Craig Besant
Marketing & Sales Professional
Craig Besant is an accomplished senior sales executive who has spent over two decades building a reputation for increasing revenue and driving businesses forward. He has built a diverse range of expertise in digital advertising, pricing strategy, sales tactics, and sales leadership and development. His background demonstrates a successful history of driving growth and profitability through product launches, digital agency capability enhancement, and high-value deal closures with large corporations.
As a former Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at AppVault, Craig has extensive experience in SaaS and media sales, complex enterprise deals, and digital media and strategy development. His time as Senior Director of Digital Revenue & Products at Gannett - USA TODAY NETWORK further cemented his expertise in digital advertising and marketing advancements.
Craig's background also includes key roles as Senior Vice President of Advertising at Chicago Sun-Times, Vice President of Classified at GateHouse Media, Vice President at Hearst, Vice President at Tribune Publishing, and Vice President of Marketing at Monster. He has proven his ability to mentor and lead revenue-producing teams and to enhance the customer's overall experience, resulting in significant revenue growth for corporations of all sizes.
With a BS in Advertising from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Craig's wealth of experience and business acumen have established him as a leader in his field. Today, he operates as an independent consultant at Self-Employed, where he continues to collaborate with leaders and drive business objectives forward.
