Tom Benson Email & Phone Number

Fort Collins, Colorado, United States

Loveland, Colorado, United States

Water quality testing instruments, multi-parameter sondes, Ott HydroMet business unitSuccessfully led program team that was able to launch a new platform project that had been in development for ten years, consisting of a new sonde, ten sensors, handheld controller, PC based interface software and 16 accessories. Led the team to release a follow-on project, leveraging the new architecture to develop a larger sonde, in 18 months. Led the team in developing use cases, user personas and design concepts for next generation sonde. Travelled to multiple customer sites for VOC. Managed eight direct reports including mechanical, electrical, firmware and software engineers and an associate project manager, multiple contract engineers, as well as up to seven offshore resources.• Led the team that made a drastic quality improvement for Hydrolab LDO sensors. LDO failures averaged about 60 per month and were reduced to one in one year after changes were put in place. Was recognized for delivering the best and most thorough work done on a quality issue.• Successfully hired four new team members in difficult to fill roles - firmware, mechanical and software engineers and an associate project manager.• Consistently received scores well above the Danaher average from my team in the annual associate engagement survey.• Responsible for an annual budget of $1.6M.• Implemented a formal sprint process for HOS software and Surveyor HL firmware development.• Used monthly milestones to keep the HL7 team on track. This led the team into the use of visual project management (VPM).• System engineer for the next generation sonde program, as well as program manager.• Collaborated with leaders from the five businesses in Ott HydroMet at the R&D summit and in smart sensor definition.• Coached and mentored other OTT HydroMet R&D managers new to Danaher on DBS tools such as PSP, MPCE, customer VOC with low fidelity models and “Shark Tank” for evaluating different product concepts.

Longmont, Colorado

Ruggedized storage and electronic systems for military and aerospace applications, wireless networking radios.Led program team which developed and released the most complex product in the history of Mountain Secure Systems, a storage system (mechanical, electrical and software) for a major defense contractor that must endure extreme environmental conditions. Program was under budget and on time. Served as main customer interface; customer stated Mountain Secure Systems was the best vendor on their entire program. • Generated and tracked schedules and budgets for all projects. FY2011 projects were under budget by 25%.• Headed four other major programs with rugged storage, and hardware and software for wireless networking radios.• Authored new AS9100 rev C compliant process document for engineering. Served as AS9100 internal auditor.• Presented monthly engineering update to parent company CEO.• Ran major checkpoint meeting with customer one month after starting at the company.

Headed highest priority program for Advanced Drive Integration (ADI) group, areal density demonstration. Provided data and status reports to executive vice president on company wide metrics. Managed the ADI drive build annual budget of over $750,000. Involved in early drive program R&D.• Drove a team to develop a new process for advanced technology prototype drive builds and systems engineering bring up. Over 2,500 drives built through this process. Turnaround time decreased by over 50%.• Managed drive build requests and made use of recycled materials to be under budget by over $300,000.• Generated marketing requirements, engineering capability analysis reports and design for reliability (DFR) deliverables for initial product definition for seven different drive programs.• Developed a tracking system for all advanced technology prototype drives, material delivery and turnaround times.

Managed R&D engineering work for three lead programs by technology platform, two years prior to drive release. Presented monthly status and metric updates to vice presidents. Directed a team of 12 Engineers across three different sites. • Planned, scheduled and executed prototype drive builds for recording subsystems and head disc mechanical engineering, gave design feedback to the head and media component centers.• Completed 10 phase exit checkpoints, all approved by multiple vice presidents.• Led a team that developed a new DFR process with predicted failure rates and plans and failure mode effects analysis (FMEAs) to improve quality.• Successfully generated and presented first monthly program status update within one month of joining the company with no previous disc drive experience.• Expedited the transfer of two programs to Singapore.

Planned and directed all aspects of new tape library product development (R&D, marketing, supply chain, service and support). Oversaw a team of 20, local and remote. Responsible for product definition, schedule, budget, staffing, deliverables, risks and contingencies. Managed internally developed products as well as products developed by partners in Japan and Germany.• Most recent six products launched on time. Four products met more aggressive 50% confidence schedules.• Developed and presented over 20 different product life cycle exit packages, approved by company vice president.• Guided other program managers in a division-wide task of upgrading all tape library products with new tape drive.

Managed electrical, hardware QA and learning products engineers and technicians (17 direct reports) with deliverables for multiple new tape library products.• Brought a >40% margin product from inception to manufacturing in three months.• Saved $223,000 per product by developing a new test approach.• Launched a rapid time to market product with an external German partner. • Key involvement in new tape library architecture, from definition to release through transfer to manufacturing. The modular design had the highest tape density in the industry, resulting in OEM wins with all four targeted companies.

Provided lab stock, model shop, and printed circuit board (PCB) design operations for the Greeley site R&D labs. Supervised a team of 14 direct reports, consisting of PCB designers, model makers, engineers and coordinators.• Improved customer communication via a new web site.• Increased efficiency and accuracy by computerizing model shop scheduling.• Acquired PCB routing software and workstations resulting in >20% reduced processing time.• Purchased model shop capital equipment which increased in-house 3D machining capacity 25% and added injection molding capability, saving one week of turnaround time on prototype parts.• Hired 12 new lab team members. Screened, recruited, interviewed, selected and made job offers.

Managed computer aided manufacturing (CAM) production and engineering support for printed circuit board tooling. Provided all process engineering support (systems administration, process control, automatic optical inspection, registration and chemistry) for the PCB tooling operation. Led a team of 13 direct reports operating over three shifts, consisting of engineers, technicians and CAM operators.• Co-organized the first industry-wide printed circuit CAM tooling users group, running three day meeting and authoring an article for industry publication.• Mentored and trained team members to grow from operators to technicians, and technicians to engineers.• Developed and implemented ISO 9000 training and certification program.• Directed projects to improve quality, throughput and productivity via software, hardware and process changes.

Provided all process engineering support for the PCB tooling operation. Hired and trained two CAM operators to become software technicians and managed a support engineer as direct reports.• Created world-class rapid prototype tooling, provided tooling for 70% of all HP prototypes.• Drove projects to improve tooling efficiency, shop databases and customer interface including management of a vendor programmer and writing shell scripts. • Moved soft tooling functions from an obsolete computer onto a CAM system improving productivity and quality.

Integrated new equipment and methods, optimized and controlled manufacturing printed circuit board processes. Wrote shell scripts to drive CAM and plotter systems as well as manage customer data. Provided process and UNIX system administration support for CAM workstations, photo lab, laser plotter, NC and laser drill and three axis milling.• Headed projects for procuring and deploying automatic optical inspection, laser photo plotter systems and related equipment.