Massachusetts Institue of Technology - Sloan School of Management

Western Connecticut State University

President at Possit Partners

I created Possit Partners with the mission to provide business leaders with the hands-on, senior-level operations and strategic expertise they need in order to actualize their vision and elevate the performance of their organization. Recent collaborations include:

•	Conducted a 6 month technology assessment and built a strategic technology roadmap for a $300M construction management company.

•	Led a 5 month strategy and M&A engagement for a privately held $120M importer/distributor of wines and spirits that included negotiations with target brands, financial modeling and valuation.

•	Led a 12 month transformation and growth initiative serving as interim Executive Vice President of Operations for a leading provider of audio/video conferencing services. As the right-hand confidant of the President and CEO, I ran the day-to-day business, operated as a thought leader ideating strategies and solutions, and drove top line growth and margin improvement.

•	Delivered a four month post-merger integration project for two technology services companies, resulting in back-office efficiency gains and strategic coordination / alignment sales and delivery teams.

•	Developed and advanced a new strategic plan for a privately-held oil and gas company while serving as interim CFO during a five month engagement.  My work strengthened the firms existing banking relationship and led to the incorporation of project finance as a means to help fund and accelerate growth.

Possit Partners

President

Reporting into the CEO, responsible for driving operational and cultural change necessary to achieve strategic growth, creatively re-envisioning approaches to top-line and bottom-line results through the introduction of a global perspective on market opportunities and by assessing and prioritizing technical solutions, geographic expansion, and industry market segments.  Successes towards these objectives include:

•	Restructured regional sales and marketing activity focusing on building and delivering solutions for specific industries and for new technologies—resulting in 10% growth in existing client sales revenue and a 12% revenue increase from new clients
•	Created a new business model (cost + Equity)  that leverages enabling trends to solve new start-up customer problems—resulting in a 8% increased in resource utilization/realization that drove a 3.5% improvement to gross margins

As Managing Director of from 2008 - 2009 I had P&L responsibility for the custom software development division with the primary objective of expanding its customer base and solutions portfolio.  Immediate actions included the development and implementation a presales, sales and client management process, and the reorganization of the project management and sales team. Next we developed a go-to-market play book based on current division capabilities and the current market demand for software solutions.  Results:

•	Pipeline growth of over 100% within six months
•	Decrease in overall sales cycle from 16 weeks to 10 weeks
•	Reduced division’s revenue concentration issue by half from 80% to 40% within the year

Axispoint

Chief Operating Officer

Tasked with building a team to develop new planning & analysis processes and tools for SMP's largest division. The overarching objective was to align people, process and technology in order to bring a new level of visibility across products, customers, operations, and key competitors resulting in a roadmap and plan for strategic growth.  Results:

•	Integration/automation of customer discounts and rebates into SMP’s ERP system—resulting in a $15M reduction to company-wide discount program annually and a better understanding of  product and customer profitability as well as transparency into marketing programs  intended to grow the business 
•	Developed a monthly management reporting/dashboard package that highlighted critical performance indicators across key business processes and functions—resulting in better and more timely management decisions which included the divestiture of two under-performing product portfolios (resulting in $2M in savings), and the consolidation of three manufacturing facilities (resulting in $6M improvement to cash flow)

Standard Motor Products, Inc

Sr. Manager Financial Planning & Strategic Analysis

Sr. Business/Strategy Development Manager at IBM Research:   Major responsibility was to create strategies for revenue growth and value enhancement through strategic alliances, joint development, licensing, commercialization of new/emerging technologies and new strategic partnerships; Assisted in the redesign of the Industry solutions/Emerging Business Group creating a process which enables Research to have a greater impact across various technology strategy functions.  Major accomplishments include:

•	Conceptualized, planned, and brought to fruition market strategies leading to the commercialization of new technology, joint development collaborations, licensing and patent assignment agreements that generated over $20M of income.

IBM Research

Business Development Executive IBM

Created Fillyaw & Associates in order to partner with management and investors in advising and providing interim senior management bench strength to organizations in the areas of business strategy and development, program/strategic initiative management, change management, and operations improvement. Collaborations included:

•	Built regional operations throughout the Northeast, Canada, and Europe for a venture capital backed company that develops and manufactures leading edge encryption solutions.  This included: opening and managing new distribution channels, generating end-user demand, identifying and establishing new markets, recruiting partners and sales agents, and developing and nurturing key strategic alliances.  
•	Assisted in the restructuring of a privately held $600 million multi-location Business Services Company post it’s bankruptcy filing.  Major accomplishments and duties included: management and oversight of firm’s UK operations, organizational redesign, portfolio & asset rationalization, operational improvements, strategic & financial planning, negotiations with third-party vendors, and management of key internal and external stakeholders.

Fillyaw & Associates

As Vice President of Operations, planned, directed and coordinated the day-to-day operations of a newly created division, HQ.com, with the main purpose of building new delivery channels and products/services.  Key tasks included: designing and recruiting a talented team of professionals, developing the division’s near and long-term strategic plan and business case, developing the groups operating budget and five year revenue model, and negotiating key strategic alliances with third party product and service providers.
•	Architected and introduced HQ to a “click and mortar” strategy which resulted in an organizational blueprint that afforded HQ the unique luxury of adding customers, products, services, revenue and profits while leveraging existing assets and reducing operating cost.
•	Designed and delivered a virtual distribution channel (pilot) from which HQ planned to grow its membership base by almost 4X, revenue by 12%, and increase EBITDA by 25%.

Frontline Capital Group

Vice President Operations

Skills: Annual Budgeting · ERP Implementations · Coaching · Technology Solutions · Team Motivation · Problem Solving · Digital Transformation · Executive Level Management · Financial Responsibilities · System Performance · Operational Planning · Streamlining · Presentations · Training · Communication · Project Management · General Management · Financial Analysis · Operations Management · Performance Appraisal · Performance Reviews · Team Building · Contract Negotiation · Strategic Leadership · Budget Management · Relationship Development · Teamwork · Problem Analysis · Presentation Skills · Income Statements · Financial Oversight · Resolving Issues · Long Range Planning · Technology Management · Business Insights · Operations · Financial Metrics

John Fillyaw