Barbara Holzapfel

Barbara Holzapfel is the Chief Marketing Officer at Genesys. She works closely with the product, engineering and go-to-market teams to evolve the brand and marketing strategies, expand the Experience as a Service leadership presence in the market, and grow the business.

Barbara has more than 20 years of B2B and B2C experience in the tech industry with a track record of driving growth through innovation and marketing, working collaboratively across disciplines and regions and with companies ranging from startups to multibillion-dollar global businesses.

As the VP of Education at Microsoft, Barbara oversaw growth strategy and marketing for Microsoft’s global, multibillion-dollar Education business spanning B2B and B2C and doubled the business in 3 years. She served as CMO for 2 Fintech companies, powering 100% growth annually for each company. Before that, Barbara spent 12 years at SAP in a variety of leadership roles spanning marketing and general management, including SVP Portfolio Marketing for a $15B business and SVP and Managing Director SAP Labs North America, driving Cloud/SaaS innovation strategy and operations for 30 SAP Innovation Labs. Barbara started her career at The Coca-Cola Company and spent several years in management consulting.

Barbara has a bachelor’s degree in business and economics from Saarland University (Germany) and an MBA from the University of Michigan/Saarland University. She also serves as board director for Blackline Safety Corporation and Guitar Center and has been closely involved with AnitaB.org for over a decade. She is fluent in English, German and French, and resides in Seattle, Wash.