Suggestions
Ben Cabrera
Technology Executive, Digital Business Transformation, Organizational Change Agent,
Professional Background
Ben Cabrera is a highly accomplished global IT executive with extensive experience in leading change initiatives within diverse business systems and processes. His career spans several critical areas including finance, sales, procurement, supply chain, and human resources, showcasing his ability to drive transformation in highly regulated environments that often involve complex operational frameworks. With a technical prowess that encompasses cloud computing, ERP systems, SaaS solutions, mobile technologies, and data security, Ben has made significant contributions to companies with substantial user bases, reaching up to 130,000 individuals.
Ben’s professional journey has seen him work in various industries, including energy, waste management, pharmaceuticals, and aerospace. This rich background enables him to deliver innovative, user-friendly, cost-effective, and scalable business solutions tailored to meet the unique needs of any organization. His leadership style is characterized by collaboration; he is known for creating high-performing teams that are focused on business objectives, execution excellence, and a customer-centric approach. This dynamic leadership approach has been pivotal in achieving success across multiple projects and initiatives.
Being a tri-lingual expatriate, Ben possesses extensive cultural awareness, having lived and worked in various regions such as Europe, Asia, and Latin America. This global perspective further enhances his ability to effectively manage international teams and drive cross-border projects.
Education and Achievements
Ben Cabrera's educational background reflects his commitment to continuous learning and professional development. He studied at the US Marine Corps NCO & Staff NCO Leadership School, which equipped him with vital leadership skills and discipline. He furthered his studies by obtaining an Executive MBA from the prestigious NYU Stern School of Business, one of the leading institutions for business education worldwide. Additionally, Ben holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, underscoring his solid foundation in technology and engineering principles.
His career highlights are a testament to his expertise and ability to deliver results. Notably, he spearheaded the digital transformation of an IT application and infrastructure portfolio for a $1.8 billion enterprise, showcasing his capability to handle large-scale projects effectively. Furthermore, his contributions have led to the development of operational system solutions for newly established business entities with annual sales amounting to $400 million.
Under his leadership, teams have not only thrived but have also received numerous accolades for their innovative approaches to technology implementation. Ben's teams were honored with four IDG - CIO 100 technology awards within six years, underscoring their commitment to excellence and cutting-edge solutions.
Career Progression
Ben Cabrera’s illustrious career features a variety of roles that illustrate his evolution as a technology leader. Currently, he serves as the Principal and Fractional CIO at Freeman Clarke, where he leverages his extensive experience to provide strategic direction and IT leadership to organizations seeking transformation.
His previous role as Managing Partner at Orchestrado allowed him to guide companies in optimizing their operational processes and enhancing their technological capabilities. Ben also held significant positions at Covanta, where he was instrumental as Vice President & Chief Information Officer and Vice President, Delivery Services. His tenure at Covanta was marked by remarkable performance turnarounds and operational enhancements in multiple departments.
In addition to his corporate roles, Ben has contributed to the academic field as an Adjunct Professor at Dominican College. Here, he has had the opportunity to impart his knowledge and expertise to the next generation of professionals, nurturing their skills and encouraging them to pursue careers in technology and business.
Prior to his impactful roles at Covanta, Ben served as the Director of Global Finance Systems (GFS) at Schering Plough and as the Program Director for Global Program Delivery at Pfizer. His experience at Pharmacia as the Director of Global Prescription Business further reinforced his capabilities in managing complex IT frameworks and initiatives in the pharmaceutical sector.
Technical Expertise and Major Technologies
Ben Cabrera possesses a robust technical foundation that is essential for navigating the modern IT landscape. His expertise spans across various technologies and platforms, including:
- SaaS Solutions: Proficient in utilizing platforms such as Workday, Chronos, Ariba, ServiceNow, OKTA, Sentinel One, and DUO to enhance organizational efficiency.
- Cloud Services: Knowledgeable in deploying and managing cloud environments including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), and Microsoft Azure, enabling organizations to leverage cloud computing for scalable operations.
- Data Management and Analytics: Experienced in implementing tools such as QlikView, QlikSense, and Power BI to facilitate data-driven decision-making, ensuring that businesses can extract valuable insights from their data resources.
- Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT): Familiar with technologies like CITEC and Ignition to drive innovations in infrastructure and process automation.
- ERP Systems: Skilled in working with Oracle, specifically with PeopleSoft and NetSuite, contributing to the development and enhancement of enterprise resource planning systems.
- IT Governance and Operations: Adept in architecture, software development, operations, governance, and program management, ensuring that IT systems are reliable and compliant with industry standards.
Through his breadth of knowledge and practical experience, Ben is well-positioned to continue making significant contributions to the field of IT and business solutions. His efforts not only improve operational efficiencies but also cultivate a culture of innovation and customer satisfaction within organizations.
In conclusion, Ben Cabrera exemplifies a dedicated, knowledgeable, and innovative IT leader whose career reflects substantial achievements across multiple industries and technologies. With a solid educational background, extensive technical skills, and a proven track record of success, he continues to shape the future of IT through his strategic vision and collaborative leadership.
Location
People also viewed
Related People
Clay is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Clay centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Clay's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.