Aug 24, 2023 | 2 min read

Lessons in Technology Leadership with Tony Newcome

By: Patrick Emmons

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With a growing family, Tony Newcome took a major risk in returning to his software engineering roots after years in leadership—pay cut and all. Ultimately, the risk was rewarded. During his two decades of experience in the industry, Tony has held significant roles during critical growth moments at ExactTarget and Salesforce, and he currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer at ActiveCampaign, where he specializes in product development and software engineering. 

In this episode, Tony reflects on his journey to earning his degree and the mentorship he received from his father. He shares his approach to “integrating” your life and his mindset when people leave an organization. In looking ahead, Tony offers his perspective on utilizing AI as a tool, the challenge of deep fakes, and the trend emerging in conflict resolution skills.

  • (02:30) – ActiveCampaign
  • (09:47) – Balance vs. integration
  • (12:55) – Imposter syndrome
  • (15:59) – Motivation 
  • (17:20) – Collaboration and building trust
  • (21:30) – Knowing when a leadership role fits
  • (28:40) – Deep fakes of the future
  • (31:53) – Developing skills around conflict

About Our Guest

Tony Newcome is a growth-oriented, product-focused technologist serving as Chief Technology Officer at ActiveCampaign. With a background in software engineering, he has served as Senior Vice President, Engineering at Salesforce and significantly scaled the global platforms of ExactTarget. Tony earned a bachelor’s degree in computer technology from Purdue University.

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About Patrick Emmons

If you can’t appreciate a good sports analogy, movie quote, or military reference, you may not want to work with him, but if you value honesty, integrity, and commitment to improvement, Patrick can certainly help take your business or your career to the next level. “Good enough,” is simply not in his vernacular. Pat’s passion is for relentlessly pushing himself and others to achieve full potential. Patrick Emmons is a graduate of St. Norbert College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Mathematics. Patrick co-founded Adage Technologies in 2001 and in 2015, founded DragonSpears as a spin-off dedicated to developing custom applications that improve speed, compliance and scalability of clients’ internal and customer-facing workflow processes. When he is not learning about new technology, running a better business, or becoming a stronger leader, he can be found coaching his kids’ (FIVE of them) baseball and lacrosse teams and praising his ever-so-patient wife for all her support.

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We interview leaders from early-stage start-ups to billion-dollar enterprises who distill their lessons from their victories and their failures. Learn how these high-performing leaders organize their teams, establish a growth-minded culture, and leverage new technologies such as DevOps and Cloud.