David Ponsford

Current

• Director, Marketing Platforms at SpinVox Limited

Past

• Senior Product Manager - Convergence at T-Mobile (UK) Limited
• Independent Telecoms Consultant (Self-employed)
• Head of Strategy and Planning at Atlas Interactive Limited

• Product Development Manager at Atlas Interactive Ltd, London England
• Business Development Manager at OmniSky International
• Global Product Manager at Sonera Zed
• Product Manager – Mobile Connectivity at Psion Computers PLC
• Regional Technical Manager at Psion Asia Pacific
• Technical Manager at Psion

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Education

• Erith College of Technology

Recommended

3 people have recommended David

Connections

303 connections

Industry

Telecommunications

David Ponsford’s Summary

David Ponsford’s Specialties:

Business Manager with proven experience in both technical and commercial roles within the fixed line & mobile markets in North America, Europe and Asia

Experienced in the area of fixed to mobile converged telephony.

Recognised expert in USA Premium Rate SMS; instrumental in negotiating and launching the first consumer Premium SMS services and aggregating shortcodes

David Ponsford’s Experience

• Director, Marketing Platforms

  SpinVox Limited

  (Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Telecommunications industry)

  March 2007 — Present (1 year 8 months)

  • Reporting to the SVP Global Marketing I am accountable for developing SpinVox’s new product concepts, identifying development partners, technology partners and taking products from idea through proof of concept to product launch.
  • Manage the full life cycle of software product development, requirements, product launch, roadmap management, and product sunset processes.
  • Gather and present competitive industry and product research and analysis.
  • Skilled in development of domestic and international client requirements and translating to use cases, product specifications, and functional specifications
  • Create, evaluate and maintain third party relationships with development partners and vendors.

• Senior Product Manager - Convergence

  T-Mobile (UK) Limited

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Telecommunications industry)

  January 2006 — March 2007 (1 year 3 months)

  I work with local and International cross functional teams to deliver convergent products on time and to exceptional quality. I act as Product Owner and am responsible for delivering quality products that enhances the T-Mobile customer experience.
  
  I also develop, deliver and maintain an ongoing product roadmap for convergent offerings and manage in-life reliability and performance of convergent products (post launch).

• Independent Telecoms Consultant

  Self-employed

  (Self-Employed; Myself Only; Telecommunications industry)

  July 2005 — January 2006 (7 months)

  Independent Telecoms Consultant July 2005 – Present
  Provided product development, business strategy and operations advice to IT and telecommunications providers. Major relevant contracts included the following:
  Intext media Limited, a UK based Interactive media company, specialising in the UK broadcast market.
  • Commissioned to produce a report on the USA Premium Telephony market covering; premium competitions, market history, barriers to entry, potential partners and regulatory issues.
  American Greetings Interactive Inc, i leading provider of graphics content in the USA Mobile market.
  • Commissioned to document and analyse the mobile graphics content of the UK Mobile Network Operators. Including comparing the WAP and Web offerings, pinpointing strengths, weaknesses and gaps in the market, plus recommendations on sales strategy

• Head of Strategy and Planning

  Atlas Interactive Limited

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Telecommunications industry)

  December 2004 — July 2005 (8 months)

  • Gathered technical and commercial information regarding new and emerging technologies and reported directly to the Executive Committee on their potential impact to the business and advised strategic position to adopt
  • Responsible for all business forecasting, co-ordinating with BU heads of global subsidiaries
  • Advised in all M & A activity, as part of the due diligence process

• Product Development Manager

  Atlas Interactive Ltd, London England

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Telecommunications industry)

  November 2001 — December 2004 (3 years 2 months)

  Reporting to the CEO, I had overall responsibility for delivering strategic IVR and SMS products and services.
  
  • Responsible for driving the companies launch of Premium SMS services in North America. US business now turning over in excess of USD 200K per month
  • Project managed the release of key SMS and IVR products, co-ordinating teams in multiple countries
  • Interfaced with Product Development, to input customer requirements for new services and change of specifications, launch dates etc
  • Liased with UK fixed-line and mobile operators as required
  • Responsible for customer management on key accounts to develop these further with the introduction of new products.
  Grew UK business from zero to £ 0.5m turnover per month in 12 months.

• Business Development Manager

  OmniSky International

  (Public Company; 201-500 employees; OMNY; Wireless industry)

  March 2001 — July 2001 (5 months)

• Global Product Manager

  Sonera Zed

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; Telecommunications industry)

  June 2000 — March 2001 (10 months)

  Overall management responsibility for originating, developing and implementing the global Smartphone and PDA strategy. This includes, but is not limited to devices such as; Ericsson R380, Nokia 9210 and Palm Vx.
  • Delivered original concepts and ideas for Smartphones and PDAs accessing the zed portal using SMS, WAP and HTML. Establish and maintain relationships with companies capable of offering these solutions
  • Generated and regularly update product roadmaps to reflect zed’s current and future support for enhanced capability devices
  • Produced internal whitepapers covering potential strategic partnerships and key decisions required to support Smartphone and PDA devices
  • Managed £0.5m department budget, including salaries, hardware, market research and consultancy
  • Worked closely with zed for business, zed’s corporate division, to ensure that a coherent strategy and partnerships are maintained between the two divisions, with respect to PDAs and Smartphones

• Product Manager – Mobile Connectivity

  Psion Computers PLC

  (Public Company; 501-1000 employees; PON.L; Computer Hardware industry)

  September 1998 — June 2000 (1 year 10 months)

  Overall product management responsibilities for development and ongoing marketing of mobile handset connectivity, Psion’s PDA web portal (Psion.net) & PC synchronization products.
  
  • Developed market requirements and specifications through consumer research, market analysis, & liaison with international distributors & sales managers
  • Worked closely with hardware & software development teams to manage implementation to specification, schedule & budget
  • Project managed commercial activities preceding product launches. Responsible for development of commercial objectives, & lead cross functional teams from operations, marketing communications, PR, sales & support to ensure achievement of launch objectives
  • Developed positioning, marketing messages & briefing material for use internally & externally
  • Delivered briefings at distributor conferences to representatives from 40 countries, participate in sales meetings with key accounts & conduct interviews with press & analysts

• Regional Technical Manager

  Psion Asia Pacific

  (Public Company; 501-1000 employees; PON.L; Computer Hardware industry)

  June 1996 — September 1998 (2 years 4 months)

  Relocated to Singapore - Psion’s regional HQ in order to help establish Psion’s presence in the region.
  • Managed relationships with Asia Pacific distributors and developers
  • Business development of specific regional accounts

• Technical Manager

  Psion

  (Public Company; Telecommunications industry)

  1987 — 1998 (11 years)

David Ponsford’s Education

• Erith College of Technology

  HNC, Civil Engineering, October 1983 — June 1985

Additional Information

David Ponsford’s Interests:

Playing the guitar, supporting my local football team, Charlton Athletic and for the last 12 months travelling around the World to meet up with my partner, who is participating in the Global Challenge , an Around The World yacht race

David Ponsford’s Groups:

•    Telemedia Network
•    Mobile Product Management

David Ponsford’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• expertise requests
• reference requests
• getting back in touch