Richard J. KirbyVP, Strategic Partnerships & Channel Sales

Leesburg, Virginia  /  Sales Management & Channel Leadership  /  Est. 1984

Richard J.
Kirby

Four decades running sales teams, and building the partner channels that sell alongside them.

Sales management and channel leader with 35+ years driving revenue growth in instrumentation, internet services, SaaS, PaaS, ERP and BPO / FaaS in compliance-driven markets. Proven ability to build high-performing teams, close complex deals, and lead full-cycle sales and marketing operations, with deep experience in government contracting (GovCon), nonprofit and business-to-business markets.

Richard J. Kirby, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Channel Sales at Sightline Systems.
Richard J. Kirby VP, Strategic Partnerships & Channel Sales
  • $33M+Annual revenue led across SaaS, ERP, cloud and BPO
  • $8M → $41MRevenue scaled over ten years at NeoSystems
  • $3.5MLargest single BPO / FaaS contract closed, annual value
  • 55%Share of revenue delivered by the international channel he built

Career trace

Twelve roles, nine organizations, 1984 to now

Each bar is one role, scaled to its actual length. The second lane shows roles held concurrently. Select any bar to read it below.

Role Vice President, Strategic Partnerships & Channel Sales
Organization Sightline Systems
Span Jan 2026 – Present
Tenure 0.6 yrs

Current role Primary role Held concurrently

Two disciplines

He runs the sales team and he builds the channel

Most sales leaders do one of these well. The record below is split roughly evenly between revenue his own team closed and revenue that partners closed on his behalf.

Direct revenue

Sales Management

Carrying the number and building the team that carries it. Hiring, coaching and performance-managing sales development representatives (SDR), business development representatives (BDR), account executives (AE) and proposal staff, with territory design, forecast discipline and compensation plans tied to growth targets.

  • $8M → $41M Revenue scaled at NeoSystems while building the sales organization from a standing start
  • $33M+ Annual revenue led across SaaS, ERP, cloud and BPO portfolios
  • 4 teams SDR, BDR, AE and proposal functions built and managed, plus support and service staff

Managed sales teams at Sightline Systems BlueStreet Sand Solutions NeoSystems Conductus Quantum Design

Indirect revenue

Channel & Partnership Management

Recruiting, enabling and scaling third-party sellers: resellers, systems integrators, distributors, affiliate partners and accounting firms. Formalizing partner programs, setting margin and tier structures, and acting as the in-house advocate for partners.

  • 33% Growth in the Deltek partner channel, with partner-sourced revenue up over 55%
  • 55% Share of Quantum Design revenue delivered by the international channel he built
  • 2 networks Worldwide distributor teams assembled from scratch for two instrumentation manufacturers

Built channels at Sightline Systems Capitalize Analytics NeoSystems Deltek Road Runner Conductus Quantum Design

Four roles sit in both columns: Sightline Systems, NeoSystems, Conductus and Quantum Design, where he carried a team quota and owned the partner network at the same time.

Capabilities

Seven capabilities, and where each was applied

Every capability below names the organizations where it was applied. Select a firm to jump to that role.

Channel & Alliance Development

Recruiting, enabling and scaling third-party sellers: resellers, systems integrators, distributors, affiliate partners and certified public accounting firms. Formalized a partner program at Deltek, built international distributor networks for two instrumentation manufacturers, and now owns partner strategy, recruitment, enablement and pipeline at Sightline Systems.

  • Grew the Deltek partner channel by 33% and lifted partner-sourced revenue over 55% through tiered pricing incentives
  • Built the international channel that delivered 55% of Quantum Design revenue

Applied at Sightline Systems Capitalize Analytics NeoSystems Deltek Road Runner Conductus Quantum Design

Sales Management & Team Leadership

Direct ownership of the number: hiring, coaching and performance-managing SDR, BDR, AE and proposal teams, setting territories and quotas, running forecast and pipeline reviews, and designing compensation plans that pay for the behavior the business needs.

  • Built SDR, AE and proposal organizations from scratch at NeoSystems after starting as an individual contributor
  • Core member of the executive leadership team through a five-fold revenue expansion
  • Managed all sales, marketing, support and service personnel at Quantum Design
  • Designed compensation and incentive programs aligned to growth targets, improving accountability and productivity

Applied at Sightline Systems BlueStreet Sand Solutions NeoSystems Conductus Quantum Design

Enterprise & Complex Sales

Full-cycle ownership of long, multi-stakeholder deals in regulated buying environments, from first touch through negotiated close. Consistently the closer on the largest transaction in the room.

