Bauorcha 24   •   7535 Valchava   •   SWITZERLAND
PHONE +41-79-799-1210   •   E-MAIL CCLAUSS@me.com
Dual Citizen: Switzerland and USA

Christian C. Clauss

Objective

Executive role which utilizes my strong team building skills and deep IT expertise to create innovative products and services that deliver value by developing win-win relationships with clients, vendors, and partners.
 

Summary of qualifications

  • Internationally known as one of the originators of a branch of computing known as Sensor Information Management with two US patent applications pending (20090001162 and 20080120725).
  • World-class knowledge of product traceability, anti-counterfeiting, RFID and Sensor technology, architecture, use cases, solutions.
  • Strong ability to visualize and explain the connections between seemingly unrelated business trends in emerging technology and business.
  • Proven ability to incubate and drive win-win relationships with partners.
  • Deep industry expertise in Life Sciences, Consumer Products, Retail.
  • Strong people management and team building skills.
  • Successful architecture-led sales expertise with strong customer support and consulting skills.
  • Strong project management and software development process skills.
  • Deep knowledge of enterprise computer industry (IBM, Sun, etc.) as well as strong knowledge of personal computer industry (Apple, etc.)
  • Superior presentation and product demonstration skills.
  • Deep Software development in Java, C, C++, Pascal, & Assembler languages, Network wiring, protocols, LAN/WAN and wireless technologies and server administration.
 

Professional experience

Jan 2010 to Present - Director of Architecture and Technical Strategy - IBM Software Group, Industry Solutions and Frameworks - Zurich, Switzerland

Responsible for all aspects of architecture and technical strategy for the delivery of industry-specific applications and frameworks. Management responsibility for a CTO as well as Industry Solution Architects and Industry Solution Strategists to deliver industry-leading application offerings. Chair of IBM’s Industry Framework Architecture Board.
 

June 2009 to March 2010 - Information Agenda Sales Consultant for Distribution, Industrial, and Life Sciences - IBM Software Group - Zurich, Switzerland

Responsible for selling IBM Information Management software to major IBM clients in northern Europe. Sales achieved via a consultative approach of building information roadmaps in workshops with CxOs of each account.
 

June 2004 to June 2009 - Director of Sensor Network Solutions - IBM Software Group, Information Management - Geneva, Switzerland

Responsible for all aspects of strategy, conception, development, quality assurance, sales, marketing, services, and support of the IBM InfoSphere Traceability Server suite of products. Managed a global team of 50+ individuals in the USA, India, and China to develop, market, and sell the best EPC Information Services product on the market. The InfoSphere Traceability Server suite delivers to customers an EPCIS sensor event repository in addition to analytic applications such as electronic pedigree, returnable container management, etc. These applications greatly enhance IBM’s market differentiation and selling proposition. Worked to build both our products and the related standards in constant “co-innovation” with customers large and small across 9 industries. Encouraged Traceability Team members to take Co-Chairman roles in three different working groups which substantially increased IBM’s industry thought leadership, access to customers, and ability to shape the market. Worked closely with industry analysts to ensure that they had a clear understanding of IBM’s key messages and product differentiation. Worked closely with press to ensure that numerous articles in a broad array of publications were favorable to IBM and included our key marketing messages. Widely quoted in press from Associated Press, Forbes, Wired, InfoWorld, International Herald Tribune, etc. Filed and was awarded patents on several sensor networking innovations.
 

June 2003 to June 2004 - Worldwide RFID Leader - IBM Global Business Services - Geneva, Switzerland

Leader responsible for coordination of all technical aspects of IBM’s global approach to Electronic Product Codes and RFID in the Distribution Sector (includes Travel and Transportation, Consumer Packaged Goods and Retail and Pharma industries). Drive the delivery of partnering strategy with various RFID vendors including buy vs. build analysis. Responsible for the overall delivery and methodology development from various brands including: Business Consulting Services, Information Technology Services, Software Group, Sales and Distribution to drive RFID sales for IBM. Lead development of compelling RFID proof of concepts that drive future RFID research and development from IBM including IBM Labs work in New York, Switzerland, Japan, and Korea. Lead technical advisor from BCS to IBM Sensor Network research team to drive to market RFID solutions for large scale deployments with key clients. Deliver technical jump start field sales teams and architectural deep dive training in the USA, UK, Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Japan, and Korea. Managed IBM’s interactions with the EPCglobal standards body within GS1. Worked collaboratively with others in IBM to create a solid linkage between RFID systems and EDI interchange, supplier portals, and Global Data Synchronization.
  • Co-author of Global Commerce Initiative whitepaper “Electronic Product Code Roadmap” published in late 2003
  • Co-author of Global Commerce Initiative whitepaper “From Global Data Synchronization to the Electronic Product Code” published in mid 2004
Clients included: Tesco, P&G, Metro, Gillette, Danone, Delhaize, Kimberly Clark, Target
 

