Influential Women Highlights: Laura Hughes, Customer Success Executive, Fractional CCO, and SaaS Advisor Leader
Turning Customer Success Into a Revenue Engine
Laura Hughes has spent more than 20 years proving that Customer Success is not a support function; it is a growth strategy. Throughout her career, Laura has established a reputation for transforming Customer Success into a strategic revenue engine, helping companies successfully scale by building customer success organizations from the ground up, while growing multi-million-dollar portfolios. As the founder of RevEngine CX and a fractional Chief Customer Officer to B2B SaaS companies, she has built a career around a single conviction: that the customer relationship does not end at the contract signature; it is where the real work begins.
Originally from Scotland, Laura’s professional journey did not begin in customer success but in sales. By focusing on customer value, she consistently exceeded her numbers. Early in her career, she frequently worked directly with C-Suite executives, negotiating contracts and managing complex client relationships. Those experiences shaped a belief that would define her entire career: that long-term customer outcomes, not short-term transactions, are what drives sustainable business growth. That belief led her to pivot into customer success, where she found an opportunity to combine relationship-building, operational leadership, and revenue strategy.
What followed was a career defined by her ability to build things from scratch, scale Customer Success organizations that deliver measurable business results, and lead global teams spanning North America, EMEA, and APAC. Under her leadership, companies have consistently grown their revenue, achieving renewal rates above 90%. More importantly, she has consistently repositioned customer success as a shared organizational responsibility rather than a siloed department, embedding accountability and revenue ownership across entire businesses.
Through RevEngine CX and as a Limited Partner at Stage 2 Capital, Laura partners with B2B software companies during scale-up phases and beyond. She builds on the operational frameworks and CS infrastructure needed to scale without sacrificing the customer experience that got them there, leading with a foundation of capital efficiency, unit economics, and a clear-eyed view of what drives long-term enterprise value.
An early and practical adopter of AI in customer success, Laura implements solutions that improve operational efficiency, sharpen risk detection, and help companies identify at-risk revenue before it becomes churn. She approaches AI not as a trend but as a tool, one that, when applied correctly, makes CS teams faster, smarter, and more predictive.
Beyond the business results, Laura is deeply committed to mentorship and to bringing more women into leadership roles. Her message is simple: women belong at the table, they should claim that seat without apology, and they should expect to face obstacles that will ultimately make them stronger. She speaks from experience. Throughout her career, she has focused on creating high-performing teams and fostering environments where people feel empowered to contribute, grow, and succeed. She believes strong leadership is rooted in honesty, integrity, accountability, and leading by example. Her leadership philosophy emphasizes empowering individuals, encouraging growth through experience, and recognizing that no leader has all the answers.
Laura attributes much of her success to her passion for solving problems and her dedication to prioritizing customer outcomes. Early in her career, she understood the importance of ensuring the ongoing success of their customers and has followed this philosophy throughout every stage of her career. By focusing on customer needs and building trusted relationships, she consistently exceeded goals and established herself as a respected leader in the customer success space. She also credits her upbringing and the guidance of influential mentors for shaping her professional philosophy. Over time, she has observed the impact exceptional leaders can have on the people around them. Those experiences have helped define the type of leader she strives to be today.
Laura’s dedication to growth and education is reflected in her academic and professional achievements. Her academic credentials include a BA (Hons) in Business Studies, Marketing and Finance from Glasgow Caledonian University and an MBA from National University. She has completed executive programs in CCO leadership, AI in go-to-market strategy, and P&L fluency at Pavilion, alongside multiple AI certifications. She is the kind of leader who invests in her own development with the same intensity she brings to her clients.
Based in Austin, Texas, Laura balances her professional career with a strong commitment to family, personal growth, and community involvement. A lifelong reader, she credits her parents for instilling in her a love of reading from an early age. She is also a longtime Formula 1 enthusiast who enjoys CrossFit and running, transitioning to a more relaxed fitness routine centered around walking and listening to music.
Outside of work, Laura remains actively involved in causes that are meaningful to her, including being on the Board of her daughter’s high school theater department and working with Women’s Philanthropy at Shalom Austin. Her career reflects a balance of strategic leadership, operational excellence, mentorship, and a commitment to helping both businesses and individuals thrive in an evolving global landscape.
Learn More about Laura Hughes:
Through her Influential Women profile, https://influentialwomen.com/connect/laura-tankelhughes or through her website, https://laurahughes.lovable.app/
Influential Women
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