Executive Summary

Tower.com, the profitable on-line division of Tower Records, needed an improved search engine implemented on the site with a hard deadline before holiday shopping began.  Development had to be coordinated between a vendor providing part of the solution out of Israel, and the in-house development team.  Dean established a detailed project plan with the team and ensured buy-in and everyone's expertise was leveraged.  During the  project development, corporate financial issues delayed delivery of components, but Dean and the team found ways to continue development and rework a highly complicated project plan to stay on schedule until the end.  When faced with further financial limitations for other aspects of the web site management, Dean established a triage list of must have, like to have, and can do without vendors and services to keep the site and direct to consumer retail operations running and profitable.

DST Output set an aggressive goal for the sales team to increase annual revenue by $45MM. Dean and his team managed the CRM and Sales Force Automation systems, but the support team had its own system. Dean saw an opportunity to assist in realizing the revenue goal by identifying opportunities at existing customers. With approval from executives, Dean established a national steering group of Customer Support Directors and gained consensus on his plan to enhance CRM so the support team could assist in identifying opportunities at existing clients. Through these enhancements to CRM and the cooperation of sales, marketing, and support, DST Output was able to close $31MM of the $45MM goal in 2005 solely from existing clients, and exceeded its revenue goal when combined with new sales.

NEC had several independently operated U.S. divisions. Facing low margins in the PC industry, NEC decided to cease its U.S. PC manufacturing by closing NEC Computers and consolidating these divisions into NEC Solutions America, Inc. Though the majority of NEC Computers' staff was being terminated due to the closure, Dean was retained to direct the branding and web strategy required to integrate seven NEC web sites into a single on-line presence at www.necsam.com. Dean, with the input and cooperation of key executives and marketing personnel from each NEC division, established a plan and the team reached consensus despite difficult issues about whose products would be most prominently presented. Dean and his team then completed the launch of the new site on the day the new unified corporation was announced.

NEC’s COO to which Dean reported noted, "Dean is a positive contributor both within his own department and to the greater organization. He has worked on projects and given his time and input to a wide variety of missions often beyond the scope of just getting his job done. This quality is recognized and appreciated by his team, others in the company, and me."

Zenith Data Systems Federal Division executives decided to pursue the largest Federal Government systems integration opportunity to date. Valued at over $1B, the opportunity drew some of the best competitors in the industry including Boeing, EDS, IBM, Compaq/DEC, and dozens of other seasoned beltway technology integrators. The contract would be awarded based on the best technical solution. As one of the most experienced systems integration engineers at ZDS, and having broad technical knowledge and proven leadership skills, Dean was selected to lead the technical team of more than 20 engineers and software developers and integrate approximately 250 computer, peripheral, software and networking products. Dean’s team not only met every Government deadline, but achieved the highest technical score of all bidders, giving ZDS the win pending acceptance testing. At the acceptance test, Dean was selected as the one technical spokesperson allowed on site. Dean successfully addressed all technical questions and issues that arose, clinching the award.

In a subsequent review, the VP of Systems Integration wrote, "Dean has been a key contributor to the success of the Federal office in many ways. As Desktop 5 technical manager, he has had a direct positive effect on the future revenue of this office. He has been instrumental in interviewing and recruiting new staff, and has made significant improvements to work processes in the office, and continued to be a key resource in supporting IT which affect everyone in the organization. With his tight schedules and multiple projects, Dean met or exceeded every deadline. He seems to thrive under pressure."