Executive Leader and Product Manager
Creative Technologist
I am passionate about creating great products for companies. I cannot do this alone. To create great products, I first attempt to create a first-rate organisation, only then create and execute on a product vision.
I do this by hiring great people, training them correctly, defining the function of Product, transforming a startup into A Product Company, and mentoring the PM org to communicate. I have discovered that this most often requires improving user research and using data to drive decisions.
Creating and Executing on a Product Vision
In order to solve the Product needs for the company, all PMs - myself included, and first - must understand the domain, understand the way the business creates value, drive the Product strategy, create artifacts such as vision and roadmaps, then communicate widely and frequently.
Education
I started with an undergrad in CompSci from Penn State and continued with a Masters in CompSci at University of Arizona where I studied OS/Networking with Larry Peterson and search with Udi Manber. After being a software developer for multiple years, I got an MBA, specialising in Tech & Entrepreneurship from UCLA Anderson.
Companies
I have been lucky to work for great companies like Google, Qualcomm, Amazon, Yahoo, and several startups, most notably leading Product Management as a VP or CPO at SwiftKey, fuboTV, and Prodigy Finance. I can lead technical teams given my past technical leadership, but my current speciality is clearly Product Management.
Domains & Businesses
I have learned to jump into new domains quickly, and have done this successfully multiple times in my career. This requires understanding the domain and business quickly, which is usually possible given my technical and business education and experience. I have worked in finance, mobile, machine learning, embedded systems, government systems, signal processing, search, online advertising and video streaming.
Values
I value transparency, bravery and innovation at a company, focusing first on creating value, but then ensuring the business survives by capturing that value responsibly.
Leadership style
I attempt to maintain an approachable, empathic yet accountable style of leadership. I lean very heavily on empowerment and mentorship; my goal is to continuously raise the capabilities of the organisation and those around me. Jay Desai's blog post inspired me to write a User Guide that I share with all my reports and managers, which goes deeply into my working style.
Resume Excerpts
(Please contact me if you’d like a full version or my contact information)
USA and UK Citizen
Professional Summary
Seasoned executive in product management and software development for finance, mobile, machine learning, embedded systems, signal processing, search, online advertising and cloud computing.
Startups to large corporations: SwiftKey and Prodigy Finance to Google, Qualcomm and Amazon.
Graduate of top-ranked MBA and MS in Computer Science programs.
Led complex multi-million dollar products and platforms to market.
Professional Experience
Prodigy Finance, London and Cape Town
CPO, Leading Product Management and Design organisations, Feb 2018-Mar 2020
Led Product and Design through significant org growth, launching multiple major product changes to grow revenue 2x, lower costs and increase efficiencies. Significantly grew Product and Design team members from simple “product owners” in an exec-led company into robust and agile product-led teams that understand business value. Drove roadmaps, set company and product vision, and set company OKRs. Member of senior exec team reporting to CEO, COO and Board.
fuboTV, NYC
CPO, July 2016-May 2017
Led Product Management, Design and Customer Support, including rapid hiring. Drove and managed all company and team OKRs. Set company product vision. Member of senior exec team.
VP Engineering, reporting to CPO May 2017-Nov 2017
Senior exec that directed engineering execution, design reviews, planning and personnel management, including rapid hiring.
SwiftKey, London
VP of Product, Jan 2015-Mar 2016
Restructured PM organization leading to a culture of clear decision-making, team empowerment, metrics-driven experimentation, market intelligence, and a more controlled and reliable release schedule. Oversaw all products and PMs (Android, iOS, SDK). Reported to Founder/CTO, managed stakeholders across the company. Helped determine corporate monetization strategy, and involved in exit to Microsoft.
Google, London
Product Manager, Ad Exchange and AdSense, Jul 2012-Jan2015
Thought leader in publisher display, particularly in optimization and inventory management. Exposure to all levels and aspects of the businesses, from the largest to smallest publishers particularly in Europe and North America.
Google Publisher Plugin. “Startup-like” WordPress-based plugin to automatically optimise AdSense placement.
