Erich M.

Gross
110 Walcott Way
Cary, NC 27519
Home#: 919.469.8833
E-Mail: eg10ea598@westpost.net
________________________________________________________________________
MARKET INTELLIGENCE CENTER OF EXCELLENCE PROGRAM DIRECTOR (IBM)
SR. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT & STRATEGY CONSULTANT (IBM)
NORTH AMERICA SALES & MARKETING CHANNEL MANAGER (MOTOROLA)
GLOBAL DIRECT SALES & MARKETING MANAGER (AT&T)

Award Winning Market Intelligence Consultant & Thought Leader

Accomplished "Award Winning" Sr. level Market Insights & Consulting leader at mu
ltiple Fortune 50 companies that has driven record profitability and financial g
rowth by leveraging a deep business insight and execution through a MBA degree a
nd 20 years of business experience and Business Innovation across multiple funct
ions, industries, product categories and geographies. In addition, an Engineeri
ng degree and Technical Product Management and Product Development Consulting pr
ovide a unique mix of proven business and technical thought leadership. Devel
oped and managed large high-performance teams of up to 30 individuals and contro
lled Market Insights research & consulting budgets as large as $15M/year influen
cing some of the most complex and challenging business issues over my career.
Functional Areas of Experience & Expertise:
C-Level Management Consulting
Product Marketing/Product Management
Deriving New Customer Insights
Define Emerging Markets
Leading High performance Teams
Lead Business Development
ID Growth Opportunities
Manage Primary Research
Revenue & Profit Multipliers
Develop Business Strategy
Go to Market Strategies
Develop Competitive Intelligence
Root Cause Business Diagnostics
Market Opportunity Modeling
Create Value Propositions
IT Product Management
Brand Management Tracking
IT Solutions Portfolio Optimization
Customer & Market Segmentation
Predictive Modeling Analytics
Industry Experience:
B2B, B2C Large Enterprise, Small & Medium Business
IT Hardware & Software, Banking & Financial Services, Insurance, Healthcare (Pay
er & Provider), Pharmaceuticals, Life Sciences, Biotech, Medical Device & Diagno
stics, Telecommunications, Retail
PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT
IBM Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC - 1997-2010
Market Intelligence Center of Excellence Program Director - Systems & Technology
: 2007-2010
Managed high performance team to consult Sr. Management on Product Management &
Development portfolios decisions to insure product Server & Storage roadmap was
relevant, competitive and compelling in the marketplace. Projected next generat
ion competitive product offerings, pricing, and sales tactics resulting in IBM's
#1 market share position with over $16B revenue in FY 2009. Other engagements
included Consulting and Diagnostic Analysis to determine and solve root causes i
n underperforming segments and the proactive development of engagements to ident
ify new revenue and profit opportunities to grow IBM's customer base and share o
f wallet. High priority diagnostic projects include analysis of customer hyper-c
oncentration, improving success in smaller transactions, improving Power Server
success in select countries and improving go-to-market strategies. Each of thes
e analysis produced actionable business recommendations that drove process impro
vements and positive revenue gains.
Sr. Market Intelligence Manager & Strategy Consultant - Industry Marketing: 2005
-2007
Led industry analyst team, which advised and consulted Sr. Management on the mos
t significant and relevant opportunities and challenges in 22 industries. Perfo
rmed industry portfolio optimization analysis for all product segments at an ove
rall industry and country level to maximize IBM's industry marketing investments
for opportunity size, revenue growth and profitability. Developed and prioriti
zed industry-specific and horizontal solutions (Hardware, Software & Services) p
ortfolio geared to maximize revenue, profit and strategic account control. Dev
eloped industry briefing books to for industry sales, marketing and IBM Sr. Mana
gement on industry trends, competitors, opportunities, company segmentation, cus
tomer insights and economic situation. The Industry Briefing Books were the pri
mary input to the overall strategy white paper, which was published to all Sr. E
xecutives and approved by the IBM CEO. Personal emphasis was given to Healthcar
e/Life Sciences/Patient Genetic-Based Medicine and Medical Devices & Diagnostics
.
RECEIVED IBM BRAVO LEADERSHIP AWARD - one of the largest awards for non-executiv
e IBM employees.
Global Market Intelligence & Business Development Manager of Emerging Business:
