Dave Higgins Email & Phone Number

After establishing and scaling the IoT Design Center in my previous role, together with my colleagues, I transformed the newly created group into a broadly focused engineering services organization—one that closely aligned with the company’s core vision.At first, I directed the engineering operation in Tempe, Arizona, to design, prototype, test, and prepare innovative products for manufacturing. Our Tempe engineering team was able to grow revenue 276% in one year by creating a close collaboration with our sales leaders. In early 2020, with an eye on efficiency and customer-centric innovation, we restructured and consolidated our Arizona- and Minnesota-based engineering teams, and I embraced my current role: jointly leading the combined North American Engineering Services team with a focus on growing revenue and bookings in the Industrial, Semiconductor, and Telecom sectors.BUSINESS & ENGINEERING LEADERSHIP—FOR RAPID, SUSTAINED GROWTH• Fostered trust with the sales team to generate opportunities for the Tempe engineering group. This strategic effort yielded 276% growth from 2018 to 2019.• Provided vision and direction for the North America Engineering Services Team—yielding significant growth year over year.• Influenced 2x growth in Industrial & Semiconductor bookings by partnering with my colleagues and sales leaders as a key contributor in bidding, quoting, and business development processes.• Met changing organizational needs by balancing engineering leadership with business, P&L, and growth planning.

I was brought in to lead Benchmark’s IoT Design Center from its inception, and to rapidly scale the start-up operation. I built a top-performing team to create a leading-edge hardware and software IoT platform for high precision indoor location tracking. The solution uses UWB technology to locate or track people and assets accurately (within 10 centimeters) while collecting sensor information associated with the asset or person.START-UP & GROWTH MANAGEMENT• Hired a team of exceptionally talented software, mechanical, and electrical engineers.• Scaled the team from zero to 21 employees in 11 months.• Established capabilities to provide customers with customized, end-to-end, gateway-to-the-cloud service offerings.

Morrisville, Nc, Us

As a member of the senior executive team within Lenovo’s Personal Computing & Smart Devices division, I directed all operations of the global Software Development organization and Product Assurance & Quality team (420+ total employees in the U.S., China, and Japan). In this role, I provided vision and direction in creating, testing, and deploying cloud portal, LenovoID, and device software for the international marketplace, while managing budgets, contributing to P&L, and steadily improving performance.CUSTOMER-FOCUSED AGILE DEVELOPMENT•Utilizing our customer-centric Agile model, we translated user insights into future SW features (Agile sprints) and quality improvements.• Increased store ratings from 2.9 to 4.1 (out of 5.0) for both cloud portal and Lenovo Settings applications.ENTERPRISE DEPLOYMENT• Established an industry-leading experience for enterprise customers by transforming traditional, high-touch deployment to a cloud-based provisioning model, providing advisory services to facilitate technology transitions.• Dramatically improved deployment, manageability, cloud provisioning, and Windows 10 migrations for enterprise customers.SECURITY OPTIMIZATION• Instilled a security culture by establishing Security Review Board and prioritizing employee education (assigned managers and staff to internal and external security training programs).• Launched “bug bounty” program with incentives for employees to identify security issues prior to shipment, inspiring the team to isolate 26 high-value and 338 total security vulnerabilities.COST CONTAINMENT & PROCESS IMPROVEMENT• Saved $26M by shifting customer care media (DVDs) to digital downloads.• Reduced ThinkPad preloaded applications by 74% for a cleaner image (and happier customers).• Partnered with Microsoft, Intel, AMD, IHVs, and PC OEMs) to aggressively reduce system crashs; overachieved goals by decreasing crashes 35% to 39% on commercial and consumer products.

