Thor Berggren

CAREER PORTFOLIO

THANKS for visiting my website. It provides a brief summary of over fifteen years of my experience in technology and business development. My goal for your visit is not just to show you projects that I have completed, but also to convey an understanding of how I face new challenges and achieve goals. The site highlights examples of my work in engineering, management, sales and marketing.

My Background

Management Experience

At numerous companies including ADC Mobile Systems, Cardinal Health, and Moneris Solutions, I managed multi-million dollar business areas. One of my favourite roles was as Director at ADC where I held P&L responsibility for a business unit that provided systems and services for mobile phone infrastructure. The clients were national wireless operators and vendors including AT&T and Lucent as well as international operators. I was responsible for planning and guiding new initiatives in direct and indirect sales channels, marketing, contracts, engineering, product management, project management, and operations.

The team that I managed at ADC Mobile Systems

The solutions provided by my team of 24 employees involved design, integration, and support of RF, datacom, telecom, digital hardware, and software. We also developed business cases to assist end-customers in justifying their purchases.

Marketing Experience

My experience in marketing technology-based solutions takes advantage of some of my strongest skills and includes quantifiable results in the areas of market research, product management, and promotion, including:

Market Identification
  • Conducted analysis of industry trends and market studies
  • Interviewed prospective customers
  • Organized and conducted focus groups
Price Analysis
  • Analyzed competitive offerings and perceived customer valuation
  • Increased pricing 300% to match perceived value in a new market
Feature Definition
  • Identified, defined, and planned features based on analysis of market feedback, competitive landscape, technology possibilities, beta user surveys, international market focus groups, and creative brainstorming.
Business Case Feature Justification
  • Creation of revenue opportunity by feature
  • Development of cost (by feature) for engineering, operations, marketing and sales components through direct coordination and discussion with these groups, and
  • Comparison of Margins, ROI, Breakeven, and Cost of Capital.
Product Management
  • Prepaid and Loyalty Card Solutions
  • Healthcare Clinical Technologies and Services
  • Bluetooth Mobile Consumer Communications
  • Wireless Internet Infrastructure Solutions
  • Audio Electronic Commerce (Broadcast Radio)
  • Wireless Profiling Solutions
  • Broadband Multimedia Applications
  • Emergency Radio Systems
Media Relations
  • Resulting in media coverage by major industry journals with subsequent lead generation
Retail and Consumer
  • Product Managing GN Netcom's wireless (Bluetooth) consumer headset which was sold in over 20,000 retail locations worldwide.
  • Building GN's JABRA brand by planning strategies including technical features, channel/end pricing, and placement, as well as multilingual packaging, consumer manuals, marketing, and consumer support.
  • Selling mobile phone consumer profiling solutions to major wireless providers such as Sprint, AirTouch, and BellSouth Cellular.
Major Presentations
  • Delivered keynote speaker presentations at conferences and tradeshow seminars
  • One presentation on broadband multimedia applications at a Bell Canada Seminar attended by hundreds of executives from Canada's major corporations was ranked the top presentation by the audience.
Demand Generation
  • Created printed and email direct marketing campaigns
  • Resulting in worldwide direct response from prospects in new countries and territories with subsequent sales
Major Tradeshows
  • Complete event promotion plans including exhibits, demonstrations, invitations, advertising, seminars, media relations, investor relations and follow-up strategies at shows such as CES, CeBit, CTIA, PCS, NAB, Supercomm, AORN, AHRMM, and others
Proposal Development
  • Coordinated and developed large proposals to Fortune 500 client prospects and investment groups, resulting in subsequent sales

Sales Experience

At various companies I held a number of sales roles including direct sales, indirect sales, and sales management. I am just as comfortable developing new sales as working with existing customers. The quotas for my team have exceeded $10M and were met. Major customers included:

* The logos above are owned by their respective companies.

One of my biggest accomplishments was during my first job in sales where I increased annual sales by 900% for a DS1 telecom network solution that profiled voice and data usage of mobile phone users. In that challenge, I was the only sales person. In later companies, I was responsible for hiring employees who became 'star' sales producers.

