As a teen, Mike Betzer worked at his family’s furniture business in Grundy Center, Iowa. His grandmother and mother owned the store. The customers always came first. Mike’s mom and grandmother knew each customer by name, knew their families’ stories, and knew when they could pay and when they couldn’t.

Mike studied business at the University of Northern Iowa and from 1985 to 1999, worked at MCI, where he was part of the team that built the first call centers as MCI competed with AT&T for long distance calling. These call centers had thousands of people and generated a call to every household in America every three months. By the time Mike left, 26,000 people were involved in outgoing telemarketing calls and incoming 800-number calls.

When WorldCom purchased MCI in 1996, Mike left to cofound Ineto Inc., which was bought by Siebel is 2006 and is now part of Oracle.

He later cofounded another company, Social Dynamx, that built software to enable brands to engage and respond on all social channels. Public asynchronous messaging was born. Two mergers and a vastly expanded platform later, the company became Khoros, where Mike has served as chief customer officer, chief product officer and general manager.  He has now taken on the new role of Chief Digital Transformation Officer.  In this role he works with leading brands to help them win in this new digital frontier.

Mike lives in Austin with his wife, Sue. In 2013, in the small town near their ranch in Texas Hill Country, they opened a barbecue restaurant that continues to thrive. Mike and Sue’s two sons are grown and live in Austin. The family also includes three dogs, two cats, two horses, eight Texas Longhorn cattle, two miniature donkeys, eight chickens, and three potbelly pigs.