Kurt Swanke

Current

Vice President, Product Strategy and Development at Acsys Interactive

Past

Senior Director, Marketing and Product Management at CT TyMetrix
Director, Marketing at CT TyMetrix
Group Manager, Product Planning & Marketing at Konica Minolta

Product Marketing Manager at Gerber Scientific Products

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Education

Central Connecticut State University
Central Connecticut State University
Newington High School

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Recommended

20 people have recommended Kurt

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Computer Software

Websites

Kurt Swanke’s Summary

Kurt brings over 20 years of experience designing product management, marketing & demand creation strategies for various technology companies. His background includes numerous vertical markets and encompasses subjects from start-ups to Fortune International rated corporations.

Kurt recently embarked on an ambitious campaign to update and improve the entire Acsys Interactive product suite based on client feedback & industry best practices. He has already made great strides in bolstering Acsys' reputation as a world-class provider of full service interactive solutions.

Over his career, Kurt has held several senior management-level product & marketing positions, including those at CT TyMetrix, a Wolters Kluwer business. At CT TyMetrix, Kurt led the product management & marketing teams for this progressive ASP.net software provider, architecting deployment of resources to drive growth of sales by 89%. Balancing a strategic vision with pragmatic, results-driven deliverables, Kurt implemented several pilot initiatives, including a client advisory board and market research campaigns that revolved around customer satisfaction, prospect assessment & product development surveys. He also designed the company's award-winning websites in the US and Europe in addition to the company extranet and intranet.

Prior to his time at CT TyMetrix, Kurt held positions of increasing authority at Konica Minolta & Gerber Scientific Products. At Konica Minolta, Kurt managed all software & hardware product lines for an $800-million division & created various launch programs to support the efforts of an international, 2,000-person sales force. That role followed his success at Gerber Scientific, where he devised & executed a marketing plan for a fledgling group that saw a subsequent ten-fold increase in sales revenue.

Kurt holds both a B.S. degree in Marketing and an International M.B.A degree from Central Connecticut State University.

Kurt Swanke’s Specialties:

* Product management (business requirements and plans); product marketing (demand creation strategy, integrated marketing plans and market research); technology [web apps, SaaS, ASP.net, CRM (SalesForce.com & Microsoft Dynamics), CMS, CAD/CAM, human interface, controls], Verticals (Education, Finance, Government, Healthcare, Insurance), Departments: ( C-Suite, Marketing, Legal, IT )

Kurt Swanke’s Experience

Vice President, Product Strategy and Development

Acsys Interactive

(Privately Held; Marketing and Advertising industry)

July 2008 — Present (1 year 5 months)

Leading the product development and marketing strategy for an interactive agency with accounts across the US. Acsys Interactive designs award winning sites that exceed our clients balanced scorecard objectives. After site deployment, our SiteManager toolset (Microsoft ASP.net / web based) enables marketing leaders & their teams to maintain content, analyze visitor flows, involve their clients via online communities as well as generate incremental traffic. Our suite includes: analytic driven content management, email marketing, event marketing, PR, portals, recruiting, taxonomy and workflow solutions. The tools allow non-programmer staff in the marketing department to take control of the interactive experience. The entire team can leverage a common editing platform (WYSIWIG / CSS style), freeing up time to allow them to focus on lead generation and maximizing visitor value. The SaaS software model provides convenient licensing and continuous product improvement from the growing user community.
Senior Director, Marketing and Product Management

CT TyMetrix

(Public Company; Computer Software industry)

April 2004 — July 2008 (4 years 4 months)

Accomplished software / technology executive leads the product management and marketing teams for this progressive ASP.net software provider. Balancing a strategic vision with pragmatic, results driven deliverables that support our sales and client services teams. Develops the long term strategies to support our R&D efforts in addition to the tactical plans that enable our teams to reach annual sales goals.

Accomplishments:
Strategic development: Architected the growth of the product management and marketing department including the deployment of resources to help sales grow by 89%.

