Jonathan C. French
PROFESSIONAL INTEREST
Seeking a Head or VP of Recruiting / Staffing / HR for an Advanced Technology Product Development Group (Specialty - web and mobile services, streaming video). Seeking to leverage my unique mix of strengths in technology, business, recruiting and vendor / technology strategy management.
EDUCATION
NorthWestern University Kellogg Management Institute (5/94) - a top rated 9-month advanced executive management training program (human resources, strategy, business, marketing, finance)
M.S. in Electrical Engineering (6/86), Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Ga. (GPA 3.4/4.0)
B.A. in Computer Science / Math (11/83), Augustana College, Rock Island Il. (Major GPA 4.0/4.0)
WORK HISTORY
HEAD OF RECRUITING / CTO / FOUNDER, TechTalent Consulting and Team Building / TechTalent Services Inc. (7/98 - Present)
TechTalent specializes in recruiting permanent and contract teams for high-technology industries such as Consumer Web Services, Interactive/Online TV, Streaming Video and Content Distribution, Broadband / Networking, and Embedded Real-Time Software Development for consumer devices.
TechTalent offers recruiting and consulting services, research services, management consulting, and off-shore recruiting. See www.techtalent.org
For outplacement and job-seekers, TechTalent offers job-search and career coaching, and resume re-write services. See www.techtalent-services.com
TechTalent Clients are major industry players such as Web video service providers and media software companies, Digital video and network equipment providers, Security and Conditional access providers, Video Camera Companies, ISP’s, Cable and IPTV Companies, etc.
Accomplishments include:
TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY - VENDOR MANAGEMENT AND EXECUTIVE RECRUITER, Pluto TV (12/15 - Present)
Via TechTalent, developed a strategic long-term recruiting relationship with Pluto TV - a super hot streaming video startup offering free linear consumer video services to millions of consumers. Joined this early A-round startup with only 40ish talent and helped nearly quadruple the company over 3+ years. For the first 2 years (thru B-round) did most of the technical recruiting (no internal or other external recruiters) for the ultra-fast growing startup. Even after acquisition by Viacom, still recruited more headcount than any other recruiter (2018 and 2019), even though working part-time.
Recruited a VP and 2 Directors of engineering, and many managers, leads and senior engineers (full stack AWS, Node.js) and mobile (IOS, Android) and connected TV (Roku). Also Devops Manager and Engineers, Director of QA and several Snr QA engineers, 2 Directors and a VO of Analytics/BI and most of the analytics and data science teams, a Sr Director of Data Engineering, a Scrummaster, several Directors of Product and Program Management (video, advertising, etc). Head of Ad Sales. Also VP (now SVP) of Content Acquisition, VP of Finance, as well as staff in content ops, finance, and many other roles. Completed many searches for C-level clients.
Also negotiated over 8 major offshoring agreements (Ukraine, LATAM, Africa, Europe) that helped increase engineering headcount in 2018 by 30+ staff and 2019 by 50+ staff. Helped select and negotiate deals for recruiting tools and successfully closed and negotiated many staff offers and international consulting agreements.
VICE PRESIDENT and HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY, Americast (2/96 to 7/98)
Americast was a digital TV joint venture funded by the Walt Disney Company and five major telephone companies (GTE, BellSouth, SBC, Ameritech, SNET) to develop and launch an interactive TV platform and navigation software.
As Vice President – Responsible for all technology development (reporting to the CEO). Full Technical responsibility for end-end digital video platform and for software development of the Walt-Disney ITV Navigator.
SBC Technology Resources is the High-Technology R&D subsidiary of SBC (now AT&T)
As Director - Video / Media Software - Responsible for software for the Richardson TX Digital Video Launch.
Barber Colman Co. provides building automation and energy management products
Software Manager of team of 15. Responsible for development of a UNIX network management system for a building automation networks.
Responsible for entire port of a major factory data collection product from HP1000 to UNIX.