  • Led the team that closed two ERP engagements totaling $18M
  • Closed a $3.5M annual BPO / FaaS contract, the largest in company history
  • Closed the largest deal of the year at BlueStreet: $420K annually plus $175K in start-up fees

Applied at Sightline Systems BlueStreet Sand Solutions Capitalize Analytics CohnReznick NeoSystems Deltek Independent Consulting Road Runner Road Runner San Diego Quantum Design

Revenue Operations & CRM

Standing up and cleaning up customer relationship management (CRM) systems, then turning them into forecasting discipline: key performance indicator (KPI) dashboards, campaign analytics and pipeline reporting leaders actually use.

  • Implemented Salesforce and Pardot at NeoSystems, establishing dashboards and forecast discipline
  • Rebuilt a neglected Salesforce instance at Sand Solutions into a working reporting system
  • Early adopter and tester for the firm-wide Microsoft CRM rollout at CohnReznick

Applied at Sightline Systems BlueStreet Sand Solutions Capitalize Analytics CohnReznick NeoSystems

Marketing & Demand Generation

Go-to-market (GTM) plans, campaign execution, sales enablement assets and brand work, including a full corporate rebrand. Early and heavy adopter of artificial intelligence tools for outbound email and LinkedIn messaging.

  • Directed a complete corporate rebrand, new web presence and rebuilt sales collateral at NeoSystems
  • Wrote and executed the business-to-business marketing plan for consumer-to-commercial cable modem service
  • Planned, budgeted and ran a full marketing communications program at Quantum Design

Applied at Sightline Systems BlueStreet Sand Solutions CohnReznick NeoSystems Independent Consulting Road Runner San Diego Conductus Quantum Design

Contracts, Compliance & GovCon

Drafting and negotiating non-disclosure agreements (NDA), statements of work (SOW), affiliate contracts and master purchase agreements, in markets governed by Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements.

  • Consolidated equipment support agreements projected to save $14M per year over five years
  • Sold ASC-606 implementation, cybersecurity and compliance advisory engagements

Applied at BlueStreet Sand Solutions CohnReznick NeoSystems Independent Consulting Road Runner

International Market Development

Building and supporting sales channels outside the United States, covering university, government and corporate research buyers worldwide, and today extending partner coverage into international markets for Sightline Systems.

  • International channel accounted for 55% of Quantum Design revenue
  • Assembled a worldwide partner team to sell and service instrumentation for Conductus

Applied at Sightline Systems Conductus Quantum Design

Professional experience

The record, most recent first

  1. Jan 2026 Present

    Vice President, Strategic Partnerships & Channel Sales

    Sightline Systems Fairfax, Virginia

    Performance monitoring and observability software.

    • Leads channel sales initiatives, alliance development and go-to-market collaboration to strengthen partner performance and customer acquisition.
    • Personally manages key strategic opportunities and executive-level relationships across partnerships and channel partners.
    • Owns partner strategy, recruitment, enablement and pipeline development to expand market reach and accelerate revenue.
    • Joined as a senior sales leader reporting to the chief executive officer, driving revenue growth through partnerships and channel development across domestic and international markets.

    Tools Microsoft Office, HubSpot, LinkedIn, Claude.ai, Seamless.ai

    Channel & AlliancesEnterprise SalesSales ManagementRevenue OpsMarketingInternational

  2. Apr 2024 May 2025

    Senior Director of Sales

    BlueStreet Solutions, Inc.

    Outsourced accounting and ERP advisory services for government contracting and nonprofit clients.

    Directed business development for outsourced accounting and ERP advisory offerings, expanding client portfolios and revenue across GovCon and nonprofit markets. Positioned services to reduce overhead, improve controls and sharpen operational focus while maintaining high client satisfaction.

    • New business development. Targeted and secured high-fit opportunities through data-driven outreach and relationship building. Closed the largest deal of the year at $420K per year with $175K in start-up fees.
    • Full sales cycle ownership. Managed prospecting through closing, using HubSpot CRM to track performance, pipeline and engagement.
    • Client relationship management. Built long-term partnerships to ensure continuous value and strategic alignment.
    • Account growth. Identified upsell and cross-sell opportunities within existing and former clients.
    • Direct marketing. Used artificial intelligence tools to develop email and LinkedIn messaging for a coherent campaign promoting the firm's services.
    • Contract oversight. Drafted and negotiated NDAs, SOWs and other agreements critical to client engagement and compliance.

