Sara Norwood

Commander
DISC Type : D

Leadership Coach at Braven

Greater Chicago Area, United States

Overview

Sara is a VP-level IT and product leader who excels at transforming business strategy into scalable platforms, particularly within complex, regulated industries. She has extensive experience leading enterprise application and project management teams through modernization and growth. Sara holds both a BA and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Outside of her primary roles, Sara is passionate about fostering new talent. She serves as a Leadership Coach for Braven, where she mentors college-level emerging leaders. She guides them on leadership development, career navigation, and building the resilience and self-awareness needed for todays fast-paced environments.

Peers describe her as a "consummate professional" with "quick learning agility, " who co-led a $30 million customer care technology transformation program.

Personality Overview

Impact-Driven

Strong-Willed

Decisive

They are less concerned about the product and more about its potential impact.  They like to stay in control of the negotiation or defining of the terms. They prefer to move quickly, and expect the same from others.

Topics They Care About

IT Transformation
Her career has focused on leading IT modernization, including a complex multi-year initiative to migrate a 5, 000+ representative contact center to cloud technology.
Leadership Coaching
Volunteers as a Leadership Coach for Braven, helping college students develop self-awareness, resilience, and practical skills to lead effectively in fast-changing environments.
Process Modernization
She specializes in creating calm out of chaos by implementing structured work intake, defining KPIs, and establishing standardized playbooks to improve visibility and accountability.

Media Appearances

Sara has no verified media appearances

Work History

12-2025
Leadership Coach at Braven
8-2023 - 11-2024
Executive Director, Corporate Applications & Shared Services at Trustmark
8-2022 - 8-2023
Director of Application Development, Client Support at DentaQuest
4-2018 - 6-2022
Vice President IT - Contact Center Technology at Alight Solutions
7-2017 - 3-2018
Sr. Director - HR Information Technology at Alight Solutions

Education

1997 - 2001
BA from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Master of Business Administration - MBA from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 27 Location : Greater Chicago Area, United States Job Level : N/A Designation : Leadership Coach at Braven
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Insights For Selling To Sara

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Refer to testimonials from well-known industry leaders
  • Objectively showcase the impact that your product creates
  • When negotiating terms, help them build an impression that they are the ones calling the shots

DONT's

  • Don’t be in a rush to invite them for a social meet and greet
  • Do not hesitate from asking counter questions, just avoid challenging their authority
  • Don’t take too much time in sending them information if they ask for any

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Sara is

  • Confidence in impact is paramount to them, followed by a sense of achievement and ROI.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Sara

  • If they are not convinced, they will have no hesitation in telling you the same.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Sara move?

  • If convinced, they can reach decisions quite fast.
  • Can Sara take some risk or not?

  • They do not shy away from taking risks, but can be quite binary about them.

You And Sara

Personality Compatibility


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