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Michael Hibbert

@michaelhibbert1

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Sales Director at BlackLine, where I built its Middle East and Africa SaaS business from zero to $4.5M ARR.

South Africa

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What I'm looking for

I'm available at short notice and open to remote or hybrid roles, with regular international travel.

At BlackLine, I built the Middle East and Africa business from a standing start, growing ARR from zero to $4.5M. I lead regional sales for cloud SaaS and agentic AI for financial operations, working with enterprise customers, SAP, and global system integrators.

I develop AI-enabled finance transformation propositions with SAP and Deloitte and run executive AI workshops for CFOs, CIOs, and boards. My work spans direct and channel sales, new-logo acquisition, renewals, and expansion.

Before BlackLine, I held full P&L responsibility at Infor, where I delivered approximately 40% year-on-year regional revenue growth. I also opened NetIQ's African operation and built Marshal/Trustwave's emerging-markets business; earlier, I began as a self-taught systems engineer.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Sales Director, Middle East and Africa

Current

BlackLine

Jan 2014 - Present (12 years 9 months)

Leads sales for Africa and the Middle East, building the regional business from zero to $4.5M ARR. Manages complex enterprise SaaS deals and AI solution sales to CFOs and CIOs.

Sales Leadership New Logo Acquisition Strategic Account Management Renewals Expansion Revenue Channel Sales Co Sell MEDDPICC Salesforce Gong Generative AI Agentic AI Machine Learning Finance Operations AI Workshops

General Manager and Sales Director, Middle East and Africa

Infor

Jan 2009 - Jan 2014 (5 years)

Held full P&L responsibility for Southern Africa and the Middle East, leading a team of 40 and delivering approximately 40% year-over-year regional revenue growth. Closed multimillion-dollar SaaS and ERP agreements.

P L Ownership Sales Leadership Team Management Forecasting Partner Relationships Direct Sales Channel Sales ERP SaaS Negotiation

Director, Middle East, Africa and Emerging Markets

Marshal / Trustwave

Jan 2006 - Jan 2009 (3 years)

Built the emerging-markets business, selling cybersecurity software to banks and telecoms across multiple regions. Established distributor and reseller coverage and secured strategic contracts.

Cybersecurity Sales Leadership Channel Development Distributor Management Reseller Management Technical Sales Complex Sales

Sales Director, Emerging Markets

NetIQ

Jan 2001 - Jan 2005 (4 years)

Opened NetIQ's African operation, recruited the first regional sales team, and delivered annual revenue growth of more than 30% while managing enterprise customers and channel partners.

Sales Leadership Market Entry Team Building Channel Management Enterprise Sales Identity Management Security Software

Technology Sales, Technical Pre-Sales and IT Management

Earlier Career

Began as a self-taught systems engineer and progressed into technical pre-sales, systems and security software sales, business development, and territory management.

Systems Engineering Networking Programming Pre Sales Sales Business Development Territory Management

Co-Founder and Board Member

Human Moments

Co-founded a social enterprise creating public-private partnerships for rural ICT deployment and community development, providing SROI reporting to corporate sponsors.

Social Enterprise Partnership Development Program Structure Impact Measurement (SROI)Rural Development