Bob Schwartz

Bob Schwartz

Internet Executive: Growth Strategy - Consumer Brands in Internet Commerce + Media

Greater Los Angeles Area

Current
  • Consultant and Advisory Board at CitrusByte
  • Consultant & Advisory Board at Vivre.com
  • CEO (Interim), Board Member, Consultant at Portero Inc
  • Managing Partner at Schwartz Group Consulting

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1 more...

Past

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5 more...

Education
  • General Electric (GE)
  • University of Washington
Recommended
Bob has 8 recommendations 8 people have recommended Bob
Connections
424 connections
Industry
Consumer Services
Websites

Bob Schwartz’s Summary

Bob has established himself as a visionary business builder of consumer-facing internet brand (commerce and media) companies delivering over $1Billion+ in revenue, achieving top internet rankings and leadership in diverse areas such as luxury, fashion, shoes, paid content and personal computers.

Current:
- Partner, SchwartzGroup - Strategic Business Growth Services...Consumer Brands in Internet Commerce + Media (company list below)

Past:
- Entrepreneur in Residence at Clearstone Venture Partners
- President, USSearch.com (NASDAQ Public Internet Company)
- Founder, GM / Executive Vice President of NORDSTROM.com (spun-off)
- Managing Director, eColony an Internet Capital Groups (ICGE) incubator
- Vice President, Packard Bell Computers - leading consumer PC manufacturer

Bob Schwartz’s Specialties:

Company Development - Fast Growth, Turn-around, Division Development
Strategy, Leadership, Innovation
Revenue and Product Development
Talent Recruiting and Team
Partnership Negotiations
Capital Funding
Board and Advisory
*Internet, eCommerce, New Media, Retail, eTail, Luxury, Brands

Bob Schwartz’s Experience

  • Consultant and Advisory Board

    CitrusByte

    (Computer Software industry)

    January 2008 — Present (1 year)

    Strategy Development, Operational, Business Dev, Client Strategy for leading web application development company.

  • Consultant & Advisory Board

    Vivre.com

    (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Luxury Goods & Jewelry industry)

    May 2007 — Present (1 year 8 months)

    SchwartzGroup Focus: Strategy, Capital, Operational Structure, Internet Metrics, Partnerships and Talent Acqusition.

    Vivre uniquely mixes content and commerce around luxury and individualism via catalogs, internet, events and store fronts to produce experiences and stories.

  • CEO (Interim), Board Member, Consultant

    Portero Inc

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

    January 2007 — Present (2 years)

    SchwartzGroup Focus: Strategy, Capital, Board, Operational Structure, Internet Metrics, Partnerships and Talent Acqusition.

    Portero is the leading Luxury Marketplace for New and Pre-Owned Luxury. Portero is capitalized by Atelier, the venture arm of Richemont (owners of Cartier, Mont Blanc, Dun Hill, Van Cleef...)

  • Managing Partner

    Schwartz Group Consulting

    (Internet industry)

    January 2005 — Present (4 years)

    Consultant, interim Executive, Board Member for consumer Brands, eCommerce & internet media companies. Focus on identification & execution of core business expansion strategies and key partnerships around customer engagement, market and revenue growth, & talent acquisition and working w the Senior Management to establish technology, operations, recruiting & raise capital.

    SchwartzGroup Companies:
    - Portero.com: Leader Pre-Owned & Authentic Luxury
    - Vivre.com: Living w Style (Commerce + Media)
    - ZadSpace: New brand advertising platform
    - CitrusByte: Leading developer of experienced based web applications
    - Platformation: Tech platform to increase ecommerce transactions.
    - MediaShift.com: Digital Brand Advertising Holding Company
    - Kevo.com: Empowering Fame
    - Entertainment Media Works / StarStyle.com: Contextual commerce
    - KickApps.com: User-Generated Content & Social Networking Platform
    - Past: Fireclick.com (acquired), IntelliFit, LiveBid.com (acquired Amazon)

  • Entrepreneur in Residence

    Clearstone Venture Partners

    (Partnership; 11-50 employees; Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)

    May 2006 — August 2007 (1 year 4 months)

    Leading Venture Capital firm. Investment, sourcing, vetting and due diligence in the Consumer / Brand / Commerce & Media space.

    Clearstone Venture Partners provides venture capital for technology and business model innovators. Offices in Santa Monica and Menlo Park, and Mumbai, India with over $650 million of committed capital raised in three funds. www.Clearstone.com

  • President

    USSearch.com (NASADQ: SRCH)

    (Public Company; 51-200 employees; FADV; Internet industry)

    February 2002 — 2004 (2 years)

    At US Search (NASDAQ: SRCH - Leading paid search & content company) Bob, as President, led the public company turnaround and achieved record revenues and first time profits with a focus on rebranding, new products, technology development, recruited new talent. As President Bob renegotiated multi-million dollar partnerships to drive profitability and increased conversion rates by over 35%.

    Mr. Schwartz built US Search to become a "Top 10 Paid Content" site, with over 6,000,000 unique visitors/month and recognized as a "Deloitte Fast 50 Company. Bob was a founding member of the senior management team at First Advantage (NASDAQ: FADV), which was formed by a merger of a division of First American Corp. (NYSE: FAF) and USSearch.com, Inc.

    US Search is leading Internet content company for location, reunion, trust and verification services and was recently merged to form First Advantage a leader in enterprise employment verification and screening services.

