Marlene Spensley
EMEA Tech Partnerships Lead for Global Data Storage Partners
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides a highly reliable, scalable, low-cost infrastructure platform in the cloud that powers hundreds of thousands of businesses in 190 countries around the world. With data center locations in the U.S., Europe, Singapore, and Japan, customers across all industries are taking advantage of our low cost, elastic, open and flexible, secure platform. I am the Storage category lead for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). I am responsible for defining the technology partner strategy across these geographies to drive growth. My role includes building storage partnership strategy and GTM; build innovation; co-sell motion and AWS Marketplace strategy across EMEA; senior stakeholder engagement across the ecosystem; sales activation & enablement; channel strategy & engagement; demand generation and cosell execution; promotion of joint value to customers, partners and within AWS.
I get to meet lots of different people from lots of different companies and have opportunities to travel. I am always learning about new things and although I deal with challenges I also have a lot of fun with my colleagues and customers. It is a social job where we work hard and celebrate our successes.
Sometimes, I travel to the office, a customer's office, and sometimes I work from home. I have meetings in person or virtually over video to discuss a customer project, deliver some training or a presentation, or to brainstorm new ideas. I create new content, answer customer's queries, reach out to new people, try to find information and plan activities to grow our business.
I studied Electronic Engineering and Computing at university. After failing to get a graduate position, I began right at the bottom in a junior role in IT sales. I worked hard, learned as much as I could, and tried to be the best I could be until I saw the next opportunity to develop and progress. I have followed this philosophy in every job I have had and it has paid off.
Now that my children are growing up, I would like to travel more and take on more responsibility, to develop my own skills, and to inspire and empower the next generation. I also want to encourage more women and girls to consider a career in technology and see the diversity of roles available, as well as supporting the women already in technology with their personal development.
I love to have fun with my children, family, and friends and to travel when I can. I love beaches and forests and find being out in the open relaxing and good for the soul. I also really enjoy mentoring and helping others to excel, which I find very rewarding.
Don't just keep looking up at what you want to achieve. Remember to look back at everything you have achieved and how much you've progressed!