October 2002 to June 2003 - Global Solutions Architect for Manufacturing Industry - Sun Microsystems - Geneva, Switzerland

Responsible for the creation and driving of Sun’s technical strategy and go-to-market plans for the Auto-ID initiative. Worked from early 2000 to create and manage a large (350+ people) global virtual team within Sun to drive a winning go-to-market strategy for Auto-ID. Worked with Hardware, Software, and Services groups within Sun to ensure proper alignment of products and services to the explosive RFID opportunity. Worked with Sun Labs and the Auto-ID Center to ensure strong, two-way collaboration in developing the Auto-ID Standards.
 

April 2000 to September 2002 - Global Solutions Architect for Life Sciences and Consumer Products Industry - Sun Microsystems - Geneva, Switzerland

Responsible for coordination of all technical aspects of Sun's global approach to the Life Sciences and Consumer Products industries. Worked with Sun's Corporate Marketing and Products groups to ensure Sun's marketing messages and products were well targeted to these two rapidly expanding markets. Worked with and trained Sun's field sales teams to ensure that that we won strategic deals as well as improved our market share in these industries. Presented Sun's Life Sciences and Consumer Products strategies and innovative initiatives at industry specific trade shows and conferences around the world. Worked with the largest pharmaceuticals companies in the world on products and architecture projects to improve time to market and accelerate profitability. Worked with largest consumer products companies on supply chain initiatives. Created a powerful patient compliance systems with GlaxoSmithKline in Canada which used web portals and messages to mobile phones to ensure that patients the proper medication at the proper time. Worked with Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cambridge University on Auto-ID. Worked with biotech companies, independent software vendors, and high-throughput screening manufacturers on compute farm and data architectures to support the incredible growth of computing and data storage requirements which resulted from the Genomics and Proteomics revolutions.
 

January 1999 to March 2000 - Briefing Center Technical Consultant - Sun Microsystems - Geneva, Switzerland

Create and deliver high quality technical demonstrations and presentations at Sun's Customer Briefing Center in Geneva, Switzerland. Concentrated on delivery of Enterprise Java and Jini demonstrations and product roadmap presentations. In addition to this specialization, used broad enterprise experience to deliver presentations to drive sales of Sun workstations, servers, storage, software and services.
 

October 1997 to December 1998 - Systems Engineer - Sun Microsystems - Rochester, NY

Provide Xerox Corporation with the pre-sales technical support and enterprise consulting in order to drive sales of Sun workstations, servers, storage, software and services. Supported the work of Sales Representatives as they sell Xerox a wide range of products, from Ultra workstations for CAD to Ultra Enterprise Servers for data center operations. Played an important role on the Xerox Sales Team which was named Sun's North America Field Organization Team of the Year for 1998. Consulted with Xerox technical staff on software development, graphics, storage, backup, high availability, NT interoperability, Java computing, mail and messaging, etc. Lead customers through Sun's Enterprise Systems Planning process to ensure High Availability for mission critical computing platforms. Conducted monthly technical update presentations to keep clients up-to-date on Sun's latest product introductions and marketing messages.
 

August 1995 to September 1997 - Software Development Manager - Millennium Computer Corp. - Rochester, NY

