entrepreneur, change agent, lifelong student and coolhunter, looking for opportunities to change the world...
Nice Area, France
- Current
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- Acting CIO (Interim) at 01design (Rome – USA – France)
- Past
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- QA Project Consultant at Google France
- Founder / Director at Renascence SAS
- Consultant at France Telecom, Strategic Partnerships (Paris & USA)
- Sr. Business Analyst, CFO's office at U.S. Department of State
- Independent IT Consultant at AOL, The World Bank, GE, The Red Cross
- Managing Consulting at IKON Mid-Cap IT Strategy Consulting (IKN, $4.2Bn)
- Project Consultant, EDMS Requirements Phase at NASA (Honeywell contract)
- IT Manager - Network Administrator - Systems Engineer at Nixon & Vanderhye, PC (Patent Law)
- Education
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- Theseus International Management Institute at EDHEC Business School
- Polytechnique de l'Universite de Tours
- George Mason University
- DeVry Institute of Technology
- Georgetown University
- Recommended
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1 person has recommended Cullen - Connections
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63
connections
- Industry
- Information Technology and Services
- Websites
Cullen Kowalski’s Summary
14 years experience in the US and Europe, organizing complex ideas for execution, building value, and innovating solutions. A “Connector” belonging to many different social worlds. A “Doer” who excels at collaborating across the organization at all levels to identify market opportunities and build creative execution strategies for new lines of revenue. Equally adept at “riffing” and jamming with a team of engineers to stimulate innovative solutions that deliver greatest business value. Skilled at managing several large and complex projects. Thrives on opportunities to drive people, processes and technology. Has an EU Work Permit. Willing to travel and relocate.
Cullen Kowalski’s Specialties:
* visual thinking * improvisation * behavioral sensitivity * sociolinguistics * dance/music * language/art * sharp intuition * lots of ideas * details/execution,
...but also
* business development * social entrepreneurship * entrepreneurial leadership * spotting technical trends * continuous process improvement * start-ups * private equity investment * building C-level relationships * coaching & mentoring
Cullen Kowalski’s Experience
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Acting CIO (Interim)
01design (Rome – USA – France)
(Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Online Media industry)
August 2005 — Present (3 years 3 months)
(Acquired by Group Nous Informatica, 30 M€) (500+ staff)
Joined this client of Renàscence SAS to transition the company from a design agency to one which creates mobile product marketing platforms for brands to capitalise on content delivery, m-commerce, and one-to-one marketing.
* Member of management team involved in strategic IS, business development, marketing, financial modeling and launch of cross-media (online & mobile) software
* Structured launch of white-labeled travel industry product for advertising and branding across Europe [fly60.com]
* Led team to enter and win 2006 mTourism [“Grand Prize in “Best Use of Technology”]
* Interviewed for [article about fly60 and 01design France] -
QA Project Consultant
Google France
(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; GOOG; Information Technology and Services industry)
August 2006 — November 2006 (4 months)
* Managed analysis and reporting of thousands of web search query sets to help improve search engine
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Founder / Director
Renascence SAS
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Management Consulting industry)
January 2005 — December 2005 (1 year)
* Optimized business proposition, designed sales strategies, and coached managers of technology driven companies to achieve equity financing (2 clients)
* Valuated financial performance of companies & projects
* Advised 01design in acquisition by Nous Informatica (above) -
Consultant
France Telecom, Strategic Partnerships (Paris & USA)
(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; FT; Telecommunications industry)
April 2005 — July 2005 (4 months)
* 8-person multi-national Paris-USA team to identify and valuate the intellectual property and intangible assets of eight partnerships
* Built and implemented robust financial model and [interactive dashboard] in BusinessObjects -
Sr. Business Analyst, CFO's office
U.S. Department of State
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Information Technology and Services industry)
April 2000 — July 2004 (4 years 4 months)
Established office operations from the ground-up to direct implementation of a web information system for content syndication, resource and financial management, and business intelligence between hundreds of governmental departments and U.S. embassies world-wide.
Project Management
* Recruited, trained and managed 5-person team
* Defined change management strategies, communication plan definition, support, training and mentoring to integrate with 22 existing IT staff and stakeholders
* Facilitated stakeholder project meetings (CFO, Dept heads, managers and staff)
* Developed and wrote policy and procedure
Systems & Software Engineering
* Mapped business & systems processes with UML for continuous process improvement
* Modeled complex data diagram with ERWin to migrate and warehouse data from SAP, DB2 and Excel
* Implemented n-Tier CMS, ERP Org chart and Executive reporting system (KPI)
* Analyzed user behavior data to fine-tune effectiveness of products across regions -
Independent IT Consultant
AOL, The World Bank, GE, The Red Cross
(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; AOL; Information Services industry)
November 1999 — March 2000 (5 months)
* Engineered IT systems solutions to automate work flows
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Managing Consulting
IKON Mid-Cap IT Strategy Consulting (IKN, $4.2Bn)
(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; IKN; Information Technology and Services industry)
December 1997 — November 1999 (2 years)
* Account Management, Project management & Systems Engineering in Legal, Insurance, Healthcare, Public Utilities, Real Estate & Retail
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Project Consultant, EDMS Requirements Phase
NASA (Honeywell contract)
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; HON; Aviation & Aerospace industry)
December 1995 — June 1996 (7 months)
* Documented business requirements for EDMS to support US Space Shuttle missions
* Certified in Total Quality Management (TQM) Level 2 (Six Sigma) -
IT Manager - Network Administrator - Systems Engineer
Nixon & Vanderhye, PC (Patent Law)
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Law Practice industry)
March 1991 — November 1995 (4 years 9 months)
Improved firm’s Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) by increasing performance, aligning system workflow with business processes and organizing employee training
a) IT Manager (2 years)
b) Assistant IT Manager (2 years)
* Face-to-face support of 250+ users (2 person team)
Cullen Kowalski’s Education
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Theseus International Management Institute at EDHEC Business School
Theseus MBA, Innovation, Strategy and Information Technology, 2004 — 2005
In the late 80s there was a "felt need" to create managers of tomorrow who understood the challenges of technology and management and could be what was called the "missing link".
The Theseus Institute MBA was jointly created by France Telecom, MIT Sloan School, INSEAD, among others. Christened after the Greek mythological figure, the program was led by Mel Horwitch who was director of Sloan MBA program and Charles Wiseman, known for Strategic Information Systems and the late Claudio Ciborra of London School of Economics.
EDHEC acquired the high caliber Tech MBA program in Innovation, Strategy & Information Technology in 2004 known as the Theseus International Management Institute ("Managing the Business Side of Technology"), originally founded in 1989 by INSEAD, MIT and France Telecom in Sophia Antipolis, now re-branded as Theseus-EDHEC, in Nice. (www.theseus.edu)- Activities and Societies:
- Managed Theseus' TIMIA2005 Conference: "Doing Business with and in China and India"
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Polytechnique de l'Universite de Tours
MSCS program, Exchange Student, 1996 — 1997
- MS degree research: The Reform of Telecommunications in France
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George Mason University
MS, Information Systems, 1994 — 1997
- Graduated with Honors, attended while working
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DeVry Institute of Technology
BS, Information Systems, 1988 — 1991
- Graduated with honors Magna Cum Laude
- Highly focused on E-commerce -
Georgetown University
Continued Education
- Attended from 1998-2004
- "Sociolinguistics", “Doing business in France”, “Critical Thinking”, “Rhetoric”, “Art History”, “Italian”, “Speech”
Additional Information
Cullen Kowalski’s Websites:
Cullen Kowalski’s Interests:
* Swing Dancing, Hot Jazz, Guitar, Tennis, Master SCUBA, Biology, Oenology, Yoga, Photography and Sociolinguistics
Cullen Kowalski’s Groups:
Greenpeace Volunteer
Cullen Kowalski’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
