Hi.

In the late 90s, I joined a rapidly growing biotech in Silicon Valley. It was one of the most rewarding times in my career. There was a vibrant energy throughout the company, a sense of purpose. At our peak rate of growth, we added roughly one employee per day for three consecutive years. My colleagues were experts in their respective fields; I learned more in five-minute hallway conversations than I previously had in full-day workshops. The energy, the pace, and the people made me want to be better every week.

As my career has progressed, I have been extraordinarily fortunate to continue working with highly intelligent and motivated people, and now have the added benefit of experience in broad variety of areas. This has allowed me to give back in new and exciting ways, motivating and leading others, as well as helping them identify opportunities and avoid missteps. I thrive on helping people and companies solve problems, organize teams, develop talent, and build fun, goal-oriented cultures.

Contact me and let’s explore how I might be able to help your organization.

Ray’s LinkedIn Profile

Executive Leadership

I’m a business professional with extensive expertise in technology, marketing and operations strategy and tactics, and intense interest in talent development. I use a deep reservoir of collaborative and soft skills to help untangle organizational spaghetti.

Leveraging over 25 years of progressive experience in high-growth and turnaround environments, I act as a change agent and innovation champion, capable of orchestrating transformative business strategy through data-driven decisions, servant leadership, and vivid storytelling. My broad technical, artistic, and analytical skills and education drive creative problem solving and lateral thinking.

Core Competencies

Business & Technology Strategy  |  Product & Brand Development  |  Corporate Communications  |  Mentoring & Coaching  |  Process Improvement  |  Business Intelligence  |  Technology Infrastructure Development  |  Digitalization  |  IT Governance  |  Budgeting, Financial Management & Cost Control  |  Market Analysis  |  Talent Development  |  Jargon Translation

Professional Experience

HTRI
Vice President, Information Technology & Marketing (2014-2017)

Director, Marketing & Corporate Services 2010-2014
Manager, Marketing & Enterprise Applications 2009-2010
Manager, Marketing & Communications 2009

Led information technology, enterprise applications, marketing communications, and event production departments. Corporate officer reporting to CEO. Responsible for global brand management and corporate communications strategy. Key member of strategic alliance, product development, and product management teams.

  • Envisioned and implemented enterprise-wide ERP / CRM system. Engaged stakeholders in multiple departments to develop new business processes and eliminate redundancies. Communicated value through user-experience narratives.
  • Established and protected brand identity for company, multiple new products, software, services, and alliances.
  • Enabled agile and more autonomous employee interaction by introducing new collaborative platforms.
  • Negotiated strategic alliance with Fortune 100 company resulting in IP transfer valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
  • Defined, prioritized, and led development of disaster recovery and business continuity procedures.
  • Championed modernization, standardization and virtualization of enterprise computing platforms. Reduced telecom operational costs by 60% and parts inventory by 85%. Decreased end-user provisioning time by 80%.
  • Established new data security and access controls for research labs and facilities.
  • Set requirements for new campus construction including media production studio, conference and training center A/V, and multiple-building infrastructure cabling and fiber loops.
  • Facilitated collaborative content development processes and more qualified lead generation by implementing marketing automation and digital asset management systems, featuring self-service employee access portals.
  • Mentored software development teams in ways to improve user experience (UX) through storytelling and personas. Led creation of user back stories to give depth and clarity and help developers internalize customer needs.
  • Led planning, contract negotiation, and production of customer conferences and training events; locations included the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, India, Germany, South Africa, Australia, and Russia. Established new corporate travel guidelines to optimize business continuity, employee productivity, and fiscal controls.

Industries: Software Development, R&D, Professional Services, Energy, Oil & Gas

Derse, Inc.
Experiential Marketing Producer (2008)

Led the successful planning, project management, and execution of experiential exhibits, installations, and events for high-profile brands. Managed projects from pre-sale estimation and budgeting to post-show measurement and analysis. Selected vendors and negotiated pricing and contract terms. Provided creative services including seed concept generation, copy writing, content generation, design, and others as needed.

Example projects included

  • Blue-sky concept development for a next-generation solutions showcase and executive briefing center at a pharmaceutical/medical device company headquarters. Included integrated messaging customized to specific visitor actions, real-time location tracking, analytics, and metrics.
  • Pre-show communications campaign, booth experiential display, and post-show metrics analysis for a diagnostic imaging company. 
  • Visitor engagement experience and trade show traffic generator for a major biotech.
  • Development of a “4d Theater” for a major pharmaceutical product release.
  • Message refinement and booth visitor survey creation for a leading biopharmaceutical.

Industries:  Trade Show / Event Design & Production

Quinsep
Owner / Principal (2003-2008, Present)

Leveraging deep expertise in IT and marketing with broad, multidisciplinary experience and skills, I help companies align technology, marketing, and organizational strategies with core business processes and corporate objectives.

Industries: Consulting, Coaching, & Creative Services

Incyte
Sr. Systems Administrator / Intranet Webmaster (1999-2003)

Sr. Information Science Engineer 1997-1999

Established and led multi-departmental team to assess needs and develop intranet sites. Taught internal classes in HTML, CSS, and related web development technologies. Managed selection, configuration, and implementation of enterprise software including search engines, groupware, discussion forums, distance learning and collaborative tools. Coordinated efforts between networking, infrastructure, and operations groups to ensure maximum uptime for intranet web servers and provide meaningful reports and metrics to stakeholders and end-users.

Developed improved end-user support and provisioning procedures including standardized install images, pre-defining typical user types for software loads, and building relationships with local vendors to ensure rapid deployment of computer hardware in a high-growth, multi-platform environment. Led reduction in new employee provisioning from five days to four hours.

Industries: Biotech / Genomics

Education

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Global Leadership, University of Houston, 2007
Dean’s award for academic excellence

Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)

Theatre, George Mason University, 1990
With honors

Recent Volunteer Service

Friends of Central Vancouver (2023)
Volunteer with this community organization devoted to protecting the health and quality of life in Central Vancouver and Clark County residential neighborhoods threatened by heavy industrial development.

Milwaukee Public Library System (2018)
Volunteer with youth outreach programs focused on game and software development and music production.

Navasota / Grimes County, Texas Chamber of Commerce (2014-2016)
Board of Directors, First Vice President for 2015.