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TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE MEMBER BIO
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Mr. Michael Paluzzi IBM Industry Representative Background Overview:
1990 – Present (21 years): Sales, Marketing and Sales & Marketing Management
1984 – 1989 (6 years): Pre-Sales Support and Management
1976 – 1983 (8 years): Technical Field Service of Mainframe and Mini Computers
Accomplishments:
Developed and closed largest ever IBM security deal in US Air Force
Built federal practice to over $50m annual revenues
Established federal company using FOCI adjudication process
Drove high speed networking technology market position to #1 ranking
Managed Europe, Middle East and African (EMEA) US company subsidiary
Served at NORAD with the US Air Force
Professional Experience:
RedSeal Networks________ _____ 14 months
December 2009 – Director, Federal Sales
Initiated Public Sector market focused actions and pipeline development. Built tiered channel strategy and developed leveraged team of partners. Established 2011 and beyond pipeline in access of $20m across Civilian, Defense and Intelligence agencies. Closed business with US Army, SPAWAR, CIA, and Navy Federal Credit Union in first year.
IBM (Internet Security Systems) 4 years
2006 – November 2009 DoD Sales Director (IBM Security Specialist)
Managed a sales team of Military focused security professionals for two years. My team was responsible for major win initiatives in Air Force, South\Com, DISA, Army, DLA, and other Department of Defense agencies. The last year has been spent primarily as the Air Force Security expert on the larger IBM client sales team. In this role, I closed a record sized deal for over $5m in product and services to conduct all vulnerability assessments for AF. The solution portfolio consisted of HIPS, NIPS, VA, DLP and other complimentary data and network security platforms.
Q1 Labs____________________________________________________________________________________________1 year
2005: Federal Sales Manager
Early market entry of an ADS/SIM integrated offering. Even though some significant inroads were made in the federal market, the company elected to dramatically restructure the sales team.
Cranite Systems, Inc._________________________________________________________________________________1 year
2004: Vice President, Sales
I was responsible for the staffing and day-to-day operations of the field sales force. During my time there, I hired three new sales representatives; two in the DC Metro area and one in California. Accomplishments included the doubling of the sales pipeline in both numbers of opportunities and value, the successful closing of the Companies largest quarter ever, and the addition of several new key US government, international and commercial accounts.
Top Layer Networks, Inc.______________________________________________________________________________1 year
2003: Federal Vice President
During my short tenure at Top Layer, I was responsible for more than doubling sales from the previous year in the Federal Market. I also staffed the Sales and SE team. Major new Agencies added to the account list included: USAF, USA, Transportation, AF Medical and others. The offerings of Top Layer addressed various and sundry network intrusion identification and prevention technologies as well as IP intercept solutions.
Alcatel (Xylan) 5 years
1998 – 2002: Area Vice President, President Federal
In the first year as Regional Sales Manager, I built a distributed sales organization from ground zero to a team of 8 sales and 8 System Engineers to address the requirements of the US federal government. Later as Area Vice President and President, I grew the organization from a $22M operation with 30 people to a $52m organization with 35 people within a two year period of time. At the conclusion of the fiscal year 2000, the Federal sales group boasted 25% growth, the highest average gross margins, revenue production and largest contribution to profit of any sales group in North America. In 2002 the Federal organization was responsible for approximately 45% of all North American revenues for the Enterprise Networking Division of Alcatel. Further, I also oversaw the Americanization of the federal organization after Alcatel acquired Xylan. I carried a Top Secret clearance and operated as the FSO for purposes of dealing with government sensitivities.
SysKonnect, Inc. 4 years
1994 – 1997: Vice President Sales & Marketing, Americas & Asia Pacific
Responsibilities included: Management of corporate marketing and sales and field sales organizations, all budget issues, company profitability, OEM and Distributor channels support and programs including contract negotiations, development and execution of Reseller programs, direct support of End Users and ultimate responsibility for achievement of company sales related revenues within the Americas and Asia Pacific regions. During the three years that I had been responsible for sales, the company realized increases in revenues on an average of 40% per year. Further, I was the chief negotiator and primary sales contact for closing OEM agreements with Unisys, IBM, Compaq, NetFRAME, Performance Technology, Cinco Networks and other.
