Ask An Alum: Henry Silva, former Keystone Principal

We recently had the chance connect with our newest KeystoneNext member, Henry Silva, as he was dashing through the airport on the way to catch a flight. Henry has recently joined Google as the Head of Marketing Intelligence for Google Cloud after nine years at Keystone, where he was recently promoted to Principal based out of our San Francisco office. When asked about his time at Keystone, Henry was stumped to pick a favorite memory. He took the time to reflect on his time at Keystone over the last decade and is excited for this next chapter in his career.

Q: Tell us what’s next—where will you be headed after Keystone?

I was brought on to the Google team to stand up a function that looks at market intelligence and competition holistically across Google Cloud. In order to gain a competitive edge against other cloud services like AWS and Azure, I will be building a team that provides insights for optimizing Google Cloud services. When you sell cloud services, you are selling hundreds of services, customers determine what they want to use. Google Cloud has separate teams to build these services, but they need a team that oversees them holistically and determines how they are performing as compared to the market.

Q: What do you see as your biggest objectives and opportunities in your new role?

The function hasn’t existed previously at Google, so I’m looking forward to creating the function from the ground up and my main goal is to operationalize it. I will work to implement the research and insights that firms like Keystone have provided numerous clients as consultants. It will be fun to be on the other side to see the work all the way through, and it’s a skillset I look forward to adding to my repertoire.

Q: How did your time and experience at Keystone help prepare you for your new role?

I consulted on similar work for Microsoft during my time at Keystone. There is not a question that my new role is a result of the work I put in at Keystone. I spent over nine years at Keystone, and this type of long-term experience in both the work and leadership opportunities prepared me for this next step. In addition, Keystone has been a leader in this type of work, which served as a springboard for this opportunity.

Q: What is your favorite memory from working at Keystone?

This is a tough one. I can’t choose just one. I always enjoyed whenever I needed to work late in the office, there were times when people would stick around to keep you company, leading to FIFA breaks or late-night noodle runs. There was always a real sense of camaraderie whenever that happened. Then there were the little things, like crossword puzzles in the SF office, or joking with colleagues about the more adventurous projects (like the time a Keystoner had to fly out to Boulder just to grab a client’s data and turn around).

My first memory of Keystone is walking in to 2000 Sierra Point Pkwy for interviews and Sue greeting me at the front desk. I also remember leaving the building after my interviews and thinking to myself, well that was hard. Everyone seems so smart. But so nice! I would like to work here (my interview slate included Sam, so in retrospect, that makes sense).

I suppose what I’m saying is that I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to excel here and build this company just a tiny bit the way I want it to be. And I encourage everyone at the firm to do the same for as long as you are here. Greg and Marco have laid such a unique foundation for a company. Ross, Jeff and Tom have grown it to a real force. Rohit, Sam, and Sean have proven the model. And there are so many more of you today who are principals, EMs, consultants, and associates, who will do all that and more. I’m looking forward to seeing it continue.

Interested in learning more about career opportunities at Keystone? Visit our careers page for more: www.keystone.ai/careers/