As part of our talent spotlight series, we sat down with the overall winner of Nintex’s 2024 Ignite Award: Director of Solutions Engineering, Chris Ellis. The Ignite Awards are Nintex’s global annual awards, honoring the employees who ignite our business and culture and live our values and purpose in their day-to-day work with colleagues and customers alike.
As the overall Ignite Award winner, Chris received a personal experience reimbursement and a professional experience reimbursement to prioritize what matters most to him, as well as an invitation to the annual Excellence Club.
Let’s find out more about Chris and what he’s been up to since winning his award in 2024:
What can you tell us about yourself, Chris?
Prior to joining Nintex as a Technical Evangelist in 2015, I gained invaluable experience in SharePoint, Office 365 and the Nintex Platform as a Pre-Sales solution specialist within the partner network. My work with the Nintex Platform exposed me to the full lifecycle from analysis and requirement gathering to delivery, support, and training, contributing across a spectrum of projects in various industries and in some interesting places. I now have the distinct honor of managing a special team of Solution Engineers in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region as well as collaborating cross functionally to help Nintex achieve its strategic, business and revenue goals.
What did winning the Ignite award mean to you?
Winning the Ignite award was incredibly humbling and unexpected. Solution Engineers are kind of the unsung heroes of the go-to-market world: No big sales quota targets to hit means it’s rare to see a Solution Engineer’s name in lights. Combine that with APAC being a smaller region, it really was a total shock. I’m incredibly grateful to those that made it happen and also to those who’ve contributed to my growth over almost a decade at Nintex. I guess it puts a bow on a lot of hard work and sacrifice during my Nintex career.
What have you done with your Ignite award?
The physical award itself sits on my desk at home as a nice reminder. I used the personal prize to take a holiday to see my family. Being from Scotland and living in Melbourne, I’m about as far away as I can be from my parents and brother, so we organized a “meet-in-the-middle” holiday in Bali … which also happened to be where Excellence Club was held! An invitation to Club was also part of the Ignite prize, so I got to take two Bali trips in just four weeks! The professional aspect of the prize is still in the works, but I’ll be using it for some formal leadership training in the coming months.
What has been your biggest achievement at Nintex to date?
It has to be the Ignite Award, right? I’ve been lucky enough to make Club on a few occasions early in my career as the most influential Solution Engineer as well, before I became a manager, but to have been voted by my peers for this award is a very special accolade. I’m also proud to know that, based on feedback anyway, I manage and maintain a happy, successful team of Solution Engineers. That is something I hold dear to my heart.
We have an incredibly special team at Nintex; a group of people for whom no ask is too small, no challenge too big. – Chris Ellis, Director, Solution Engineering
What is the best thing about working at Nintex?
I’ve been asked this question a number of times, most notably by senior leadership who are new to the business and my answer never wavers: It’s the people. We have an incredibly special team at Nintex; a group of people for whom no ask is too small, no challenge too big. Prior to Nintex, I’ve worked for one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies and I’ve worked in the partner network – but I’ve never met a more cohesive unit as great as the people here at Nintex.
What advice would you give to someone new at Nintex for them to succeed?
First: Don’t just lean in, leap in. We do great things here at Nintex, but there is always room for improvement and that improvement is undoubtedly going to come from fresh ideas and those with a new vision.
The second piece of advice would be to always put yourself in the customers’ shoes when you’re thinking about an initiative, no matter which part of the organization you’re in. Make sure your vision is easy for a customer to understand, that it helps them solve business problems, and that they always have the ability to provide feedback. Think customer-first, and you’re golden.
Don’t just lean in; leap in. – Chris Ellis, Director, Solution Engineering