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D. Grant Ruesch

6789 AbundanceWay

Golden, Colorado 80403

Email:grant.ruesch@gmail.com

Office Telephone: (303) 215-9257  

Chief Operating Officer/Vice President & General Manager

Areas of Business Expertise:

General Management / Sales & Service / Operations / Quality / Finance & Administration

Core Competencies:

P&L Management / Operational Improvement / Strategic Planning & Execution / Budgeting & Cost Control / Revenue Growth / Total Quality Management / Organization & Leadership Development / Transformational Change Management / Business Development / Global Growth Management

Executive Profile:

• Astute business leader with 20 years of executive management experience who manages the value of the enterprise through continuously improving operational excellence, controlling costs and building the framework for sustained revenue growth and profitability.
• A customer-focused executive who improves business performance with a keen understanding of what is critical to quality from the customer perspective which engenders trust, fosters customer satisfaction, builds brand loyalty, creates competitive advantage and drives profitable growth.
• A strategic business developer and tactical practitioner who anticipates change and prepares the enterprise to capitalize on emerging opportunities while maintaining a sharp managerial focus on meeting targeted performance metrics to accelerate revenue growth, gain market share and scale the enterprise for the benefit of all stakeholders.
• A seasoned executive with broad exposure to cross-cultural protocols and international business practices in high tech, media, telecommunications, and information services businesses.

Professional Experience

Sun Microsystems, Inc., Palo Alto, CA                                                                                           (1992-2007)

Senior Vice President, Partner & Alliance Sales  (2005-2006)

Global head of Sun’s thousand-person indirect sales force which generated $8.5 billion in annual revenue.  Sales force chartered to drive revenue growth through innovative alliances with systems integrators, independent software vendors, application providers and network equipment providers as well as demand creation initiatives through Sun’s value-add channel development partners. 

Impact:

• Formed innovative technology development, product integration and go-to-market alliances with EDS, Accenture, Oracle, Fujitsu and many other technology partners resulting in strong revenue growth for Sun and its partners.

• Restructured Sun’s indirect sales organization, hired 8 sales vice presidents over a 12-month period, achieved a $50 million cost reduction and implemented a new channel sales model to incentivize channel partners to sell and service Sun gear.

Senior Vice President, Global Sourcing  (2003-2004)

Headed Sun’s Global Business Services Office reporting to CFO/CEO which was put in place by the Board of Directors with a charter to improve the company’s operational effectiveness and to transform Sun’s cost structure through process excellence, real estate portfolio management, workforce reduction and global location strategies.

Impact:

• Reduced Sun’s total company cost by $1.0 billion over an 18-month period.  Achieved a more competitive and inherently more flexible cost structure.
• Identified Sun’s core competencies and consolidated, standardized and simplified them.  Outsourced major portions of IT, HR and Finance as well as areas of product development, design engineering, quality assurance testing, call center operations, manufacturing, warehousing & distribution and parts repair.

VP & GM Sun Support Services; Chief Quality Officer  (1995-2003)

Ran Sun’s Support Services line of business which had a global workforce of 7,300 employees, generated $3.6 billion in annual revenue, registered a double-digit profit margin, and had a span of control of 14 direct reports which included 12 VPs across globally integrated business functions – customer service delivery, sales & product marketing, operations & logistics, product engineering and technical support, strategy & business development, customer problem resolution, business process & systems, and total quality management.

Impact:

• Achieved a CAGR of 26% for revenue and 30% for profit between FY’97 – FY’03.
• Conceived, developed and brought to market Sun’s industry-leading SunSpectrum product.  Developed and implemented remote services and service automation technology to enable the provision of proactive, preventive and preemptive customer support.
• Introduced Six Sigma and Change Acceleration methodologies to improve inherent product quality, and reduce defects/variability in service delivery to improve customer loyalty and drive profitability improvement.

Director Business Development & Operations  (1993-1994)

Controller, SunServices (1992-1993)

Impact:

• Launched Sun’s highly successful Remanufacturing business in FY’94 which quickly ramped to $250 million of incremental annual revenue with a standard margin of 50%.
• Spearheaded the introduction of a new and lucrative Multivendor Support and Reseller Support offerings.

DGR Consulting, New Canaan, CT                                                                                                 (1989-1992)

Independent Management Consultant

Clients:

• Sun Microsystems, Inc.:  Analyzed the economics of the service business and advised the EVP of Field Operations as to its potential as a competitive differentiator driving Sun’s expansion into the general purpose commercial marketplace from its traditional technical workstation marketplace.  This resulted in the creation of a separate services operating company reporting to the President, CEO and Chairman.
• Merrill Lynch:  As advisor to Merrill’s CIO & Corporate Controller, developed and implemented the personal computer/workstation platform to support Merrill’s back office operations.  Provided project management services to Merrill’s Real Estate Group on the construction of a $182 million/24-story building in New Jersey to house Merrill’s back office operations.  Represented Merrill’s equity interest in Micronyx, Inc. which was a Richardson, Texas-based privately owned company specializing in PC security products as well as engineering and manufacturing services.  This year-long effort involved improving and stabilizing cash flow, directing a company-wide external operations audit and developing an annual business and operating plan.

US Tel, Inc., Greenwich, CT                                                                                                            (1988- 1989)

Co-Founder & President of this firm providing management, marketing and applications development services to telecommunications and financial services companies.                                               

Clients:  Assisted RBOC (NYNEX) in the formulation of an International Gateway as part of a business  venture with France Telecom (Intelmatique) to aggregate all European videotext and on-line data services traffic.  Brought US West and France Telecom together in a joint development effort focused on a “Bill&Pay” service for the consumer market using an enhanced telephone device developed to support a range of home banking, financial management, shopping and telephony services such as electronic yellow pages and directory services.

CNR Partners, New York, NY                                                                                                            (1986-1988)

VP&CFO of this joint venture of Citicorp, NYNEX and RCA to design, develop and bring to market consumer-based interactive electronic services.  This was an early effort to bring entertainment, information, home shopping, home banking and enhanced telephony services into the home with a special-purpose PC-like device.    

Impact:                                        

• Established the joint venture operating structure which was initially capitalized at $100 million with a mission integral to the strategic thrusts of the partners.
• Successfully managed technology development efforts across RCA’s Sarnoff Lab in Princeton, NJ, Citicorp’s NYC-based Development Center and NYNEX’s Telephony Research Lab in Armonk, NY.

Previous Employment:

RCA, Corp, New York, NY;  Division VP, Home Information Services

National Broadcasting Company, New York, NY;  Director, Finance & Administration

CBS, Inc., New York, NY;  Economist, Economics & Social Research Division                                                                             

Education

MBA Finance;  NYU Stern School of Business

MA Economics;  University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

BA Economics; Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA

Specialized Training & Certifications

TS/SCI-SSP Government Security Clearance  (2004)

Six Sigma/Change Acceleration Process/Kepner Tregoe  (2002-2004)

First Responder/EMT/Wildland and Structural Firefighting/Wilderness Medicine  (2007-2008)

Awards

Sun Microsystems Awards:  Diversity (2002); Leadership (2003); Six Sigma Excellence (2004);

Attended VP Leadership Institute  (2004)

Memberships & Affiliations

Member of Sun’s Executive Management Group (2005-2006)

President of Sun’s Leadership Council (2001-2002)

Golden Gate Canyon Fire Fighter (2007-2008)

Advisory Board to Colorado School of Mines: Division of Economics & Business (Since 2005)

Alumni Leadership Council; Franklin & Marshall College (2008-2009)