Morrisville, Nc, Us

As VP of Software Development, I continued to run the 400-employee SW development organization while guiding a corporate transformation —from standalone products to a cross-platform, cloud-based software approach. In addition, my teams and I introduced strategies to monetize user relationships by creating an engaging, content-rich cloud ecosystem and portal.•Introduced a customer-centric Agile model that translated user insights into future SW features (Agile sprints). Improved speed, quality, and customer adoption by rolling out Agile development methodology across the global software community.• Reduced annual NECPC spend from $41M to $17M in three years.• Achieved superior on-time delivery on software commitments.• Surpassed yearly goals for revenue growth and increasing total active users.

Morrisville, Nc, Us

I was promoted to VP in 2007, and directed operations of Lenovo’s Software and Peripherals business unit. Soon after I stepped into this role, the global economy changed, and it was important to implement efficiencies to protect the bottom line—without sacrificing quality or user satisfaction.After stabilizing the organization through process changes and cost reductions, the focus shifted to growth planning, performance optimization, and outperforming competitors in a crowded marketplace.• Produced the fastest-booting Windows PC on the market (retained this status for 3+ years) as executive sponsor of ThinkPad Enhanced Experience and Velocity programs.• Earned recognition from Microsoft as #1 OEM partner, and for industry-leading performance.• Relocated 127 positions from the U.S. to China to reduce development costs; met all product deliverables and commitments during the transition.• Improved manufacturing download times 30% and expedited testing cycles 50% through automation and efficiency.

Morrisville, Nc, Us

I played a leadership role in the IBM-to-Lenovo transition following Lenovo’s acquisition of IBM’s PC division. I continued to manage and mobilize 400+ employees in the U.S., China, and Japan—cutting costs and streamlining development along the way. At the same time, I collaborated with other executives in navigating the complexities of this major corporate transformation.For the acquisition:• Managed complex patent portfolio negotiations, ownership rights, and government approvals.• Integrated cultures, people, systems, and processes to create a single, unified organization after the acquisition.• Rebuilt the technology infrastructure, as needed, to ensure success.For the SW development business:• Grew China Development Lab from 20 to 70 employees in 12 months (later, expanded the lab to 300+ managers and staff).• Decreased preload costs 50% while increasing total systems supported by >100%.• Improved testing processes, tools, and automation, reducing product testing times by 300 hours.• Supported ThinkCentre and ThinkPad product launches worldwide.

Armonk, New York, Ny, Us

I was transitioned (and relocated) to Raleigh, North Carolina, to restructure and revitalize IBM’s PC software organization, eliminating inefficiencies and improving performance across development, imaging, and product assurance.Before I came in, the SW development team was inconsistent in its operations (“garage shop”). It needed strong leadership and clearly defined processes for employees in the U.S., China, and Japan. To improve quality / on-time performance, I rebuilt and re-trained teams, overhauled operations, and created a professional, reliable, on-budget development and testing organization with exceptional customer support.

Armonk, New York, Ny, Us

I was promoted to IBM’s executive team after serving as Executive Assistant to the IBM General Manager of Microelectronics from 2000 to 2001. In this capacity, I directed customer care (level 2 / 3 support, collaborated cross-functionally to resolve integration issues with hardware, middleware, and software, and oversaw the high-stakes Critical Situation Team) for IBM’s UNIX servers.

Armonk, New York, Ny, Us

Following IBM’s acquisition of Sequent, I was offered a start-up opportunity. I began by building and scaling a team of dedicated, hard-working developers (sourced from the U.S. and India), and I implemented systems, operations, and best practices to effectively transition IBM’s UNIX operating system to Intel. The outcome beat expectations: we delivered the first AIX release on IA64 within 15 months.

Armonk, New York, Ny, Us

PRIOR EXPERIENCEEarly in my career, I worked in coding and customer care for IBM. I started as Product Development Engineer, and advanced to Development Associate Engineer, Senior Associate Engineer, Staff Development Engineer, Senior Programming Manager, Development Engineer Manager, and Director of AIX Kernel Development.

Bachelor Of Science In Electrical Engineering (Bsee)

Master'S Coursework In Computer Engineering