Meet Rave’s SVP of Customer Success: Noah Reiter

Noah Reiter, MPA, is the Senior Vice President of Customer Success for Rave Mobile Safety, where his team is responsible for ensuring customer engagement with Rave’s solutions and, ultimately, their ability to impact emergency response, communications and safety through technology. He has previously served in various public sector and public safety roles, including Assistant City Manager for the City of Sandy Springs (GA), EMS Director for Grady Health System (Atlanta), and as the Director of EMS, Security, and Emergency Preparedness for Lenox Hill Hospital (NYC). Noah has been with Rave since 2011.

1. Where did you grow up and how did you end up at Rave Mobile safety?

I grew up in the northwest Bronx. College and professional opportunities have taken me to Houston, back to New York City and Atlanta. I moved to Boston in 2011 when I joined the Rave team and after a little over 5 years living in The Fenway, my wife and I relocated to San Diego, where we currently reside. I first became aware of Rave and, in particular, Smart911, while serving as Assistant City Manager for Sandy Springs, Georgia. We were looking to solve for some challenges that Smart911 addressed – namely, enabling our residents to provide critical information to 9-1-1 – and we had no desire to maintain that type of information within our own systems. As a result, the multijurisdictional 9-1-1 center that I oversaw became the second in the country to take advantage of Smart911, and I got to know the team at Rave quite well as a member of an informal customer advisory board. Shortly thereafter, I was pursuing my next opportunity and Rave recruited me. A common thread throughout my professional career has been the implementation of new technology to positively impact operations, service delivery or patient care, so the opportunity to work for a tech company that provides solutions for the industries that I have always been passionate about seemed to be a perfect fit.

2. Where do you see opportunities for growth and advancement within Rave? 

One characteristic of Rave that distinguishes us from many other solutions providers is how connected we have remained to both our customers and the broader industry. Not unlike other organizations providing a critical service and experiencing growth during the pandemic, we have recognized the inherent challenges of maintaining this level of engagement. Therefore, we have continuously evaluated and experimented with our engagement strategies to ensure that our customers remain connected with us. In 2020, we very quickly shifted from in-person to virtual User Groups and Summits and our teams work extremely hard to deliver the best content, discussion forums and experience possible. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and many of our 2021 Rave Summit attendees noted that it was the best virtual experience they had participated in. While we are hopeful that 2022 will provide more opportunities for us to host in-person industry events, we remain committed to engaging virtually in the most effective ways possible and face-to-face when appropriate and safe to do so. As important as these strategies are for our external partners, so too are the ways in which we connect internally at Rave across teams and individuals. Organizationally, we have embraced working remotely and are fully committed to ensuring the best Raver experience possible.  

3. What are three words you would use to describe yourself?  

Innovative. Dedicated. Gregarious.

4. What one word would best describe your leadership style?

Participative

5. How do you keep yourself up-to-date with the latest trends in the industry?  

The most effective way to keep up-to-date with the latest trends in the industries we serve is by speaking with our customers, many of whom I have developed close friendships with, and even prospective customers. This also happens to be the most enjoyable aspect of my role at Rave. Our internal daily huddles are another incredibly valuable sources of critical information as members of my two primary teams – the Customer Success and Executive teams – share what we are hearing in the field. This really expands my awareness far beyond those conversations that I am directly engaged in. I am constantly looking at the news, industry publications and news briefs to spot trends and keep current on issues that are top-of-mind for our customers. Finally, I still maintain a large network of public safety colleagues, particularly in the fields of emergency medical services, emergency management and 9-1-1 with whom I regularly exchange ideas.

6. What is your favorite part about working at Rave?  

I’ll choose three things because they all contribute to what makes Rave such a unique organization to be a part of – our purpose, our customers and our people. Our customers have the awesome responsibility of providing for the safety of the communities they serve and through Rave’s technology, we better enable them to do so. The very real impacts that our solutions have on individuals, communities and those responsible for protecting them is incredibly motivating and gratifying. Rave’s commitment to this purpose and the culture we have worked hard to establish and maintain attracts an unbelievably intelligent, thoughtful and fun group of Ravers who I thoroughly enjoy working alongside. This all translates into a high degree of trust that we maintain with our customers. They count on us and consider us their partner, rather than simply a vendor.

7. If you could travel anywhere right now, where would it be?  

Tanzania. My wife (girlfriend at the time) and I had the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks on Safari in Tanzania about six years ago and I would go back in a heartbeat. As a travel and wildlife photography enthusiast, it was an amazing experience in every possible way.

8. What is your favorite book?

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. Seriously…check it out. It’s fascinating and laugh-out-loud funny. That might seem odd given the topic, but Roach has a unique style of writing that turns this morbid subject matter into something not only informative, but also downright hilarious.

9. Outside of work, what are your favorite things to do?  

At the moment, I spend most of my time outside of work chasing around and trying to keep up with our two kids. We have a daughter who just turned 3 and a son who is 5 months old. Before they arrived on the scene, I spent considerable time photographing wildlife, traveling, pursuing the perfect cocktail and exploring the world of American whiskey. I now spend more time photographing our kids than I do wildlife, but we do get the occasional cool visitor to our backyard that sends me scrambling for the long lens.

10. Do you have anything else you’d like to share with our blog readers? 

I’m quite serious when needed but those who know me well, also know that I generally find a way to inject humor into most situations. Life is too short to not have fun or enjoy its peculiarities.