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Eric Berlinberg
Head of Program Management at Torc Robotics 🤖🚛 | Ex-Amazon Prime Air (drones) | Ex-Coca Cola | Commissioner, Seattle Center
Professional Background
Eric Berlinberg is a seasoned technical program management executive who has demonstrated exceptional leadership and innovative thinking over the course of his remarkable career. With over 15 years of senior leadership experience, Eric specializes in developing and scaling autonomous systems, particularly in leading teams to create scalable robotic solutions that aim to address world-changing problems.
Currently, Eric has joined the esteemed leadership team at Torc Robotics, where he is focused on developing a safe and scalable autonomous cargo delivery solution. His extensive experience is underscored by a significant tenure at Amazon, where he spent more than a decade during the company's high-growth years. During his time at Amazon, Eric was an original member of the Amazon Prime Air team, which was tasked with pioneering autonomous drone technology designed for 30-minute package delivery.
At Amazon, Eric's responsibilities were vast and impactful. He successfully led technical teams through the rigorous research and development phases to prove the viability of the drone concept. His leadership was instrumental in building core business processes and executing product development mechanisms that shaped the future of shipping and delivery. Under Eric's guidance, his teams developed a comprehensive product roadmap and business case, ultimately securing significant funding to bring this innovative technology to market. Eric played a pivotal role in transitioning the program from a research-based initiative to a mature product development organization, successfully scaling it to a global team comprising thousands of engineers, aviators, and manufacturing professionals. This collaborative effort resulted in the obtaining of a Part 135 Air Operating Certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), leading to the launch of commercial drone delivery services in two US cities utilizing the advanced MK27 drone system.
In addition to his notable achievements in drone technology, Eric spearheaded the development of the new MK30 drone system, which was designed to be both scalable and certified for operation within the national airspace system. His foresight ensured that the technology not only achieved operational safety but also presented a sustainable cost structure for ongoing business success.
Education and Achievements
Eric's educational journey began at Colorado State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a focus on management. His involvement in student leadership roles at the university, including serving as Student Body President and as a member of the university's Board of Governors, laid a strong foundation for his career in leadership and program management.
One of Eric's notable contributions outside of his technical expertise is his founding of Connect@Amazon, the largest employee networking group at Amazon. Leading a team of approximately 700 volunteers, Eric helped create programming that reached over 125,000 employees across more than 70 chapters globally. His work in this area was recognized when he received the prestigious “Just Do It” Award from Jeff Bezos himself, acknowledging the significant impact of his contributions to corporate culture.
Prior to his transformative role at Amazon, Eric gained invaluable experience at Coca-Cola, where he focused on optimizing the supply chain of one of the world's most recognizable brands. This experience, coupled with his startup leadership role in the entertainment management sector, showcased his versatility and ability to adapt to different industries.
Community Involvement and Leadership
Beyond his professional pursuits, Eric Berlinberg is deeply passionate about community service. His commitment to giving back to the community is evident through his involvement in various non-profit organizations and local governance. He serves as a Commissioner on the Seattle Center Commission, a role to which he was appointed by the Seattle Mayor. Additionally, he is an active member of the executive committee at the South Lake Union Chamber of Commerce and on the Seattle CityClub Board.
Eric has previously contributed his expertise as a board member of the Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Seattle Symphony, among other notable positions. His extensive network and leadership experience have positioned him as a mentor and resource for many aspiring professionals.
Achievements
Eric Berlinberg's career is marked by a series of remarkable achievements that set a high standard in technical program management and community leadership. He has successfully navigated complex projects and disciplines, showing a keen ability to build sustainable systems and programs that not only drive business success but also foster positive community engagement.
With a proven track record of networking, building teams, and mentoring others, Eric continues to seek out opportunities to connect with fellow professionals, discuss consulting prospects, and further enhance his contributions to community service. His unwavering dedication to solving complex problems and his passion for innovation make him a standout leader in the field of technical program management and beyond.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.