How to Transition to a Marketing-Qualified Account Model and Drive Regional Relevance — Karen Strugnell, UiPath

Karen Strugnell’s strategic perspective was honed across nearly 30 years of experience. During this time, she navigated the shifting currents of B2B technology marketing. She mastered account-based marketing (ABM), industry positioning, and field operations for global tech firms. Today, she directs marketing execution across France and Southwest Europe for UiPath, the leading enterprise automation and agentic AI platform.

At UiPath, Karen bridges the gap between global corporate vision and regional market realities. Specifically, she believes that creativity must always be backed by analytical data proficiency. As a result, every customer experience directly optimizes the sales pipeline.

Why must marketing shift from “running activities” to pipeline ownership?

Karen outlines her core focus on transforming marketing into a high-precision strategic partner to sales.

“I’ve been in B2B tech marketing for almost 30 years. Over that time, I have worked across various roles including account-based marketing, industry marketing, and field marketing. Today, my main focus is centered on pipeline and revenue ownership. Naturally, marketing is accountable for creating pipeline. However, we are also responsible for influencing and accelerating it.

I want to move our function away from just running activities. Instead, we need to become a true strategic partner to the sales team. Therefore, relevance in our messaging and customer engagement is top of mind. Marketing can only succeed if sales succeeds. For this reason, you have to understand pipeline metrics and sales strategies inside out.”

How does the Marketing-Qualified Account (MQA) Model outplay traditional MQLs?

Addressing the challenge of anonymous buyer journeys, Karen explains how to interpret intent data effectively.

“The biggest challenge we face today is relevance. Simply put, we must cut through the noise. Buyers’ expectations and behaviors have completely changed. For example, buyers now rely on self-directed learning and anonymous research long before contacting vendors. As a result, traditional outbound tactics are becoming far less effective at creating high-value pipeline.

To solve this issue, we are moving away from traditional MQLs. Instead, we are adopting a marketing-qualified account (MQA) model. This framework allows us to look at how entire target accounts interact and research specific topics. By leveraging intent data, we can interpret buyer behavior more accurately. Consequently, we can determine precisely which accounts to target. Ultimately, this data-led model helps us drive a much better return on investment.”

How do you design an event as a single moment within a broader customer journey?

Reflecting on UiPath’s flagship Fusion experience, Karen details her playbook for pre-event hackathons and custom follow-up tracks.

“We host many face-to-face events at UiPath. After all, there is real value in physical interactions. For instance, our flagship event series, Fusion, starts in the US and rolls out regionally across Paris and Madrid. However, an event is just one key moment within a broader journey.

To maximize impact, we place a strong emphasis on engaging audiences before the main date. For example, we are currently designing a pre-event hackathon in Paris for our developer community. This initiative makes developers an active part of the overall experience early on.

Furthermore, we are very deliberate about designing personalized follow-up experiences. These include technical workshops and specific business clinics tailored for each audience type. Ultimately, we build diverse regional experiences that align with local market needs, cultural differences, and sales strategies.”

Why do Enterprise Buying Committees require separate technical and business streams?

Karen explains how to engage developers and C-suite executives simultaneously within the same event ecosystem.

“Within the Fusion experience, we deliberately offer different content streams to serve multiple personas. Specifically, we develop technical content and community elements for developer audiences. Alongside this, we offer a separate, business-focused stream tailored for decision-makers.

In the business stream, the primary topics are return on investment, agentic AI, and automation AI. Many global organizations invest heavily in these automated solutions. However, executive leaders ultimately want to know how these tools achieve a tangible return on investment. Designing multi-track agendas allows you to engage these distinct buyers effectively in a single space.”

Why is Regional Relevancy the ultimate marketing priority?

In a final call to action, Karen passes on career-defining advice regarding customer advocacy, team environments, and data mastery.

“My main priority for the year ahead can be summed up in two words: regional relevancy. That means thinking critically about the exact audiences we want to target. Rather than executing broad campaigns, we must maintain focus through industry-specific and region-specific messaging. On a team level, it is about helping everyone thrive so we can build a high-performing, modern marketing team.

If you are starting out in this industry, do not get caught up in routine operational work. Otherwise, you risk isolating yourself from the market. Instead, be data savvy, master your pipeline metrics, and prioritize customer advocacy. Make sure to maintain direct contact with your users so you understand their challenges firsthand.

In fact, I describe the role of a senior marketing leader in a single word: engagement. Ultimately, marketing is about creating, sustaining, and deepening relationships with our customers, internal functions, and sales teams.”

Join the Conversation: The Ortus Club’s Executive Network

Across Karen’s insights, one clear pattern emerges. Enterprise field challenges cannot be solved in isolation. Instead, they require peer-level perspectives and high-trust dialogue that transcend standardized corporate templates.

Her vision of the “Engagement Director” reflects a modern operational reality. Today’s marketing leaders cannot rely on generic outreach to capture self-directed corporate buyers. For instance, executives scaling enterprise automation across France and Southwest Europe actively seek peer dialogue to test their models against real-world results.

At The Ortus Club, we host curated executive roundtables that bring senior leaders together. Step away from the noise of broad campaigns. Instead, engage in high-value conversations that align your field execution with measurable sales velocity.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is a Marketing-Qualified Account (MQA) model?

A: An MQA is a B2B operational model that measures engagement at the account level rather than tracking isolated individuals (MQLs). By aggregating digital footprints, content consumption, and web traffic across multiple stakeholders within a target company, marketing can identify when an entire buying committee is ready for sales engagement.

Q: How does intent data improve B2B marketing efficiency?

A: Intent data monitors online behavioral signals across the web, such as search patterns, white paper downloads, and event registrations. Consequently, field marketers can identify companies actively researching specific solutions. This insight enables precise account prioritization and reduces wasted spend on cold accounts.

Q: What is the difference between Agentic AI and standard automation?

A: Standard automation follows rigid, predefined rule paths (“if-then” workflows) to execute repetitive tasks. Conversely, Agentic AI features autonomous decision-making capabilities. It uses advanced reasoning to adapt to complex workflows, parse unstructured data, and handle dynamic enterprise edge cases independently.

Q: Why is pre-event engagement critical for enterprise technology conferences?

A: Enterprise buyers face severe event fatigue and tight schedules. Therefore, launching pre-event initiatives, such as developer hackathons, technical challenges, or closed digital forums, builds organic brand trust. As a result, target cohorts are primed to engage deeply before stepping onto the conference floor.

Q: How do field marketers balance global messaging with local market needs?

A: Field marketers achieve balance by exercising regional autonomy over corporate templates. For example, field leaders leverage local customer advocacy data, regional economic trends, and cultural buying nuances to customize global assets. In doing so, they transform generic corporate taglines into hyper-focused regional value propositions.