Network Systems Corporation (Vitalink) 4 years
In my first year as General Manager, I brought the European organization in at 110% of quota. In my second year, I not only reorganized the operations of the organization to include marketing and product specialization but, as well, opened up three new channels. In my last position as North American Eastern Region Channel Sales Manager, I signed up three new regional VARs and one national Systems Integrator. I asked for reassignment to this latter position due to a desire to return to the US.
1993: Regional Channel Sales Manager, Vienna, Virginia
Responsibilities included: All responsibilities related to the search for, contractual relations, program implementations and ongoing support of various Reseller channels. This included the support and activity management of four geographically dispersed commercial sales representatives, Federal Sales channels and an individual quota assignment.
1990 (late) – 1992: European General Manager, Gouda, Holland
Responsibilities included: Management of all aspects related to the running of an international sales, service and operational headquarters. Management of the sales team supporting 14 European Distributors, new distributor selection, sales forecasting and distribution strategy and program development.
Novell, Incorporated 5 years
I started at Novell when annual revenues were at $8M run rate and left when they reached $480M. My experiences ranged from being one of the first System Engineers in the field, progressing through the management ranks and finally holding a key sales position. During my period as National Account Sales Manger, I negotiated major contracts with Marriott, Martin Marietta and Bell Atlantic; as well as maintaining relations with the other accounts listed below.
1990: National Account Sales Manager, Washington, DC
Responsibilities included: Sales and marketing activities to develop and maintain Fortune 500 end user contractual relations and product satisfaction. Customers included: Marriott, Bell Atlantic, Martin Marietta, Mobil, Sovran Bank (B of A) and Gannett.
1988 – 1989: International Technical Marketing Manager, Salt Lake City, Utah
Responsibilities included: Management of 100 worldwide Systems Engineers, new product and partnership marketing programs, internal field training scheduling and execution, resource management, demonstration facilities, presentation generation and fiscal budgeting.
1987: National Consulting System Engineer, San Jose, California
Responsibilities included: US national support of sales and pre-sales personnel in the Fortune 1000 end user market, special WAN configurations, complimentary third party product awareness, competitive analysis, and new product field introduction.
1985 – 1986: Area Systems Engineering Manager, Mt. View, California
Responsibilities included: Pre-sales support organization activities, market strategy analysis, OEM relations, compatibility assurance, special communications equipment introduction, presentation generation, major account relations and sales training.
System Industries
1983 – 1984: Systems Engineer, Milpitas, California
Responsibilities included: Pre-sales activities, end user product presentations, sales documentation, product line management, product advertising, market strategy analysis and sales training. My employment at SI represented my first position in a sales support and product marketing capacity. The products ranged from DEC software applications for disk resource sharing to various common system peripherals.
Tandem Computers
1982 – 1983: Regional Operations Manager, Santa Clara, California
Responsibilities included: Inventory control and projections, personnel training, service contract negotiations and management, special service projects and situations, escalation procedures, management information systems design and development, direct report personnel and fiscal budgeting.
Digital Equipment Corporation
1980 – 1981: Field Service Representative, San Francisco, California
Responsibilities included: PDP 11 and VAX family systems installation and support.
US Air Force
1976 – 1979: United States Air Force, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Responsibilities included: Support and repair of Philco 1000 and IBM 1050 computer systems.
Education:
Bachelor of Science in Information Systems Management; University of San Francisco, San Francisco, California
Associates Degree in Automotive Engineering; Pennsylvania College of Technology
Affiliations:
AFCEA Technical Committee member serving 12th year
Sons of Italy, national charitable organization
Isaak Walton League
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