “Beekeeper’s focus on connecting frontline workers with what they need to excel is not just noble but essential. My background in human resources, service management and digital transformation has shown me how crucial it is to support these often overlooked yet vital workers. I am thrilled to be part of a company that places such a high value on improving the lives and work of frontline workers with a solution that’s truly purpose-built for their specific needs.”
Beekeeper partners with HR software firms such as Workday, but why would customers want both an HR solution with a mobile application and Beekeeper?
“We get that all the time from our customers. The biggest difference is that Beekeeper is purposely built for frontline workers. You see that in the interface, you’ll see that even in how we onboard frontline workers. For a lot of the traditional apps, (new) users need an email address. Frontline workers just do not have an email address or company email address. That is one hurdle, for example, to take.
“There are some other examples. In the interface,, where traditional apps are more tailored towards desk workers, whereas frontline workers are a lot more used to more of the social media look and feel, which they use in their personal lives. It just makes their engagement with the tool much higher. User adoption is obviously super important to make those initiatives successful.”
Looking forward
Finally, I asked Louisnord what she expects to achieve by the end of 2024. She replied, “There’s so much potential that we have as a company. For me, it definitely grows the awareness of frontline success and what that means.
“That means, for example, that we have a lot more traction around the frontline Success System in a variety of markets and analysts, and just more of an awareness there. Aside from that, driving growth for the company, making sure that we hit all our growth and pipeline numbers.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean?
Beekeeper has certainly hired a CMO with a very successful track record, which should have meant she was in high demand. She should help drive further growth at the company. While she has only been there for a short time, Louisnord was assured of her knowledge of the company, where it fits, and the product. She answered detailed questions about how it works and where it fits that were beyond the scope of this article.
Expect to hear more from Beekeeper over the coming months as it looks to extend its leadership position in the frontline worker success market.
