Kerrin Parker and Kevin Costner have a similar ethos: build it, and they will come.
While Parker isn’t building a baseball diamond, she has used this mindset to lead successful businesses over the years.
Early in Parker’s career as the executive vice president of operations and customer success at M5 Networks, for example, Parker guided the team to focus on customer satisfaction first and foremost. If the team could deliver great customer service, she believed the revenue would follow.
Build it, and they will come.
A former supervisor of Parker’s, Dan Hoffman, notes on LinkedIn: “It is true — Kerrin was instrumental in our success. She is passionate about great customer experiences, and detail-oriented and diligent enough to pull it off. She's also grounded in a solid financial mind, so none of what she built was at the expense of profitability. I'd rate Kerrin as one of the top executives in cloud service delivery at this point. We were lucky to find Kerrin early.”
Parker’s approach paid off. The company saw a 35 percent year-over-year growth rate that eventually snowballed into a $146-million sale to ShoreTel.
Today, Parker is the newly appointed CEO of FluentStream — a role she stepped into earlier this year after serving as COO for three years. FluentStream is a communication as a service company that helps businesses — especially small and midsized ones — automate customer communication systems.
Parker started at the company in 2022 and has since helped guide the under-100-person team as they repositioned the brand to meet the needs of the SMB market.
Her leadership style, she notes in an interview on the company website, centers on a shared sense of purpose and accountability.
“I like to think of it as an ‘athlete mentality’ — focus on the fundamentals, work hard and celebrate team wins,” Parker shared in the interview. “By fostering a culture of open communication and collaboration, I aim to continue fostering an environment where everyone feels empowered to contribute their best work.”
“I like to think of it as an “athlete mentality” — focus on the fundamentals, work hard and celebrate team wins.”
Her predecessor, Cass Gilmore, spoke with Yahoo Finance about the transition and shared how Parker helped lead the company in a customer-first mentality.
“Several years ago, we embraced a customer-first culture that focuses our research and development efforts, customer service initiatives, and business objectives to ensure we align with customer needs,” Gilmore told Yahoo Finance. “We have stayed true to our mission by consistently delivering the services and support our customers need to succeed in an increasingly competitive environment. I am incredibly proud of the FluentStream team and look forward to ongoing growth and success under Kerrin’s leadership.”
Company Growth
The company has experienced tremendous growth over the last few years, but especially in 2024.
- Hit nearly 33% growth for new customers
- Acquired the voice customers of sipVine, a VoIP provider
- Acquired Allied Telecom Group to offer its customers access to FluentStream’s cloud communications tech
- Appeared on the Inc. 5000 list for the seventh year in a row
- Won 8 industry awards, including the 2024 ChannelVision Visionary Spotlight Award and the TMC Friend of the Channel Award
The future of FluentStream will focus on developing new features for the company’s software, which helps business teams connect their phone and communication systems to their existing tech stack.
One of the developments that Parker helped bring to life was making sure that FluentStream could integrate seamlessly with CRM systems like HubSpot, Salesforce and Zoho.
Part of what makes FluentStream stand out is the ability to easily customize a companywide communication system through a simple user experience. Customers can adjust their communication and phone preferences in a web portal or an app, with specific controls for administrators.
“FluentStream’s future is incredibly bright, especially given our plans to roll out new features that enhance both our UCaaS and CCaaS contact center solutions,” Parker said in the company-published interview.
She also shared that the new features will focus on analytics to help businesses get a better insight into customer interactions.
“Since joining FluentStream, I’ve been inspired by our talented team’s dedication to refining our offerings and prioritizing customer success,” Parker added in the interview. “I’m thrilled to step into this role and continue building on the momentum we’ve created together.”
