Sales Manager · ADP, Major Accounts
Rico Contreras
Building and leading go-to-market teams in HCM technology.
I manage a sales team inside ADP's Major Accounts business, with a path that runs through B2B SaaS, corporate dining, and food service operations before it ever touched a quota. That mix shapes how I coach: sell like an operator, lead like someone who's run the floor.
- Based in
- Santa Cruz & the Bay Area
- Team
- 9 direct reports
- Education
- BA, Politics, UC Santa Cruz
- Elsewhere
- @SantaCruzRico
About
A Santa Cruz native who found sales leadership by way of the kitchen and the dining hall.
I've called Santa Cruz home for the past 27 years, and I'm a Sales Manager at ADP, where I lead a team of nine in the Major Accounts business unit. My work is focused on HCM and payroll technology, helping mid-market and enterprise companies find the right tools to run their people operations, and helping my team get better at doing that well.
Before ADP, my path ran through B2B SaaS sales more broadly, and before that, through food service operations management and corporate dining. It's not the typical resume for a tech sales leader, but it's given me a grounded sense of what it means to run a real operation: tight margins, real people, no room for shortcuts. That's the lens I bring to coaching a team.
I hold a BA in Politics from UC Santa Cruz, and I still live in the town I grew up in.
Path
How the career actually runs, in order.
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01
Food service & corporate dining operations
Managed day-to-day operations in food service and corporate dining, the ground floor for a career built on operational discipline.
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02
B2B SaaS sales
Moved into technology sales, working across B2B SaaS and HCM tools before specializing in the payroll and HR technology space.
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03
Sales Manager, ADP (Major Accounts)
Now leading a team of nine in ADP's Major Accounts business unit, focused on HCM technology for growing organizations.
Focus
Where I spend the work week.
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Team leadership
Coaching and developing a team of nine: building pipeline discipline and repeatable habits, not just chasing a number.
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HCM & payroll technology
Helping organizations evaluate and adopt the right tools to run payroll, HR, and workforce management.
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Major Accounts segment strategy
Working the mid-market to enterprise range, where deals are bigger and the sales motion has to match.
Community
Outside of work, still in Santa Cruz.
Santa Cruz Derby Groms
I volunteer with Santa Cruz Derby Groms, a junior roller derby league, one more way of staying involved in the town that's been home for the past 27 years.
Contact
Based in Santa Cruz, working across the Bay Area.