Bill Hofmann

Current

VP Development and Sony Projects at Gracenote

Past

Sr Director of Engineering at Sonic Solutions
Vice President, Product Development at Soluziona USA (Now Miria Systems)
VP Engineering at ZNOW

Chief Technologist at Aveo
Director of Engineering at Aveo

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Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Recommended

10 people have recommended Bill

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Computer Software

Websites

My Company

Bill Hofmann’s Summary

An accomplished Software Management and Technology Executive with proven experience building and leading teams to design, develop, and deploy high quality consumer and enterprise software on aggressive schedules, with extensive experience with distributed and offshore teams.
• Creative technical leader who can clearly articulate product and service vision to technical and non-technical audiences, including engineers and customers
• Experience managing international teams – expatriate experience
• Effective, detail-oriented manager who can deliver complex products on time
• Solid technical foundation with advanced degrees from MIT. Author of three patents.

Will do what needs to get done to move a company forward.

Bill Hofmann’s Specialties:

Extensive experience in China team management, remote team management, agile develop-ment processes, metrics, software estimation, software inspection, design reviews, contractor management, multiple project management, leading small, mid-size, and large teams, mentor-ing, customer relationship building, determining requirements, working with cross-functional teams, communicating technologies to non-technical audiences, and process improvement.

Bill Hofmann’s Experience

VP Development and Sony Projects

Gracenote

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Software industry)

September 2008 — Present (1 year 3 months)

Coordinate product development for Gracenote products used by Sony's consumer divisions. Work with teams at Sony (Japan, US, Europe) to deploy Gracenote technology throughout Sony. Lead video recognition, enrichment, and recommendation product development.
Sr Director of Engineering

Sonic Solutions

(Public Company; 501-1000 employees; SNIC; Computer Software industry)

August 2004 — August 2008 (4 years 1 month)

Senior technology executive at this 700+-person leader in digital media software.

Management Leadership
• Posted to Shanghai for 1 year to aid growth of 230+ person engineering team, providing process and practice leadership, training, and mentoring.
• Manage development and quality teams in 5 geographic locations: Marin County, China, Santa Clara, San Luis Obispo, Philadelphia.
• Dramatically improved contribution, reputation, and practices of China development of-fices across multiple divisions

Product Delivery Leadership

• Direct AuthorScript® Video authoring team
• Direct HD-DVD advanced playback development team
• Manage operational relationship with key technology licensees (Microsoft, Adobe, Sony)
• Direct teams delivering key new DVD on Demand™ technology
• Direct teams that won back HP as an OEM customer for flagship consumer DVD authoring product (MyDVD™)
Vice President, Product Development

Soluziona USA (Now Miria Systems)

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

May 2002 — August 2004 (2 years 4 months)

After the acquisition of ZNOW by Endymion, Inc., headed the development of enterprise content management and workflow applications and enterprise search applications for this venture-funded integration services provider.
· Delivered automated invoice processing application prototype on the FileNet ECM platform with 2 engineers in 3 weeks, resulting in the unprecedented commitment of $300,000 joint marketing funds by FileNet
· Led and recruited team to deliver first and second milestone builds of automated invoice processing application (ManagedPay™)
· Authored architecture and migration white papers, documentation, and training for FileNet technical sales representatives
· Worked with deployment practices to provide support to implementation teams
· Delivered customer-specific engineering projects on time and on budget

Participated in due diligence and sale of Endymion to Soluziona USA.
VP Engineering

ZNOW

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)

June 2001 — April 2002 (11 months)

Implemented best practices and provided software architecture and software engineering leadership, transforming chaotic development practices into repeatable, reliable practices at this small provider of Unix- and Windows-based enterprise text navigation and categorization software.

* Led team to deliver consistent, quality, weekly builds and regular milestones, hitting all internal and external dates with high-quality product
* Headed customer implementation team, meeting all customer delivery dates with high satisfaction
* Instituted software inspections and automatic nightly builds on Linux and Windows
* Led workshops in software estimation and coding best practices
Chief Technologist

Aveo

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Software industry)

May 1996 — March 2001 (4 years 11 months)

Architected and led implementation of a highly-scalable, low-maintenance server software application and dedicated client application that allows OEMs to stay in touch with their customers to reduce support costs and build customer loyalty.

As one of the first 25 employees, built this e-Support and e-CRM software service provider

* Communicated product and technology vision to staff, board members, and client executives
* Patented key company intellectual property assets: 3 issued patents
* Worked with sales executives to close customers by presenting technology to potential customers
* Resolved post-sale deployment and integration issues with strategic customers (such as Dell Computer)
* Defined improved data model for data warehouse to analyze system data for internal and external customers, increasing accuracy and reducing report lead-time from over one week to 2 days.
* Participated in standards organizations such as the DMTF (Distributed Management Task Force)
Director of Engineering

Aveo

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Software industry)

May 1996 — March 2001 (4 years 11 months)

Managed teams from 2-20 engineers. Delivered product on time for key OEM customers such as HP Printers and Dell
* Improved product development process from no specifications to MRDs, PRDs, functional specifications, and complete reviews for all new products.
* Formalized software configuration management and build processes, producing reliable daily and on-demand builds for key product subsystems.
* Promoted engineering best practices through classroom training and ongoing education.
* Organized and conducted design, specification, and code reviews.
* Worked with sales, business development, marketing, support, and IT directors and vice presidents to coordinate product releases and improve product and service effectiveness.