Pierre Savignac

Curriculum Vitae

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Education

Experience and Achievements

Associations

Personal Achievements

Certified Project Management Professional (PMP) by the world-renowned authority in the field, the Project Management Institute (PMI). Exam passed with a mark of 84%.

In the process of certification as Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) by the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC)2. Exam scheduled May 11th 2002.

Plus thousands of hours of continuous professional training in: CISSP security certification, project management, strategic planning, Stage-Gate methodology, ISO 9000, LAN, WAN, ATM, Internet, data warehousing, object-oriented languages, MIS, expert systems, neural networks, recruiting, consultative selling, international marketing and many others.

Emergex's mission is to design, manage and implement information technology projects. The clients are large national enterprises and governments. I won a Silver Award in the best business contest of the National Bank.

Project management role:

· Managed selected projects on site
· Prepared commercial and technical proposals in response to selected international tenders
· Recruited expert subcontractors and local representatives in foreign markets
· Negotiated and signed contracts with buyers
· Met key decision makers in preparation for future projects
· Relations with embassies and international financing institutions (IFI)
· Proactive follow up and promotion of our solutions during the evaluation phase, until selection
· Business development and prospecting in fifty countries

Organizational role:
· Recruiting, supervision, evaluation and coaching of human resources
· Relations with clients, suppliers, banks and governments
· Company startup: business plan, incorporation, financing and structure

Videotron is a telecom enterprise with 4,000 employees and over $1B a year in revenues. 2nd largest television cable company in Canada with 1,300,000 clients. In its move to position itself as a major player in the telecom industry, Videotron innovated with services like Internet over cable, digital video compression, IP telephony by cable, etc.

My main project consisted of developing and marketing Internet access services based on 3 complementary technologies: bi-directional coaxial cable, telephony and hybrid. The breakthrough technology of cable modem offered a bandwidth of 27 Mbps, for an observed effective speed between 10 and 100 times the fastest phone modem.

· We met the objective to launch in only 6 months the fastest Internet access service in Canada and one the first commercial deployments of cable modems in North America
· The scope of the project development phase involved 80 people and $5M
· The objective I set, supported by a market study and an aggressive marketing plan, propelled us to the 2nd rank of all Internet service providers (ISP) in Quebec

My role was to define and align marketing strategy and project plan, and then execute them
· Developed the business plan
· Designed the marketing plan: service definition, competitive analysis, positioning, price structure, penetration forecasts (met with 2% accuracy), sales and distribution strategy
· Directed market studies justifying and supporting the strategy
· Advisor for selecting client software and for developing Web site and software package
· Day-to-day project management as a member of the Project Control Office (PCO)
· Coordinated corporate functional units around the project (customer service, marketing, engineering, information systems, purchasing, finance, etc.)
· Definition and reengineering of business processes to integrate the new activities
· Contribution in building a complex financial model
· Liaison with medias and industry experts
· Technological and competitive watch of the market

· Along with the Vice-president, I led the acquisition team in evaluating and preparing an offer to buy the largest Internet company in Quebec
· Coordinated due diligence between all the functional units involved

Virtual Prototypes is an award-winning company that develops and markets software productivity tools to design graphical user interfaces (GUI) for real-time applications. Clients include IBM, Boeing, Bombardier, Honeywell, BMW and Ford.

· Initiated and negotiated a strategic alliance with the multinational computer firm Tandem (now Compaq), allowing our salespeople and me to penetrate large accounts: National Bank, Canada Post and Loto-Quebec
· Designed the marketing plan defining the strategy to penetrate new vertical markets
· Executed my marketing plan by identifying the key industry players, developing strategic reference accounts, establishing high-level contacts with trade associations, designing the advertising concept, etc. Expected sales: $2M the 1st year, $4M after
· Trained salespeople and technical sales support personnel

MediaSoft Telecom develops and markets on 4 continents multinorm and multilingual software tools to create interactive servers for telecommunication networks (principle similar to Internet). Clients include Bell Canada, Korea Telecom and the National Bank of Egypt.

