The Bend Entrepreneur Lab (BEL) is a new initiative focused on providing direct support to early-stage tech entrepreneurs in Central Oregon from inception to the close of a successful seed round. BEL acts as your co-founder by delivering a wide range of tailored services to each entrepreneur, enabling them to move at startup speed, avoid common pitfalls, and maximize market success. The BEL innovation model combines the best demonstrated practice of proven models with the unique capabilities and culture found in Bend.Our vision is to put Bend on the map as a place where aspiring tech entrepreneurs, including talent from underrepresented communities, can start & grow their tech company for the benefit of all.

As an experienced entrepreneur with a passion for market centric innovation that delivers profitable growth, I help companies build value & attract world-class investors through thoughtful offerings. Directly involved in ideation and incubation of a dozen digital businesses with organizations like Regis, PwC, or Stanley Black & Decker.

Launched the new Digital Acceleration practice at Heidrick on the West Coast. The new offering helps large enterprises and their executive teams leverage their unique assets & capabilities to drive exponential growth.

Generated a quality deal flow to Mighty Capital by exposing the partner group to digital start-ups with breakthrough technologies, compelling usecases, and business models. Actively involved in the due diligence process with a primary focus on product-market fit, and ability to scale profitably - One year commitment.

I was offered the opportunity to join the executive team at Vendini as SVP of Product to rebuild the Product, Engineering and Quality Assurance organizations with the primary goal of increasing the frequency, quality and predictability of new product releases.By defining an end-to-end product lifecycle under the umbrella of Design Thinking, developing a product roadmap based on compelling business cases, and implementing a true offshore software development model under a matrix framework, my team set the foundation for the renewed product leadership of the company.The release of a breakthrough Email Marketing platform and a new BoxOffice mobile solution in less than 6 months demonstrated the performance of the new product organization, and positioned the company for sustained revenue growth.

I joined the ranks of the senior executive team at Sungevity, a top solar energy company, to improve field operations with a focus on productivity, cycle time and quality. By combining advanced technologies with innovative business processes, my team is building the operations software platform that supports the asset-light, platform-based strategy of the company.I assembled a cross-functional team of 20 subject matter experts and identified 17 areas of improvements. I manage a dedicated program team made of product managers, product owners, user experience experts, developers and QA engineers. The team released 10 new technology-based productivity tools under the Design Thinking methodology that delivered a double digit impact on top metrics. Our collective efforts translated into tens of millions of Dollars in efficiency gains while maintaining stellar NPS, drastically reducing customer cancellations and improving cycle time. Since introduction of the Service Program, the company has repeatedly broken installation records, with all Key Performance Indicators (KPI) now trending in the right direction.

As entrepreneur in residence, I recruited and managed a cross-functional team inside SAP to define, build, test and launch SAP Precision Marketing, an award winning cloud-based consumer mobile solution. My team delivered a new enterprise solution, from concept to product, in less than 18 months.In parallel, I convinced flagship companies including L’Oreal, the Casino Group and Société de Transport de Montréal to co-innovate with SAP through productive market pilots. Under my leadership, the combined team achieved unprecedented consumer adoption of new mobile applications and a tenfold increase in the effectiveness of mobile interactions through advanced personalization.My responsibilities included Go-To-Market strategy with solution pricing, sales process, partner and field enablement which resulted in over 50 qualified sales leads representing over $200M in annual subscription revenue.This one-of-a-kind success was featured in the “SAP Run Simple“ global marketing campaign and was the focus of a Gartner case study. This unprecedented achievement fundamentally transformed the product innovation process at SAP by demonstrating the power of Design Thinking and Agile Development methodologies, and established the Co-Innovation model as the most effective way to guide SAP’s clients through a Digital Transformation journey.

I am co-founder of StoreXperience, a mobile solution firm focused on enhancing consumer in-store experience by bridging the gap between the online world and in-store shopping. We launched the company in July 2007, only a month after the release of the original iPhone that marked the early days of the smartphone revolution.After developing the business case for this revolutionary concept, I raised capital from angel investors, assembled the core team and delivered a proof of concept. Based on compelling results, I secured the corporate support from Microsoft and the European Center for Excellence in Retail. I raised additional capital to open a development center in the city of Lille, France and productize the solution. As an entrepreneur at the helm of a lean start-up, I managed every aspect of the company from product management to marketing, and from finance to legal.Our solution made headlines at the annual conference of the National Retail Federation (NRF) in January 2008 with a permanent showcase at the Microsoft booth and the official endorsement from the NRF. I soon secured 4 market pilots in the US and Europe and generated over 40 qualified sales leads before I convinced SAP to license our technology and take it to market on a much wider scale. I successfully negotiated the terms of the licensing agreement with SAP and was asked to join the company to accelerate market development.

An on-demand software firm delivering collaborative customer service and workflow management.My mission was to build a company in the US, based on a proven technology developed by a Paris-based software firm. After securing the support of the board of directors through a robust business case, I implemented a comprehensive market entry strategy for both the on-demand and on-premise offerings. Within 6 months, I met our initial milestones, including localization of the offering, recruiting of the core team, and development of a national distribution network with 20 top-tier Value Added Resellers. In parallel, I developed a strategic relationship with Microsoft that combined Microsoft Dynamics with Neocase Software to deliver a complete CRM solution with advanced customer service capabilities. This partnership was a critical factor in establishing instant credibility with potential clients.I grew annual revenues from zero to $2M in less than 18 months. Based on this achievement, I recruited a former General Manager from Microsoft to be my successor and convinced Iris Capital to invest its first $5M in the company to further accelerate growth.

Energy firm with advanced material separation technology applied to nuclear waste remediation.As VP of Business Development, I developed a $15 Billion business case for a separation technology based on a detailed process flow and mass balance for the Hanford waste site in close cooperation with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and established strategic partnerships with engineering companies and leading nuclear operators including the Areva Group. Both contributions were instrumental in raising capital and later selling the company to General Atomics.

A pan-European Incubator with technology sourcing in US and Scandinavia.I partnered with a Bain & Company colleague to launch this innovative business incubator and helped raise $30M from ING Barings, Société Générale and HypoVereinsbank. I developed & managed all US Operations and led investments in telecommunications, web-based services, and video publishing space. I was one of three executives running the road show leading to our Initial Public Offering in the London Stock Exchange in October 2001.

The investment arm of the Telecom Italia Group in Silicon Valley

Industry focus: Telecommunications and Enterprise Software