Resume for Chris Thomas, PMP MBA

1. Chris Thomas
CThomasPMP@gmail.com www.linkedin.com/in/cthomas1 (630) 409-1286
Multi-discipline professional with extensive experience in B2B Technical Product Marketing, Product
Launch, Marketing Programs Management, Trade Show Marketing. Expertise in Marketing Content
Development, Translation Management, Sales and Marketing Software Implementation, Technical
Training.
Highly skilled, seasoned leader and communicator, equally at home working with internal teams and
business partners to drive product development and launch projects, business process development
and change management; contractor and operations management; and customer and business
partner support.
Natively analytical, technologically adept and effective in matrixed, multi-national project teams
including Marketing, Engineering, Sales, Finance, and IT. Recognized for positive, rapid and
innovative responses to operational issues, collaborative team building, and no-nonsense project
management.
Specialties
• Project Management
- Marketing and Sales Systems Implementation
- Software and Medical Device Product Launch
- Technical Documentation and Translation
- IT and Industrial Trade Shows
- Industrial Equipment Fabrication
• Market Research and Voice of the Customer
• Brand and Product Message Development
• Vendor and Contractor Management
• International Business Partner Support
• Technical Training
• Technical Service Operations
EDUCATION
Certified PMP 2017
Project Management Institute
MBA, Concentration in MIS / Telecoms 2001
DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Vision Solutions (Acquired by SyncSort) 1999 – 2016
Senior Marketing Programs Manager 2013 – 2016
Led projects for marketing systems implementation and accelerated departmental budget accrual
reporting and forecasting. Managed all marketing projects, from review and acceptance of proposals
through to definition, development of content and coordination of demand generation tactics.
• Enabled threefold increase in marketing deliverables production by implementing, customizing
and managing RoboHead (Aquent) project management system. Quality and on-time delivery
was vastly improved even with workloads as high as 90 projects per month.
• Contracted and managed full-service localization firm offering native-language layout services,
reducing workload for in-house graphic designers by over 20%. Improved content quality and
cut production turn-around time to two weeks or less while expanding program scope to all core

2. content across 11 languages. Achieved 18% reduction in overall per-piece cost for all
translation.
Trade Show Marketing Manager 2010 – 2012
Managed all aspects of $1M global trade show program, including direct project management for
over 50 U.S. trade shows annually and direction of trade show operations globally. Gained hard-
won experience integrating trade show and field marketing programs during a major corporate
merger and rebranding cycle.
• Applying principles learned in Exhibitor™ CTSM™ training, drove best practices into trade show
operations, show selection and lead management, achieving 35% reduction in Cost per Response
from trade shows with 10% increase in Marketing Qualified Lead flow-through, despite 20%
reduction in total lead counts.
Marketing Programs Manager 2007 – 2010
Represented marketing department on product marketing and product development project teams.
Led core product and brand message development, launch planning, maintenance of pricing and
quotation systems.
Developed and executed qualitative and quantitative marketing and customer research survey
programs. Managed corporate participation in IBM Premier Business Partner cooperative
marketing programs.
• Researched and wrote first editions of the “State of Resilience” market trends report. Initial report
drove the highest webcast attendance to date for Vision Solutions (500+ full attendance out of
800 registrations) and gained industry and media acceptance of Vision Solutions as a dominant
player and thought leader.
• Using Salesforce and Software License Management system records, developed a multi-factor
profile of the company's small-to-medium sized business (SMB) customers. Resulting report
used as baseline guidance for re-focusing / reallocation of marketing and sales budget and plans
to support diversification from existing predominantly enterprise-scale customer base.
Product Marketing Manager 1999 – 2007
Represented marketing department on all software development project teams. Generated more
complete and accurately targeted messaging and branding for collateral, media communications and
thought leadership content for product launches.
• Led competitive and market research and development of positioning, messaging, core content
and sales enablement materials for all products.
• Managed product pricing initiatives from business case development and Executive approvals
through Quote / RFP systems implementation and sales team communication and support.