Stephen Yao

I'm a results-oriented product and marketing leader with an extensive background in both B2B and B2C industries. With over two decades of experience, I've had the privilege of leading global teams in the execution of highly successful go-to-market strategies, which have consistently yielded substantial revenue growth.

My passion lies in storytelling and fostering positive customer experiences by bridging the gap between intricate technical details and tangible value that truly resonates. I've worked with iconic brands like SMART Technologies, Next Media, ELMO, MTR Corporation, HK Electric, The Sarojin, China Unicom, HKUST, and more. I offer a distinctive combination of collaboration, creativity, and strategic insight that fuels my drive for innovation and revenue generation.

Let's connect and explore opportunities to collaborate on impactful strategies that not only foster innovation but also drive remarkable results in revenue growth.

Professional Experience

Apryse (formerly PDFTron), Remote – HQ in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Apryse is a premier global provider of high-performance document processing technology serving OEM and 

enterprise customers across a broad spectrum of industries, focusing on digital transformation workflows.

Director, Product Marketing                                                                                     May 2022 – Present

• Spearheaded a new global team in executing go-to-market strategies for diverse B2B and B2C solutions, including high-code document processing software (Apryse SDK), low-code technology (integrations for Appian and Salesforce), and no-code SaaS portfolio (Xodo.com)
• Developed foundational assets, including personas, battlecard resources, messaging framework, buyer journey maps, industry playbooks, competitor analysis, win/loss analysis and Customer Advisory Board
• Implemented a new company-wide quarterly release launch process, generating a record $400K in revenue in our first launch and over $3M in pipeline over a 6 month period
• Generated high-value content including blogs, web content, developer documentation and thought leadership articles targeting developers and decision-makers, performing at >40% engagement

SMART Technologies, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

A global pioneer and leader in interactive display technology & software fostering collaboration and improving the way the world works and learns in education, business and government. 

Manager, Customer Success                                                                                      May 2020 – Feb 2022

• Led the startup and implementation of a new Customer Success team focused on improving software and hardware adoption, increasing customer retention, driving new business growth through cross-sell & up-sell opportunities
• Rapidly led to increases to 92% customer satisfaction, 95% onboarding completion, 22% increase in product adoption, and 4% renewal rate increase within first 6 months

Manager, Product Marketing                                                                                     Oct 2014 – May 2020 

• Led global go-to-market strategy, launch, foundational marketing, communications and marketing campaign plans for >US$400M and >200 launches & updates in SMART hardware, software and services portfolios across education, business and government segments 
• Enabled SMART’s global sales force and reseller channel with high-impact foundational & customer-facing content including web-based content, videos, print collateral, whitepapers, presentations, demo content and events
• Coordinated with global cross-functional teams (marketing, sales, product development, product management, internal & external creative studio, PR, operations, finance, training) to support demand generation and revenue realization
• Developed buyer personas, key purchasing considerations, impactful value propositions and key messaging of targeted demographics

Product & Global Marketing Manager                                                                     Jul 2010 – Oct 2014

• Developed and executed global go-to-market and marketing campaign plans for SMART visual collaboration solutions for AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) and Government segments, contributing US$160M in sales
• Developed and executed 18-month rolling global product marketing, go-to-market plans and foundational sales & channel collateral for >US$60M of SMART’s interactive educational hardware and software products

Product Manager                                                                                                          Apr 2007 – Jul 2010

• Overall product management of 42 educational technology products, and commercialized 11 new products to education and corporate markets, with annual revenues totaling over US$100M
• Managed products by identifying customer requirements and target markets, created go-to-market strategies, product strategy, CRDs and product specifications, prepared product positioning and messaging, forecasted demand, directed PIPO planning and focused on cost reduction strategies
• Awarded 1 design patent (US D654,526 S) and 2 intellectual property disclosures

Lloyd Northover, Hong Kong

An international branding and design consultancy with offices in London, Oxford, Barcelona, Dubai and Hong Kong, specializing in corporate identity and branding, devoted to creating vivid brands and clear communications for organizations.

Project Manager                                                                                                           Feb 2004 – Sep 2006

• Overall project management and day-to-day coordination of design, branding and corporate communications projects for clientele in Hong Kong, Beijing, Taiwan, Thailand and London
• Developed corporate website & intranet sites, investor communications, and brand & marketing communications in print and online
• Established and managed strategic accounts, each with direct billings of over HK$1M, and led the production of 10 corporate website projects and 14 award-winning annual reports and 

The University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada

• Bachelor of Commerce – Operations Management                                                                          
• Bachelor of Science – Cellular, Molecular and Microbial Biology