Inside Illumio: Becky Williams

Inside Illumio is a monthly series that highlights the exceptional individuals behind Illumio's world-class products. Each post will peek behind the scenes to spotlight a member of our team. Come get to know us a little better and learn more about what makes Illumio's culture so unique.  

This month, meet Becky Williams, Senior Federal Account Development Representative at Illumio. Learn about her role in building Illumio's government team, her favorite parts of Illumio's culture, and which sport you can find her playing in her free time.

Tell us about yourself. What do you do at Illumio?

I’m a Senior ADR at Illumio and have been with the company for five years. I help two account executives build pipeline through phone calls, emails, LinkedIn, and events. We work with U.S. civilian agencies and federal system integrators to help them find solutions for their cybersecurity challenges.  

What made you interested in working at Illumio?

After being a stay-at-home mom for ten years, I was ready to get back into sales. I worked at a few startups in the government space before hearing about Illumio. Someone I’d worked with previously had just started a new job at Illumio. He reached out to me about a new ADR role that would help build the government team, and I thought it was a fantastic opportunity. I’m passionate about working with the federal government, and it’s been exciting to be part of growing Illumio’s government team!

What does a day in the life of Becky look like? What are you working on that excites you?

My work involves a lot of research. I usually start my day digging into agencies, understanding who the right contacts are, and what initiatives or solutions they’re working on.  

Then, I reach out to new prospects or follow-up with ones who’ve shown interest in Illumio. Most of my day is making phone calls, sending emails or LinkedIn messages, and building relationships with prospects. I'll join meetings with the prospect and sales, make follow-up calls, schedule demos, and help figure out who else needs to be brought into the conversation.  

Building relationships is what I really love about my job. I don’t consider myself a techy person, and I don’t try to speak the tech talk. What I do instead is find ways to connect with people – it could start with something as simple as the weather! My job is to gain interest in Illumio, but that starts with a genuine connection between me and the other person.

What is the most important thing that you’ve learned so far at Illumio?

Everything is a learning process. When I first started at Illumio, I would get so emotional about my work, especially when I would make a mistake. But my manager helped me see that our work as ADRs is a crawl, walk, run process. Things take time, and everyone makes mistakes. I make sure to take things day-by-day, learn whatever I can from my team, my manager, while staying confident in myself.  

What are you passionate about outside of your career?

My family and my boyfriend! If I’m doing something, it’s with them. We enjoy playing volleyball together, watching movies, and swimming. My son helps with strength training for a high school volleyball team, and I’ll go in to help him and even play with the team in scrimmages!  

Which Illumio core values resonate the most with you and why?

Onwards together. I love that Illumio focuses on moving forward together. Our goals are company wide. It’s not just what the ADR team can do but what the ADR team can do alongside the rest of the company. We’re all players on the Illumio team working towards the same goals in different ways.

What do you want people to know about working at Illumio?

It doesn’t feel like people are working at Illumio just for a job. People are passionate about our platform and why it's important. We have a culture of growth and learning – our technology is always evolving and never stays stagnant. It’s something I can stay curious about for a long time.

At the same time, I’ve always been encouraged to put myself and my family first – whether that’s for a mental health day or family emergency. Illumio’s family-first culture makes me feel like I’m valued not just as an employee but as a person.  

Interested in joining the team? Check out our career openings.