As a key employee, I assumed a wide range of responsibilities:
· After taking the direction of the development team, major new products were developed and launched, allowing a strategic shift in the company's activities from local consulting to the development of standard off-the-shelf packaged products, which in turn led us successfully to international markets.
· Implemented a rigorous system for planning, managing and controlling projects
· Recruited and supervised the team of 5 engineers, analysts and programmers
· Development of a telebanking application on Unix servers for private and public networks
· Consulting, design and proposal of networks for 3 large banks
· In charge of external subcontractors, defining specifications, negotiating contracts and managing progress during development

· Organized sales exhibitions and speaker at conferences and seminars locally and overseas
· Recruited distributors and negotiated contracts
· Participation in strategic decisions in management committees and board meetings

(The description below applies to the 3 positions that follow)
Alis Technologies is a world leader in the development, marketing and sales of computer products supporting graphically complex human languages (Slavic, Arabic, Chinese, etc.). The production is 100% exported. Clients include Microsoft, IBM, DEC, Unisys and NCR. Alis Technologies has since evolved toward the Internet market with its browser Tango, superior to Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Explorer in its multilingual capabilities.

Major achievements:
· I initiated the development of one of the company's most successful products ever with the highest margins of its division and sales surpassing forecasts
· Created a new product line: multilingual laser printers
· Developed the first 2 products of the new line, including an intelligent cartridge for the HP LaserJet
· Coordinated all the elements required by these 2 projects (5 people involved)
· Planned and managed projects of up to 8 months in duration

· In charge of all marketing aspects of a product line (40% of all company sales)
· Conducted a market study exploring the needs and features desired for new products
· Detailing product specifications
· Établir les spécifications de produit
· Defined pricing, distribution channels, promotional campaign and advertising
· Presented and defended my proposals to the top management
· Evaluated potential suppliers and preparation of contracts
· Coordinated the groups of research and development, manufacturing, marketing, sales and technical support around my product line
· Trained salespeople and technical support personnel
· Supervised two marketing assistants
· In charge of the technical section of the company newsletter

· Development and technical support of the most important product line by sales volume
· In charge of the PLASMA multilingual core technology, central to all Alis products. I was responsible for the development and maintenance of this technology over a period of 2 years. PLASMA has been incorporated in products representing 99% of company sales.
· Worked on the development of the AVT-220 terminal and Arabic MS-DOS on contract for Microsoft
· Supervised a software engineer for one year
· Working experience in foreign assignments
· Study of system configurations with clients and recommendations
· Responsible for interviewing and hiring technical support personnel

As the key technical person in printer development, I worked on several projects.
· Development and technical support of the multilingual printers
· Study of clients' needs and preparation of proposals
· Organization of training sessions for salespeople and technical support personnel

And other previous jobs.

· Member of the world-renowned Project Management Institute (PMI)
· Ex-general secretary, executive committee member and board member of the Association of Information Technology Professionals of Quebec or APIIQ (1,000 members)
· Cofounder of Keynet, the Key Professional Resource Network (2,000 members)
· Member of the Federation of Information Technology of Quebec (FIQ)
· Member of the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS)
· Circle of Ambassadors of Montreal International
· Ex-director of the mentoring committee for the Junior Chamber of Commerce of Montreal
· Ex-national advertising coordinator and member of Mensa

· Mention of excellence from University of Montreal
· Public relations: 4 appearances on television, a half-hour radio program and 9 interviews in major newspapers and magazines. Featured on the cover page of the business magazine L'Économique
· Speaker at multiple conferences and seminars locally and overseas
· Director of communications for the campaign of a candidate to the federal elections (44% of votes)
· Volunteer journalist in a weekly newspaper for 2 years
· Cofounder and administrator of the SSDPH stock market investment group (mutual fund)
· Training and competition in foot racing for 5 years

Excellent references available upon request.
Feel free to contact me for any further information.

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