Katie D.
5.0
Studied at Boston University
Works at Danforth Executive Coaching
Available tomorrow at 5:00 PM UTC
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About Katie
Katie Danforth, principal of Katie Danforth Coaching, is a specialist in empowering high-potential leaders, creators, individual contributors, and senior executives, guiding them toward the achievement of their professional and personal goals. Her expertise lies in driving enhanced performance, career development, transitions, and successfully navigating change. With a distinguished career in leadership, Katie has made significant contributions to renowned brands including LinkedIn, The Economist, and Ziff Davis. Coaching teams to record revenue achievements and spearheading strategies for growth have been consistent themes throughout her career. During her decade-long tenure at LinkedIn, Katie held pivotal sales leadership roles. She was part of the sales launch team for sponsored content; led a 50-person global cross-functional sales team dedicated to supporting LinkedIn's largest customers; and played a critical leadership role in building a North America key account sales organization. Katie honed her expertise in relationship building and growth strategies by engaging with C-level and other high-level executives at Fortune 500 companies. Her sustained high-performance garnered her recognition as a top global performer for multiple consecutive years. At The Economist, Katie served as the head of sales for their advertising, research, and events business in the Western United States and Latin America where she developed and executed a new global sales strategy. Under her leadership, the team achieved consecutive years of record revenue sales. Prior to The Economist, Katie dedicated seven-plus years at Ziff Davis to building, training, and coaching top-tier advertising-sales organizations. Katie holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston University's College of Communication; an Executive Coach certification from Hudson Institute of Coaching; and is certified as an Executive Coach through International Coaching Federation (ICF). A Vermont native, she and her husband live in the San Francisco Bay Area and have two adult children.
Why do I coach?
Growing up as the youngest of eight in a big, boisterous family, you learn fast. If you didn’t speak up, you’d never get a word in, and if you didn’t listen, you’d miss half the story. Our family dinners were like a master class in communication, observation, and adapting on the fly. With so many personalities around the table, I became skilled at understanding people—their emotions, perspectives, and motivations—long before I ever realized it would become a core part of my career. Before stepping into the world of coaching, I spent years leading high-performing sales teams at some pretty iconic companies—LinkedIn, The Economist, and Ziff Davis, to name a few. Along the way, I had the privilege of partnering with executives at innovative giants like Adobe, Cisco, and Salesforce. I loved the challenge of pushing teams to exceed goals and over-delivering on expectations. But what truly energized me was helping people grow. Whether motivating my team or collaborating with leaders, it always came down to understanding people and what drives them. That passion for unlocking potential is what ultimately inspired my leap into coaching. Now, I get to dedicate myself fully to what I’m most passionate about: supporting people in achieving their biggest dreams. My approach? It’s equal parts empathy and challenge. I help clients see themselves with clarity, dig deep into what’s holding them back, and grow in ways they never expected. It’s all about unlocking that potential and watching it flourish. I’ve got a solid foundation to back it up, too—Boston University’s College of Communication, Hudson Institute of Coaching, and an ICF executive coaching certification. But beyond the credentials, I spent over two decades balancing life as a working mom, raising two incredible kids while building a career I’m proud of. My kids saw me juggle work and life’s many moving pieces, and I think they saw the grit, perseverance, and love that powered it all.
Work Experience
Principal
Danforth Executive Coaching
October 2023 - Present
I specialize in empowering high-potential leaders, individual contributors and senior executives to achieve their professional and personal goals. With a proven track record of guiding individuals and organizations towards enhanced performance, leadership development, and self-awareness, I am dedicated to unlocking the full potential of my clients. Executive Coaching, Career Development Coaching and +2 skills
Head of Key Accounts, West
August 2021 - June 2023
Continuing my leadership journey in a second line management role in our Sales Solutions organization. Our Key Accounts team is focused on helping large enterprises power their go-to market with LinkedIn. Sales Navigator and Sales Insights arm organizations to drive revenue through a shared foundation of people-powered data. Leadership, Sales Planning and +4 skills
Global Client Director
April 2016 - August 2021
I lead and develop a team of cross functional experts to partner with some of the most highly regarded tech companies in the world as they focus on growth. Our team helps enterprise organizations by supporting their ability to leverage the largest professional social network at scale. We do this by facilitating our client's capacity to connect and engage with the people who matter most: their talent pools, employees, prospects, and customers. I'm excited to apply my leadership and experience as an effective problem solver to advance the goals of our largest customers. Complex Sales, Sales Leadership and +4 skills
Senior Account Executive
May 2013 - March 2016
As part of the Marketing Solutions Enterprise sales team, I work with leading technology companies to help build meaningful relationships with the world's professionals through innovative social strategies and content marketing solutions. I'm inspired to work for a company whose mission is to connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful. Online Advertising, Complex Sales and +4 skills
Head of Sales
The Economist Group
October 2012 - May 2013
Promoted to lead digital, print, content and event sales orgs for the Western US and Latin America region. In this role, I worked with executive leadership to develop strategy and reorganize from individual platform selling to an integrated solution approach. Hired, managed and coached senior managers to broaden skillset and surpass revenue goals. I will always feel fortunate to have worked for one of the most well respected brands in the world. Complex Sales, Sales leader and +5 skills
Western Regional Program Director
The Economist Group
July 2010 - November 2012
Managed Western US and Latin America sales team responsible for selling digital and print advertising solutions. Led the team to two consecutive years of record revenue sales achievement. Complex Sales, Sales Leadership and +2 skills
Director, Business Development
Zeta Global
July 2009 - July 2010
Led the west coast new business development initiative at top 50 U.S. digital agency. Services included SaaS email marketing; search engine marketing and optimization; website development and management; brand strategy and creative services; social media marketing; and digital publishing. Team Leadership and Account Management
National Account Sr. Manager
Diablo Custom Publishing
2004 - July 2009
Part of a small team that led division to the leading source of revenue and profitability for the company. Helped significantly grow business through sales of custom media projects by winning contracts from Chevron, Cisco, Comcast and Frito-Lay, while also servicing local, non-profit category. Account Management
Associate Publisher
Ziff Davis
October 1993 - September 2000
Education
Boston University
Bachelors, Communications
3 Reviews
Overall Rating
5.0
Katie has helped clients get into these companies: