Walter Brandes

Current

• Managing Director at Sanford Rose Associates-Pen Bay
• Principal at To The Tipping Point, LLC

Past

• VP, North American Sales, Life Science Research at Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Director, North American Sales and Marketing at Promega Corporation
• VP Operations at Collagenesis

• VP & COO Medical Technology Division at Base Ten Systems
• VP, Sales and Marketing at Zynaxis
• Marketing Manager, Cytometry at Beckman Coulter
• Director Worldwide Marketing Serono Diagnostics at Ares-Serono
• Marketing Manager, Instrument Systems at Abbott Diagnostics
• Group Product Manager, Automated Immunochemistry at BD Biosciences
• Product Manager, Automated Clinical Chemistry at Baxter Laboratories
• Chief Nuclear Chemistry at US Army

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Education

• Northeastern University

Recommended

21 people have recommended Walter

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Staffing and Recruiting

Walter Brandes’s Summary

Resounding successes leading Sales, Marketing, Operations and R&D teams from start-ups to multi-billion dollar public companies for over 3 decades. A proven track record of capitalizing on organizational opportunities improving the performance of existing sales and marketing teams, as well as building successful new sales, marketing, R&D, manufacturing and QA/QC teams from the ground up. Having interviewed hundreds of potential employees, has developed a proven knack for hiring the right people, as evidenced by the successes of the organizations built and managed.

Walter Brandes’s Specialties:

● Recruiting from Senior Individual Contributors thru "C" Level
- DNA Forensics
- Life Science Research
- Clinical Diagnostics
- Clinical Reference Laboratories
- Biotechnology/Drug Discovery
● Sales & Marketing
● R&D - Lab, Engineering, Applications Software
● International Commercial Operations
● Business Development
● Organizational Turnarounds and Start-ups
● Business and Team Integration

Walter Brandes’s Experience

• Managing Director

  Sanford Rose Associates-Pen Bay

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Staffing and Recruiting industry)

  2008 — Present (1 year )

  Sanford Rose Associates - Pen Bay is a member of a full-service executive search organization founded in 1959. A worldwide network of over 65 offices allows us to more effectively partner with our clients in need of senior professionals, managers and executives.
  
  Our practice was founded not simply as a “head hunting” offering, but as a true consultancy, using the expertise of To The Tipping Point, LLC to focus on improving our client's business performance where a requirement for new leadership has been identified. Rather than simply “filling a position,” we help create an appropriate Position Profile and then locate those people who can make a difference in your organization, and bring them to you in a confidential and timely manner. As our corporate slogan states, we focus on "Finding people who make a difference®."

• Principal

  To The Tipping Point, LLC

  (Biotechnology industry)

  2008 — Present (1 year )

  A consulting practice specializing in business enhancement based on identifying needed changes and then planning and implementing them. We have focused our practice on the improvement of tools, processes and practices that affect the attitudes of a company’s personnel to help humanize the workplace, thereby leading the way to increased sales and profitability.

• VP, North American Sales, Life Science Research

  Thermo Fisher Scientific

  (Biotechnology industry)

  May 2005 — April 2008 (3 years )

  I changed the “go to market strategy” by integrating sales teams from 4 newly acquired very diverse life science companies. Smoothly integrated these diverse sales teams - on time, with full cross-training occurring within 60 days and <15% voluntary turnover. This change resulted in record sales and profits for all 4 businesses, with 2 of them achieving their revenue targets in the Americas for the first time since 1999.

• Director, North American Sales and Marketing

  Promega Corporation

  (Privately Held; 501-1000 employees; Biotechnology industry)

  May 1999 — May 2005 (6 years 1 month)

  I held 5 commercial positions at Promega in 6 years. Each time a commercial functional unit needed help, I was assigned by the CEO to “fix it.” I turned around the research business in North America and the High Thoughput Screening business in the US, Europe and Japan. As Director North American Sales and Marketing, reversed sales rep turnover and increased revenue.

• VP Operations

  Collagenesis

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Medical Devices industry)

  1998 — 1999 (1 year )

  Consultant (Interim VP Operations) Accomplishments included: increasing revenue, hired temporary onsite recruiter and grew an effective Operations Group, increased manufacturing output of finished product while reducing COGS, and managed identification and recruitment of clinical trial sites.

• VP & COO Medical Technology Division

  Base Ten Systems

  (Medical Devices industry)

  1994 — 1998 (4 years )

  Facilitated this $20 million software and electronics company’s evolution from an engineering driven defense contractor to a market driven developer/supplier of standardized software products applying to a broad domestic and international customer base in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.

• VP, Sales and Marketing

  Zynaxis

  (Medical Devices industry)

  1992 — 1994 (2 years )

  Managed the company’s Sales, Marketing, Technical Support, Order Entry and Export operations. Recruited distributors in Latin America and Europe allowing sales of medical device prior to FDA approval which allowed the company to raise sufficient funds to continue operations.

• Marketing Manager, Cytometry

  Beckman Coulter

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

  1990 — 1992 (2 years )

  Managed flow cytometry marketing department and implemented the needed paradigm change to turn around sales and profits shortfalls in the flow cytomerty and retrovirology diagnostics business unit.

• Director Worldwide Marketing Serono Diagnostics

  Ares-Serono

  (Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Entertainment industry)

  1987 — 1990 (3 years )

  Developed and implemented worldwide strategies for development, marketing and sales of all new and existing clinical diagnostic products. Developed a strategy and implemented a program to move the sales from the hospital market to the physician office market. Turned around a failing development program for the company’s flagship automated immunoassay system.

• Marketing Manager, Instrument Systems

  Abbott Diagnostics

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; ABT; Medical Devices industry)

  1983 — 1987 (4 years )

  Managed marketing and a small product development team for instruments in support of the Diagnostic Division's clinical enzyme immunoassay platform.

• Group Product Manager, Automated Immunochemistry

  BD Biosciences

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

  1979 — 1983 (4 years )

  Led product managers, field technical support and training personnel of the company's clinical automated radioimmunoassay system.

• Product Manager, Automated Clinical Chemistry

  Baxter Laboratories

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

  1975 — 1979 (4 years )

  American Instrument Company (AMINCO) Division. Started out in the lab developing automated clinical chemistry assays. Promoted to Field Applications Specialist responsible for training distributors worldwide and eventually promoted to Product Manager.

• Chief Nuclear Chemistry

  US Army

  (Government Agency; 10,001 or more employees; USA; Military industry)

  1971 — 1975 (4 years )

  Captain (O3), US Army. Reference Lab officer with two years as Deputy Chief Biochemistry and two years as Chief, Nuclear Chemistry. Received Army Commendation Medal for performance above and beyond the call of duty.

Walter Brandes’s Education

• Northeastern University

  BA , Biology , 1966 — 1971

Additional Information

Walter Brandes’s Interests:

Kayaking, hiking, travel and cabinet making

Walter Brandes’s Honors:

Phi Sigma Biological Research National Honor Society
Distinguished Military Graduate
Army Commendation Medal

Walter Brandes’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

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