Tess Connor was named Northwest Center’s Chief Growth Officer in June 2022, tasked with accelerating growth of our social enterprise businesses and maximizing the achievement of commercial performance objectives to benefit the NWC mission. In this role, she leads the organization’s Sales, Business Development, Marketing, and Product Development functions.
Tess brings an exceptional record of exceeding business goals, building high performing teams, and solving business problems, all driving accelerated growth and performance. Prior to joining Northwest Center, she spent more than 15 years at Microsoft, most recently as Senior Director, U.S. AI & Sustainability Strategy & Partnership, and earlier as Director of Marketing, U.S. Partner Strategy & Programs. In that role, she led a team responsible for Microsoft’s U.S. Partner Experience and Channel Incentives including U.S. partner communications through owned and paid digital channels, relationship marketing including U.S. presence at Inspire (Microsoft’s largest annual partner conference), recruitment and retention efforts with Microsoft Partner Network (MPN), membership including revenue responsibilities of U.S. MPN, and channel incentives aligned to drive Microsoft strategies.
Previously, she served as Strategic Marketing Manager for Los Angeles marketing agency Ignited, where she was responsible for market research, product feasibility and concept testing, research, and analysis of industry landscape, competitors, and customer profiling.
A native of Australia, Tess has also held Strategy Analyst and Consultant positions in her home country with AMP, Perpetual Investments, and Deloitte Australia.
Tess earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Sydney.