Ad Exchange, Sellside Controls and Programmatic. Created rules-based controls for publishers for inventory, packaging and blocking, generating uplift of $200-500M ARR, unlocking the roadmap for another $70-350M ARR on a $2B project. Led engineering, marketing, commercialization and rollout. Helped to build and promote the programmatic marketplace.
INQ Mobile, London
Head of Platforms, Head of UK Software Development and Product Manager, 2009-2012.
Reporting to the CTO and working with all areas of management, setting product and technology strategy, building and directing an Agile team of 40+ software developers and testers for Android located in London, San Francisco, Rome, Beijing, Kiev and Bangalore.
QUALCOMM, San Diego
Principal Engineer, Product Lead, Full-time Consultant. 2005-2009
Directed client-specific solutions while managing products, code and organization.
Solutions Architect and Project Engineer. Technical lead for 25+ engineers on design and implementation of division’s first $8M OEM partnerships (John Deere, JCB, Liebherr and others) for cellular and satellite telematics solutions for construction, agriculture and transportation.
Technical Management and Processes. Implemented new processes during time of heavy reorganization. Helped to promote and tailor a pilot test of Scrum methodologies, leading to smoother coordination between five product lines and over $20M in business.
Firmware Development. Multi-year software quality initiative. Architected mobile firmware products. Mentored engineers.
YAHOO!, Sunnyvale
Technical Product Manager, Yahoo! Search and Mobile. 2004-2005
Delivered innovative products for web and mobile search designed to increase customer experience and monetization.
Mobile Search. $3M Yahoo! Search strategy for mobile devices, partnership with Verizon, Vodaphone, Cingular and Rogers.
Evaluation of Strategic Acquisitions. Helped integrate acquired technologies.
Emerging Search Technologies. Developed products with deep tech, aligned with corporate goals and strategic positioning. Supported international, vertical and mobile searches. Increased monetization by 15%.
AMAZON.COM, Seattle
Summer MBA Intern, New Merchant Integration. Summer 2003
Helped 300+ small business owners launch online partner stores in new product categories.
Merchant Management. Managed first small business relationships into Marketplace, training and tech support. Directly led integration of 60 businesses. Designed and prototyped new training, resulting in 60% fewer contacts per merchant and reduced costs by 40%.
QUALCOMM, San Diego
Staff Engineer, 1995-2002.
Software systems architect and team lead and developer with a reputation for completing high profile projects despite tight schedules and resources. Managed teams of 5-10 people.
Digital Cinema. Defined product requirements for digital cinema compression system used for Star Wars, Episode II. Led digitization of Oceans 11, managed operations on location at Warner Brothers. Created training for engineering, lowering costs by 30%. Developed tools for embedded parallel video encoder.
Government Programs (TS/SI). Chief software architect and team lead for $100M+ government project. Led engineering through lifecycle on highly technical and pivotal components. Received award for outstanding technical achievement.
Globalstar Satellite System. Led engineers to create tools and processes for integrating and testing $4B+ global satellite telephony system. Guided IT on network design and automation for large org of development, integration and test.
CDMA Base Station. (Intern, 1995.) Developed tools defect tracking, version control, documentation generation and distributed builds.
Education
THE UCLA ANDERSON SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, Los Angeles, CA, Full time, 2002-2004
M.B.A., Entrepreneurship and Technology Strategy, June 2004. With Distinction, GPA: 3.9.
Studied International Business at Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium.
2003 Investment Fund Scholarship, Consulting Award at USC Challenge, Entrepreneur Scholarship. Marketing Director of the world’s largest student Entrepreneur Association.
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, Tucson, AZ 1994-1996
M.S. Computer Science, May 1996. Cum Laude, GPA: 3.9.
Research in search engines, parallel file systems, and generating optimized transformation code. Publication: “GlimpseHTTP: searching and browsing for WWW” (USENIX 1997) with Udi Manber.
THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, State College, PA, 1989-1994
B.S. Computer Science, with Distinction and Honors, Phi Beta Kappa
Senior honors thesis in distributed computing and encryption.