Larry Venter
@larryventer
Customer success and client-engagement executive who drives retention, LTV, and time-to-value through CX transformation.
South AfricaWhat I'm looking for
I’m a customer experience and client-engagement executive who has built and scaled global customer success, professional services, and solutions organizations across Microsoft, PayPal, eBay, ThreatMetrix, and Shape Security. I redesign customer operating models and align Product, Sales, and Success around a single view of the customer to drive retention, lifetime value, and time-to-value.
My track record includes sustaining 99% customer retention and delivering 47% year-over-year services growth at scale. I build customer-experience functions from the ground up, set the KPIs that tie outcomes to P&L (retention, LTV, CSAT/NPS), and lead large cross-functional transformations through influence rather than authority.
In my current role, I advise enterprises on AI adoption—using it to modernize customer engagement and partner experience—by accelerating onboarding and lifecycle motions, strengthening trust and change management, and connecting real-world customer usage back to data quality, workflows, and decision loops. Previously, I re-engineered delivery to compress time-to-value, stabilized and grew global teams across regions, and supported revenue growth through solutions that applied ML/AI to expand outcomes into new revenue streams.
Experience
Work history, roles, and key accomplishments
Founder & Principal Advisor
Red Chili Consulting
Jan 2022 - Present (4 years 7 months)
Advises enterprise leadership on customer adoption, value realization, and retention for AI-enabled platforms, connecting customer outcomes to measurable business results. Redesigns customer onboarding and lifecycle motions and supports data/workflow alignment to improve engagement and trust.
VP Global Solutions Engineering & CS
Shape Security
Jan 2018 - Jan 2022 (4 years)
Led and scaled global Customer Success and Solutions Engineering, owning enterprise customer delivery and value realization across the US, EMEA, and APAC. Re-engineered customer delivery operating models to improve time-to-value and retention outcomes and applied ML/AI to evolve fraud detection capabilities.
Designed and stood up the operating model governing scope, timelines, risk, and success metrics for eBay’s global payments platform beta launch. Led enterprise-wide program management and coordinated cross-functional execution, including merchant onboarding and roadmap alignment across Product, Engineering, and Operations.
VP Global Client Engagement
ThreatMetrix
Jan 2015 - Jan 2017 (2 years)
Sustained 99% customer retention and 95% employee retention by rebuilding customer engagement and delivery models during hyper-growth. Re-engineered the global services operating model to drive 47% year-over-year services revenue growth and accelerated time-to-value by reducing deployment timelines and backlog.
Drove revenue growth against a $60M target by expanding into global markets and launching adaptable solutions for domestic and international clients. Built and converted enterprise relationships, growing direct and recurring/residual revenue.
Led enterprise integration initiatives deploying multi-channel payments capabilities across approximately 300 enterprise customers. Improved delivery execution and operating cadence to increase revenue throughput and accelerate go-live timelines while raising employee satisfaction.
Led strategy, product, and technical operations for Microsoft’s first global retail stores, including standing up platforms, operating model, and delivery organization from inception. Built and led a 230-person global organization and owned a $104M enterprise IT portfolio across multi-channel retail.
Director, Strategy & Planning
Transformed IT investment governance from portfolio management to capability-based optimization to increase transparency and value realization. Built enterprise forecasting and planning frameworks to support multi-year roadmaps and disciplined capital allocation.
Director/Group Product Manager
Led enterprise product strategy and delivery, managing a $9M annual product budget and delivering five major releases in 18 months. Introduced modern product-development practices to improve cross-product awareness and reuse.
Education
Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework
International Business University of Kingston
Master of Business Administration, International Business
Earned an MBA in International Business in 1996 from the International Business University of Kingston in London.
University of South Africa
Master of Arts, International Relations
Earned a Master of Arts in International Relations in 1994 from the University of South Africa in Pretoria.
Nelson Mandela University
Bachelor of Arts in Law, Law
Earned a Bachelor of Arts in Law in 1987 from Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth.
Availability
Location
South AfricaAuthorized to work in
Job categories
Skills
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