Dan’s areas of special expertise include:

• Guiding entrepreneurs to focus on the essential elements of success in the conception, expression, and execution of great ideas through great products. He particularly enjoys:

1. • Turning researchers into entrepreneurs and managers
   

2. • Assisting overseas entrepreneurs seeking to launch in Silicon Valley
   

3. • Introducing entrepreneurs to venture capitalists (and some angel investors)
   

• Linking private companies with universities in multi-dimensional partnerships (research, recruiting, sales, internships, and sabbaticals) to cultivate innovation, including:

1. • Developing strategic university-relations programs for enlightened enterprises
   

2. • Influencing educational policy to assure a pool of quality hires
   

3. • Nurturing disruptive technologies in corporations
   

Dan’s background is ideally suited for consulting on these topics.  It includes:

• Innovation Executive

1. • Senior Vice President at MEF, guiding the transition from a single transport service (Carrier Ethernet) to a transformational global services framework for defining, delivering, and certifying agile, assured, and orchestrated services across a global ecosystem of automated networks, while simultaneously growing the ecosystem to support commercial success for network operators
   

2. • Executive Director at the Open Networking Foundation, responsible from its public launch for nearly six years to establish SDN as the global phenomenon it has become
   

• Corporate Executive

1. • Vice President at Nortel Networks, responsible for research and advanced technology for the enterprise business and also academic partnerships
   

2. • Vice President at Bay Networks, responsible for all research and advanced technology as well as university relations
   

• Engineering Dean and Professor

1. • Dean of Engineering and chaired professor of computer engineering at Santa Clara University
   

2. • Leader in national Engineering Deans Council and Bay Area Science and Innovation Consortium
   

3. • Adjunct professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Duke and UNC
   

• Research Manager and Lab Director

1. • Research lab director at Bay Networks and Nortel Networks
   

2. • Research department manager at HP Labs Palo Alto
   

3. • Research group manager at IBM Research Zurich
   

• Advisor to Entrepreneurs

1. • Advisory board member or director of nine startup companies; informal advisor to many more
   

2. • Executive-in-Residence at the Plug and Play Tech Center, the world’s most successful startup accelerator, headquartered in Silicon Valley with 39 locations around the world
   

3. • Incubator of spin-in and spinout companies at Bay Networks and Nortel Networks
   

4. • Steering committee member and commercialization advisor for research programs in Australia (CSIRO and NICTA) and Switzerland (EPFL)
   

• Operational Executive

1. • CEO of two startup companies, stand-in or interim executive to two others to help them launch or get through major transitions
   

2. • Specializing in CEO, COO, strategy, and business development roles
   

3. • Adept at working with existing Boards of Directors
   

4. • Skilled at building advisory boards and establishing board charters
   

Among Dan’s personal qualities that will enhance the effectiveness of his working with you are these:

• Outstanding Communicator

1. • Writing and speaking
   

2. • Listening and understanding
   

• Constructive and Encouraging Critic

1. • Focuses on objective positive improvement
   

2. • Nurtures professional growth in clients
   

• Ethical Professional

1. • Maintains highest personal and professional ethics
   

2. • Builds businesses and careers only on strong fundamentals, facing reality
   

Dan’s education reflects the highest levels of professional preparation:

• MS, PhD, Computer Science

1. • University of Illinois
   

• BS, Mathematics

1. • Duke University (magna cum laude)
   

2. • Minors in EE and physics
   

• Executive Education

1. • Stanford Graduate School of Business
   

2. • UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
   

3. • IBM Management School Armonk
   

4. • Numerous professional management courses through IBM, Bay Networks, Nortel Networks, and Santa Clara University
   
   

Additional details of Dan’s background may be viewed at http://www.linkedin.com/in/danpitt.

How can I help you?  Drop me a line and we’ll talk it over.