    Sold Microsoft Azure, Deltek Costpoint ERP (SaaS and on-premises), Unanet, JAMIS

    Enterprise SalesSales ManagementRevenue OpsMarketingContracts

  3. Oct 2018 Apr 2024

    VP Sales & Marketing / Business Development Consultant

    Sand Solutions Limited Wellington, Florida (remote)

    CMMC-compliant PaaS and IaaS provider for Deltek ERP cloud hosting.

    • Closed contracts valued at $3.5M and developed a pipeline of $1.6M in open opportunities.
    • Held key account management responsibility for the top 10% of revenue clients, representing 80% of company revenue.
    • Owned market penetration and customer acquisition strategy, adding twelve key clients in two years and lifting company revenue roughly 50%.
    • Ran email campaigns promoting cloud, PaaS and IaaS offerings for Deltek Costpoint, Vision and VantagePoint to government contractors, nonprofits and professional services firms.
    • Cleaned up and streamlined the Salesforce implementation to produce sales reports and track opportunities through the cycle.

    Tools Microsoft Office, ChatGPT, Salesforce, SharePoint, Jira

    Enterprise SalesSales ManagementRevenue OpsMarketingContracts

  4. Jun 2022 Jul 2023

    Data Analytics Sales Executive

    Capitalize Analytics Dallas, Texas (remote)

    Enterprise data and reporting tools for financial planning and operations, sold across the mid-Atlantic region.

    • Built a $1.7M opportunity pipeline while closing over $400K in deals during the first six months of 2023, adding seven new clients.
    • Led customer acquisition in a new region, adding eleven new clients.
    • Held key account management responsibility for strategic clients.
    • Sold both SaaS and on-premises software.
    • Certified in Alteryx and Workday Adaptive Planning partner sales programs.

    Sold Alteryx, Workday Adaptive Planning, Snowflake, UiPath, Power BI, Tableau

    Enterprise SalesChannel & AlliancesRevenue Ops

  5. Oct 2016 Oct 2018

    Client Relationship Executive

    CohnReznick LLP Tysons, Virginia

    Advisory and assurance services for government contractors.

    • Built a $1.5M pipeline through strategic networking and outreach.
    • Sold ASC-606 implementation, cybersecurity and compliance advisory services.
    • Prospected and closed information technology risk and GDPR consulting projects.
    • Early adopter and tester for the firm's new Microsoft CRM systems.

    Enterprise SalesRevenue OpsMarketingContracts

  6. Aug 2006 Jul 2016

    Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing

    NeoSystems Corp. Tysons, Virginia

    GovCon-focused managed accounting, ERP systems integration and cloud enablement services.

    Core member of the executive leadership team, directing sales channel development, go-to-market strategy, demand generation, proposals and marketing. After starting as an individual contributor, built and led SDR and AE teams plus a proposal organization, driving sustained revenue growth and market penetration across the government contracting ecosystem.

    • Scaled annual revenue from $8M to $41M through targeted go-to-market execution and disciplined pipeline leadership.
    • Led the team that closed two enterprise ERP engagements totaling $18M, expanding footprint with strategic GovCon clients.
    • Secured the company's largest BPO / FaaS contract at $3.5M annually, strengthening the recurring revenue model.
    • Led cross-functional teams spanning sales, marketing and proposal operations, including hiring, enablement and performance management.
    • Drove sales of cloud and on-premises ERP, human resource information system (HRIS), business intelligence (BI) and planning platforms.
    • Directed a complete corporate rebrand, launched a new web presence and rebuilt all sales and marketing collateral.
    • Implemented Salesforce CRM and Pardot, establishing KPI dashboards, forecasting discipline and data-driven sales analytics.
    • Designed compensation and incentive programs aligned to growth targets, improving accountability and productivity.

    Sold Deltek Costpoint, NetSuite, Integrify, IBM Cognos / TM1, UltiPro

    Channel & AlliancesEnterprise SalesSales ManagementRevenue OpsMarketingContracts

  7. Jun 2005 Aug 2006

    Alliance Partner Manager

    Deltek, Inc. Herndon, Virginia

    Leading provider of enterprise software and information solutions for government contractors and professional services firms.