Product management: Developed several pilot initiatives including client advisory board and multiple qualitative / quantitative market research studies. The campaigns included satisfaction studies, prospect assessments and product development surveys. Created a competitive research library including a competitive matrix, swot analysis versus each competitor and pricing trend analysis tools.
Director, Marketing

CT TyMetrix

(Public Company; Computer Software industry)

April 2004 — June 2008 (4 years 3 months)

A recognized self-starter with entrepreneurial, strategic planning and team building skills developed the original marketing and product management department for this double digit growth SaaS web solutions provider.

Marketing Accomplishments: Developed comprehensive marketing plans for the business unit. This included the market opportunity, expansion prospects and definition of the programs designed to exceed both revenue and market share goals. Oversees the product marketing process to ensure a best practices approach to product life cycle management: research, design, promote, maintenance and end-of-life. Develops the market research strategy based on all constituent requirements: management team, sales and client service. Deployed the first user conference and the global strategy to deploy our solutions in the Western Europe market. Designed the award winning website, extranet and intranet sites which are all fully content managed.
Group Manager, Product Planning & Marketing

Konica Minolta

(Public Company; Business Supplies and Equipment industry)

October 1996 — April 2004 (7 years 7 months)

During a 7+ year tenure managed all product lines for a $800M division (Global 899/2000), which included software tools (drivers, middleware, mainframe, ASP, 3rd party solutions) and hardware. Primary product planner for digital printer/copier/scanner engines with responsibilities ranging from idea development through machine specification and market definition. Integrated global engineering and support teams into a unified contextual inquiry style planning method that utilized customer site visits and comprehensive trip reports.

Created new product launch programs including brochures, press releases, direct mail, and sales training materials to prepare a 2,000 person sales force. Led product demonstrations and competitive analyses during several annual trade shows, regional meetings and dealer open houses in the US, Europe and Asia.
Product Marketing Manager

Gerber Scientific Products

(Public Company; GRB; Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing industry)

May 1990 — October 1996 (6 years 6 months)

Led the marketing & product management activities for the dimensional products unit of this CAD/CAM solutions provider. Designed marketing strategies to globally promote the software, firmware and hardware solutions. Successfully conceived & led a marketing approach for the fledgling CNC Router Products Group that increased sales 10 fold & moved the business to a key contributor of corporate revenue.

Designed advertising, direct mail, fulfillment & telemarketing campaigns. Initiated site visit program that integrated customer applications & testimonials into marketing & product planning initiatives. Founded customer group meetings so that advanced system users could expand their knowledge about potential applications for the equipment, as well as help guide the direction of future products. Contributed numerous articles for trade publications, weekly company and customer newsletters and internet/intranet postings. Participated in trade conferences in the USA & Latin America.

Kurt Swanke’s Education

Central Connecticut State University

M.B.A. , International Business , 1993 — 1995

Completed thesis on marketing and advertising in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia during the summer of 1995. Topic: A comparison of corporations operating in Russia during both the pre-communist and post communist era. Scope included marketing tactics deployed in addition to an analysis of government regulation.
Central Connecticut State University

B.S. , Marketing , 1987 — 1990

Selected by the President of CCSU to represent the university with sister schools in the People's Republic of China during the summer of 1989. University relationships were established with Qingdao University and Beijing Economic College. Our group led a trade mission to exchange potential opportunities between Connecticut and Chinese manufacturers.

Activities and Societies:

Marketing Club Award, Dean's Award: School of Business; Internships with New Britain Chamber of Commerce, Connecticut Public Broadcasting, Dean's office School of Business; Market Research projects- Stanley Tools, Hitatchi America
Newington High School

H.S. Diploma , General , 1981 — 1985

Additional Information

Kurt Swanke’s Websites:

Kurt Swanke’s Interests:

Career: Overcoming challenging business issues, mentoring/coaching, product/brand positioning, product management and competitive differentiation Personal: Family life, participating & viewing almost any sport, music, technology, international travel, science

Kurt Swanke’s Groups:

Product Development and Management Association / PDMA, & American Marketing Association, Boy Scouts of America

PDMA New York Metro Chapter
Executive Suite
Technology Marketing Community
Central Connecticut State University Alumni Group (1,000 strong and growing every day)
American Marketing Association-CT Chapter
Connecticut Technology Council
Wolters Kluwer Employees & Alumni
Konica Minolta Business Solutions
Acsys Interactive SiteManager Users
Acsys Interactive Employee Group