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VP Product Strategy, Management, and Chief Marketing Officer

Ken Evans Resume 

Senior Level Executive for Emerging Technology Markets
All around early-stage business athlete with hands-on experience in product strategy, product management, go-to-market planning, general operations including IT, customer care, training, sales ops, etc.

Introduction

A strategic problem solver and business leader with an entrepreneurial spirit and a long track record of converting market opportunities into products and companies while growing industry reputation and revenues. Senior management experience at two Fortune 50 tech giants and several venture-backed companies delivering enterprise products for communications infrastructure, information security and systems management. An all-around business athlete with the cross-functional experience in product management, strategic marketing, and operations to lead product and customer development initiatives that drive growth; I excel in:

  • Developing and motivating top customer-centric teams who are creative, collaborative, and focused
  • Analyzing behavioral dynamics and economics of users, new markets, and adoption trends for products
  • Designing go-to-market strategies and development road maps for emerging product categories
  • Concisely communicating emerging technology products and services based on business and technical value
  • Engaging stakeholders, industry influencers, press, and analyst to build enduring partnership opportunities
  • Establishing thought leadership and promoting subject matter expertise for corporate and product initiatives

Professional Experience

VP of Product and Marketing                                                                                        Steelyard, 2016 to 2018

  • Recruited to redefine business model, overhaul marketing, and improve market awareness of a B2B platform that connects 200 high-end manufacturers with over 30,000 architects and design professionals
  • Led product development for SaaS platform that needed to reverse declining monthly usage, replace an outdated search engine, and create product tracking analytics – increased usage by 2x and engagement by 4x
  • Overhauled all marketing activities and developed a multi-touch, content marketing strategy with broader use of email and social media which increased inbound user engagement across all digital channels by 4x
  • Simplified market positioning and sales materials, shifting focus away from volatile advertising budgets to more tangible revenue metrics for the CFO & CRO – this increased average deal size by 4x – 5x over existing contracts

 

CMO and Product Strategy Consultant                                                         Evolution Advisors, 2007 to 2016

  • Guided business strategy, product launches, marketing programs, and go-to-market tactics for B2B and B2G businesses including Certipath, Steelyard, Pinellas Education Foundation, and the Tampa Bay Innovation Center
  • Conducted end-user research to develop targeted customer retention and lead generation programs to help optimize the marketing and business development budget resulting in bigger contracts and lower cost of sales
  • Spearheaded product development initiatives from beta through launch, keeping client staff and leadership focused on long-term goals of increased customer conversions, organic industry press, and analyst coverage
  • Conducted market and economic development research to create operations guidelines, mentoring programs, workshop curriculum, and early-stage investment presentations

 

VP of Marketing and Product Management                                         Persystent Technologies, 2005 to 2007

  • Recruited to oversee product marketing, demand generation, documentation, training, reseller programs, user support, analyst outreach, and press relations for an end-point security and software configuration solution
  • Built industry awareness with 40 press mentions including Network World’s Top 10 IT Management Companies to Watch and inclusion in Gartner Research Magic Quadrant Report on PC Life Cycle Configuration Management
  • Rearchitected business from one-time usage to a recurring revenue platform for ongoing maintenance – by reducing IT support costs by more than 25%, sales team refocused on enterprise deals with a 5x deal size
  • Initiated inbound marketing and demand generation activities to increase sales lead sales pipeline more than 4x

VP of Marketing and Product Management    Fortress Technologies (now General Dynamics), 2002 to 2005

  • Recruited by CEO to spearhead product and business development strategy focusing on emerging market opportunities for a military-grade secure wireless infrastructure solutions (hardware & software)
  • Managed strategy shift to a wireless-only security offering, leading product management in creating a family of network products that grew sales to $8M and was twice awarded the SC Magazine wireless product of the year
  • Expanded sales, marketing, business development, and channel partner relations efforts beyond military and federal government to other high-risk industries including healthcare, financial services, and supply chain

Additional Executive Experience

  • VP of Strategic Marketing and Corporate Development, AudioTrack
  • Director of OEM Partner and Channel Development, Appliant, (acquired by Symantec)
  • Director of Product Strategy for Internet Infrastructure & Emerging Technology, Compaq (acquired by HP)
  • Senior Manager of Product Management for PCs & LAN Products at Entex Information Systems, (now Siemens)
  • Associate Director of Business & Partner Strategy at NYNEX Business Information Systems (now Verizon)

Education and Certifications

Management Information Systems, Syracuse University Whitman School of Management – B.S.

Economics, Syracuse University Maxwell School of Economics and Public Policy – B.A.

Foundations of Data Science: Computational Thinking with Python, U.C. Berkeley – Professional Certification

Product Management, Pragmatic Marketing – Professional Certification

Awards and Recognitions

Secure Computing Magazine’s #1 Wireless Security Company of the Year 2004 and 2005, Fortress Technology

Featured Profile, Tampa Bay Partnership 2008 Corporate/Community Leadership Guide

26 mentions in Tampa Bay Business Journal articles – http://bit.ly/EvansPress

Guest speaker & panelist, 2013 Florida Economic Development Annual Conference

Community Service

Board Member, TechNova – advocating startup-friendly policy and thought leadership for local tech events

Panelist and Guest Host on Hillsborough County TV – Startup Tampa Bay economic policy webcast

Guest Presenter at Hillsborough Community College Veteran’s Entrepreneurship Training Program

Mentor, Coach, and Judge at Startup Weekend – SEEC, DECA, CISCO STEM, and Tampa Bay Innovation Center

Local Director for Kaufmann Foundation – Global Entrepreneurship Week

Co-founder of IdeaField – Tampa’s 1st full-time coworking space

Advisory Board Member at Phonism – VoIP & IoT systems management service for MSPs and enterprise IT

Core competencies

Customer Pain Points                        Strategic Technology Partnerships        Customer Experience & Economics

Early Stage Venture Strategy             Product Strategy & Growth                   Integrated Marketing Strategies

New Business Incubation                   Competitive Intelligence                        Corporate Development

Roadmap Development                      Go-to-Market Strategy                           Marketing Analytics

Product Management                         Demand Generation                              Prelaunch Planning

Distribution Models                             Product Ownership                                Product-Market Fit