Sarah Woods

Principal

Sarah Woods is an executive coach and senior communications consultant. Prior to joining Bates Communications in 2007, Sarah spent a decade as a management consultant, advising both international corporations and early stage startup companies in the area of communications, and sales & marketing strategy.

Sarah worked with growth companies in multiple industries to develop their competitive advantage through clearly articulated vision and values. Over the years, she’s coached dozens of executives on communicating key value messages, developing sound sales strategy, and the keys to successful negotiations.

Prior to starting her consulting practice, Sarah served as the SVP of Operations for a successful e-commerce startup. In this role, she led a virtual team in three countries in the development and launch of a patented e-retail program and was the liaison to the consumer and business press during the launch of the company’s website.

Sarah first joined the growing e-commerce wave in the mid-90’s as the Director of Sales & Marketing for Streamline, an early stage e-retail startup, where she established the company’s sales model, recruited and trained their telesales organization, set pricing, and developed the brand strategy to take the company to a $50 million dollar IPO 4 years later. At Streamline, Sarah oversaw all public relations efforts, orchestrating the official roll-out to investors and media.

Sarah started her career as a successful Regional Manager at The Knoll Group, where she successfully integrated 3 independent sales and distribution organizations through a corporate buyout, and exceeded the region’s sales goals. At Knoll Sarah served on the company’s Field Communications Panel, working to bring relevant learning from field experiences to corporate and manufacturing personnel to better serve Knoll’s marketplace.

As an active member of her community, Sarah has served on a number of boards including the Wellesley ABC (A Better Chance) Program for inner city students and the Wellesley Cancer Prevention Project where she produced a public forum on the impact of the environment on cancer statistics. She has played a leadership role in both the Wellesley Public Schools and her church youth programs.

Sarah holds a Bachelors degree from Skidmore College in Saratoga, New York, and lives in Wellesley, MA with her husband and three children.