For Tesseract engagements, he combines his engineering background with considerable experience in all aspects of product marketing, pricing strategies, forecasting and modeling, market and competitive analyses, and new product introduction.

  Since founding Tesseract Consulting Corp in 1993, Rick has functioned as president and principal consultant, enjoying a successful practice and providing services to a number of important voice and data communications equipment manufacturers companies such as Polycom, Siemens, NetSpeak, ShoreGroup, 3PV and Teleprocessing Systems GmBH (TPS).

Sample Projects:

•  Conducted a qualitative survey for Polycom Network Systems Division (NSD) of eight network systems product resellers in the US and produced an analysis with recommendations to provide direction for an effort to improve the penetration of products through reseller channels.

• Conducted a qualitative survey for Polycom Network Systems Division (NSD) of eight network systems product resellers in the US and produced an analysis with recommendations to provide direction for an effort to improve the penetration of products through reseller channels.

• Developed an Excel based configuration and quoting tool that included five Polycom Network Systems products. The tool was specifically designed to promote the sales of NSD products through channels by providing resellers with an easy to use tool that addressed their business needs.

• Served as Vice President of Marketing and Product Development at ShoreGroup, a privately held converged network infrastructure professional services and software development firm based in New York City, where he was responsible for all marketing, public relations and product development functions. 
  • Company grew from 8 to 70 employees in just three years while achieving revenues of over $24 million.
  • Evaluated the market potential for a network management product and related service offerings.
  • Highlights include ShoreGroup’s selection as one of Computer Reseller News (CRN) Magazine's "25 Rising Stars" in 2002, a CRN Best in Show award at the 2002 Cisco Partner Summit and inclusion by the New York New Media Association (NYNMA) as one of its "Technology to Watch Companies in 2003".

• Assumed the role of interim Vice President of Marketing at NetSpeak leading developer of VoIP applications and carrier-grade call management software, to realign, direct, and manage the 33-person marketing department consistent with these new business objectives. His contribution was critical to NetSpeak’s transition from an engineering-for-hire business model to a product-driven model. 
  • Assumed role of interim Director of Product Marketing and devised a system for forecasting revenues, defined important product enhancements based on the rapidly evolving competitive landscape, successfully repositioned their product portfolio to obtain immediate revenue and attract important strategic alliances with companies such as Cisco Systems and Motorola.
  • Instrumental in formulating the NetSpeak iTEL^® architecture that earned the company the prestigious Frost & Sullivan Market Engineering Product Line Strategy Award. 

• Performed business case analysis that led to the establishment of Third Party Verification, Inc (3PV),a provider of innovative third party verification  solutions using natural language speech recognition technology. 
  • Analyzed competition identified addressable markets to arrive at a definition of a complete service offering.
  • Defined the positioning strategy and created business cases and marketing plans for introduction of defined services.
  • Managed the graphic designer, writer, and webmaster who developed 3PV’s branding and collateral needed to launch of the 3PV venture.
  • Evaluated and refined 3PV’s messaging to specifically target prospective customers and produced a plan to implement the improved messaging in ads, web site and other appropriate collateral.
  • Defined new tracking mechanisms to quantify the success of messaging and marketing initiatives.

• Headed a four-year effort at TPS, a manufacturer of voice/data multiplexers based in Cadoulzborg, Germany,  to define and implement a product marketing organization and product introduction process. 
  • Evaluated new product ventures, new markets and new technologies culminating in strategic business recommendations for executive management and market requirements for development teams
  • Evaluated the US, German, and Asian market potential and analyzed the competition in the V/D multiplexer/PABX arena.
  • Oversaw the creation of all supporting marketing documentation such as presentations, collateral, brochures, and other supportive sales tools.
  • Established ISO 9001-compliant product management processes based on lifecycle planning for product management, feature enhancement, component forecasting, revenue forecasting, and ongoing competitive analysis.

  Before striking out independently in 1993, Rick gained first-class experience in telecommunications at Siemens Corporation. He was a product marketing manager from 1985 to 1993,responsible for managing all aspects of their HCM 200 digital PABX for national distribution. During Siemen’s acquisition of ROLM, Rick’s team was entirely responsible for introducing the HCM 200 as the ROLM 9200, including the product positioning, the pricing and packaging strategy, and the delivery of all introductory presentation materials to the ROLM sales force.

Rick holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Florida Atlantic University, and has completed substantial work towards his master’s degree in this area.