2002 - 2005
Developed IBM's first significant EBO (Emerging Business Opportunity) Market Int
elligence & Strategy team focused on positioning IBM as an innovation leader in
front of the explosive growth of Information Technology generated by the complet
ion of the human genome decoding project. Defined the parameters of the market
segments IBM would address and the IT solutions and required partner ecosystems
required to enter the Life Sciences market with momentum and credibility. Formu
lated and led Market Research and Industry Consultants Consortiums to define the
IT opportunity, critical success factors and strategic control points in the in
dustry. Built a team from the ground up to 8 analysts and a research budget of
$5M. Generated the Marketplace Situation Analysis and Investment strategies wit
h venture capital companies and helped build IBM's Life Sciences business from $
0 to over $2B in the 4 years and positioned IBM as the #1 IT vendor in terms of
market share in the Life Sciences marketplace.
RECEIVED IBM STOCK OPTION AWARD FOR TEAM LEADERSHIP AND BUSINESS GUIDANCE - Sign
ificant monetary value, rarely given to non-executives
Global Market Intelligence Manager - Personal Systems Group: 1997 - 2002
Re-designed and expanded IBM's US Personal Systems Competitive Analysis team int
o a complete cross functional Global Market Insights organization for IBM's $8B+
PC division with intentions of better competing against Dell in the PC marketpl
ace. Evaluated and consulted Sr. management on potential acquisition targets to
move the IBM PC sales model into a direct selling model similar to Dell and Gat
eway, but was restricted by the lack of a competitive consumer product line. Af
ter determining poor ROI on IBM PC division investments and limited upside profi
t potential in the PC market vs. high risk, became part of small (10-12 individu
als) at Chairman's request to evaluate best business solution for the future of
IBM. After leading extensive business analysis recommended that IBM exit the PC
business and re-invest PC division funding into more profitable Software and Se
rvices business units. As a result IBM PC Company was ultimately sold off to L
enovo.
RECEIVED IBM STOCK OPTION AWARD FOR SIGNIFICANT BUSINESS IMPACT 2 CONSECUTIVE YE
ARS - Significant monetary value, rarely given to non-executives
Motorola, Tempe, AZ - 1995-1997
North America Sales & Marketing Channel Manager - Computer Systems Division 199
5-1997
Managed reseller channel expansion effort for Motorola Computer & Semiconductor
Group, which had commercial channel sales, declines for 3 consecutive years. Bu
ilt a new N. America Reseller telesales and support team of 15+ employees and de
veloped new reseller communication, training, and support services. Personal re
sponsibility for managing Sales achievement for top 10 resellers. Increased fac
e-to-face communication and improved Motorola's value proposition for reseller c
hannel and turned around reseller channel sales and results immediately yielded
y-t-y growth of 7% in year 1 and 20% y-t-y growth in year 2.
RECEIVED STOCK OPTION AWARD FOR INCREMENTAL CHANNEL SALES REVENUE GROWTH
AT&T, Clemson, SC - 1992-1995
Manager, US PC Direct Marketing - Personal Systems Division 1992-1995
Established the first AT&T US PC Direct Marketing and Sales organization (20 emp
loyees), which was started at $0 Revenue and grew to a $1 Billion dollar busines
s in 3 years. Developed Factory Outlet store utilizing the same call center infr
astructure and a few retail store employees to sell excess and obsolete models,
scratch & dent and open box systems at significant discount. Resulted in signif
icantly greater profits as these systems were previously sold through brokers at
pennies on the dollar. The Factory Outlet recovered 50-80% of the system cost.
Managed all real estate transactions, advertising strategies and product selec
tion, pricing, catalog development, delivery and support.
RECEIVED AT&T GREAT PERFORMANCE AWARD FOR TOP INCREMENTAL REVENUE AND PROFIT GRO
WTH

OTHER PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT:

NCR, Hauppauge, NY - 1989-1992
Sr. Server & Software Product Manager - Systems Division 1989-1992
ACE Hardware, Commack, NY - 1985-1989
Store Manager - Family Owned Business
FORMAL EDUCATION:
MASTERS OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (Delta Mu Delta)
Dowling College, Oakdale, NY - Major in Marketing
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE
Dowling College, Oakdale, NY - Major Marketing, Emphasis Market Research
ASSOCIATES DEGREE
Suffolk Community College. Selden, NY - Major in Electrical Engineering