PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
VISTEON (Formerly FORD ELECTRONICS)
NORTH AMERICAN COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR
October 2008 to Present
* Created and executed a business development plan to secure $150 million in new business from North American automotive OEMs including Ford, GM, Chrysler and Fisker. Planned goals were 100% achieved.
* Overhauled the sales group by consolidating sales and account management teams and upgrading personnel; achieved a 25% operating cost reduction while meeting all sales and profit objectives.
* Opened sales channels to emerging electric vehicle manufacturers resulting in $15 million in new engineering contracts.
* Responsible for negotiation and enforcement of all contracts with North American customer base enabling one time recoveries worth over $15M and operational restructuring worth over $50 million dollars annually.
* Returned loss making service parts business to profitability through negotiation of price increases and final builds of several hundred part numbers. Improved bottom line of $12M unit by $4M.
* Established and met budget goals for the North American sales team.
PREMIUM AUDIO SYSTEMS BUSINESS DIRECTOR
June 2006 to September 2008
Established autonomous Premium Audio Systems business unit as a pilot for division.
* Developed and executed five year business plan to expand customer base, develop competitive advantage and grow $65M business.
* Grew Premium Audio business revenue an average of 10% annually and maintained after tax profitability of 7.7%, exceeding business plan objective by 1.7%.
* Secured brand partnership agreements with major consumer and audio electronics firms - Denon, Marantz, Boston Acoustics, McIntosh, Tannoy, Merridian, and Rockford Fosgate which provided product differentiation and enabled premium pricing advantage over competition.
GLOBAL ADVANCE DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
August 2004 to May 2006
* Responsible for the prioritization, rationalization, and execution of advance projects with a total budget of $25M, resulting in a 30% increase in project success rate.
* Mentored key technical personnel.
* Chair of patent and intellectual property committee for electronics division.
GLOBAL PRODUCT PLATFORM DIRECTOR
January 2003 to July 2004
* Developed and launched product development process to meet multiple customer requirements while maximizing engineering reuse resulting in over a 15% reduction in product development costs.
* Managed group that architected global product platforms for key product classes: audio/infotainment head units, amplifiers, digital radio receivers, and instrument clusters.
* Managed $40M engineering budget that included the establishment of product development operations in Chihuahua, Mexico and Shanghai, China. Grew both operations from ground up to over 50 employees in Mexico and over 100 employees in China.
* Member of strategy team responsible for the corporate product strategy which defined electronic product and customer strategy and established guidelines for competitive global engineering and manufacturing footprint resulting in a reduction of engineering costs by $20M and manufacturing costs by $50M annually.
NAVIGATION/TELEMATICS PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
August 2000 to December 2002
* Negotiated and secured over $6.5M of technology development partnerships with a number of technology partners including Sirius Satellite radio.
* Established emerging technology team which positioned company as a technology leader in the areas of voice recognition, satellite radio and navigation, and wireless communication, resulting in company being first to market in voice recognition and blue tooth wireless products.
* Secured contract with GM for in-vehicle computer worth $50M in annual revenue.
* Executive in charge of West Coast navigation software group; won $15M annual navigation radio contract with European OEM and won follow on $20M annual contract for North American market.
ELECTRONICS DIVISION: VARIOUS MANAGERIAL ASSIGNMENTS
February 1992 to July 2000
External Sales Technical Liaison, Audio Product Development Manager, Telematics Product Development Manager, and Body/Security Development Manager, Vehicle EMC Manager.
Key Accomplishments
* Established European sales office (Frankfurt, Germany) in support business with one of Ford Electronic’s first non-Ford, outside sales contracts (Continental-Teves). Secured lead development contract for next generation ABS controllers and grew revenue to over $50M during two year assignment.
* Established electronics product development operations in Cologne, Germany. Won and delivered over $30M passive anti-theft, body electronics, and safety electronics (airbag control) business during two year tenure.
* Led proposal for employee buyout of Ford Motor Company’s Electro-Magnetic Compatibility test facilities. Made numerous presentations to Ford Senior Management and CEO. Developed business case, secured debt/equity financing and experienced board of advisors. Project promised to reduce Ford’s operating expenses by 20% and eliminated need for multi-million dollar ongoing capital investment.
ELECTRONICS DIVISION: VARIOUS ENGINEERING ASSIGNMENTS
January 1986 to January 1992
Product Development Engineer with Driver Information, Air Suspension & Ride Control, and Antilock Brake & Traction Control Product Areas.
INTERNSHIPS
GENERAL MOTORS
Assistant Project Engineer - BOC Body Electrical Group
May 1985 to September 1985
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS CORPORATION
Communications Systems Engineer - MD80 Systems Group
May 1984 to September 1984
EDUCATION
M.B.A., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1997)
B.S. Electrical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1985)
LANGUAGES
Fluent in German
PERSONAL
Age 46, married, 1 child
6’3”, 220 lbs. |
