MARKETING / PRODUCT MANAGEMENT / SALES LEADERSHIP
* Business Strategy and Marketing Plan Development
* Product/Service Definition and Lifecycle Management
* Brand Development, Communication, and Management
* Sales and Customer Relationship Management
* Partnership/Alliance and Channel Development
* Go-to-Market Strategies and Execution
* Market Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning
* Promotions and Pricing Strategies
* Pre and Post-Sale Field Support
* Media and Analyst Relationship Management
Senior Director, Marketing – Texas June 2005 to July 2006
Led team in creating strategies and establishing infrastructure overcoming company identity and market awareness issues. Company is a privately held, engineering focused company with $41M annualized revenue providing products to independent communication service providers and enterprise telecommunications markets. Managed $800,000 budget.
* Established brand and portfolio strategy and supporting positioning and messaging; initiated brand re-launch backed by integrated communications program with new themes and value propositions fully aligned with customer buying criteria.
* Implemented company’s first CRM/sales force automation toolset providing significant benefits to opportunity management, manufacturing forecasting, management reporting, customer service/support, and marketing campaigns.
* Created trade show strategy and managed 50+ events per year, oversaw capital investments of over $100,000 in new booth properties, and established controls that reduced costs by $150,000/year while increasing generation of qualified leads and enhancing market exposure. First year cost savings leveraged to fund additional marketing initiatives.
* Developed new corporate web presence; established web strategy, set business objectives, and formulated design criteria; involved enhanced customer portals, back-office integration, and management of external creative and programming teams.
* Led multi-faceted media relations efforts involving tracking of editorial coverage, making pitches, securing bylines; increased hit ratio (release/pick-up) from .29 to 1.0; increased substantive media activity by factor of 4x compared to prior years.
* Established new product introduction program enabling pre-selling activities in advance of product availability; reduced ‘lag time’ between product/feature introduction and volume purchase orders.
* Completely overhauled all external facing communications; delivered more, higher-quality sales support tools within first six months than had been completed in prior three years prior to arrival (e.g. collateral, presentations, positioning papers).
* Put in place processes for planning and specifying requirements for new product developments; key contributor in the formulation of and agreement on requirements for all new product developments.
* Established strategy for new product software offering; development phases, go-to-market plans, licensing, and pricing.
* Developed strategy behind hardware and software product warranties and tiered customer support offerings.
Vice President – Texas Oct 2002 to June 2005
Boutique management consulting firm; provided outsourced strategic and tactical marketing services to client base in information technology, software, telecommunications, medical technology, and transportation industries. Led companies in the identification, validation, and exploitation of market opportunities through business plan development, strategic marketing plan development, portfolio management, branding strategies, and go-to-market efforts.
* Provided strategic counsel, developed go-to-market programs and increased sales force effectiveness through better linkage of selling activities with corporate strategies, objectives, and company capabilities; led development of web presence, marketing collateral, and positioned management as thought leaders within media.
* Advised incubator of medical technology ventures on business potential and product viability of prospective program companies.
Principal – Plano, Texas May 2002 to Oct 2002
Founded company that provided outsourced marketing services. Led companies in undertaking due diligence necessary to identifying and validating market opportunities, develop segment plans based upon profitability analysis and company capabilities, define product positioning, and establish brand messaging.
* Developed channel strategy, supporting programs, and go-to-market programs for market leader in network service assurance and application performance management systems for telecommunication service providers and enterprises.
* Developed business plan and strategic marketing plan for company offering supply chain management software tools.
Fortune 500 Telecommunications Company, Texas Aug 1997 to Nov 2001
Director of Marketing (2000 - 2001)
Recruited by general manager to form new group leading strategic planning, market development, and go-to-market activities targeting communication service providers. Accountable for revenue achievement, identification and development of new product and business opportunities, development of strategic alliances, customer contract negotiations, pre and post-sale support activities, product positioning, marketing collaterals, and new product launch. Managed six senior staff members. Received voluntary severance package 48 hours prior to sale of division to private equity holding company (50% reduction in force occurred within 30 days after acquisition by new owners).
* Responsible for achievement of $109M FY01 annual operating plan encompassing ten product lines and all service provider accounts. Established revenue plans and sales quota responsibilities for 37 account managers; responsible for win/loss tracking and revenue forecasting.
* Built sales to $78M in FY00, a 37% increase over prior year, by leading tactical sales efforts and through securing purchase agreements with AT&T, Sprint, WorldCom, Verizon, SBC, and Qwest.
