When it comes to leading modern marketing organizations, few people wear as many hats as Todd Wells. As the Chief Marketing Officer of Acumatica, Todd brings a deep understanding of MarTech and analytics, paired with the kind of full-spectrum marketing leadership required to drive both growth and brand equity.

I sat down with Todd to hear how he’s navigating the evolving marketing landscape, where AI is making waves, partner ecosystems are powering scale, and intentionality might just be the secret weapon we’ve all been overlooking.

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Roli Saxena: First off, Todd, thanks for joining me for this conversation! Your journey took you from leading roles at Microsoft to becoming the CMO at Acumatica. What inspired this transition, and how have your experiences at larger corporations influenced your strategies in a rapidly growing company like Acumatica?

Todd Wells: The CMO role at Acumatica unquestionably represented a change in direction for my career. Previously, I had focused on only one side of the marketing equation, but at significant scale, which included martech, data, analytics, and operations. At Acumatica, I lead the full left-to-right spectrum: from brand to communications to product marketing to events, and more. It has truly been amazing; building and maturing the team in parallel with Acumatica’s rapid growth while leading and managing across all of the teams.

I think my experience in the martech, data, and analytics space gave me a somewhat unique foundation to build from, in that I was always grounded in quantification. And leading large teams at other companies added to that foundation by giving me a lens into how to develop and scale anything and everything.

Roli: I love that your foundation is in quantification, it’s so clear how that analytical mindset supports the kind of marketing org that’s built for scale. 

As the industry continues to evolve, one of the biggest forces reshaping strategy is AI.

There’s a lot of noise around AI in marketing, but the real impact is starting to come into focus for many CMOs. How is AI shaping the way you approach marketing strategy at Acumatica? Are there any specific use cases or tools you’re particularly excited about right now? 

Todd: There’s certainly a lot of excitement around AI. But to take a step back, it might be helpful to share how we approached AI as a marketing team. Each quarter, our team holds a Creativity & Innovation Day — a dedicated day for individuals to explore, think, and test ideas beyond their usual routines and roles.

A few quarters ago, we decided to focus the day exclusively on AI. Each team member researched AI capabilities that could help advance their function and the broader team. We then pooled, categorized, and prioritized those ideas. From that exercise, we licensed several new AI tools and capabilities, most notably focused on performance testing, data aggregation, and content optimization.

As an aside, I also think one of the most seamless ways for marketing teams to take advantage of AI is through their existing martech stack, so we’re excited to see what our martech providers, like RollWorks, continue to develop.

Roli: Creativity & Innovation Day strikes the perfect balance between experimentation and enablement. And it really highlights the shift we’re seeing across marketing teams: performance and creativity don’t have to be at odds; in fact, they’re better together.

Speaking of balance, you’ve emphasized the importance of brand awareness alongside demand generation. Can you share how Acumatica approaches these two critical aspects, and perhaps highlight a campaign that exemplifies this synergy?

Todd: Historically, marketing at Acumatica, aligned with our stage of growth, has primarily focused on demand generation. The team and I are accountable for originating and driving at least 30% of our net-new wins, with our partner channel driving the remaining 70%.

As we’ve grown, however, we’ve received consistent feedback, especially from our partners, about the importance of brand awareness. We’re a challenger in the space and don’t have the benefit of decades of incumbency. So, we’ve steadily increased our investment in awareness through airport advertising, radio spots, industry events, and more.

There’s a critical point where lack of awareness starts to limit demand generation. That’s why we view the two as part of a single, coordinated effort, each driving and reinforcing the other. And it’s not just about brand awareness; it’s also about brand confidence. Fortunately, we have the highest NPS scores in the industry, so once a prospect finds us, we compete well and we win.

Roli: That point about brand confidence really resonates. Awareness might open the door, but trust gets people to walk through it and stay. 

Another strength of Acumatica’s model is your partner ecosystem, which I know plays a huge role in your go-to-market strategy. What are the unique challenges and opportunities in marketing through partners, and how do you ensure consistent messaging across such a diverse network?

Todd: We sell exclusively through our Value Added Resellers, or VARs. Having worked at several other software companies throughout my career, I’ve seen firsthand how conflicts between publishers and the VAR channel are a common challenge in the tech industry.

What’s most fascinating, and is one of Acumatica’s biggest advantages, is the absence of channel conflict. We have a genuinely positive and productive relationship with our channel, without the concerns around deal theft that many other software providers face.

In previous roles, I saw low adoption of marketing capabilities and limited partnership engagement. In contrast, at Acumatica, we’ve built a foundation of transparency and see extraordinarily high adoption across everything from brand and messaging alignment to content usage and joint marketing fund (JMF) programs.

Roli: High partner adoption and message alignment is no small feat. And with all the moving parts marketers are managing today—from partner enablement to AI adoption to shifting budgets—it’s a tough time to lead without getting caught in reactive mode.

This past year has been a whirlwind for marketers. What’s one lesson you’ve learned in the last 12 months that completely changed the way you lead your team or run your marketing org?

Todd: Interesting question. Personally — right or wrong — I tend not to react too quickly, and I think our team is similarly measured. I believe we’ve grown successfully by being very intentional and thoughtful about when and how we tackle everything from challenges to opportunities.

A great example is our progression into ABM and intent marketing with RollWorks. We weren’t the first to explore that space, but once we had the right resources and the necessary level of sophistication, we experimented, learned, and ultimately implemented what I would consider a best-in-class capability.

Roli: That’s such a great takeaway; being deliberate, not just fast, is a discipline in itself. 

And now, before we wrap, let’s lighten things up a bit. If AI could take over one annoying task in your workday (or life), what would it be and why?

Todd: No question:  if it could help eliminate junk email from my inbox and spam calls from my cell, I would take it.

Roli: Honestly, if someone could train a model to flag fake calendar invites and spammy LinkedIn DMs too, I’d be the first to sign up.

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Thank you, Todd, for the thoughtful insights and tactical gems. You’re not just scaling a marketing org, you’re building a blueprint for intentional, partner-powered growth in the age of AI. Looking forward to seeing what you and your team do next.

Big thanks to Todd for sharing his journey and giving us a behind-the-scenes look at how Acumatica is building a modern marketing engine. His perspective is a powerful reminder that intentionality and impact go hand in hand. Stay tuned for more conversations in this series as I continue connecting with leaders who are shaping the future of marketing.