PERSONAL - Enjoy time with my family (married with 5 kids). Boxing. Ran LA Marathon, Music (went to college on a Trombone scholarship, oldest son is a composer in Manhattan, NY).
Seeking a Head or VP of Recruiting / Staffing / HR for an Advanced Technology Product Development Group (Specialty - web and mobile services, streaming video). Seeking to leverage my unique mix of strengths in technology, business, recruiting and vendor / technology strategy management.
EDUCATION
NorthWestern University Kellogg Management Institute (5/94) - a top rated 9-month advanced executive management training program (human resources, strategy, business, marketing, finance)
M.S. in Electrical Engineering (6/86), Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Ga. (GPA 3.4/4.0)
B.A. in Computer Science / Math (11/83), Augustana College, Rock Island Il. (Major GPA 4.0/4.0)
WORK HISTORY
HEAD OF RECRUITING / CTO / FOUNDER, TechTalent Consulting and Team Building / TechTalent Services Inc. (7/98 - Present)
TechTalent specializes in recruiting permanent and contract teams for high-technology industries such as Consumer Web Services, Interactive/Online TV, Streaming Video and Content Distribution, Broadband / Networking, and Embedded Real-Time Software Development for consumer devices.
TechTalent offers recruiting and consulting services, research services, management consulting, and off-shore recruiting. See www.techtalent.org
For outplacement and job-seekers, TechTalent offers job-search and career coaching, and resume re-write services. See www.techtalent-services.com
TechTalent Clients are major industry players such as Web video service providers and media software companies, Digital video and network equipment providers, Security and Conditional access providers, Video Camera Companies, ISP’s, Cable and IPTV Companies, etc.
Accomplishments include:
- Founded TechTalent – a specialized recruiting and consulting firm focused on digital video, web services, and broadband / mobile with a reputation for the highest quality technical and executive placements. These industries coupled with our unique technical depth are our competitive edge.
- Built an organization that successfully operated in boom times and severe recessions. Did business planning, managed P&L, and launched new product lines. Maintained satisfied clients – many using TechTalent services for over 10 years. Built business primarily on referrals from satisfied clients.
- Recruited numerous VP and higher executives – including CEO, CTO, SVP Engineering (multiple), Director and VP’s of Sales, VP of Operations and Finance, VP of Content Acquisition, Product Management, and Program Management, and Engineering. Advised CEO, founders, and board members.
- Established volume relationships with major clients: Currently helping on online video startup staff all areas of the company tripling in size (VP’s, Directors, engineers), 2 years helping IBM video with a Head of Sales and numerous Sales Directors and Technical staff, Helped Time Warner build an Advanced Engineering team at their new Corporate Headquarters. Recruited Senior Staff (Product Management and Engineering) for a new Advanced R&D group for the 7th largest cable company. Helped Thomson Consumer Electronics build a new software team for DirecTV in CA. Supplied many onsite contractors for many clients.
- Established a specialized project management consulting practice, For example, Placed six Sr Program Managers that moved overseas to manage deployments of ITV software for a client.
- Established a consulting practice in addition to perm placements: Currently have a team of program managers, system architects, and technical support contractors working for several digital video and CDN equipment providers.
- Personally recruited perm technical and business executives, engineers, marketing, and sales staff at all levels. Personal recruitment successes include:
- Recruited CEO of a 100-person digital video broadcast equipment firm
- Placed multiple key executives and staff for a fast growing startup consumer web services video / advertising provider (Director of Engineering – Mobile and Front-End, Director of Server Software, VP of Operations and head of Sales, VP of Content Acquisition, Director of Analytics, Product Manager, ScrumMaster, Full stack software leads (multiple, manager of content operations, etc.
- Recruited two SVP’s of Engineering, VP of engineering, multiple Directors and engineering managers for a Fortune 1000 software and media software company in multiple locations.
