From Leadership Experience to Thoughtful Authorship

My journey from the executive suite to the written page—transforming real-world leadership decisions, technology challenges, and strategic lessons into ideas meant to inform, challenge, and endure.

Older man smiling warmly with folded hands.

My Story

In case you are interested, I have had a diverse and exciting career. Most of my experiences were intertwined.

PRTM Years

After graduating from Boston College and Harvard Business School, I worked briefly for Price Waterhouse. In 1976, I left to start my own consulting firm because I wanted to work exclusively with high-technology companies and focus on projects that achieved results. Soon after I started on my own, I met Bob Rabin, Ted Pittiglio, and Bob Todd, and we formed a collective firm, Pittiglio, Rabin, Todd, and McGrath (PRTM).

Pittiglio, Rabin, Todd & McGrath—better known as PRTM—built its reputation as a specialist management-consulting firm serving technology-intensive industries with an unusually execution-oriented focus on operational strategy, product development performance, and end-to-end supply chain improvement.

PRTM’s success was driven by a repeatable proposition: quantify performance gaps, benchmark against best-in-class operators, then redesign the operating model and build the management system to sustain results. The firm began formal benchmarking work in 1982, expanded internationally starting in 1985, and developed methodologies that became widely used reference points inside product organizations and operations teams.

Notable consulting achievements and signature contributions

PACE (Product and Cycle-time Excellence) framework (1988)

PRTM codified a multidisciplinary approach to improving product development productivity, reducing cycle time, and strengthening program governance—work that became closely associated with “time-to-market” and product creation excellence programs in complex engineering organizations. PACE has been implemented in more than 1,000 organizations (companies and divisions) that rely on product development. Remarkably, almost all of them reduced their time-to-market by 50%. PACE introduced concepts that are now considered table stakes:

Phase-based governance with clear decision gates
Cross-functional program leadership (engineering, marketing, supply chain, finance)
Explicit trade-off management (cost, schedule, performance, risk)
Senior-level portfolio governance, not just project execution

SCOR model co-development (1996)

PRTM co-developed the Supply-Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model with the Supply-Chain Council (which it founded), helping standardize the language and process taxonomy for supply chain design, measurement, and improvement across industries. SCOR is widely regarded as a de facto global standard for supply chain analysis and benchmarking across industries. It’s used by manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and service firms worldwide as a performance framework and common operating language. The model’s presence in academic literature, professional training programs, and corporate supply chain processes, with many case studies and industry analyses citing prominent companies such as Dell, P&G, and Unilever, show that large multinational enterprises explicitly use SCOR for supply chain performance management and process improvement.

Product Strategy

Operations + innovation “from strategy through execution”

By the late 2000s, PRTM had grown into a global firm (multiple offices across countries) with deep domain credibility in sectors where operational excellence and product performance determine competitive advantage. In 2011, PwC announced, and then completed, the acquisition of PRTM, integrating its capabilities into PwC’s Advisory practice to strengthen “strategy-through-execution” operations consulting.

PRTM’s most notable success was a durable body of methods and operating disciplines, especially in product creation and supply chain, that helped clients shorten development cycles, improve launch reliability, raise supply chain performance, and institutionalize metrics-driven management systems that outlasted the project team.

I received the first lifetime achievement awards from the Product Development Management Association (PDMA) and Supply Chain Council (SCC) for the creation of PACE and SCOR. I retired from PRTM in 2005.

Board of Directors Experience

Shortly after retiring from PRTM, I embarked on a second career, serving as a CEO or board chairman of four NASDAQ-listed companies.

He served on the board of i2 Technologies (ITWO), the leading supply-chain management software company, from August 2004 until May 2008. From February 2005 to July 2007, I served as its president and CEO, leading its turnaround and transition.
In February 2007, I also served on the board of directors of Entrust (ENTU), a leader in security software. I was chairman of the board from November 2008 until the company was sold in July 2009.
I joined the Thomas Group (TGI), a management consulting firm, as executive chairman in February 2008, served as interim CEO for a period, and remained chairman until March 2012.
Most recently, I served as Chairman of the Board of National Instruments (NATI), a $1.5B company that provides advanced hardware and software solutions for test and measurement, until it was acquired for $8.2 billion in October 2023.

My experience as a director encompassed a wide range of activities, including strategy, financial management, CEO recruitment, executive compensation, board governance, mergers and acquisitions, company sales, debt and equity financing, legal and patent issues, and SEC regulations. I has served on audit, governance, and compensation committees and is qualified as a financial expert under SEC guidelines.

I have also served on the boards of directors of six venture-funded technology companies. Additionally, I have extensive experience serving on non-profit boards, including as chairman of the board of York (Maine) Hospital, vice chairman of St. Michael’s College, a board member of Berwick Academy, and Chairman of Aidmatrix. He was recently the chairman of the board of Grace Place in Naples

Research and Writing

Now retired from active executive management, I focus on emerging technologies and topics in decision-making, management, and leadership by writing books, publishing a popular Substack newsletter, “How Technology Is Transforming Our Lives,” and writing investment articles for Seeking Alpha.

General
I currently live in Naples, Florida, and York, Maine, with my wife, Diane.