Engineering Experience

I spent a considerable amount of my early career doing engineering and later moved into management. In 2011 I returned to my enjoyment of hands-on technical work and have been writing web-related software since then. Samples of my work from both these periods are found in the next section as well as the section titled Web App Samples.

Engineering Work Samples

Wireless Infrastructure Engineering (Management)

Shown below is an overview of the system components that my team would install on Cellular Operators' networks in order to add wireless Internet capabilities to voice networks. This CDPD technology was used by many Cellular Operators, including our major customer AT&T.

My team would add wireless internet to base stations and mobile switching centers
by adding and configuring the system components shown above (shaded).

Upgrade to cellular voice base station (shaded) to add wireless Internet capabilities

Upgrade to Mobile Switching Center (shaded) to add wireless Internet capabilities

I was responsible for a number of areas in the development of this radio system. I did the physical engineering and production-engineering of the radio enclosure shown below.

On the left is the Industrial Design that I was presented on 'day one',
and the final image shows the results of my production engineering.

On the left is the Industrial Design that I was presented on 'day one', and the final image shows the results of my production engineering.

Additionally, I wrote PC-based software that:


The following overview shows the components (shaded) of an RF protection system which I designed to protect TV transmitters from self-destructing. Conditions that could cause these failures include ice or wind damage to the antenna or mast. The major design criterion was to turn off the amplifier's input when VSWR conditions threatened output transistor stages.

1) Coupled Incident Wave, 2) Coupled Reflective Wave, 3) Incident Wave Signal, 4) Reflected Wave Signal, 5) Feedback Control

Qualifications

Work Experience
  • Over fifteen years experience in advanced technology businesses.
  • Roles include Engineering, Business Management, Sales, Marketing, and Product Management.
Management
  • Up to 24 employees in Marketing, Product Management, Sales, Engineering, Project Management, and Customer Care
P&L Responsibility
  • Directed profitable $15 MM to $20 MM business units.
Resume Highlights
Education
  • Honours Bachelor of Applied Science in Electronics Engineering which included an additional curriculum of business management courses. Department of Engineering Science, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.
  • Elected to University Senate and to Student Government
  • Completed the Engineering Internship program which required several terms of work experience for high technology companies. (Included IBM, Scientific Atlanta, and TRIUMF.)
Thesis
  • Thesis awarded first place in Western Canada Engineering Competitions.
Key Industries
  • Consumer, B2B, Wireless Internet, Cellular, Telecom, Datacom, Software, Electronic Media, Healthcare
Sample Customers
  • AirTouch, AT&T Wireless, BellSouth Cellular, Ericsson, Lucent, Newbridge, Sprint Cellular, Bell Canada, Houston Cellular, United States Cellular, Alberta General Tel Mobility, Bell Quebec, British Columbia Tel Mobility, Wiznet (Taiwan), Sky Radio (Australia)
International Work Experience
  • Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Germany, Peru, Sweden, Taiwan, US
Contract Negotiation & Management
  • Coordinated, interpreted, and negotiated OEM supply contract terms with companies such as Lucent and Ericsson resulting in additional revenue and improved cash flow
  • Managed business terms and prioritization of contracts between major Canadian retailers and corporate legal department
Volunteer Experience
  • President and founder of association for alumni of all Canadian Universities in San Diego called CanDiego.org. Organized and promote social, cultural, charity, and business networking events. Approximately 400 people attended first event. Grew membership to over 1,000 in first year with over 50 volunteers. Leading organization transition into Non-Profit status. Received proclamations from both San Diego City Mayor and San Diego County Board of Supervisors. Also obtained press coverage in the San Diego Business Journal. Obtained sponsorships from Canadian financial and legal corporations.
  • Mentor at Swedish American Chamber of Commerce in San Diego

Contact

I hope that this web site has provided you with a useful overview of some of the projects that I have completed. There are other significant projects that are not detailed here, but ultimately the purpose of this portfolio is to demonstrate the flexibility with which I take on new projects. Often these projects are in uncharted areas, but nevertheless I endeavor to continually deliver top performance results. I am committed to hard work and take pride in the results that it yields. If I may be of assistance to your company, please find my contact information listed below.

My best regards,

Thor Berggren