On the lookout for my next big adventure, I’m ready to dive back into the world of enterprise B2B SaaS companies in a marketing leadership position with all the enthusiasm that comes with it. If you’ve got the inside scoop on a fantastic opportunity, hook me up!
My journey spans over 24 years, most recently at Salesforce for 12 years and at Okta for more than a year. Back in Y2K, during the early days of Flash homepage animations and HTML tables, I evolved from a solo webmaster at an engineering consulting firm (ironic, huh?) to producer and project manager at advertising and digital services agencies then going client side where I grew my career to a manager and leader, honing my skills in operations to keep organizations running like well-oiled machines.
Now, I’m eager to return to my digital and website roots, blending my operational expertise with a flair for digital marketing leadership. I thrive on managing and leading teams, and as an ENTJ, helping others navigate their career paths is my jam.
Taking it back to the late ’90s, I kicked off my career at UCSF in a research lab, devising preventative measures to reduce falls in the elderly. It was a blast, but the pace of academic research couldn’t keep up with the rapidly expanding thing called the World Wide Web.
This Bay Area raised kid went back east to Cornell University, where I earned my stripes in mechanical engineering. Specializing in biomechanics, the impact of Professor Don Bartel’s teaching and work on engineering Bo Jackson’s hip implant was what sucked me into this fascinating niche of knee and hip implant design.
As a proud student-athlete at Cornell, I tackled four years of football, at first as a linebacker and finishing my career as a fullback. The Ivy League experience was nothing short of inspiring, instilling in me a deep sense of pride in the rich history of the conference.
In high school, I co-captained our football team to an impressive 12-1 record. But at De La Salle High School in Concord, CA, the standard for greatness is higher. We took our own 34 game winning streak into the 1991 NCS Championship game against Pittsburg High School Pirates, but would lose that game and be one of the few teams to NOT win the section championship. Little did we know that after our one loss, subsequent teams would go on to elevate the program and De La Salle went on to win a jaw-dropping 151-game in a row, setting a national record which is now just called ‘The Streak’. Shoutout to Coach Lad and Coach Eidson for teaching me lessons that extended far beyond the football field.
These days, as a husband, father of an amazing son and daughter, and pet lover of 3 cats and 2 dogs, I’m all about balancing health and wellness. I’m religious with my workouts from my garage gym with CrossFit Linchpin as my trusty guide. I’ve even taken the plunge (literally) into cold baths, immersing myself in sub-40-degree water for 3-5 minutes daily ā a refreshing ritual that keeps me on my toes.
For a deeper dive into my world, connect with me on X/Twitter, Insta, FB, and LinkedIn (call it being lazy or brand consistency but all are ‘jeffcortez’).