PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
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Mr. X is a senior business development and marketing executive with nearly twenty years of experience, identifying and driving profitable revenue worldwide in top Fortune 100 companies. He was until a few days ago vice president and general manager for the marketing activities of a national Personal Lines (Auto) insurance carrier, responsible for the Agency channel (over 10,000 independent agents throughout 19 states), with P&L responsibility for $670 million. Before that, he was vice president of Product Management for a product line of a specialized national medical insurance company, where he had full P&L responsibility for $250 million.
Prior to this, he was the head of New Product Development for a jumbo medical insurance carrier and industry leader in managed care, where he identified and championed a $2.2 billion revenue initiative in response to the emerging Defined Contribution market trend. Preceding that, he spent a large portion of his career with a jumbo international Property and Casualty insurer, where he was instrumental in instilling a marketing culture throughout 50 countries and returning the operations to profitability through various internal consulting, field and corporate assignments. He has additional finance and logistics experience, as well as skills acquired as an officer in the military. He has a reputation for combining visionary activities with a natural team building ability in order to successfully implement programs that quickly affect the bottom line.
While his primary areas of expertise are general strategic business planning, market research, global marketing strategy, new product development and channel management, he brings a general manager’s perspective to achieving consensus across functions and geographies. Representative accomplishments include:
- Increased most recent employer's year-over-year production by 9% in June and 11% in July 2007 after gradually improving results that started at -11% in January, through multiple growth initiatives and state expansion efforts, beating best-in-class performance in spite of a severely depressed market environment.
- Grew the national accounts book of business at specialized medical carrier by over 100% from $120 to $250 million in two and half years through the engagement of 17,000 non-captive agents and the setting up of e-commerce partnerships and DRTV exercises.
- Identified and selected a provider of Internet Selling Systems, which helped jumbo medical insurer build an automatic product rating engine, a critical component of the Defined Contribution model as applied to health care.
- Organized exhaustive reviews of 12 key country operations of jumbo international P&C insurer, leading to restructuring, opening and closing of offices, changes in product offerings, price adjustments, rationalization of portfolios and streamlined distribution. Mr. X received three Discretionary Presidential Merit Awards for these activities. He championed the creation and use of large client and prospect databases to segment carrier's $1.7 billion book of business worldwide and to track progress of targeting and cross-selling exercises, and he deployed this technology to field operations. He provided training and he registered over 200 users. He also identified large pockets of untapped business opportunities for company, among which: $69 million in U.S. for inter-divisional cross-selling; $108 million in U.S. for new accounts; $73 million outside of U.S. for new business. All leads were at the account level, enabling commission rate reductions of up to 50% from brokers who were provided these leads.
- Organized all logistics and resolved all protocol issues for 53 visiting French and foreign navy vessels in less than 14 months while stationed in Bordeaux, France as a French Navy Officer. Received several distinctions by special commendation.
- Invited regularly as Guest Speaker by Boston University to address graduate and undergraduate audiences.
Mr. X graduated from Northwestern University’s J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management with an MBA in General Management, Marketing and Finance. He also holds a BBA in Marketing and International Trade from Ecole Supérieure de Commerce et d’Administration des Entreprises, Le Havre, France.
He is fluent in English and French, and is proficient in German and Spanish. He is a dual French/U.S. citizen.
RESUME
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SUMMARY
Senior Business Development and Marketing Executive with nearly 20 years of general strategic business planning and global strategic marketing experience. Combines visionary initiatives with natural team building ability to successfully implement programs that quickly affect the bottom line. Proven track record of significantly improving profitable revenue under adverse market conditions or internal company resistance. Particular competence in customer segmentation, new product/service development, cross-selling/lead generation (CRM) and distribution management. Completed assignments in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Fluent in French and English; basic German and Spanish. Dual French/U.S. citizen.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
National Personal Lines (Auto) Insurer, Horsham, PA, 2006-2007
VP and General Manager, Agency Marketing
Manage $670 million P&L for all Auto activities through over 10,000 independent agents located in 19 states.
- Turned around new business production results in less than six months, from performing at -11% compared to prior year’s same period to +9%, in spite of extremely adverse market conditions.
- Launched a series of initiatives to increase top line growth: Low/Non Producers, Top 100, Large Accounts, Community Challenge, Big Trip to Cancun, Rate Reductions, many ad hoc incentives for the sales force (Commercial Vehicles blitzes, New Agent Prospecting, New Agent Activation, etc.) and for agents (Cash for Apps, Quoting rewards, Off and Running, In-Force Growth/Profitability combinations, etc.) Also hired new sales personnel, modified sales force incentives and performance evaluation criteria, reorganized sales support and hired additional support resources, provided better tracking tools for performance and behaviors as well as discipline.
- Deployed product in IL via a “rollout team” specifically formed to set up new states.
- Critical business partner for enhancements to company’s Ease-Of-Doing-Business, where company needs improvements.
National Specialty Medical Insurer, Milwaukee, WI, 2002-2005
VP, Product Management / General Manager
Managed $250 million P&L for all Individual Medical National Accounts representing over 20,000 agents. Set up partnerships with Internet distributors. Ultimate responsibility for all direct lead generation activities.
