Steve Caudill Email & Phone Number

Wenatchee, Wa, Us

Columbia Fruit Packers (CFP) was formed through the 2022 merger of two successful family orchards and integrated packing businesses and is a global provider of apples and cherries from regional operations in central Washington. CFP is backed by the Sustainable Investing business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. I serve as the chief technologist responsible for software and systems that run our corporate functions and packing houses. I also support orchard operations with equipment, services, software, and technology adoption and operation.In my initial and interim role from 10/2022 through 2/2023 I integrated corporate ERP and payroll systems, harmonized orchard timekeeping, and expanded the data warehouse while selecting and implementing a farm management system and began several other 2023 season initiatives in the orchards.As a result of the clear need for a technology-focus, I was invited to join the outstanding CFP leadership team to deliver excellence in operation, leverage technology as a differentiator, and move continuously towards improved sustainability in all aspects of the business. The role is a fun and exciting balance between strategy, project execution, and feet-in-the-dirt operations. --Eat More Apples!

CONSULTING PRACTICE: Helping investors and C-level executives build or retool their technical infrastructure, product development, and engineering teams to become fierce competitors, quality focused, value driven, and fast. I provide advice, experience, and consultation on technology and digital processes, staffing, and investments. Call on me for team formation, due diligence, market research, and product design.My focus is AgTech. I have experience with software, heavy equipment OEMs, startups, as a grower/processor, in logistics, and as a FMCG company making packaged goods from agricultural raw materials. My current full-time role was a result of an interim consultation that led to becoming part of the team.

Chicago, Illinois, Us

Reports: 75, budget: $9MM, leadership team of vice presidents and directors, 7 delivery teams, team members in 3 US and 6 international locations, responsible for 19 supplier/partner relationships, reported to CEO.Recruited to execute an engineering turn-around focused on stabilizing the portfolio, retooling/growing the engineering team, establishing a high-performing engineering culture, and supporting acquisitions. The portfolio included 24 hardware devices including Android tablets, telematics devices, cameras, and headsets; 3 cloud platforms; mobile applications; and an on-premise application available on mainframe, mini-computer, and server platforms. The portfolio suffered from underinvestment, siloed design, and an aging technology stack.Product delivery- Significantly reduced support calls and received customer praise for stability and ease of use after delivering the long delayed flagship electronic logging device and accompanying software against significant headwinds.- Resolved long standing complaints and created market advantage by refreshing the navigation device line.- Retained key accounts and kept customers in legal compliance through the conversion of legacy 3G devices to 4G.- Exceeded sales expectations with the launch of a new 10” rugged Android tablet offering. Business delivery- Executed a complete turn-around of the engineering team using Agile XP, TDD, and full CI/CD- Deployed numerous product updates and new product offerings in a short tenure by fostering a fast-paced delivery culture using 1 week sprints, design thinking experiments, and test-first strategies.- Supported significant increase in recurring revenues and valuation through due diligence resulting in a key acquisition.The acquisition brought new technical leadership to the team allowing me to pass the torch to the new CTO.

Reports: 12, total program responsibility: 170, budget: $21MM, leadership team of directors and senior managers, 14 program delivery teams, team members in 7 US and 5 international locations, responsible for 7 supplier/partner relationships, reported to Vice President, Agriculture Solutions.Promoted to deliver the full suite of cloud and mobile device software for Case IH, New Holland, and Steyr connected agriculture equipment including cloud, mobile, IoT, telematics, data, 2nd and 3rd party partner integration, and developer tools components while leading a culture change in software development practices. - Propelled connected vehicle sales with the acquisition and integration of AgDNA’s compelling Farm offering. - Moved engineering promise-to-delivery from less than 50% to consistently above 85% by converting engineering teams to functional and stable agile practices while effectively introducing SAFe methods to the larger organization.- Impacted large customer sales after delivering long-promised data availability through accessible machine data APIs.- Increased the cadence of software delivery from 1-2 times a year to quarterly with as often as weekly maintenance updates by introducing TDD, CI/CD, and blue-green deployments.

Reports: 60, budget: $9MM, leadership team of senior managers, 5 engineering teams, team members in 3 US and 2 international locations, responsible for 4 supplier/partner relationships, reported to VP, Electronic Systems.Promoted to manage the engineering delivery of cloud and mobile customer-facing connected applications for agriculture. Grew the local engineering team from 8 to 60 in 12 months, delivering several next-generation iterations of connected vehicle offerings and rapidly closing the gap in capability against market competition.