- Recruited Head of Americas Sales and multiple Sales Directors in LA, Denver, and NYC, as well as extensive technical engineers, architects, and project managers for the online video provider behind HBO GO. Recruited Head of Ad Sales for an online video provider.
- Placed a CTO of an Internet software firm
- Recruited VP of Product Management and VP of Engineering for a tier-2 cable provider.
- Recruited embedded software, optics, and hardware engineers for digital video camera firms including multiple placements at GoPro (sports - action camera company).
- Helped an interactive toy company build a new advanced R&D Group, placing a Computer Visions Engineer, an Advanced R&D Project Manager, 2 Mechatronics engineers, and Java/web developers.
- Recruited multiple network engineers and software engineers for a Satellite ISP, including a Director of Project Management and Director of Networking for SATCOM.
- Placed over 25 engineers, architects, marketing, and project manager staff with for a STB middleware firm. Have recruited many specialized digital video system and software architects and specialists.
- Placed multiple digital video Sales Directors for several clients in the multi-screen / OTT space – selling to content providers, studios, broadcasters, and cable/telco clients. Also placed Director of Sales for an Indian company selling offshore STB testing services. Placed VP of Sales for a conditional access company.
- At one point had personally placed over 10% of the engineering staff of the premier Cable industry research firm (Directors and engineers).
- Recruited numerous network engineers and embedded software engineers for broadband firms doing content distribution.
- Numerous software engineer placements for a multimedia streaming video OTT/web firm.
- Helped Time Warner build an Advanced Technology Team in Charlotte NC (placing Directors, Project Managers, and engineers). Helped Advance Newhouse build an Advanced Product Development and Engineering Team in Syracuse NY (placing Director level and manager staff)
- Helped Technicolor / Thomson Consumer Electronics build a new software team in California supporting DirecTV (placing a Director, program managers, software engineers, and QA).
- Placed a VP-level Corporate Controller for the 7th largest cable company. They were so happy with this placement they hired me to recruit a Division-level VP of Finance and a Contract Manager
- Placed numerous software engineers, architects, software managers working on embedded software, (STB and protocols), web software, network protocols, and advanced R&D staff – for many clients.
- Placed VP of Finance and multiple finance professionals for a major cable system.
- Numerous placements in diverse areas such as social media, SEO, executive assistants, web development, graphics design, purchasing managers, network engineers etc.
- Launched Job-seeker support services products including career-coaching, job-search coaching, and resume re-write. Established a track record of high-impact outplacement support services.
- Management consultant to evaluate a 100-person multimedia software firm that was having significant trouble meeting development timelines. Recommended organizational changes, development process changes, and personnel changes to facilitate change.
- Managed all researchers and recruiters for TechTalent, including employees and outside vendors. Established pricing, negotiated contracts, wrote search specifications, and managed team morale.
- Partnered with firms in India, LATAM, Ukraine to provide off-shore engineering services to TechTalent clients.
TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY - VENDOR MANAGEMENT AND EXECUTIVE RECRUITER, Pluto TV (12/15 - Present)
Via TechTalent, developed a strategic long-term recruiting relationship with Pluto TV - a super hot streaming video startup offering free linear consumer video services to millions of consumers. Joined this early A-round startup with only 40ish talent and helped nearly quadruple the company over 3+ years. For the first 2 years (thru B-round) did most of the technical recruiting (no internal or other external recruiters) for the ultra-fast growing startup. Even after acquisition by Viacom, still recruited more headcount than any other recruiter (2018 and 2019), even though working part-time.
Recruited a VP and 2 Directors of engineering, and many managers, leads and senior engineers (full stack AWS, Node.js) and mobile (IOS, Android) and connected TV (Roku). Also Devops Manager and Engineers, Director of QA and several Snr QA engineers, 2 Directors and a VO of Analytics/BI and most of the analytics and data science teams, a Sr Director of Data Engineering, a Scrummaster, several Directors of Product and Program Management (video, advertising, etc). Head of Ad Sales. Also VP (now SVP) of Content Acquisition, VP of Finance, as well as staff in content ops, finance, and many other roles. Completed many searches for C-level clients.
Also negotiated over 8 major offshoring agreements (Ukraine, LATAM, Africa, Europe) that helped increase engineering headcount in 2018 by 30+ staff and 2019 by 50+ staff. Helped select and negotiate deals for recruiting tools and successfully closed and negotiated many staff offers and international consulting agreements.
VICE PRESIDENT and HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY, Americast (2/96 to 7/98)
Americast was a digital TV joint venture funded by the Walt Disney Company and five major telephone companies (GTE, BellSouth, SBC, Ameritech, SNET) to develop and launch an interactive TV platform and navigation software.
As Vice President – Responsible for all technology development (reporting to the CEO). Full Technical responsibility for end-end digital video platform and for software development of the Walt-Disney ITV Navigator.
- Managed a technical department of 120+ total employees and contractors -- most advanced degreed engineers with prior industry experience. Hired 5 Directors in 30 days and over 100 engineers in 18 months. Responsible for software development, integration, QA, Program management, and support.
- Managed a budget of ~$40M, including construction of a 10,000 square foot digital TV laboratory.
- Developed short and long-term technology strategies. Developed product plans, platform requirements and technical specs. Assessed technology alternatives and set technical direction.
- In less than 18 months, completed a $1B digital settop box contract with Zenith.
- Completed release of an end-end digital TV system – deployed by BellSouth and GTE in 3 cities.
- Established training programs for partners and received numerous compliments on system quality.
- Pursued software development of a state of the art digital TV multimedia navigation system – with Disney serving as the creative team. Also pursued a significant patent portfolio.
SBC Technology Resources is the High-Technology R&D subsidiary of SBC (now AT&T)
As Director - Video / Media Software - Responsible for software for the Richardson TX Digital Video Launch.
- Led team of MS/Phd level technologists to develop software requirements and select a Microsoft Tiger Interactive TV solution. Personally managed the Microsoft relationship.
- Ran Software RFP process to select Lockheed and Microsoft for delivering and integrating the end-end video delivery system (media server, settop box, FTTC Network, authoring, and OSS/BSS).
- Led a multi-company team for technical due-diligence for an ITV joint venture with Walt Disney Co., SBC, Ameritech, and BellSouth (became Americast). Later hired as VP and Head of Technology for the Americast venture.
- Served as a project leader for 25+ person teams from corporate strategic planning and marketing, technology research, and operating subsidiaries. Managed all aspects of product planning and development (marketing, financial, technical, strategic, and new business case development).
- Presented business case and recommendations to an Executive Committee of corporate officers.
- Focused on video / multimedia software. Made strategy and organizational recommendations which were incorporated into the approach used for the Richardson video launch.
- Received two 1992 Company awards for "outstanding leadership and participation" and for "overcoming resistance and substantially improving... the project" as a management consultant.
- Received the highest possible performance rating and letters of commendation from clients.
Barber Colman Co. provides building automation and energy management products
Software Manager of team of 15. Responsible for development of a UNIX network management system for a building automation networks.
- Proposed and implemented features which doubled sales and increased market penetration (including internationalization).
- Developed an object-oriented programming system that reduced field engineering time by 80%.
- From 89-91, successfully "rehabilitated" a development group by providing 6 major releases on-time and within budget. On 4-8-91, received a rare "Clearly Superior" performance rating.
- Manager called my software "among the best this reviewer has ever seen". On 7/88 promoted to Department Supervisor.
Responsible for entire port of a major factory data collection product from HP1000 to UNIX.
PERSONAL - Enjoy time with my family (married with 5 kids). Boxing. Ran LA Marathon, Music (went to college on a Trombone scholarship, oldest son is a composer in Manhattan, NY).