Michael O'Rourke

About

The winning army realizes the conditions for victory first, then fights. The losing army fights first, then seeks victory.

**Product Management**
Strategy, Technical, Marketing, Analysis

**Product Design**
Prototypes, Integration, Web Engineering, UI

**Product Development**
Cloud, Web, Digital, Enterprise

Profile

Name: Michael O'Rourke
Location: Dallas/Fort Worth
Citizenship: United States
Language: English

Summary

Forward-thinking technologist who blends strategic vision with practical execution to deliver high-tech products and solutions. Distinct ability to translate insights into compelling strategies that drive growth and ensure client success.

Recognized for identifying emerging trends, implementing new market initiatives, and driving go-to-market tactics. Functional experience spanning all disciplines, from ideation and development to marketing and optimization. Skilled at delivering product and marketing capabilities including:

Strategic Planning
Roadmap and Vision Creation
Competitive Intelligence
Market Research
Product Design and Implementation
Content Creation
Value Propositions
Messaging
Launch Plans
Pricing and Packaging

Experience

Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.

Jun 2016 - PRESENT

Senior Product Manager

Micro Focus Plano, Texas

Directed a market leading product with over 8k users worldwide.

Managed a global force of engineers spread across China, Israel, Vietnam, and Ukraine, providing detailed strategic direction and prioritization while working in an Agile lifecycle to maximize content delivery velocity.
Conducted competitive analysis, market research and customer requests prioritization to shape HPE portfolio and solution strategy.
Improved customer engagement and satisfaction while reducing customer churn by running a Customer Advisory Board, Reference and Beta Programs, and Quarterly Customer Tours.
Provided close deal support and sales enablement around the product roadmap, giving our sales team a competitive advantage in product positioning and converting new leads.

Oct 2014 - Jun 2016

Product Portfolio Manager

SoftLayer, an IBM Company Dallas, Texas

Drove new product creation from ideation to adoption for sophisticated cloud ecosystems and services. Outlined marketing investments against key competitors, steered courses for technology initiatives, and delivered product offerings to market.

Strategically drove $234M in annual sales for multiple cloud products in vertical marketplaces with projected +17% revenue growth.
Presided over five products teams to design, develop, and implement OpenStack's cloud platform, increasing adoption rate by 36%; positioned to compete against Amazon, Google and Microsoft.
Constructed and launched new Identity, Security, and Microservices portfolios in Bluemix and IBM Marketplace; capitalized on market opportunities to stimulate adoption of PaaS and hybrid cloud services.
Identified growth opportunities and key trend must-haves for an evolving microservices architecture, forecasted to attain $40M+ in new revenue.

Sep 2012 - Oct 2014

Product Manager

SoftLayer, an IBM Company Dallas, Texas

Developed product initiatives and design strategies for an innovative cloud infrastructure. Managed the collection and definition of candidate feature-functions, concept designs, priorities, and requirements across core teams.

Designed and launched new IaaS and public cloud services in SoftLayer marketplaces, generating double digit growth over two consecutive years.
Acquired new strategic business partners to extend software-defined and content delivery networking offerings, producing $20M net new revenue in first year.
Rebuilt entire product portfolio to rival new competitors; included pricing, cataloging, mapping, and on-boarding.
Spearheaded initiatives to sunset low margin products, reducing operating expenses by 26%.

Dec 2007 - Aug 2012

Senior Product Manager

Neopost Austin, Texas

Cultivated pipelines to new digital, e-commerce, and cloud-based markets. Researched market needs, designed product offerings, and drove the product vision, value proposition, messaging, and go-to-market planning for customer-facing products.

Introduced new SaaS product lines and technology refresh programs, netting double-digit growth and reducing customer churn YOY.
Regained market traction and increased attachment rates 30% by offering resellers portals to promote and procure products.
Initiated turn-round strategy and revenue growth plan requiring recalibration of entire product line; encompassed new feature-sets, closing market gaps, rebranding, and launching as new products.
Accelerated time-to-market 40% by implementing new Agile and product portfolio practices; streamlined workloads, improved quality, and formalized product lifecycles.

Jul 2003 - Nov 2007

Technical Product Manager

Neopost Dallas, Texas

Orchestrated software releases, implementations, and launch efforts. Served as the technical interface between Software Development, Quality Assurance, and Release Management.

Ushered in technology induction programs for on-premise software products and integration tools; enacted initiatives to standardize code releases, slashing production cost by $2.1M.
Managed $25M budget to transition four Competency Centers onto shared services platform.
Developed analytic tools to leverage customer insights and refine business plans and strategies.
Implemented custom $100K+ software solutions for Fortune 500 clients.

I could always count on Michael to provide me with a thorough and realistic project plan that allowed me to manage go-to-market efforts. I relied on his guidance to determine feature priorities, trade-offs and workload estimates. With his knowledge, experience and strong work ethic, Michael will be a valuable asset to any team.

Senior Director, Marketing @ Neopost USA

Michael is the type of resource that every Product Marketing person wish they had. Not only does he master all technical areas under his responsibility, he has this unique capacity to relate how things work in a simple, non-technical way that speaks clearly to the end-user. Michael also showed his capacity to lead product-related projects, and played a key role in the success of many product launches.

Director, Business Development @ Alfresco

Michael is an incredibly versatile contributor with the ability to wear many hats. He is able to pull together thoughts, ideas, and visions to craft not only product requirements and definition, but product ideas beyond the horizon that fit within our future vision.

Chief Technology Officer @ SoftLayer

Michael is truly innovative and creative in all that he accomplishes. Several times here he established a new benchmark for how things should be done. He is very methodical in the way he approaches problems and goes about to fully understand something before rushing to judgment.

Director, Product Engineering @ Neopost USA

I had a chance to work on a variety of projects that were ultimately successful due to Michael's hard work and attentiveness. He worked very closely with our team to ensure the work could be accomplished on time. He also does a fantastic job at conveying exactly what the customer wants.

Senior Engineer, Quality @ Sailpoint

Michael is thorough and conscientious, with a well-organized approach to every task he undertakes and doesn't quit until the jobs done right. The knowledge Michael has in the field has proven to be invaluable to Development as we develop new products and features. He consistently makes sure that a release has been thoroughly tested before giving it his stamp of approval.

Project Manager @ Ticom Geomatics