I have a very diversified background in my professional career:

• Business: I have managed various aspects of a business, including starting up, business plan, legal, promotional, product definition, strategy, e-commerce, and support infrastructure


• Strategy: I have consulted several businesses on strategic planning and created strategic alliances to improve the companies' reach and profitability


• Team Work: I have managed software development across multiple design centers, including overseas development


• Flexibility: I have worked in business, marketing, and engineering with high level of understanding of technologies - financial systems (ERP/CRM), enterprise productivity (Portal, Unified Messaging), and networking (LAN/WAN)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

VENTURE ALLIES - a management consulting firm in St. Cloud, MN - 2002 to present
Principal
Was responsible for the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relations Management (CRM) consulting practice. Created a technology alliance for custom code development. Refined other services using product management approach. Helped founded two subsidiaries.

• Was responsible for all aspects of the ERP and CRM consulting practice for small to mid-sized businesses from developing a business plan, creating service offerings and pricing, writing a marketing plan, positioning the practice for C-level audience, launching the practice, and implementing the ERP/CRM web-based hosted software (NetSuite). Accounted for over 20% of revenue.


• Created a technology alliance for custom code development for NetSuite and increased the profit margin of the practice by 15%.


• Acted as the firm’s CIO to bring appropriate technologies in house and increase the firm’s production capacity up by 20%.


• Consulted in other practices for the firm – market research, business strategy for several startups, data mining, portal (Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server), ISP (Fixed Wireless), and CIO services (system integration strategies, business plans for software and technologies implementation, and others). These services were accounted for 5% of revenue.


• Helped founded a non-profit organization to bring technology to private elementary schools and a for-profit company – Office Allies – to extend the firm’s market reach.


• Represented the firm to speak in local conferences and on the local college's technology board of advisors.
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OFFICE ALLIES - an executive suites center in Foley, MN - 2003 to present
General Manager
Helped founded a wholly owned subsidiary - an executive suites center. Was responsible for the company's Profit and Loss. Guided the company to break even in year two.

• Developed a business plan for a full-service executive suites center with the goal to contribute 20% to Venture Allies' revenue.


• Managed employees and vendors relationship to keep the operating expense within budget.


• Positioned the business center to give its clients the professionalism and the place to grow their businesses.


• Developed and executed a sales and marketing plan to guide the company to break even in year two.


• Consulted several clients on their business processes, technologies, and general business networking. Helped several clients to grow their businesses 100% in their second year.

MINDSPEED, (Conexant) - a semiconductor company in Boulder, CO - 1996-2002
Product Manager
Developed business plans, marketing strategies, forecasts and product concepts for software and hardware products. Drove product development teams to insure new products met schedule, feature sets, and value-added functionality to maintain competitiveness and margin to the PLC (Product Line Contribution). Planned and implemented new product launches including presentations, collateral literature, press announcements, and training materials.

• Launched a software business from the ground up (EdgeBuilder(TM), CX28296, CX82560DRV, CX82500DRV, CX28297, and CX28299) and reached $1M in revenue by the second year. The software business helped to generate a pull-through effect of over $10M in hardware products' annual revenue.


• Created a business infrastructure for software products, including deploying a new software business process that improved the order booking time by 80%, defining requirements for a software portal with Customer Relations Management (CRM) and Sales Force Automation (SFA) integration, and worked with Legal for new software licensing agreements.


• Managed several software products, including a network processor development environment (Integrated Development Environment, simulation, and hardware reference platform) (EdgeMaker, PortMakerI ALL5, PortMakerI CTM, and PortMaker II), network protocols, and software drivers to provide a system solution around hardware products.


• Worked with cross-functional teams across several locations in US, including the largest project at Mindspeed with close to a hundred of engineers and support personnel. Acted as the final decision maker for these products and motivated the teams to deliver on schedule.


• Established third-party relationships program to build products around current Mindspeed offerings. The joint products were forecasted to account for an additional 20% in revenue.


• Helped launch a professional services organization across multiple business units. The professional services organization accounted for an additional 10% in revenue in its first year.


• Managed an ATM Segmentation and Reassembly (SAR) product line(RS8234, RS8235, CX8236, and CX8237), which accounted for one third of the business unit's revenue.

Senior Software Engineer (1996-1999)
Acted as a technical liaison to the marketing department for pre-sales opportunities. Led several joint development efforts with companies in U.S. and India for ATM SAR and Physical Layer (PHY) software running in a real-time OS (RTOS).


DIGI INTERNATIONAL - A OEM producing LAN and WAN networking equipment in Minnetonka, Minnesota 1996
Senior Software Engineer
Worked on high-performance ATM Network Interface Card and was responsible for ATM Signaling protocol stack.


IBM - Rochester, Minnesota 1988-1996
Software Engineer
Developed link layer device drivers for AS/400 data communication subsystem for WAN protocols and self-diagnostic code.

Hardware Engineer
Developed and led several teams for AS/400 data communication subsystem for WAN protocols, File Server, and Encryption processor.

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

• US patent No. 5,307,406 - ISDN power Source Detection Circuit


• Several patent disclosures for Conexant and IBM.

EDUCATION

• B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.


• Product Management Marketing Seminar, Pragmatic Marketing, Inc., San Francisco, California.


• Courses toward an M.S. Electrical Engineering (80%), University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

CONTACT INFO
Email: thanh_nguyen_co@yahoo.com
Phone number: (320)230-2710
Blog: Product Management and Other Muses












- posted by Thanh Nguyen @ 1:58 PM