- Doubled the highly profitable book of business of largest account through close partnering with their corporate and field sales force. Devised sales and training tools and established joint targeted marketing campaigns. Monitored product performance and took corrective measures as needed. Created new product in response to competitive pressures. Designed incentive programs. Actions resulted in revenue growth of well over $100 million. 4-year exclusive contract renewed.
- Pioneered lead generation exercises through multiple e-commerce initiatives: partnering with independent e-brokers, using an Application Service Provider, building own sophisticated Internet mechanism to refer qualified direct leads to sales center.
- Key contributor to multi-year, multi-million dollar enterprise technology overhaul for electronic quoting and application processes, and on-line underwriting status for pending business, leading to substantial revenue increase and expense savings.
Jumbo National Medical Insurer, Blue Bell, PA, 1999-2001
Head, New Product Development
Identified and researched market trends to develop sustainable growth in profitable revenue, number of accounts and net membership, using technology as a facilitator and as a means to significantly increase internal processing efficiencies.
- Championed special product development initiative in response to emerging defined contribution (DC) models as applied to health care, representing a 10.5% or $2.2 billion annual revenue opportunity and an additional 1.2 million members.
- Assembled and effectively led large multi-site, multi-functional team of over 40 employees to assist with all aspects of analysis, feasibility study, development and implementation of DC project.
- Identified and selected vendors of Internet Selling Systems to present their capabilities and to bid for the business, resulting in a multi-million dollar contract to set up an internal facility to handle automatic product rating.
Jumbo International P&C Insurer, Philadelphia, PA, 1990-1999
VP, Property & Casualty Marketing, Asia Pacific Region and Continental Europe, Philadelphia, PA, 1997-1999
Directed and coordinated the activities of 7 regional and local marketing managers. Improved corporate marketing procedures and enhanced their sophistication while empowering field personnel to become more self-sufficient.
- Key contributor to $30 million annual profit increase (book of business: $420 million across 25 countries).
- Set up product development processes and implemented cross-selling, lead generation and communication techniques (advertising, pre-qualification of prospects using telemarketing, direct mail, follow up, customer advisory boards, etc.).
- Identified $250 million of untapped business opportunities through data mining efforts and selective purchasing of 330,000 prospects in critical targeted segments worldwide. Championed design improvements for client and prospect databases, tripling the number of registered users around the world (over 200 today).
VP, Property & Casualty Marketing, Asia Pacific Region, Sydney, Australia, 1996-1997
Devised regional sales strategy for a 12-country, $120 million book of business and directed implementation of all necessary activities, ranging from leading an 8-country market research project to heading product development, packaging and launch.
- Launched 7 new products through highly collaborative efforts involving multi-functional and multi-line managers, using innovative distribution channels such as association marketing and direct mail, generating an $8 million profit improvement.
- Achieved significant brand recognition through targeted mail and media programs and trade show participation, resulting in a 10.25% increase in business retention from 78% to 86%.
- Increased average premium per account in targeted segments by 22%, increased the proportion of “segmented business” in the portfolio by 10%, and improved the overall loss ratio by 6.5%.
Assistant VP, Marketing Strategy, Philadelphia, PA, 1994-1996
Managed all aspects of an internal marketing consulting practice for Insurer, covering all product lines from Property & Casualty to Health and Life.
- Institutionalized market research and trained 75 local staff in marketing techniques.
- Automated global and country-level segmentation tracking, demonstrating the superior performance of segmented business.
- Produced assessments of prospective joint-venture partners in Columbia for the Health Division.
Director, Strategic Planning, Philadelphia, PA, 1990-1994
Identified causes of sub-optimal financial performance of most major operations worldwide and submitted remedy proposals to senior management. Established marketing discipline in Property & Casualty business practices worldwide.
- Pioneered and championed segmentation efforts on worldwide basis: 50 countries, $1.2 billion in revenue.
- Organized exhaustive strategic reviews of 12 countries throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America, leading to restructuring, opening and closing of offices, in addition to changes in product offerings, price adjustments, rationalization of portfolios and streamlined distribution. Conducted over 1,000 in-depth interviews with internal and external respondents.
MARINE NATIONALE (FRENCH NAVY), Bordeaux HQ, France, 1986-1988
Enseigne de Vaisseau (U.S. Navy equivalent: Ensign), military service
Represented Navy branch at official civilian and military functions, and directed all logistical and protocol issues of Navy visitors. Served as:
- Aide-de-Camp and Chief of Cabinet. Organized 53 visits of French and foreign navy vessels in SW France area (over 2,000 navy personnel). Granted Top Security clearance. Awarded Medal of National Defense for outstanding services by special commendation.
- Public Relations Officer. Conducted 6 Officer recruiting campaigns throughout the region.
- Third Officer, commanding 31 men. Obtained special certifications in military parachuting and alpine military tactics.
EDUCATION
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, J. L. KELLOGG GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, Evanston, IL, 1990
Master of Business Administration -- General Management, Marketing, Finance
ECOLE SUPERIEURE DE COMMERCE ET D’ADMINISTRATION DES ENTREPRISES, Le Havre, France, 1984
Bachelor of Business Administration -- Marketing and International Trade |