  • Managing Director

    eColony (Internet Capital Group)

    (Public Company; 51-200 employees; ICGE; Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)

    May 2000 — February 2001 (10 months)

    Goal: an early stage venture fund formed by Internet Capital Group (ICGE).
    Opportunity: Leverage Internet Capital Groups deal flow, partners, brand and needs to fund and develop best in class B2B companies.
    Result: Launch $150MM early stage incubation fund.

  • Founder / GM / EVP

    NORDSTROM.com

    (Public Company; 501-1000 employees; JWN; Internet industry)

    June 1998 — May 2000 (2 years)

    www.NORDSTROM.com
    Goal: Charged with making Nordstrom a leader in e-Commerce and spinning off ($15M Venture funding: Benchmark Capital) Nordstrom.com (eCommerce, Catalogue).
    Opportunity: Leverage Nordstrom assets to create a world leader in Fashion Apparel eCommerce;
    Milestones: Built revenues from $0 to $100,000,0000/yr+ sales by second yr, making Nordstrom the leader in fashion apparel eCommerce.
    Recruited and managed World Class team in marketing, operations, creative, technology. (2008 est $1B+)
    Created NordstromShoes.com, "The Worlds Biggest Shoe Store" offering over 20 million pairs of shoes as a successful marketing point of differentiation via an innovative supply chain methodology, technology and marketing campaigns ranging from street PR to national TV commercials "Make room for shoes, get rid of everything else".

  • Vice President Packard Bell - GM Packard Bell Interactive

    Packard Bell /NEC Computers

    (Privately Held; 5001-10,000 employees; Computer Hardware industry)

    1992 — 1998 (6 years)

    Mr. Schwartz identified and led the opportunity for Packard Bell (The leading consumer/retail PC manufacturer) to leverage it's massive consumer distribution channels and software developer OEM relationships to create a software publishing group, Packard Bell Interactive. Gained 95% retail shelf space penetration in the first year with 15 titles and gained valued new Packard Bell Brand exposure to PC users in the software sections of the stores.

  • Vice President Packard Bell / NEC - GM Direct Service Revenue Mngmt

    Packard Bell /NEC Computers

    (Privately Held; 5001-10,000 employees; Internet industry)

    1992 — 1998 (6 years)

    Mr. Schwartz identified and was tasked with development of direct revenue producing technology services and products (PC’s, Accessories, Software, Warranties, Training and Support) for the leading PC manufacturer Packard Bell and its massive (1200 seat) consumer service and support contact centers. The objective, turn a cost center into a profit center. As GM he developed processes, systems, sales groups and new products to build revenue from $0 to $100MM+ in first year.

    Mr. Schwartz also identified and was tasked with an opportunity to increase revenue and margin in the area of excess and refurbished PC and accessory inventories by the development of various new consumer direct channels including commercial on-line services (Prodigy, Compu-serv), the internet (PBFactoryOutlet.com) , and physical outlet stores.

  • Consultant

    Livebid.com

    (Consumer Services industry)

    1997 — 1998 (1 year)

    On-line auction services and platfrom. Advisory Board and Interim CEO. Sold to Amazon.

  • Prior Postions on request

    Prior Postions on request

    (Investment Management industry)

    January 1982 — January 1990 (8 years 1 month)

    - Ark Interface: Business Development, Programmer - Leading consumer interface development firm

    - Natl Marketing Director / VP / Co-Founder with Worldwide Insurance Network & SchwartzGroup Ins Services - Leading product development and national wholesale insurance brokerage and pioneer of Long-term Care and Home Health Care Insurance with over 12,000 agents nationwide. 1985-1990

    - Investment Advisor, Drexel Burnham Lambert: - Member NYSE 1982-1985

Bob Schwartz’s Education

  • General Electric (GE)

    Change Management 1999 — 1999

  • University of Washington

    BA, Economics, 1978 — 1982

    Activities and Societies:
    Washington Crew Team

Additional Information

Bob Schwartz’s Websites:

Bob Schwartz’s Groups:

• Gerson Lehrman Group Council

• Mentor - Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management

• Speaker - eCommerce, Internet, eTailing, Branding:
National Retail Federation National Convention; CNBC; CNNfn; e-tail conferences; Gartner Group; LinkShare Conferences; Jupiter Conferences, Red Herring Ventures; Hambrecht & Quist Conferences, ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox TV, InterActive Week; Business Week; WSJ; NY Times; Woman’s Wear Daily; ComputerWolrd; Internet World; BrandQuest

• National Retail Federation Internet Retailing Advisory Council (Founding Member)

• The Pacific Northwest Incumbent Internet Council (Founding Member)
- Costco, Starbuck, Nike, REI, Eddie Bauer, Nordstrom, Starwave (ESPN), Packard Bell

  •    Luxury & Lifestyle Professionals
  •    Linked:Seattle
  •    Private Equity and Venture Capital Group
  •    University of Washington Alumni Group
  •    eMarketing Association Network
  •    E-Commerce Network
  •    Fashion Marketing & Digital Media Group (FMG): A Meeting Place for Fashion & Marketing Professionals
  •    Startup Specialists
  •    RETAIL EXECS

Bob Schwartz’s Honors:

"Red Herring as Top 100 Most Important Companies in the World" - Nordstrom.com, NordstromShoes.com

"Deloitte Fast 50 Company" - US Search

"Top Ten Paid Content Company" - US Search

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