Gopal Rao

Captain
DISC Type : DS

Director, Strategy & Operations (Chief of Staff to CMO) at Experian

Greater Seattle Area, United States

Overview

Gopal is a product and strategy leader specializing in connecting strategy to execution using AI/ML and data platforms. With experience at Experian and Microsoft, he has a proven record of building systems that drive revenue growth and operational efficiency. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and is certified in AI for Product Management.

Outside of work, Gopal is a family-oriented person. He and his wife, Padma, recently welcomed their first child, Ronav. He publicly expresses deep gratitude for his family, friends, and the Kellogg community, highlighting the importance of his personal support network.

He built a machine learning recommendations platform from the ground up that served 200 million users and increased click-through rates by 5x.

Personality Overview

Decisive But Calm

Output-Driven

Long-Term Thinker

They exhibit a rare combination of being result-oriented but patient at the same time.  Reading between the lines and seeing beyond your words comes naturally to them. They are very professional in their approach and can weigh multiple perspectives together.

Topics They Care About

AI/ML Platforms
He has built AI/ML recommendation platforms from scratch and holds certifications in AI Fluency and AI for Product Management, showing deep expertise in the field.
Strategy & Operations
A core theme of his career, he designed the OKR operating model for a 400+ person organization and led strategic planning and business rhythms at Microsoft and Experian.
Data-Driven GTM
Focuses on unifying marketing and sales data into analytics workflows to improve go-to-market execution, leading to significant conversion and growth lifts in his roles.

Media Appearances

Gopal has no verified media appearances

Work History

3-2023 - 12-2025
Director, Strategy & Operations (Chief of Staff to CMO) at Experian
6-2021 - 3-2023
Product Strategy & Operations Lead at Experian
8-2017 - 8-2020
Lead Product Manager at Dotdash Meredith
11-2015 - 10-2016
Business Program Manager (Strategy & Operations) at Microsoft
9-2013 - 10-2015
Senior Product Manager at Microsoft

Education

Master of Business Administration - MBA from Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management
Bachelor of Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 10 Location : Greater Seattle Area, United States Job Level : N/A Designation : Director, Strategy & Operations (Chief of Staff to CMO) at Experian
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Insights For Selling To Gopal

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Stick to your standard pitch and qualifying script, don't try to wing it
  • Use phrases like 'your team deserves', 'best in class' etc.
  • You can spend time on BANT (or other qualification methodology) but keep it to the point

DONT's

  • Don't focus too much on mutual contacts or bother about other stakeholders, focus on them
  • Don't shy away from asking hard questions, but be extra polite
  • Avoid putting conscious effort into relationship-building

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Gopal is

  • Strong proof of impact and their conviction will matter the most, but they wouldn't want to act unilaterally either
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Gopal

  • They will say no if they are not convinced but you will have to prompt them.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Gopal move?

  • They will want to understand things well but can move fast once they have a clear picture.
  • Can Gopal take some risk or not?

  • They have good risk tolerance but are likely to think it through once or twice.

You And Gopal

Personality Compatibility


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