Meet Danielle Rydberg

Danielle is a multifaceted leader who drives significant business growth through strategic project management, exceptional client relationships, and operational excellence. Her ability to seamlessly navigate diverse roles - from customer success to marketing - while consistently improving processes, reducing costs, and maintaining a 95% customer satisfaction rate makes her an invaluable asset to any organization.

I'm Danielle Rydberg, an Armenian American professional with over 15 years of experience in driving exceptional client success, operational efficiency, and team leadership in the startup environment.

My journey began with a dual degree in Microbiology and Medical Technology from the University of Rhode Island, followed by a stint as a Medical Technologist at Northern Westchester Hospital Center. Eager to expand my horizons, I moved to Massachusetts, where I worked at MIT under Dr. Fox and pursued an MBA with a Healthcare concentration at UMass Boston.

During this time, I married my college sweetheart, Stephen, and we soon started a family. We have three older teens who are a constant source of bewilderment as most teens are. Balancing a demanding career and family life has taught me lessons in time management, resilience, and prioritizing what matters most.

Transitioning from the lab to the business world, I became an expert in the NAT (Nucleic Acid Testing) industry at Boston Biomedical Consultants, working under the mentorship of Manfred Scholz. My passion for innovation led me to join Pyrosequencing, where I honed my skills in operations, marketing, and sales alongside Diane Kosheff and Theresa McNeely.

Balancing my career with motherhood, I worked with Phoenix Controls (a Honeywell company) alongside Ken Crooks and Casey Camman. Later, I embraced remote roles, including a significant tenure at ActivePrime, collaborating with Rosaline Gulati. Here, I specialized in QA, onboarding, and marketing, contributing to the company’s growth and client satisfaction.

In 2015, I joined Caffeine Interactive as a Project Manager and later as Director of Client Services, working closely with co-founders Sharon DeVries and Dustin DeVries. Over nearly a decade, I managed custom software, web, and mobile app projects, led an international team, and significantly improved client retention and satisfaction rates. My efforts in process optimization, client relationship management, and team empowerment have driven substantial revenue growth and operational improvements.

Despite the challenges and changes, my dedication to client success, strategic thinking, and ability to build strong relationships have remained constant. Currently, I consult for former clients and actively participate in community initiatives, always eager to make a meaningful impact.

Family is incredibly important to me, and I believe that a well-rounded life contributes to professional success. My experiences as a wife and mother have enriched my perspective and strengthened my ability to connect with people on a deeper level.

Want to connect?

You can reach me at DRydberg@gmail.com or 508-284-7301, or find me on LinkedIn.

Resume

Reviews & Accolades

Sharon DeVries, Co-Founder/Product Management Leader Caffeine Interactive

I have now appreciated her skills, intelligence, and personality for 9+ years. Her dedication to client success, exceptional operational skills, and ability to build strong relationships have made her invaluable. Through her Customer Success leadership, marketing efforts, project management, and operational oversight, Danielle has driven significant growth in our client base, improved customer satisfaction to 95%, has been instrumental in achieving a 91% retention rate, reduced non-salary overhead costs by 23%, and has matured our internal processes. A quick glance of her other reviews shows a woman who is focused, flexible, SMART and well-liked, all true and all crucial to any growing company. Danielle is strategic, self-motivated, and flexible. This means that Danielle is the kind of person to suggest and produce deliverables that you never knew you needed but cannot live without after the fact.

Clients have commented directly to me about her excellent communication, written and verbal, and appreciate her focus on schedule and overall project discipline. She is great at onboarding, facilitating meetings, product demos, and any type of direct client interaction. When projects have hiccoughs, as they all do, Danielle really shines in her ability to address issues head-on, with pragmatism and transparency, asking the right questions and having the clarity to make hard choices or suggest strong options for clients to choose from. This is well-received by clients and internal teams alike. Danielle is also very good at multi-tasking and following through on small requests from clients while keeping her large projects smoothly moving. She has a Customer Success mindset that is felt by all projects she touches. Employees and management are grateful for her abilities to craft detailed schedules, control project scope and to approach challenging client conversations with both firmness and tact.

Danielle has also helped us with many talents outside of Customer Success. Operationally, she knows how to create the appropriate amount of structure for a given situation, successfully drives adoption of new processes, and wisely finds ways to cut costs. On the Marketing front, Danielle is a rare bird who is creative (gifted writer and campaign strategist) and yet also motivated by the analytical and math-driven aspects of Marketing, as well. She has made large contributions to our company culture, and with an international/remotely-located team, building a culture takes effort. For almost a decade, she has been a productive and SELF-MOTIVATED remote employee/leader, all while managing employees on multiple continents. She also happens to be excellent at managing up: humble, insightful and truly helpful. 5 stars

Dustin DeVries, Co-Founder/CTO Caffeine Interactive

Danielle has been a linchpin for Caffeine since she came on board 8-9 years ago. She's been responsible for not only managing client relationships, but other aspects like project management, QA, marketing, sales, and customer support.

Danielle's ability to stay organized and provide prompt service to our customers has been essential for Caffeine. It's not uncommon to hear "Danielle was awesome!" when we ask our clients for feedback after completing a project.

Her skill set enables her to work across a variety of disciplines, not just software or technology, although she has excelled in her role here at Caffeine.

She has regularly demonstrated leadership abilities and just been a rock star for Caffeine. Thanks for all you do Danielle!

Timeline

My Journey

1994

🎓 Graduated from the University of Rhode Island (URI) with a dual degree in Microbiology & Medical Technology and a minor in Biology.
🏥 Began working as a Medical Technologist at Northern Westchester Hospital Center in Mt. Kisco, NY.

1996

🚀 Moved to Massachusetts to start as a Medical Technologist in the Division of Comparative Medicine (DCM) lab at MIT under Dr. Fox.

1997

📚 Enrolled in night school at UMass Boston for an MBA with a Healthcare concentration.

1998

💍 Married my college sweetheart.
🔬 Transitioned from lab work to IVD (In Vitro Diagnostic) consulting, becoming a NAT (Nucleic Acid Testing) industry expert.

2000