    Brought in to formalize the Alliance Partner program, serve as front-line support for partners, recruit new partners, and grow the subscription software income stream. Acted as the in-house advocate for partners with Deltek management.

    • Grew the partner channel by 33%, adding certified public accounting and services firms to the roster.
    • Oversaw a revenue increase of over 55% through enhanced partner support and pricing tiers that encouraged partners to buy up for better per-unit pricing.

    Channel & AlliancesEnterprise Sales

  8. Jan 2002 Aug 2005

    Business Development Consultant

    Self-Employed, Sales & Technology Consulting Washington, DC metro area

    Sales strategy, marketing collateral and technology integration for a range of clients.

    • Helped firms improve sales presentations, branding consistency and marketing assets.
    • Supported lead generation, proposal development, contract negotiation and account management.
    • Implemented productivity technologies to modernize sales and marketing operations.

    Key engagements

    • KCS Landscape Management (Fort Meade, Maryland): established a fully functional field office covering information technology, phones, heating and cooling, and security; created visual presentations tailored to landscape design proposals. KCS was acquired by Yellowstone Landscape in 2021 and now operates as its Washington, DC branch.
    • Freddie Mac: led migration support for lenders moving to a new web-based secondary mortgage platform, delivering training, technical support and adoption strategies for the transition off legacy systems.

    Enterprise SalesMarketingContracts

  9. Jan 1999 Dec 2001

    Director, Business Development

    Road Runner / Time Warner Cable Now Charter Spectrum Herndon, Virginia

    Third-party affiliate sales and marketing, affiliate contract negotiation, and master purchase agreements with key technology vendors. Time Warner Cable retired the Road Runner brand in 2012, was acquired by Charter Communications in May 2016, and the service was rebranded Spectrum Internet that September.

    • Project managed corporate customer expectations in a fast-track rollout of Road Runner consumer cable modem service to Insight Communications.
    • Consolidated equipment support agreements projected to save $14M per year over five years.
    • Researched adjacent Time Warner and MediaOne cable systems to open targeted sales efforts.

    Channel & AlliancesEnterprise SalesContracts

  10. Jul 1997 Dec 1998

    Business Solutions Manager

    Road Runner / Time Warner Cable Now Charter Spectrum San Diego, California

    Business-to-business marketing plan for high-speed cable modem internet access, including service offerings, serviceability review and professional services coordination.

    • Developed, marketed and sold a work-from-home program, then launched a bulk corporate account offering sold to Qualcomm and other large technology firms.
    • Built the business and marketing plan for small office / home office cable modem service, then sold it.
    • Managed a $450K cable construction budget to build out service for new commercial customers.

    Enterprise SalesMarketing

  11. Apr 1994 Jun 1997

    Sales Manager

    Conductus Instrument & Systems Division No longer operating San Diego, California

    Superconducting instrumentation sold to university, government and corporate research markets worldwide. Conductus was acquired by Superconductor Technologies in 2002; that company wound down the Conductus product line and merged into Clearday in 2021, so the business no longer operates.

    • Created an international team of channel partners to sell and support equipment around the world.
    • Managed all sales and marketing functions for the division.
    • Developed and implemented budgets and met revenue forecasts, reporting expectations for quarterly investor calls.

    Channel & AlliancesSales ManagementMarketingInternational

  12. Oct 1984 May 1997

    Sales Manager

    Quantum Design, Inc. San Diego, California

    Automated materials characterization instruments for physics, chemistry and materials science research.

    Led all sales and marketing through a period of continuous growth: the firm went from $1M in annual sales to $10M, and from six employees to more than 100.

    • Created an international team of channel partners to sell and support equipment worldwide; the international channel produced 55% of company revenue.
    • Managed all sales, marketing, support and service personnel.
    • Developed and implemented budgets and met revenue forecasts.
    • Planned, budgeted and executed a complete marketing and communications program.

    Channel & AlliancesEnterprise SalesSales ManagementMarketingInternational

Education, markets and organization directory

Background

Education

University of California, San Diego
Bachelor’s degree, Economics and Political Science (double major)

Markets served

  • Government contracting
  • Nonprofit and non-governmental organizations
  • Professional services
  • Financial services
  • Manufacturing and industrial
  • University and government research
  • Telecommunications

Outside work

Nature and sports photography, fishing, and an awful golfer.

Organization directory

Every organization named on this site. All links open in a new window.

Contact

Open to conversations about channel, partnerships and revenue leadership.