Meet Rob Woodbury, Senior Marketing Operations Analyst at Progress

We’d like to introduce you to some of the people from around the world who make us who we are. In this post, meet Rob Woodbury, senior marketing operations analyst.

Rob is a key member of the marketing operations team at Progress, which he joined about a year ago when Progress acquired Ipswitch. Get to know a bit about his personal and professional journey below.

What does a typical day look like for you as a senior marketing operations analyst?

A typical day starts off by reviewing my inbox. As part of the marketing operations team, our work is requested through our ASKProgress ticketing system. I assign relevant requests to myself and prioritize my work depending on most urgent and by region. The requests that I own are campaign-execution related: integrating webinars with GoToWebinar and Sitefinity, creating newsletters and nurtures, and any other campaigns or work related to the network monitoring and secure file transfer product lines.

You've been at Progress for about a year now, coming over from Ipswitch. How has that transition been for you?

The transition to Progress from Ipswitch after the acquisition went quite well. My new team was welcoming and has been very supportive through the transition. I was fortunate to join the organization and learn new skills and technologies through my role. From the beginning of the transition, I was assigned a “buddy,” who would help become acclimated with my role and Progress. Kristine Barrett was assigned that role and her knowledge and friendship helped me become comfortable in my role and in the culture at Progress.

How has Progress supported you, not only to succeed during the transition, but to grow personally and professionally since?

My team and manager, Carmen Gardiner, have put me in a position to succeed at Progress. I was given the opportunity to continue to perform my previous role at Ipswitch and take on new responsibilities and a larger role at Progress. I was trained by team on the Eloqua platform and had weekly meetings with most of my team to better understand the technology platforms marketing uses, and the best practices to become more self-sufficient going forward. Now that I use Eloqua full-time, I have also been granted access to the Eloqua University. I am able to receive online training and obtain multiple credentials through the university, which will strengthen my skill set and allow me to continue to grow in my role and career.

What drew you to a career in marketing operations? Tell us more about some of the experiences/moments that have made you who you are as a professional.

After college, I joined a marketing agency as a marketing coordinator. In that role, I was exposed to marketing technology (Customer Relationship Management, Email Service Provider, Customer Success Management, etc.). I quickly became the admin of Salesforce and implemented/managed the Pardot marketing automation platform. I saw an opportunity at Ipswitch to grow my knowledge around marketing operations and joined the team there. After six months with the organization, I was the admin of two Marketo instances and maintained the integration with Salesforce and the website, among other responsibilities. I learned a lot throughout my tenure and was able to gain more experience and knowledge throughout several technical projects.

What activities do you enjoy the most once the working day is over?

Before work starts, I wake up around 4:30 a.m.-5 a.m. ET to work out, so once the day is over, I try to relax and decompress. Lately, I’ve been enjoying time outside, getting together with friends (virtually), and spending time with my wife and cats.

How do you balance your work, social activities and personal life?

I am very organized in all aspects of my life. I maintain a healthy balance of work and social activities by completing all my work each day and planning for the next day and week as much as I can to try and balance my time wisely.

Is there anything we left out—something that if we didn’t mention this one thing, we wouldn’t get the whole picture of who you are?

I maintain a professional attitude and demeanor in my dialogue with colleagues, but outside of work, I am outgoing and sarcastic. I’m often described as witty and sassy.