PATNI COMPUTER SYSTEMS (NYSE: PTI)
Cambridge, MA and Mumbai, India
Acquired by Igate in May 2011
President – Patni Americas
Executive Vice President – Patni Computer Systems
(2009 – 2011)
Recruited by the Chief Executive Officer of this publicly traded $1.45 billion multi-national provider of software and services as President to turn around and grow its principal subsidiary, Patni Americas, after global revenues had stalled at $550 million.
I was drawn to the leadership role because transforming Patni Americas was the largest challenge facing the company. At that time, Patni Americas was contributing 77% of the global revenue, employee morale was the lowest ever recorded by Hewitt, revenues and margins had fallen, customer satisfaction was low, attrition was 27%, and takeover rumors were constant.
When the company was acquired 21 months later, Patni Americas had increased revenue contribution to 82%, net margins had improved from 11% to 17%, and my P&L had risen from $505 million to $675 million.
Patni Americas’ performance under my leadership exceeded expectations:
Quarter Revenue % Net Margins % Contribution
Q3/09 $126,000,000 11% 77%
Q4/09 $129,000,000 13% 78%
Q1/10 $137,500,000 14% 79%
Q2/10 $136,800,000 16% 78%
Q3/10 $144,400,000 15% 80%
Q4/10 $150,000,000 16% 81%
Q1/11 $154,000,000 17% 82%
Q2/11 $165,600,000 17% 82%
Restructured Patni Americas to clearly define accountability, increase market share, accelerate decision-making, remove process loops, and increase margins. Reduced the 135 person sales force by 20% and reorganized into four sub regions with clear sub regional, domain, account and revenue goals. Solution Selling practices were implemented, and Cross Sell training was introduced. Technical and Delivery support was provided early in the sales cycle to reduce the time to close deals. Delivery resources were increased, and new senior managers were recruited.
My reorganization resulted in reduction of the executive team to six members; Vendor of the Year awards given to Patni Americas by Weyerhaeuser, Mosaic and Southern California Edison; expansion into Brazil and Canada; signing marquee clients such as Home Depot, Kaiser and Church & Dwight; closing the largest deal in the company’s history with Universal American Insurance (TCV of $120 million); opening a delivery center in Mexico; buying domestic divisions of Universal American Insurance and Emdeon; and increasing the revenue run rate from $126 million to $157.5 million per quarter.
Reduced operating costs for Patni Americas through a combination of highly targeted account based marketing, ROI commitments, reduced travel costs, and closing under utilized offices. At the same time, communications to all Patni Americas employees increased significantly, benefits to the 3500 domestic employees (PTO days, awarding RSUs, gym memberships, etc.) were added/improved, and 85% of the sales force achieved quota (previous high was 70%).
Formed a Strategic Advisory Board which consisted of the recently retired Head of IT – Boeing, a recently retired Executive Vice President of Universal American Insurance, and a well regarded business author/corporate advisor. This Board, along with four other advisors, allowed us to gain entry into companies such as VW Group, Fujitsu, Erplink, Microsoft, Kaiser and Boeing.
Largely because of Patni America's performance, Igate purchased the company with a valuation of $1.45 billion in a private equity backed transaction.
WIRELESS PHYSICS INC
Atlanta, GA and Charleston, SC
President, CEO and Director (2006 – 2008)
Privately held firm that developed and commercialized wireless technologies for a Department of Homeland Security customer. Initially hired to liquidate the company as it was nearly bankrupt, but quickly identified an opportunity to leverage the patent portfolio and turn the situation around.
Wireless Physics had developed a robust wireless tracking system that was not commercially viable. The company had acquired various wireless patents (500 unique claims), but had not leveraged them because of a lack of funding and capabilities. The company had missed several deliverables to DOD customers as well as filing fees to protect intellectual property.
To stabilize the business, I removed two of the founders as well as non critical roles and recruited three board members with public company experience (the former CEO Alcatel Americas, a former Treasurer Bank of America, and Retired Rear Admiral US Military). In addition, $5 million was raised, all patent and filing fees were brought up to date, product development was restarted, and customer relationships were converted into revenue opportunities.
As a result, the business broke even within 14 months, new contracts were signed with government agencies, and funded cooperation agreements were executed with Oak Ridge National Laboratories.
DELOITTE
New York City, NY
Global Practice Director – Technology Media and Telecom (2003 – 2006)
National Practice Director – Technology Media and Telecom (2000 – 2003)
Recruited by a Vice Chairman and a Managing Partner to start and manage a new business focused on the Technology and Communications industry. I was drawn to the role because Deloitte was committed to having an industry led approach (a first for the Firm), the firm was willing to invest in domain and industry training, and, most significantly, it was an opportunity to build a new business. By 2006, the practice had grown from 25 to 2300 employees, and revenues had grown to $2.06 billion annually.
