PRODUCT MANAGEMENT & MARKETING EXECUTIVE
Talented Business Strategist & Leader with extensive global experience in Fortune 100 companies developing & executing marketing plans designed to generate new revenues and outperform competition. Visionary marketing expert with total life cycle management experience that includes market sizing & forecasting; segmentation strategies; requirements gathering & road map establishment; and creative product messaging & marketing collateral. Natural talent in building and leading high performing teams and instilling accountability & customer focus. Keen global business acumen & multicultural intelligence. Co-founder/Managing Director of international consulting firm supported by expertise in:
Product Ideation/Development/Execution “Go to Market” Strategies/Launches
Market Research/Competitive Analysis Defining Customer Experience
Product Positioning/Pricing Sales Readiness Training
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
VERIZON, Basking Ridge, NJ 2005 – 2009
Director, Business Product Strategy, Corporate Marketing, 2007-2009
Created long-term vision for key new product initiatives supporting domestic & global business markets across wireline & wireless product sets. Ensured product ideation matched new technologies with customer use trends. Mapped services & products to create superlative customer experience. Focused on strategic direction for Unified Communications & Collaboration [UCC], Mobile Enablement & monetization opportunities of new technologies such as IMS & FMC. Managed numerous cross-functional teams of 10-45 members, depending on strategic initiative, to gain broad-based agreement and champion product development initiatives.
• Designed “deep dive” assessment/recommendations for entry into UCC market, including overarching umbrella strategy and segment-specific product & service strategies for customer base spanning small business to large, multinational enterprises. The goal of this initiative is to provide $1B in net new revenues across all business segments.
• Managed monthly CXO meetings, a forum for the CMO, CIO & CTO, to discuss new product initiatives, business strategies and provide insight into the inter-workings of each organization. Discussions focused on process improvement opportunities to improve speed to market and customer experience as well as systems, network and infrastructure synergies, achieving the following results
Stopped deployment of 3 separate but overlapping service delivery platforms;
Moved from 8 separate vmail systems to 3 with plans to reduce further.
Director, Product Management & Business Strategy, Small/Medium Business, 2005-2007
Recruited to manage team of 7 and budget of ~$2.5M to help Verizon move into converged services & VoIP markets. Assumed full life cycle management of existing Integrated Access portfolio with > $50M annual revenues with objective of migrating to newly created IP based portfolio. Developed/marketed VoIP portfolio for small & medium business segments; identified customer requirements and developed product/service descriptions, product & marketing plans. Oversaw product development initiatives with Engineering, Network & IT Systems; developed business cases, product forecasting & target markets/segmentation; designed “go to market” & distribution channel strategies; and created sales training requirements & tools.
• To accelerate speed to market, leveraged existing platform designed for enterprise clients by modifying feature/function, systems, pricing and fulfillment processes to reflect needs of smaller customers:
Eliminated 12 steps from pre-sale process & 45 days from provisioning intervals;
Generated 35% of total order activity in <3 months and revenues of $50M/year.
• Created product plan & business case for new VoIP product specifically for 7M prospective very small business customers (<10 employees). Oversaw all line management activities for product development & product marketing, including the following deliverables:
Product requirements & service descriptions, including systems requirements for order entry, billing & customer care;
Market sizing, segmentation, pricing & forecasts;
Secondary & primary research to assess customer ;
Complete go-to-market strategy & launch kit, including marcoms, promotions, channel distribution strategy, fulfillment & training.
Resulting product forecast to generate $260M in net new revenues over first 5 years of service.
THE LAUNCH PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL, INC., Great Falls, VA 1995 – 2005
(Strategic technology marketing consulting firm with revenues of $2M focused on helping client companies introduce new or revitalized products & services in the marketplace).
Founder, Managing Director
Consulted with client companies on total life cycle product management. Developed/executed market entry strategy. Created launch, marketing, communications & sales plans with focus on global expansion & new product launches. Served as interim Marketing Executive for established companies to re-focus marketing strategies & launch start- ups.
MARKETING STRATEGY
• As interim CMO for global telecom hardware manufacturer reporting to CEO, managed marketing team of 13 & budget of $5M, with the following results:
Rebranded/re-launched company to include newly deployed global network & service elements;
Initiated/led company-wide planning process in support of market-focused strategy;
Revised sales compensation structure to support recurring revenue elements & create self-funded incentives.
• Assumed Marketing Director role for global Satellite Router Manufacturer & ISP, achieving the following:
Identified 3 new international markets & 50+ potential channel partners;
Re-launched marketing collateral & managed international tradeshow;
Re-positioned product portfolio to include market segmentation element;
Developed competitive analysis & positioning, helping sales force close on critical deals.
• Retained by wholesale carrier to develop/begin execution of marketing plan to jump-start revenue generation in stagnant market, achieving series of “firsts”:
Initiated launch of branding & advertising campaign to expand recognition;
Developed targeted prospect list, direct marketing campaign concepts
Identified new international market opportunities that included 10+ countries in South America and a new enterprise segment.
PRODUCT LAUNCHES
Hired as outsourced marketing department by regional phone company to launch new integrated access product, including development of positioning, messaging, sales & qualification tools, fulfillment materials and technical & sales training. The initiative was determined to be the most successful launch in client’s history, generating >10% of data revenue stream in 2 years.
For US-based mobile phone operator, designed and executed launch plans for cellular data product providing internet access from mobile handsets. Identified target market, vertical market applications and segmentation; created industry specific sales tools & training; developed creative brief for marketing communications campaigns.
SALES, MARKETING & TECHNICAL TRAINING
For global telecom provider, developed/delivered week-long seminars on new IP technologies (Managed Firewalls, Multi-Protocol Label Switching-based network design, TCP/IP, Internet Security, VoIP) for ~1K field sales & sales engineering staffs in 20+ countries to meet client company’s aggressive launch schedule.
Developed training curriculum, certification program, testing & computer-based courseware to refocus wireline, voice-oriented sales force to better identify and more quickly close on data services sales, enabling client to surpass initial data revenue goal of ~$500M, growing to $1B.
Designed training program for client’s 80+ product managers on development/execution of formal product plans to focus on complete life cycle management with the following results:
Created new plans for 22 product lines;
Classified key products that were past prime;
Identified target marketing & segmentation conflicts for 3 products requiring repositioning and feature/function/price modifications.
PRIOR RELATED EXPERIENCE – MCI
Director, Strategy & Business Planning
Director, Sales & Support [Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, US West]
Executive Staff Member, Global Initiatives
Senior Manager, Planning & Large Account Marketing
Product Manager, International Voice Services
Manager, International Engineering Services
Manager, National Account Operations
EDUCATION
MBA, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
BA, Foreign Languages, State University College of New York, New Paltz, NY
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Creating/Managing/Negotiating International Business Relationships, Harvard Law School
International Marketing Strategies, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University |
