Melo Associates, LLC

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Melo Associates, LLC

Melo Associates is a small recruiting firm based in Chicago focused in Customer Success and Technolo

09/17/2026

Melo Associates turned 10 today. 🎉

Over the last decade we've reached over a million people, built a network of 26,000+ professionals, worked alongside 50+ partners, hosted 30+ Talent Lens webinars, co-authored an Amazon bestseller, and picked up a few awards in recruiting and Customer Success along the way.

We're incredibly proud of all that. And the numbers are really just the cherry on top.

Ten years in, what stands out is the clients who handed us the hiring decisions that would shape their companies. The candidates who let us into some of the biggest career moves of their lives. The partners who shared our work, made the intro, or kept saying our name in rooms we weren't in.

And everyone who showed up for a webinar, replied to an email, read something we released, or stopped by at an event to say hello.

Recruiting at its core is a relationship business. Every milestone from the last decade started with someone deciding to trust us, and that's not something we take for granted.

So to everyone who's worked with us, vouched for us, and made us feel at home in this community: thank you. Here's to the next ten 🎉

08/12/2026

Melo Associates Founder and CEO Swati Garg is heading to New York for Moment 2026!

As part of NY Customer Success Week hosted by Customer Success Meetup, Swati will join fellow authors of The Customer Success Talent Playbook for an important conversation about the future of talent.

She’ll be joined by Parul Bhandari, Elizabeth Blass, Ejieme Eromosele, Julie Fox, and Kristen Hayer.

Together, these six Customer Success leaders will explore the people, skills, and leadership shaping the profession’s next chapter.

📍 New York City
📅 October 6, 2026

If you’re attending NY Customer Success Week, don’t miss this opportunity to hear from the authors and connect with the broader CS community.

https://momentannual.com/

08/05/2026

In Customer Success leadership, compensation isn't about the title. It's about scope, revenue ownership, and company stage.

We broke down the 2026 comp benchmarks for Directors, VPs, and CCOs, from $25M ARR to $250M+. Whether you're hiring or negotiating, you'll want these numbers.

Full benchmarks on our latest blog: https://meloassociates.com/customer-success-leadership-compensation-benchmarks/

07/24/2026

Repost from Melo Associates Founder and CEO, Swati Garg, on the CuSP: A Chicago Customer Success Community's Summer Sparks event last night! The community certainly showed up 🔥:

CuSP: A Chicago Customer Success Community’s biggest event of the year, Summer Sparks: , and Lightning Talks, brought together an incredible group during .

A huge thank you to our speakers for sharing such thoughtful, practical, and engaging insights:
Sabrina R
Jaime Acosta
Kimberly Renee Knowles
Justyna Kuczaj

Thank you to our primary event sponsor, Sirra Company, LLC, and our space sponsor, - River North, for helping us bring the evening to life. It wouldn't be possible without all your support!

We were also so excited to have our first-ever mocktail sponsor, Five Corners Beverage Co. (Anish Tamhaney and Benno Nelson - thank you!) , adding something extra fun to the experience! 🍹

Most importantly, thank you to everyone who showed up, asked questions, engaged with our speakers, and connected with the community. Your energy made the event what it was.

Every time we meet, I love this community even more. ❤️

A special thank you to our volunteer board, Kimberly Renee Knowles, Parul Bhandari, and me. Without all of the behind-the-scenes effort, these event wouldn't be as amazing as they are!

We are also so proud that CuSP got to be THE event for Customer Success during Chicago Tech Week.

What a night. Thank you, Chicago!

07/23/2026

Melo Associates is proud to celebrate ChurnZero's release of ZERO-IN on Building Stronger CS Teams.

Built from expert sessions at ZERO-IN 2025, this guide brings together practical advice from several The Customer Success Talent Playbook authors and respected CS leaders:

💜 Swati Garg, Founder and CEO, Melo Associates
💜 Parul Bhandari, CEO, CustomerXSuccess; Founder, 🪷South Asian Success
💜 Elizabeth Blass 🌻, Chief Customer Officer, Karbon
💜 Ejieme Eromosele, VP of Customer Growth, Quiq; Founder, Success in Black
💜 Julie Fox, Director of Digital and Scaled Customer Success, Hyland
💜 Kristen Hayer, Founder and CEO, The Success League
💜 Megan Robinson, Founder and CEO, E Leader Experience

Inside, leaders will find actionable guidance for:
• Building candidate experiences that protect revenue and reflect company values
• Creating clear titles, salary bands, and career paths that support retention
• Redefining “fit” around skills, organizational maturity, and meaningful inclusion
• Diagnosing the real causes behind recurring CS fire drills
• Developing managers who can lead with confidence under pressure
• Turning coaching and training into lasting behavior change

The tools, processes, and KPIs matter. But the strength of a organization will always depend on how intentionally it hires, develops, and supports its people.