Year Revenue
2001 $480,000,000
2002 $417,000,000
2003 $521,000,000
2004 $1,000,100,000
2005 $2,064,000,000
After I joined Deloitte, short term ($250 million) and strategic plans ($1 billion/4 years) were created, presented and approved by the Board. Established a highly selective process to determine focus markets (various tiers), focus customers, funding, marketing (thought leadership, industry events, media exposure) and personnel. Focused resources were allocated to Tier 1 markets, while enhanced Industry support was provided to Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets.
Initially, I devoted most of my time to new service offerings, budgeting, training, eminence, business development and building a domestic innovation team. After one year, I was appointed to the Marketing Board and the Venture Board. In 2003, I joined the Global Steering Committee after being named Global Practice Director (reporting to a Global Board member). My management duties were expanded to include US, Canada, Mexico, China, Israel, Europe, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Brazil and Australia.
In addition to promoting the Deloitte brand by leveraging personal contacts and high profile media coverage, I was very active in revenue generation and client service at the C level. Examples include SC Johnson ($25 million – Consulting Services), WorldCom ($180 million – Consulting Services), Credit Suisse First Boston ($6 million – advising on the takeover of WorldCom), Phillips Electronics ($3 million – Regulatory). Leveraging my relationships, we were also able to serve new clients such as General Motors – CTO (technology), Disney (media), Media Ventures (media/technology/investments), Hughes (technology), Vodafone (telecom), Ipark (technology), Brown Brothers (technology/investments), Infinity Horizons (technology/investments) and (CPG / technology).
TANDEM TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS
Dallas, TX
Acquired by Compaq/HP in 1999
Director of Sales for Wireless (1997 – 2000)
Recruited by a senior vice president to enable Tandem to gain entry into AT&T Wireless Services (at that time McCaw). Tandem had not been successful in selling to wireless carriers because the incumbents (Ericsson and Lucent) used proprietary communication links, which made it commercially difficult for others to compete. By 2000, Ericsson and Lucent had been replaced in all AT&T Wireless markets, I had exceeded quota by nearly 200% for three years and was managing $185 million revenue.
Year Revenues Margins % of Goals
1997 $ 24,000,000 72% 290%
1998 $ 85,000,000 72% 150%
1999 $165,000,000 64% 275%
Tandem had excellent infrastructure and reputation, but lacked decision maker relationships, deep product functionality knowledge and industry reputation. Early strategy included forming a strike team to focus on AT&T’s mission critical service needs, aligning our product plans with AT&T Marketing plans, and further enhancing executive relationships. By structuring a “Pay as You Grow” plan, we enhanced our revenue capture and also remove Ericsson and Lucent infrastructure from the AT&T network.
CELCORE
Dallas, TX and Memphis, TN
Acquired by Alcatel in 1997
Director of Sales (1995 – 1997)
Recruited to sell to McCaw (now AT&T Wireless), Southwestern Bell (now AT&T Wireless) and BellSouth (now AT&T Wireless). Celcore was a start up company that provided cellular systems at one tenth the cost of traditional cellular systems. Generated over 50% ($10.8 million) of the revenue, and Alcatel bought the company shortly after I sold our first (and only) cellular system.
When I joined Celcore, the products were not yet ready for commercial introduction, marketing and sales teams had just started to form, and funding was an issue. My initial objective was to generate revenue and joint development agreements with partners. By leveraging relationships with Southwestern Bell and McCaw, won a commercial agreement with Motorola. This led to commercial agreements with Bell South, McCaw and Southwestern Bell. These early agreements allowed us to raised additional funding to continue development of our cellular systems.
ERICSSON, NORTH AMERICA
Dallas, TX
Account Manager (1994 – 1995)
Product Planning (1992 – 1994)
While in Product Planning, I was initially responsible for revenue generating features, such as the creation of the Cellular Extension Phone, Second Phone on the Same Number as well as enhancements to features such as Call Waiting and Call Forwarding. Later given expanded responsibilities, including leading Ericsson’s global efforts to counter cellular fraud (which at the time amounted to $1 billion/year in lost revenue.) and appointed by the President of Ericsson Radio Systems to develop a strategy to counter Department of Justice violations that affected nearly 50% of the domestic customers.
Within three months of becoming an Account Manager, I sold the first commercial digital cellular system to Cellular ONE – Chicago (SBC) for $100 million (TCV). Cellular ONE – Chicago was the single largest cellular market in the US at that time and Ericsson’s largest domestic customer. Leveraged the trust and professional relationships developed while in Product Planning role.
NEC AMERICA
Dallas, TX
Software Production Engineer 1998 – 1992
Responsible for producing Application and Central Office Data loads for Class 5 switches. Coordinated engineering efforts to resolve software issues related to NECs proprietary software.
ERICSSON, NORTH AMERICA
Dallas, TX
Application Engineer 1985 - 1988
Responsibilities included defining and writing specifications for hardware and software configurations for wired, wireless and billing systems.
EDUCATION:
MBA, Amber University, Dallas, TX, 1990
BSBA, University of Texas, Dallas, TX, 1986 |
