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Blake Limestall
Senior Director, Compensation, Payroll, HR Operations and Technology (Workday HCM)
Professional Background
Blake Limestall is a seasoned leader in global Human Resources (HR) technology, specializing in compensation, payroll, and operations. With a career spanning over a decade, Blake has demonstrated remarkable proficiency in enhancing operational excellence, optimizing costs, and applying best practices across various organizations. Currently serving as the Senior Director of Compensation, Payroll, HR Operations, and Technology at Gogo Business Aviation, his role allows him to leverage his extensive knowledge of HR strategy, compensation methodologies, and payroll technologies, all while pioneering significant changes that drive improvement in business operations.
Before his current role, Blake occupied several key positions at Gogo Business Aviation, including Director of HR Operations and Technology and Global Manager of HR Technology. His impressive ascent through various ranks underscores his capability to not only manage but also innovate HR practices within high-growth environments. Prior to his tenure at Gogo, Blake honed his expertise at Groupon. He served notably as the Global Manager of HR Information Systems (HRIS), demonstrating his skill in HRIS management, technical program management, and analytics that support strategic decision-making. His entry-level role as an Administrator at Groupon laid the groundwork for his future success, where he developed a deep understanding of HR processes and systems.
In addition to his accomplishments in corporate roles, Blake’s early career included significant experience at Paylocity, where he served as an Account Manager and Client Services Specialist. His dedication to client relations during this time equipped him with a unique perspective on service delivery in HR technology, enhancing his capability to convey technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders effectively. Blake also worked independently in the music industry, applying his HR knowledge towards client relations, which speaks to his versatility and his ability to adapt his skills to diverse audiences and industries.
With this impressive career history, Blake embodies a robust combination of technical expertise, operational insight, and strategic leadership, making him a valuable asset in any organization focused on innovative HR solutions.
Education and Achievements
Blake Limestall earned his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from Columbia College Chicago, an institution known for fostering creativity and critical thinking. This educational foundation has greatly contributed to his capacity for innovative problem solving in the fast-paced world of HR technology. The combination of his comprehensive education and extensive hands-on experience gives Blake the tools necessary to address complex HR challenges and implement solutions that benefit organizations and their employees.
Throughout his career, Blake has consistently focused on driving results that matter, and his accomplishments speak volumes about his capabilities. His leadership at Gogo Business Aviation, specifically in implementing effective compensation and payroll practices, stands out as a testament to his influence in the field. Not only has he managed large teams and overseen technology implementations, but he has also been at the forefront of HR operational changes that enhance client satisfaction and employee engagement across the board.
Blake’s strategic vision in shaping best practices for global HR strategies is a prime example of his commitment to enhancing the workforce experience while ensuring compliance with diverse regulations. His expertise in HR reporting and analytics further allows organizations to transform data into actionable insights, thereby addressing potential gaps in operations and promoting continuous improvement.
Achievements
Blake Limestall has amassed numerous achievements throughout his career, particularly with contributions to projects that led to improved operational efficiencies and enhanced employee experiences. A few notable achievements include:
- Operational Excellence: Blake played a pivotal role in shaping operational excellence frameworks within Gogo Business Aviation, spearheading initiatives that optimized operational costs and streamlined HR processes, thus allowing employees to focus on strategic tasks.
- Global Implementation Projects: His leadership during the functional and technical implementation of HR/Payroll technology solutions has been a game changer in many organizations, notably during his tenure at Groupon and Gogo. His ability to manage these complex projects has resulted in elevated service delivery and operational integrity.
- Innovative Solutions in HR: Passionate about leveraging technology, Blake has been instrumental in integrating HR reporting and analytics into strategic planning. This has empowered leadership with data-driven insights that influence HR decisions and promote growth at an organizational level.
- Best Practices Syndication: Known for his ability to syndicate best practices across teams, Blake has helped cultivate a culture of learning and adaptation, where team members can share knowledge and strategies to elevate HR functions. This collaborative mindset has led to widespread enhancements in HR service delivery outcomes.
- Leadership Development: Blake has not only led teams but has also mentored upcoming HR professionals, ensuring that the HR community continues to evolve with fresh perspectives and innovative thinking.
Ultimately, Blake Limestall’s expansive background in global HR technology, combined with his unwavering commitment to operational excellence and innovation, positions him as a frontrunner in the HR industry. His ability to marry technical skills with strategic leadership has transformed organizations and the way they view human resources. Through his work, Blake embodies the spirit of progress through HR and continues to inspire those around him to pursue excellence.
Conclusion
As he forges ahead in his career, Blake Limestall remains committed to making a significant impact in the HR technology landscape, continuously seeking opportunities that enable organizations to thrive in an ever-evolving environment. His journey from college graduate to a leading figure in global HR operations serves as an inspiring tale for aspiring HR professionals everywhere.
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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
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- 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.
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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.