Download it today: https://churnzero.com/guides/zero-in-on-building-stronger-cs-teams/

07/10/2026

Two weeks until CuSP: A Chicago Customer Success Community’s Week event!

Melo Associates is proud to be a year-round sponsor of CuSP and support events that bring Customer Success leaders, operators, and innovators together for meaningful conversation.

On Thursday, July 23, CuSP is bringing the Chicago CS community together for:
🌩️ Summer Sparks: , and Lightning Talks

AI in Customer Success is moving fast. The questions teams are asking right now are not just about productivity. They are about trust, transparency, customer listening, cognitive load, business reviews, and revenue impact.

This event will feature fast-paced, practical lightning talks from leaders exploring what AI is changing and what CS teams cannot afford to lose along the way.

Speaker lineup:
💜 Sabrina R. (Event Sponsor & Extended Keynote): The AI era's real competitive advantage: Radical Transparency
⚡Jaime Acosta: From manual Business Reviews to AI+MCP-driven Business Reviews for Positive Customer Impact!
⚡Kimberly Renee Knowles: Beyond Productivity: Using AI to Reduce Cognitive Load in Customer Success
⚡Justyna Kuczaj: We Forgot How to Listen: What’s Actually at Stake?

This conversation is for CS leaders, CSMs, CS Ops, RevOps, CX, SaaS practitioners, consultants, and anyone trying to make sense of what AI and tech-enabled innovation really mean for post-sale teams.

📅 Thursday, July 23, 2026
🕕 6:00–8:00 pm
📍 Workbox River North | Chicago
🍇 Refreshments and drinks provided

Thank you to Sirra AI for sponsoring this event, Workbox River North for hosting us, and Swati Garg and Parul Bhandari for their leadership in bringing this conversation to life.

If you are in Chicago and thinking about the future of Customer Success, this is one to have on your calendar!

07/03/2026

Pride is the freedom to be seen, the courage to live fully, and the community that reminds people they do not have to stand alone.

Our Founder and CEO, Swati Garg, joined thousands at Chicago Pride last weekend to celebrate that spirit. We’re proud to share a few moments!

As we head into the long holiday weekend, we’re wishing everyone a safe, joyful, and restful few days ahead.

June may be over, but Pride continues. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

06/15/2026

from Parul Bhandari:

What does hiring right mean and do for your business? In the next episode of The Business of Success, my friend and co-author Swati Garg , CEO of Melo Associates talks about what makes the right hiring process so important to a company.

And what can go wrong without it!

As you think of building better from the inside out, recruitment and talent practice is another spindle on the wheel of longterm success.

Full episode is live now on The Business of Success podcast: https://thebusinessofsuccess.riverside.com/e/ep-11-a-bad-hire-costs-30-of-a-salary-how-to-recruit-right-with-swati-garg

06/10/2026

Repost from Melo Associates Founder and CEO, Swati Garg:

Parul Bhandari and I are getting excited.

We’re deep in the final review of the Study and are putting the finishing touches on the report. With 91 respondents participating, we’re looking forward to sharing the full findings in the coming weeks.

A SNEAK PEEK at one of the trends that stood out:

The fastest-growing Customer Success roles for 2026 are around technical, engineering-adjacent roles that help bridge customers, products, data, and AI.

🔹 Forward-Deployed Engineer
41% of respondents are either already using this title or actively considering it.

🔹 CS Engineer
37% are either already using this title or actively considering it, making it one of the most established emerging roles in the market.

🔹 AI Customer Success Operations Manager
29% are either already using this title or actively considering it. It also has the strongest future adoption pipeline, with nearly 20% of respondents actively evaluating the role.

As AI continues to reshape Customer Success, we're seeing organizations rethink team structures, skill sets, and the intersection of technical expertise and customer outcomes.

This is just one insight from the study. There is MUCH more to come!

Follow Parul Bhandari and me if you'd like a copy of the report when it is released. We can't wait to share the full results with you.

And if you're for these emerging roles, I'd love to connect. Helping companies identify, attract, and hire talent for the next generation of Customer Success teams is one of the most exciting parts of what we do Melo Associates!

Such exciting times in Customer Success talent!

06/04/2026

Reminder, Chicago!

Melo Associates Founder and CEO, Swati Garg, will be joining Ashley Ebersberger, PHR for Talent Collective’s “Women in Recruiting: POV Agency & In House Recruiters, Built Different and Stronger Together" on Wednesday, June 10th.

This conversation will bring both sides of recruiting into one room for an honest discussion on:
• How agency and in-house recruiting differ
• Where both sides align
• What each environment really looks like day to day
• How recruiters can work together to help companies build stronger teams

For anyone in recruiting, talent acquisition, hiring strategy, or exploring different career paths in the field, this is a great opportunity to hear both perspectives and connect with the Chicago recruiting community.

Special shoutout to Edie Greenberg PHR for coordinating this event.

Register here: https://luma.com/ly2xrizv

Picture credit to Talent Collective.

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http://meloassociates.com/

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