Hugh Watson Email & Phone Number

Prior Lake, Minnesota, United States

As of October 2021, I have retired from the working world. During my 40+ years in various aspects of product development and manufacturing, I have worked with many amazing people at Compu-Psych, NCS, Pearson, Samson, Scantron, and 3M. Along with my many friends at Carlson, while getting my MBA, and talented people I partnered with at TATA EXLSI, I have learned so much from each person with which I had the privilege of working. Thanks to each of you for the rich gifts your shared with me. My wife, and family, including my two beautiful granddaughters, are teaching me how to have more fun now. A mission I greet with great joy.

Maplewood, Mn

Manage a team to create world class hardware and software that is paired up with 3M Petrifilm and other Food Safety Materials to greatly increase the efficiency and accuracy of their usage.

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

While conducting a search for my next opportunity, I have been keeping my skills sharp doing consulting to two of the previous companies I have worked for in the past and scanning /data collection high volume users. Project have included:* Analysis of paper characteristics to determine feasibility for use in high stakes/high volume scanning* Working with strategic partner to evaluate problems and design resolution for a new image scanner* White papers on Erasure Analysis and Scanner Capabilities* Providing Technical Training on Programmable Logic Development and implementation * Design of special firmware and hardware for standalone election scanner* Optimization of scanning/editing implementation and infrastructure* Support for data acquisition applications in the field

Egan, Mn

Promoted to provide strategic leadership and day-to-day executive management in areas covering technical development, quality assurance, and support for software, hardware, and firmware used in all scanning and data collection products. Tracked and managed software development, QA, and technical support requirements for survey services and medical device tracking teams. Planned and coordinated a $6 million budget across multiple groups. Supervised 57 employees including 13 direct reports. Selected Achievements•Saved 30% of a combined engineering budget after merger by integrating development staff & eliminating redundancies to maintain product development & support capabilities, protecting $90 million in annual sales•$42+ million in total revenues captured by spearheading efforts to create two image-based scanners utilizing best of both merged companies' technologies – positioning firm for growth in the data collection-scanner market.•$2+ million in cost slashed by working with a Singapore molder to complete two large molding projects versus using domestic mold makers •1+ million saved in overhead and inventory costs by integrating and rationalizing firm’s technology / products to protect customer base and ensure max performance & efficiency.•Served as a key member of a leadership team responsible for $235 million sale of a Pearson NCS division to Scantron •Led efforts to reduce scanner manufacturing costs by more than 16%, saving nearly $1 million annually•Returned $175,000+ in project funds & protected $10 million customer by directing multimillion-dollar project to modernize medical device tracking system – project under budget & ahead of schedule

Eagan, Mn

Led multiple disciplinary groups responsible for providing hardware/software/firmware development and technology support for scanning and data collection products. Allocated and monitored resources for multiple R&D and continuation projects. Mentored and guided technical engineering group. Modernized development methods and processes. Led design and development of unique and innovative hardware/software solutions. Oversaw a $2 million operating budget. Led 23 direct reports. Selected Achievements* $2+ million in product revenues attained by creating special hardware/firmware versions for Kodak’s two general purpose image scanners, enabling Kodak to penetrate the education market despite being previously unsuccessful.* $90+ million in revenue per year obtained by engineering and directing efforts to create and deliver future-focused software and hardware-scanning technology products across key markets.* $12 million in sales growth captured by leading a multidisciplined team in carrying out numerous large-scale R&D and continuation projects to develop among other products one of the fastest image scanners in the world.

Guided technology direction for OMR and image scanning hardware, software, and firmware development. Evaluated and aligned new technologies for possible applications in market space. Coached and led engineering group. Designed innovative hardware and software technologies supporting OMR and image-scanning devices. Documented and presented results of technical evaluations to many different levels of management.Selected Achievements* $3 million in new sales delivered by implementing a software algorithm to scan locally laser-printed documents with same accuracy as printing press-created documents that was key to keeping three customers with revenues totaling $1.2 million.* Generated $90 million in sales by extending capabilities of imaging software through creation of proprietary software algorithms to capture OMR data from image.* $8 million in revenue growth secured by leading a team responsible for developing and rolling out small-image scanner plug application compatible with previous discrete OMR scanners.* Reduced development costs by $100,000+ and field service costs by $50,000+ a year by creating a large multistage- pipelined state machine-based programmable logic device to allow downloadable firmware/logic updates.

Edina, Mn And Eagan, Mn

Served as Primary Architect and Lead Developer in designing multiple OMR and image-scanning hardware / software products. Evaluated, developed, and integrated proprietary hardware, software and firmware into a family of high-speed, medium-speed, and low-speed image scanners.Selected Achievements* $50+ million in annual product sales produced by designing a three-level image architecture using camera and CIS array technology and different illumination sources to achieve price and performance goals. * Delivered $2 million in sales annually by developing high-speed, machine-based image processing cards with EISA and PCI interfaces to perform thresholded bitone, grayscale contrast mapping, histogramming, and compression functions.* Cut scanner cost by 10% by overseeing efforts to integrate image processing library into main imaging software as part of replacing costly hardware with software.

Master Of Business Administration (M.B.A.), Business Administration And Management, General, 1St In Class, 3.98/4.00 Scale, Carlson Scholar Honors

Six Sigma Green Belt

B.S.E.E., Electrical Engineering

Activities and Societies: Phi Kappa Phi, academic honor society ETA Kappa NU, electrical engineering honor societyGraduated Magna Cum Laude