* Established joint venture and channel strategy with business partner that boosted revenue, increased gross margins, and enabled entry to new accounts and markets. Negotiated contract encompassing intellectual property rights, software licensing, joint developments, and cooperative marketing and selling efforts. Coordinated activities between diverse cross-company groups (e.g. technical support, product management, sales organizations) and led go-to-market planning.
* Developed market entry/product launch plans and led execution of marketing programs, marketing communications, field support, and tactical sales initiatives.
* Spearheaded formulation of next generation product requirements based upon analysis of needs derived from customer focus groups. Developed product requirements, product functional specifications, and established market positioning.
* Planned/executed transition in business strategy from two-tier distribution channel to service provider re-sale distribution model.
* Keynote speaker for multi-city seminar series offered by Network World (a leading industry periodical).
Manager, Sales (1999 - 2000)
Promoted to lead an 11-person cross-functional team. Managed entire process for several highly competitive, multimillion-dollar RFI/RFP’s from initial planning and preparation through closure.
* Negotiated/secured contract that delivered over $150M in annual sales; first global master purchase agreement with customer; established company as a preferred vendor and impacted sales across multiple company divisions.
* Built revenues to $8 million despite intense competition and achieved 110% of plan.
Senior National Account Manager (1997 - 1999)
Directed all account activities related to the sale and support of nine product lines. Initially challenged to revitalize relationship with customer, which had not generated revenue for the three quarters prior to accepting assignment.
* Obtained certification and secured role as one of three vendors approved for use with managed service offering.
* Captured an exclusive agreement establishing company as the preferred equipment provider for remote access data services.
Fortune 100 Communications Service Provider, Texas / Georgia / New York / Florida Aug 1986 to Aug 1997
Manager, Product Management and Marketing (1993 - 1997)
Led the strategic planning and overall life cycle management of advanced data service offerings. Led product definition, product development, brand positioning, and market launch of service enhancements. Guided cross-functional teams responsible for development of order entry and billing systems, network infrastructure deployments, operations support, and engineering testing/evaluation. Directed pre-commercial service trials. Presented to over 50% of the Fortune 500 companies during tenure with company. Made hundreds of “best and final” briefings to senior management and C-level executives. Significant involvement in securing numerous multimillion-dollar contract wins.
* Built product revenues from $52 million to $324 million within four years through developing service enhancements, brand positioning, and designing/executing innovative, high-performance marketing, promotion, and communication campaigns.
* Extracted additional value from services and delivered a 7% net margin improvement on product line with $185 million in annual revenues. Revamped packaging, pricing, and market positioning. Developed and led supporting market communication efforts that garnered favorable press coverage.
* Led product/service requirements definition, established functional specifications, oversaw development, managed pre-commercial service trials, and led market introduction of over ten significant product/service rollouts.
* One of original architects of company's highly successful Enterprise Networking Services strategy responsible repositioning the company and achieving increased profitability through branding, cross-selling, and bundling of multiple services.
* Created PowerPoint presentations, customer collateral, and other field support materials used by 5000+ sales professionals and technical support personnel.
* Responsible for internal/external marketing communications; authored white papers on topics including networking protocols, VoIP, MPLS, QoS, emerging technologies, and network architecture design and optimization.
* Developed and led technical training programs for systems engineers and ‘solutions selling’ training for sales personnel; personally trained in excess of 3000 participants.
* Developed promotional strategy for services, validated financial viability of promotions, ensured back-office order entry and billing support for offerings, wrote promotional language for tariff filings, and created supporting materials for field sales.
* Keynote speaker at multiple trade shows, panels, and conferences; addressed technology trends, market solutions, business networking strategies, and industry evolution. Served as company’s principal representative to the Frame Relay Forum and The ATM Forum (key industry trade groups).
* Managed public speaking engagements, wrote press releases, led briefings and interviews, and worked with analysts and print media as company's primary point of contact. Achieved major publicity, frequently quoted in leading industry publications, and won positive coverage.
* Authored contributions and chaired key sessions of the Frame Relay Forum, an industry organization, which resulted in the establishment of global standards addressing network performance measurements and service level management.
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Science – Cum Laude
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
President, Board of Trustees for not-for-profit provider of group homes for developmentally disabled adults
Member, Board of Trustees for not-for-profit Montessori academy
Member, Independent School District’s School Based Improvement Committee
Youth soccer and baseball coach
Boy Scouts of America
February 2007- a |