Reports: 25, budget $5MM, led managers and individual contributors, 3 delivery teams, team members in 2 US and 2 international locations, managed 4 supplier/partner relationshipsRecruited to deliver a portfolio of cloud-based, IoT platform and data sharing projects for connected agriculture, construction, and commercial vehicles. Launched an agronomic data sharing system delivering on “customer owns the data” promises and providing market advantage over CNH’s top competitor.

Chicago, Il, Us

Responsible for revenue and project delivery for 19 partners, budget set by project as a % of revenue, led partners at the corporate level and project engineers/delivery managers in my territory, 2-4 delivery teams, team members in 4 US offices and 1 international location, reported to the board of directors.Provided research, consulting, product development, thought leadership, speaking and writing on disruptive technologies such as IoT and Blockchain. Delivered prototypes, proof-of-concepts, and transformation projects in oil and gas, life sciences, fleet management, retail, CPG, manufacturing, and industrial machines.

Purchase, New York, Us

Reports: 11, budget $1.5MM, led individual contributors and a delivery team lead, 1 delivery team, team members in Chicago and India, managed 1 supplier/partner relationship. Promoted to the PepsiCo International IT organization to lead front-line sales, marketing, merchandising, warehousing and delivery solutions as part of a $1.5B digital transformation program across 25 countries. Oversaw 14 successful market implementations through coaching and leadership to local go-to-market teams while customizing global mobile device and client-server software to fit local requirements.

Purchase, New York, Us

Individual contributor managing the $2MM innovation portfolio and budget while contributing architectural coaching and strategy to projects with an innovation element scoped at $600K-$100MM, reported to Vice President, Emerging Technologies.Recruited to introduce technologies with a strong business impact, run R&D and proof-of-concept trials, and convert prototype technology to production for manufacturing, supply-chain, and direct-store-delivery. Successfully delivered connectivity and security infrastructure to 660 US sites in an unprecedented 12 months.

Dallas, Tx, Us

Individual contributor providing software architecture and product management for innovative classroom products. Delivered strategic architectures for wireless and handheld products building standards-based connectivity into Texas Instrument's traditional calculator line and developing features for emerging education technology.Turned around a failing connected-classroom product using direct customer interaction and emerging agile methods, bringing it to profitability and significantly increasing market acceptance.

Dallas, Tx, Us

Reports: 18, project budgets of $50K-$2MM, leadership team of account executives, office managers, and engineering team managers, 1-3 engineering delivery teams in 4 US and 3 international locations, reported to Board of Directors.Moved from software engineer, to team manager, to managing partner operating the East-coast US offices responsible for revenue, customer management, strategic consulting, technical delivery, recruiting, and office administration.- CTO for Interteam Software's groupware and health care products.- CTO for Frontier Wireless' retail automotive products.- International CIO for Discovery Communications.- Senior Architect for US Navy SPAWAR Innovation Lab- Brought 12 commercial products to market leading all life-cycle phases.- Co-founded not-for-profit consortium to support small-medium sized consulting businesses.- Editor and contributor to Advisor Publications and other media contributing more than 60 management/technical articles/editorials and speaking at dozens of industry events.- Served SMB to Fortune 100 customers in: Media, Finance, High-Tech, Transportation, Insurance, Telecom, CPG, Manufacturing, Health Care, Retail, and other industries.

Temple, Tx, Us

Established and managed research and testing lab for new technology projects.Developed procedures for non-traditional software development including metrics to measure return on investment and improvements in software quality.Developed factory-floor automation solutions integrated with networked workstations and ERP for quality, recipe, and maintenance management.Mentored software developers and managers in emerging software engineering techniques.

Arlington, Virginia, Us

Responsible for a $5M systems and cryptography equipment budget and an operations staff of 50.Provided intelligence, communications, and command and control services to division and theater commanders for six months during Desert Storm without loss of life or equipmentWas a key leader on a new technology project linking PC's, Unix servers, and emerging cellular networks to provide mobile data management and command and control in wartime conditions.Software engineer on projects for mainframe, Unix, and PC networks.

Mba, Executive Mba

Ba, Computer Science