2019 - Present

Entrepreneur in Residence

UC Innovation Hub 1819

Cincinnati, OH

The University of Cincinnati Innovation Hub is an Incubator and start-up business Accelerator creating an environment conducive to innovation and business achievement, leveraging the initiatives of UC faculty, students and the Cincinnati community at large. (https://uc1819.com/)  

• Cohort Coach. Member of a team of EIR’s (Entrepreneurs in Residence) supporting and mentoring pre-startup companies.

• Pitch Panelist. Member of seed funding pitch evaluation committee.

• Director, Mach-Machines, LLC.  Business development and strategy advisor, ERP and automated finite capacity planning consultant

1993 - 2018

Founder and CEO

SigmaTEK Systems LLC

Cincinnati, OH

SigmaTEK is a premium nesting CAD/CAM software company offering a complete ecosystem for professional fabricators with 350 people operating through 17 entities globally  

• Founder.  Established SigmaTEK in Bellevue, WA in April 1993, leveraging the discovery of an efficient shape nesting algorithm developed at Mecad Systems (South African sister company).  Drove the complete entrepreneurial process, establishing SigmaNEST as a product and introducing it to the US market.

• Strategist.  My favorite role.  Developed a complete corporate playbook for an international software company going from purpose, mission and core focus to vision clarity, core values, SWOT, Make-or-Break, service value chain, accountability, results orientation and forward looking KPI dashboard.

• Team builder.  My most challenging role.  Supervised talent acquisition and retention strategy, adoption of catalytic coaching-based performance management, owned establishment of clarity around organization’s purpose, vision and aspirations, directed global internal training events, supervised development of internal guidelines and policies, designed variable compensation structures for sales management.

• Dealmaker.  This came naturally. Conducted a deep, ongoing study of controlling and closing the deal, throughout.  Distilled a unique sales vocabulary, approach, funnel structure and sales forecasting system.  Leveraged win reports, loss reports and voice of the customer.  Promoted superior quality and service over price as business philosophy.  Identified, structured and consummated all manner of deals during my tenure as CEO including game changing corporate contracts to numerous acquisitions, culminating in divestiture in 2018.

• Leader of innovation.  My creative outlet.  My whole career involved the development and utilization of CAD/CAM software.  With engineering curiosity as a personal core value, maintained a keen interest in trends, gaps, opportunities and problems, and directed the CTO and development team accordingly.  Established agile development collaboration system through 4 R&D locations: Cincinnati, Seattle, Pune (India) and Coventry (UK).

• International entrepreneur.  Strong international business inclination. Drove geographic diversification.  Affinity for navigating the dynamics of foreign business cultures (Japan, Korea, Germany, China, India).  Supervised the creation and/or acquisition and integration of legal operating entities in 15 countries.

• Leadership team development.  Cultivated the art of persuading others to want to struggle for a common aspiration.   Promoted leadership best practices through literature (7 Habits, 5 Dysfunctions, 5 Levels of leadership, Above the line, etc.) and the intentional organizational rhythm of leadership meetings and off-sites, achieving engagement and results orientation.

• Marketing leader.  Owned marketing strategy and branding initially and ran marketing department for more than 12 years.  Supervised marketing director subsequently, guiding marketing budget, segmentation, traction channels, tactical marketing plan, campaigns, price positioning, distribution, market research, competitive analysis and drove global adoption.

• Global compliance and governance.  Chaired the successful selection and implementation of a corporate wide ERP system (Oracle NetSuite) covering key workflows including campaign to ROI (with marketing automation integration), CRM, quote to cash, case to resolution, transfer pricing, legacy data migration and legacy system integration (12-month process, went live Oct 2016).  Supervised global tax strategy.

1996 - Present

Chairman of the Board

MECAD Systems (Pty) Ltd

Cincinnati, OH

Mecad Systems is the distributor of popular CAD/CAM software in South Africa, including SolidWorks, SigmaNEST and MasterCAM. (www.mecad.co.za)  

• Strategic leadership. Provides strategic planning guidance.  Owns joint venture pursuits and relations.

• Financial oversight. Sets budget framework and guidelines, approval and KPI tracking.  Determines compensation practices.

• Team building. Guides senior leadership team development.