Rustin (Rusty) Ekness, Mba, Cppm Email & Phone Number

Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Us

General Manager, Arctic Fox• P&L and site leader for industrial manufacturer• Lead overall operations of manufacturing site.• Product management and business development in collaboration with Phillips & Temro

Available for Director of Product Management, Marketing Director, Business Unit Leader roles. Seeking to drive product portfolio strategy, overall NPI roadmap and new product launches that profitably grow the business. Focused on smart B2B industrial / technical solutions for industries including industrial automation, controls, manufacturing, software and others. Reach out to me at rjekness@gmail.com

Charlotte, North Carolina, Us

Spearheaded field device business development efforts for commercial building solutions. • Collaborated with operations to clear months of past due orders while improving deliveries by >30%.• Identified gaps in product portfolio and partnered with vendors to deliver new solutions.• Partnered with channel marketing to develop robust launch plans for new products.• Developed product strategy to address legacy platforms with minimal investment• Championed e-commerce portal that enhanced customer experience and reduced cost-to-serve.

Salem, New Hampshire, Us

Leader within Refrigerated Solutions Group providing refrigerated walk-ins, cabinets and merchandisers >$150M sales.• Drove 80/20 business processes that reduced SKUs offered by >20% and avoided $250K in compliance costs.• Created product roadmaps, pricing strategies, and new market opportunities.• Managed the new product development process and ensured compliance with DOE, EPA and NSF.• Developed marketing, advertising and tradeshow strategy differentiating brands from competition (and each other).• Spearheaded key initiatives such as focused service network, foam transition / cost reduction, “best” walk-in panel design with cross-brand certifications, MAP pricing and sales enablement strategy.

St. Paul, Mn, Us

Led all aspects of 24x5 metal finishing job shop with 100 employees and >$10M in sales.• Delivered record financial results while maintaining consistent quality and an excellent safety rating.• Successfully negotiated a new 3-year collective bargaining agreement with a <2% average wage increase.• Spearheaded several key initiatives such as chemistry consolidation and central feed system, order entry process flow improvements, lean initiative on finishing lines, SEO marketing and advancing next-gen ERP software program.• Implemented an appropriate level of business metrics and KPIs that drove focus in the organization.• Created customer scorecards that tracked customer service rates and overall business trends.• Modernized company image through rebranding effort, office remodeling and improved exterior appearance.• Enhanced company healthcare benefits that gave employees better options and made organization competitive.

St. Louis, Mo, Us

Senior Director, Product Management, Marketing and Sales, ~$150M-$250M, 30 member teamPromoted into roles of increasing responsibility based on business success and consistently achieving goals. Product portfolio included portable electronic tools, monitoring hardware and an early industrial IoT predictive maintenance software platform for configuring, monitoring and diagnosing smart process control instrumentation and machinery.• Directed successful global product launches. Three integrated global product launches in 2012 delivered over $1M in estimated marketing value through a series of press releases, advertising, web promotions and published articles.• Established a global sales and marketing support organization, blending best-cost resources with local teams to deliver competitive intelligence, sales tools, training and network architecture support.• Drove portfolio management process, consolidating and streamlining product roadmaps across the business.• Incorporated voice-of-customer and human-centered-design concepts into NPD programs using focus groups, heuristic analyses, conjoint studies and internet surveys to gain insight on requirements and the user experience. • Expanded 3rd party software integration strategy that delivered solutions with 3 process control system providers.• Collaborated with world area business leaders to drive sales growth, achieving double-digit growth consistently.• Established metrics and consistent processes across all technical support locations• Implemented new branding strategy, consolidating 4 disparate software applications• Led diverse global team of product managers located in Minnesota, Tennessee, Germany and Manila.• Selected by executive management for the Global Leadership Institute development program.• Appointed to Emerson Global User Group Board to plan annual customer end-user conference

St. Louis, Mo, Us

Led global sales and marketing efforts for industry-leading instrument software and portable offerings accounting for nearly $100M. Team of 20 provided sales and technical support for all asset reliability product offerings. • Developed & implemented overall marketing & sales strategies including OEM business development• Led product marketing team in defining roadmap, pricing strategy and promotional programs for strategic products • Established a global sales and marketing support organization, blending best-cost resources with local teams to deliver competitive intelligence, sales tools, training collateral and network architecture support - Team responds to >1000 monthly inquiries with sales channel satisfaction rate over 90%• Established metrics and consistent processes across all technical support locations, improving customer loyalty results by 10% across all products while technical support customer satisfaction topped 90% and exceeded call closure goals

St. Louis, Mo, Us

Global responsibility for driving sales and success of strategic software central to Emerson’s Plantweb marketing strategy. Provided leadership to team of 8, doubling sales over 3 years.• Created cross divisional buy-in for corporate strategic initiative through collaboration and effective mutual business case• Provided leadership to world area product leaders along with sales training to the broader organization to drive sales growth. Directly involved in key project pursuits.• Expanded 3rd party software integration strategy that delivered solutions with 3 major process control system providers• Integrated solution messaging into the well regarded Calibration Excellence initiative for Life Sciences • Implemented new branding strategy, consolidating 4 disparate applications under AMS Suite brand

St. Louis, Mo, Us

Managed and executed strategies for Rosemount’s Asia-Pacific nuclear business, growing the business ten-fold in two years. Sold instrumentation to nuclear power plants primarily in South Korea, Taiwan and China.• Led successful sales strategy to win first locally-engineered Balance-of-Plant project in South Korea• Developed strong working relationships with Asia-Pacific customers, sales force, and representatives• Appointed to Global Project Pursuit team for overall Rosemount Measurement Division

B.S., Mechanical Engineering

Master Of Business Administration (Mba), Mba

Mba Coursework