RONALD D. EXLER

Montgomery Village, MD

ron (at) thegeofactor (dot) com

Business profile with endorsements:  http://www.linkedin.com/in/ronexler

 

VISIONARY GEOSPATIAL MARKETING EXECUTIVE

EMERGING GROWTH COMPANIES

 

Results-focused and customer-driven leader with the vision, experience, and business insight to properly determine and execute go-to-market strategy. Reputation as a tenacious market researcher, clear-thinking problem solver, and creative idea generator with consistently thriving management-level experience with technology vendors and consulting services providers. A recognized technology industry expert and prolific writer quoted in the industry media more than 50 times and regularly called upon for advice. Excellent grasp of the industry, its trends, and actions that executives should take. Rare combination of business, technical, and interpersonal skills and does whatever necessary to get the job done.

 

SELECTED ACCOMPLISHMENTS

       Reputation as sought-after expert in geospatial business applications.

       Named one of top English-language analyst bloggers by Technobabble 2.0 for The Geo Factor about the business of geography.

       Established partnership with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) to address business uses of geographic information.

       Managed diverse and distributed research group to industry-leading 70% retention level.

       Led product marketing efforts for products including an award-winning effort at a start-up and in another company grew revenue 100% per year.

 

CAREER SYNOPSIS

Consultant – Montgomery Village, MD                                                                         7/07 – present

          Perform market research on hospital automation product and services market. Research vendors and uses of hospital facilities management and clinical technology services.

 

Robert Frances Group, Inc. - Montgomery Village, MD                                                   2/99 – 7/07

RFG is an advisory service for information technology executives in large, global enterprises.

 

Vice President and Research Fellow

          Lead practice area analyst for application lifecycle management, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and legacy modernization. Delivered pivotal research reports, presentations, and answered client inquiries, helping some of the world's largest enterprises make important business decisions.

          Managed and performed consulting projects with a flawless record of on-time and on-target delivery. Satisfied clients include BMC Software, CA, Interwoven, Micro Focus, Microsoft, Serena Software, and the City of Philadelphia. Provided analysis that was used by one small vendor client to help decide on a merger that brought the founders millions of dollars.

          Ability to interview end users of technology, analyze competition and markets, and synthesize that for executives will provide tremendous value to a vendor looking to better understand its markets.

 

Director of Research

     Managed team of twelve industry analysts, and supervised publication of daily written research. Increased employee productivity and loyalty through mentoring as well as fair and consistent policies. Management skills will help another company better attract and retain quality employees, improving product and service quality while reducing the costs of turnover.

     Revamped and managed client inquiry process. Improved response time by 100 percent, while documenting more details of interactions helped better serve clients leading to 70 percent client retention, amongst the highest in the industry. Ability to efficiently run a research operation will help a vendor provide superior analyst relations, and thereby improve mindshare in the industry analyst and media communities.

           

NetBalance, Inc. - Gaithersburg, MD                                                                              12/96 – 2/99

NetBalance was a start-up vendor of software for technology asset management.

 

Vice President, Product Management                                                    

     Defined market strategy and tactics including pricing, licensing, and positioning. Ensured the company launched the first release on time, which appeased customers and investors. Keeping complex projects on schedule will help another company save time and money.

     Crafted effective marketing messages, showing the aptitude to clearly communicate complex ideas, which is of high value to vendors.

     Authored company business plan used to acquire investment capital. The plan helped land the company its second round of funding, $1.3M. Experience in building business plans shows ability to understand all aspects of a business and is of value to another company evaluating acquisition or investment opportunities.

     Developed relationships with HP, Microsoft, and Oracle. Navigating the large vendors and finding the right people, while selling the value proposition of an unknown product is a rare skill that will be invaluable to any firm partnering to help grow its business.

 

Landmark Systems, Inc. - Vienna, VA                                                                                         7/95 - 12/96

Landmark was a $45 million vendor of systems management software, now part of Allen Systems Group.

 

Senior Product Manager

          Brought new product to market for finding application response times. Performed extensive customer research and analysis, then drove product development toward meeting requirements.

 

INTERSOLV, Inc. - Rockville, MD                                                                                   5/91 - 5/95

INTERSOLV was a $180 million vendor of development tools and is now part of Serena Software.

 

Product Manager, PVCS

          Managed product life cycle for $49 million product line. Led product to Unix revenue growth at 100% per year. Finding new markets for existing products can help a firm expand beyond its current revenue streams to grow the business in a relatively low-risk fashion.

 

Synercom Technology, Inc. - Houston, TX                                                                          7/86 - 5/91

Synercom was a $17 million vendor of technology for automated mapping/facilities management.

 

Sales Administration Manager

     Prepared strategies and proposals for multi-million dollar bids.

 

Government Marketing Manager

     Created and successfully implemented business plan to enter government markets.

 

Product Manager

     Prepared market analysis reports and business plans to define new markets and recommend future directions for GIS products.

 

Applications Consultant

     Provided technical sales support including demonstrations, consulting, trade shows, and benchmarks.

 

Battelle Memorial Institute, Information Systems Division - Washington, D.C.                9/84 - 7/86

Battelle is an international, private, not-for-profit research institute that provides technology and scientific research services for government and the private sector.

 

Research Scientist 

          Developed maps portraying U.S. cancer mortality rates for the U.S. Environmental protection Agency.

     Initiated and led development of an automated mapping system for security and accessibility. Developed concepts to reduce costs of providing map information to facilities managers.

     Provided contract research: needs assessment, technology analysis, and design of automated systems.

 

University of Wisconsin Cartography LaboratoryMadison, WI                                        9/82-9/84

The Cartography Laboratory is a full-service cartographic production facility.

          Supervised all phases of map design and construction for publications.

          Conceived and implemented program for creating accessibility maps for use by people with physical disabilities.

 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS, RECOGNITIONS

          Regular columnist for MC Press Online publication MC Systems Insight

          More than 125 articles and technical papers published in the past twenty years.

          Member of Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA)

          Best Startup PR Campaign from Software Marketing Journal 1998.

          Working With Industry Analysts: The Insider's View. Product Management View Webinar Series.

 

EDUCATION

M.S.    Cartography, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Thesis: "An Exploratory Study of the Cartographic Value of Landsat Thematic Mapper Data in the Toledo, Ohio Urban Area."

B.S.     Geography, Oregon State University. Student Technician at the Environmental Remote Sensing Applications Laboratory.