Francis Tapon

Current

• Author at SonicTrek

Past

• Chief Evangelist at Booknolia
• Business Intelligence Project Manager at Microsoft
• Senior Product Marketing Manager at Hitachi Data Systems

• VP of Sales and Marketing at SIGHTech

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Education

• Harvard Business School
• Amherst College

Recommended

1 person has recommended Francis

Connections

105 connections

Industry

Writing and Editing

Websites

• My Website

Francis Tapon’s Summary

I am the author of "Hike Your Own Hike: 7 Life Lessons from Backpacking Across America." This is the first book of the WanderLearn Series, which are self help travelogues.

My 2nd book in the series will be called "The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us."

I give presentations and workshops on Eastern Europe, backpacking, and motivation.

I've worked in the high tech industry for 15 years (e.g., Microsoft & Hitachi Data Systems). I also worked with Booknolia, a social networking Internet site for book lovers.

More about my background is at: http://francistapon.com.

Francis Tapon’s Specialties:

Writing, Public Speaking, Seminars, Marketing, business development, sales, book industry, fund-raising, high tech, storage, software

Francis Tapon’s Experience

• Author

  SonicTrek

  (Writing and Editing industry)

  January 2006 — Present (3 years 7 months)

  - I travel the world and write books about what each location can teach us.
  - Deliver presentations and workshops to entertain and educate audiences worldwide.
  - Consult companies and individuals on how to improve their lives and performance.

• Chief Evangelist

  Booknolia

  (Internet industry)

  November 2007 — August 2008 (10 months)

  I led the fund raising efforts, the marketing, and the alliances.
  Booknolia was a social networking site for book lovers.

• Business Intelligence Project Manager

  Microsoft

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; MSFT; Computer Software industry)

  November 2004 — June 2006 (1 year 8 months)

  · Designed and implemented Microsoft Business Scorecard Manager throughout global operations, which processes over $25 billion in revenue.
  
  · Managed a project that created and maintained over 60 scorecards.
  
  · Correlated corporate goals and processes to key performance indicators (metrics) in 24 divisions.
  
  · Delivered solution in less than 18 months.

• Senior Product Marketing Manager

  Hitachi Data Systems

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; HIT; Information Technology and Services industry)

  2001 — 2004 (3 years)

  · Delivered the keynote for major launches in Dominican Republic, Argentina, Chile, and Australia.
  
  · Developed business plan for five new software products expected to generate $67M.
  
  · Helped make software revenues grow from 1% of company revenue to 15%.
  
  · Analyzed over 40 companies that wanted to have a strategic relationship.
  
  · Invented and executed the Fast Filter process to analyze all potential strategic alliances.
  
  · Took three software products to market as the Product Marketing Manager.
  
  · Conducted a road show in 20 cities in North America in 6 weeks to promote a product.
  
  · Performed sales support by traveling regularly to new subsidiaries in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela.
  
  · Conducted competitive marketing and pricing analysis in multi-million dollar deals.
  
  · Programmed and designed object-oriented database to help subsidiaries price products.

• VP of Sales and Marketing

  SIGHTech

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Computer Hardware industry)

  1997 — 2001 (4 years)

  • Closed over $2M in sales, include to Becton Dickinson, P&G, IBM, and Raytheon.
  • Established and managed over 50 resellers worldwide.
  • Wrote the business plan to attract investors and develop a strategic focus.
  • Negotiated with OEMs and potential acquirers.
  • Led development of marketing materials, producing various brochures and data sheets.
  • Recruited, selected, and managed new employees.

Francis Tapon’s Education

• Harvard Business School

  MBA , Entrepreneurship and Small Business , 1996 — 1997

  Activities and Societies:

  Volleyball and goofing off.

• Amherst College

  Religion , 1988 — 1992

  Activities and Societies:

  Volleyball, Student Government, Squash.

Additional Information

Francis Tapon’s Websites:

• My Website

Francis Tapon’s Interests:

Backpacking, Hiking

Francis Tapon’s Groups:

HBS

•    Harvard Business School Technology Alumni
•    Harvard University Alumni
•    Harvard Business School Alumni Network
•    Booknolia

Francis Tapon’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch