Sharif Shaalan

Sharif Shaalan graduated from Rutgers University in 2000 with a degree in business management. From 2000 to 2007 he worked in various sales positions where he consistently ranked as a top seller. He was first introduced to Salesforce as an end user while doing inside sales for Comodo in 2007. Sharif was promoted to Sales Trainer in order to guide new hires in the methods that he used to become a sales leader. On his first day in the training role, Comodo’s Salesforce Administrator quit leading the CEO to add the admin role to Sharif’s responsibilities. This started Sharif’s journey into the Salesforce eco-system where he would assume a broad range of roles from Sales Rep to Technical Architect. Sharif spent the next two years as an accidental admin learning Salesforce and business analysis hands on. He worked closely with the CEO and helped expand the sales team to over 100 reps while quadrupling year over year revenue. In 2009 Sharif attended Dreamforce where he realized the true potential of the Salesforce platform. He attended many hands-on sessions and came back with a ton of quick wins for his organization. A major takeaway from this trip was the introduction to certifications. He spent the next few months studying for his Admin Certification and passed his exam in early 2010. As soon as he added “Certified Salesforce Admin” to his LinkedIn profile he received multiple job and contracting offers. With a few key opportunities he decided to start his own consulting company, Agile Cloud Consulting, while retaining Comodo as his first client. Sharif spent the remainder of 2010 implementing Salesforce for multiple organizations. In 2011 he contracted with roundCorner Inc, a Salesforce ISV (Independent Software Vendor) partner that focused on enterprise non-profit and higher education clients, ultimately joining them as a full-time Principal Consultant. During his time with roundCorner Sharif held many positions including Principal Consultant, Product Manager, Solutions Architect, Technical Architect, and Manager of Solutions and Technical Architects. With roundCorner Sharif successfully led 20+ Enterprise level implementations including projects that were showcased on the main stage at Dreamforce. In 2019 roundCorner was acquired by Salesforce and Sharif opted to expand Agile Cloud Consulting’s team and client base. Sharif remains the founder and CEO of Agile Cloud Consulting delivering end to end Salesforce and custom development solutions for his clients. In 2013 Sharif was chosen as a Salesforce MVP for his thought leadership and expertise, having answered 10,000+ questions on the Salesforce Trailblazer Community. He was renewed as an MVP every year until 2020 when he was inducted as a lifetime member into the Salesforce MVP Hall of Fame. Sharif presents regularly at Dreamforce and has spoken at community led Dreamin’ events in 3 continents. He has been featured as a guest speaker at various Salesforce user group meetings including inaugural meetings in Cairo, Egypt and Kingston, Jamaica. Sharif has obtained 10+ Salesforce certifications, co-hosts a podcast called “yappexchange,” and co-created the first Salesforce-inspired weekly comic. He continues to be an active Salesforce community contributor and mentors many aspiring admins and architects in the Salesforce eco-system.