Robin L. Steele

8258 Scenic Ridge Court (c) 970-420-9250, (h) 970-223-4318

Fort Collins, Colorado 80528 robinlynnsteele@msn.com

Professional Summary

Pragmatic software and technology development executive with a proven year track record in customer-driven product innovation, on-time product development execution, continuous reduction in development time/costs, effective collaboration across functional boundaries, and development of accountable and motivated teams across geographical regions.

Professional Experience

Renaissance Executive Forums - President/Owner 4/03-present

Run Colorado region of an international business partnership that helps top executives, in small-to-medium sized companies, significantly improve the performance of their businesses.

· Started the business and achieved 100-300% revenue growth per year.

· Current members are reaping outstanding bottom-line results from their participation (quantified data available) and have become very strong “advocate customers” of the forum process.

· Have sold the business for 700% return on investment. Transitioning business to the new owner.

Agilent Technologies – New Business Venture General Manager 11/01-03/03

Incubated start-up software business within Test & Measurement Unit to pursue projected $50M revenue in 3-5 yrs. Managed finance, R&D, strategic planning, marketing, and business development.

· Developed venture business plan, obtained funding, and planned an organization to release

6 new products on schedule, while controlling expenses in a down economy.

· Originated and launched a 3^rd party teleweb channel to cost-effectively market, sell, and deliver low-cost software products with a high profit annuity revenue business model.

Agilent Technologies - Business Team Manager, Product Development Manager 04/96-11/01

Led marketing, sales, manufacturing, finance, and R&D teams to transform business plan and strategic direction for a >$100M test and measurement software and system-components business. Directed product definition/development for a $300M test and measurement instrument business. Managed a $13M R&D budget and ~150 engineers on 5 sites (3 US sites, Korea, and China).

· Drove human factors based product roadmap definition that met or exceeded the business team’s revenue and order commitments for 4 of 6 quarters.

· On-time introduction of two $30-40M/yr measurement instruments that met sales projection ramps and profit goals.

· Drove major organizational culture shifts to cut product development costs/lifecycles by 20-50%

· Led disruptive technology team to early definition of future software platform and spun this off into a separate $50M revenue opportunity (see previous).

Hewlett Packard - Program Manager 07/92-04/96

Headed development/marketing of software and hardware solutions in computer peripherals.

· Conducted customer driven product definition that led to a 25% increase in unit sales.

· Reduced software defect densities to below industry average to cut support calls by >20%.

· Led strategy to leverage core technology across product lines, implemented strategy across 2 market segments to increase product line profit by 2-5%, depending on the product line.

Professional Experience (continued)

Cogent Computing - President/Owner 10/91-7/92

Managed 3 partners and all aspects of the business. Consulted in Software Engineering, Human Interfaces, CAD software cost modeling, and VLSI CAD.

· Set-up and established business processes and a very unique business model. Tripled revenue quarterly.

NCR Microelectronics - Manufacturing Test Manager 3/88-10/91

Managed test engineering and IT for ASIC design business.

· Increased software development productivity from 30-200% through software reuse.

· Increased first-pass success rate of chip designs by over 30% through significant improvements in test program coverage

NCR Microelectronics - Advanced Development Engineer/Project Manager 8/83-03/88

Conceived, researched, designed, & implemented a knowledge-based software system to advise on semi-custom VLSI design. Led team to develop innovative test technique for expert systems and to hide complexity from the user through state-of-the-art human interface design.

· Productized state-of-the-art research to reduce customers’ engineering time from days to hours

and to win numerous major NCR accounts. Achieved lucrative worldwide press for

NCR and the MCC research consortium.

Bell Laboratories - Member Technical Staff 6/82-8/83

Defined specifications for and implemented a menu driven data entry system for field maintenance.

· Implemented system in 3 months between hire date and starting 1 year Master’s program.

· Completed full two-year Master’s program requirements in 1 year.

Education

· Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Northwestern University. 2001-2002, May 2003.

KMI General Management focused Executive MBA-like program, Corporate Board of Directors Development Program (included education in Sarbenes-Oxley compliance).

· MSCS/CE. University of Minnesota. 1982-1984.

· BSCS. Minors: Math, Statistics. Utah State University. 1978-1982.

Selected Publications, Patents, Honors, and Awards

· Publications and presentations at refereed conferences ('86, '87, '88, '89, '90, '93, ‘95, ’96, ‘98).

· US Patent No. 4,965,741, "Human Interface to the NCR Design Advisor'', Issued Oct. ‘90.

· US Patent No. 5,758,067, “One-Button Automated Backup Scheme”, Issued May ’98.

· NCR Corporate Awards - Meritorious Technical Achievement & Engineering (’85, ’86, '87, '88).

· Selected for 2004 Larimer County “Women of the Year” program.

· Second place at World Championship Long Course Duathlon Competition as well as numerous placings at regional and national competitions (‘86-’97).

Professional and Community Activities

Discovery Science Center Board Member, Fort Collins Foothills Rotary Board Member, Larimer County Project Self-Sufficiency Board Member, Youth Volleyball/Basketball Coach.