Lynne Capozzi, CMO of Acquia, on Giving Back and Never Quitting

From a young age, Lynne Capozzi learned the lesson of never giving up. One of her father’s mantras for Lynne and her three siblings was ‘don’t quit.’ Lynne took this mandate to heart, playing softball and earning the honor of co-captain of her field hockey team. “I tried different sports and it wasn’t an option to back out. If I signed up, I had to keep my commitment.”In college, Lynne realized that while quitting isn’t an option, sometimes pivoting is the best move. After earning a degree in business management and considering a law degree, she found her way into the tech world. Then she showed her commitment by spending nearly 20 years at Lotus, the original spreadsheet company.At Lotus, Lynne laid the groundwork for her future marketing leadership roles. “I held a variety of marketing roles, typically spending about two years in each.”

Learning different parts of a business enabled me to run that division and has paid off for me as I’ve worked at startups.

Lotus was ultimately acquired by IBM, a successful exit for the company. IBM harnessed Lynne’s range of expertise by putting her in charge of a business division. “Learning different parts of a business enabled me to run that division and has paid off for me as I’ve worked at startups.”Wanting the challenge of helping drive growth at a smaller company, Lynne next led marketing for Systinet and then JackBe before making her way to Acquia in the company’s early days. After serving as a consultant for 30 days, Lynne took over as CMO and helped Acquia build out its marketing engine and create the open-source content management system category.Two-and-a-half years later, Lynne stepped away to spend more time and energy in the nonprofit space. This included running her own nonprofit and serving on the board of Boston Children’s Hospital. “My daughter was a patient at Boston Children’s Hospital, so I had a lot of exposure to the organization. I’m proud that the research my nonprofit has funded and supported has saved children’s lives.”Now Lynne is back in the CMO role at Acquia, helping lead the company into its next stage of growth. “Acquia’s CEO asked me to do some consulting work. It was perfect timing and didn’t take long for me to fall back in love with the company and sign back on as CMO.”Some of Lynne’s other keys to success:

• Keeping her finger on the pulse. Lynne understands the importance of staying ahead of market trends to ensure agility.
• Respecting the customer. In Lynne’s view, having an intense customer focus means the customer is always right.
• Valuing mentors. Lynne appreciates the people along the way who have helped shape her career.