Karen Hayward, CenterBeam EVP, Sales and Marketing
Letter of Recommendation

In my position as executive vice president of sales and marketing, Brian D. Johnson has reported directly to me for four years. This has given me the opportunity to assess his strengths and weaknesses in depth and I can sincerely write to you that Brian is unlike any public relations professional I've ever worked with during my twenty years of business experience. These are the elements of his character, experience and skill that distinguish him:

Focus: Brian is intently focused on public relations activities that help drive sales. He works very closely with the sales team, learns what he can do to accelerate their time to closure, and immediately starts to work on building a solution. He is constantly creating and delivering tools to the sales force: Media coverage, press releases, speeches, favorable comments by industry analysts, prospect letters, a constant variety of communications. Brian has a phrase he uses to sum up his job and I like it a lot: "Help sell more stuff to more people faster." And that's what he does. I've never been supported by public relations staff the way Brian has supported me.

Accomplishment: Brian gets things done. He has elevated CenterBeam's position so it casts a far longer shadow than otherwise. For CenterBeam, he has earned coverage in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CNBC and many other media outlets. He has earned CenterBeam positive coverage with industry analysts such as Gartner and Forrester long before they may have otherwise noticed the company.

Creativity: Creativity is one of Brian's remarkable qualities. In one example, Brian leveraged a relationship with one of our suppliers, Hewlett-Packard, to earn our company very strong media coverage over several years. His creativity frequently leads to genuine innovation. For instance, CenterBeam was one of the first companies to use blogging. And we've benefited by significantly increasing our footprint on the internet. But the best thing about his creativity is that he's constantly "on." At a moment's notice, like when I'm stuck on a presentation or a letter to a prospect, I can call on him and he immediately shows up with exactly the right turn of phrase or idea.

Working with Brian has been a great experience for me and for CenterBeam and I truly wish I could continue to work with him and benefit from his counsel. But circumstances don't permit this, so I'm delighted to be a personal reference for him and share with you what I've learned about him.

Please feel free to contact me at xxx-xxx-xxxx

Best regards,
Karen Hayward

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Recommendation from CenterBeam CEO