Responsible for all aspects of multiple, simultaneous software development projects in a very successful, rapidly growing Inc. 500 company. Salary and project management responsibilities for a team of up to 14 Software Engineers and Project Leads. Responsible for working with customers (primarily Corel and Eastman Kodak) to obtain client requirements to create Software Functional and Graphical User Interface Specifications, Software Development Contracts, and Design Change Request documents. Responsible for assigning resources (equipment and personnel) to various projects and managing client expectations on project progress. Also responsible as liaison to Sales, Quality Assurance, and Advanced Development to ensure on-time, on-budget project completion as well as client satisfaction. Worked closely with Quality Assurance to ensure a test plan was created and maintained for each project and adequate testing was completed to ensure quality releases and client satisfaction. Responsible for all networking within the company of 81 people. These responsibilities include wiring, backup, and maintenance for LAN as well as WAN (T1 to Kodak, T1 to Corel) connections. Millennium requires a wide variety of servers (AppleShare, Novell, Windows NT, and UNIX) and routers (Cayman, Bay, Cisco) to support the large number of client server projects.
Project management roles included:
  • Corel
    • Draw 6.0 - C++ port from Windows to Macintosh (12+ man years) plus 6.5 upgrade.
    • WordPerfect - C++ port of advanced Win-32 features into the Win-16 code base.
    • Print House - C++ port from Windows to Macintosh.
    • Presentations - Java port of existing C++ code for Corel Office Suite for Java.
    • Viewers - C++ Netscape and ActiveX plugins: WP, WPG, Quattro, Presentations.
    • CD Creator - C++ added two byte support and other features to existing code base.
    • Postscript-to-Barista - C++ conversion utility to Corel's Portable Digital Format.
    • Barista-to-Postscript - Java conversion utility which provides printing support for all Java applications in the Corel Suite for Java.
  • Eastman Kodak
    • FlashPix plugin - C++ plugin for Netscape Navigator on Windows 95.
    • Printer Calibration - C++ for both Macintosh and Windows.
    • Postscript Download Utility - C++ for both Macintosh and Windows.
    • MPEG Prototype - C++ on Windows 95 - lets user run and edit MPEG movies.
    • Locket Image Conversion Software - C++ on Windows 95 - High volume conversion of digital images from numerous formats into PhotoCD and FlashPix
    • PhotoChat v.2 - Java and Dynamo - Internet chat application with shared digital images and whiteboard.
    • Makeup Prototype - C++ on Windows 95 - digitally apply cosmetics to still and motion digital images to sell makeup on the Web.
  • Microware
    • Creation of C++ and Java widgets (full Java AWT), events, menus, and windows for Microware's OS9 operating system.
  • Light Valve Technologies
    • C++ on DEC Alpha Windows NT - Image acquisition and manipulation additions to LVT's existing page layout software.
 

May 1988 to August 1995 - Systems Engineer, Sr. Systems Engineer, Advisory Systems Engineer - Apple Computer, Inc. - Rochester, NY

Responsible for pre- and post-sales technical support of clients in Apple's Business, Higher Education, and K12 Education sales groups. Strong knowledge of the Macintosh operating system as well as networking and software development. Responsible for a territory which included most of New York State (except NYC) and worked with Apple Sales personnel as well as Sales Agents to ensure proper coverage of this territory and client satisfaction. Trained more junior Systems Engineers as well as Sales Agent Systems Engineers. Worked with District and Regional management personnel to create and implement sales and technical strategies. Responsible for all equipment, networking, and other technical aspects of very successful MacAdemia 90 which brought 800+ attendees to Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Rochester for an in-depth look at the use of Macintoshes in Higher Education. Responsible for all technical aspects of Apple's multi-year push to work with BOCES organizations across New York State to ensure that K12 schools could receive state aid for all purchases Apple products. Received numerous District, Regional, and National awards for technical leadership.
 

January 1988 to May 1988 - Programmer/Analyst - University of Rochester - Rochester, NY

Academic Resource Management System (ARMS) - Responsible for the development of detailed system specifications for a networked workstation resource management project. The system will perform remote backup and restore tasks and automatically install new and upgraded software on remote workstations over the University's campus-wide Ethernet network. Also responsible for evaluation and selection of tools (C++, Prolog, TCP/IP, X Window) to be used in the creation of ARMS.
 

June 1985 to December 1987 - Consultant - General Electric Consulting Services - Rochester, NY

Designed and programmed software in C to implement a presentation planner for the Macintosh family of computers. This software, sold under the name Presentation Planner for Macintosh, aids in planning and preparation of business and research presentations. Also was a Programmer/Analyst on assignment at the Eastman Kodak Company.   
Systems Developed:     
  • Admin. & Info. Sys. Telecommunications System
  • Customer Profile Remote Data Entry System
  • Field Organization Personnel Tracking System
  • Customer Service Telephone Tracking System
  • Market and Product Information Reports System
  • Photo Information Customer Tracking System
  • Photo Information Mail Labels System
  • Program Services Event Scheduling System
The above systems were developed using C on PC/AT or DG1 personal computers or in COBOL on Wang VS minicomputers.
 

January 1983 to June 1983 - Programmer/Analyst - Exchange Insurance Company - Buffalo, NY

Performed detailed program design, coding, testing, debugging, documentation and implementation of insurance applications to support policy entry, accounting and statistical/demographic reporting. Work was done in COBOL on Wang VS minicomputers.
 

Education

Bryant & Stratton Business Institute A.O.S., Computer Programming, 1983 - Buffalo, NY

Syracuse University B.A., Philosophy and Political Philosophy, 1982 - Syracuse, NY

 

Languages

English as mother tongue

Good working knowledge of French

 

Interests and activities

Hiking, ski touring, snowboarding, swimming, sailing, windsurfing

 
References available upon request.