Resume

MIKE MANEY

Professional Summary

Award winning communications professional with more than two decades of experience in a mix of corporate and agency environments, highlighted by rapid advancement in high profile, challenging assignments.
Trusted counselor to corporate executives and startup founders.
Strong motivator with experience leading high performance, globally dispersed teams, agencies and budgets. Reputation as an effective corporate change agent.
Proven ability to quickly understand and translate complex subject matter to help executives hone their messages and craft compelling, creative stories.
Lead global communications executive for high profile, culture shifting emerging business divisions at two Fortune 500 companies. Served as head PR counselor to senior executives at Alcatel-Lucent, Cloud Foundry, IBM and Unisys. Designed and drove successful communications programs for several startups including Atlassian, Cloudability, Mashery, MindTouch and SourceForge.
Track record of delivering high impact media coverage, including stories in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, CNN, Financial Times, Fast Company, USA Today, Investor’s Business Daily, Barron’s, TechCrunch, GigaOm and ReadWriteWeb, as well as non-media engagement with top industry influencers.

Experience

LINODE, Head of Corporate Communications; November 2019 – Present (contract)

Provide ongoing, senior level counsel and support to the company’s executive team.
Set overall communication strategy and policies for the company.
Lead and manage a global team of 10 professionals with functional responsibility across a diverse set of communication channels, including media relations, analyst relations, messaging, internal, social, industry influencers, and speakers bureau.

MANEYDIGITAL, President; December 2012 – Present

Solo consulting practice created to help companies cost-effectively build and tell better stories.
Go-to communications counselor for prominent deep tech venture fund.
Communications advisor to several early stage founders.

CLOUD FOUNDRY FOUNDATION, Vice President, Brand & Communications; May 2015 – December 2015 (temporary in-house requirement)

Put successful consulting business on hold to re-brand this independent non-profit organization which had grown from an open source project into the industry standard platform for cloud applications. Orchestrated strategic external and internal communications among foundation members — 55 of the biggest brands in cloud computing, the Internet of Things, government, automotive and financial services.
Lead the successful development of a new global visual identity, comprehensive brand guidelines and narrative, as well as a re-architecting of the organization’s website and social strategy.
Drove a 100% increase in registrations for the foundation’s annual summit (the first official global summit under the stewardship of the newly formed foundation).
Worked directly with newly-appointed CEO to communicate the foundation’s mission.

ALCATEL-LUCENT, Director, Corporate Communications, Software, Services & Solutions; Dec 2011 – December 2012

Lead external communications strategy for Alcatel-Lucent’s $4.5 billion software, services and solutions division, one of the company’s two strategic revenue drivers.
Provided external communications support for the division’s President, including strategic, proactive engagement with traditional and social media influencers.
Member of cross-company, cross discipline social media team responsible for increasing employee and executive engagement with influencers and communities outside the company’s traditional telecommunications market.

ALCATEL-LUCENT, Head of Influencer Management, Application Enablement; Jan 2010 – Dec 2011

Member of senior leadership team recruited by CEO to build a technology platform for the next generation of telecommunications. Served as Chief of Staff to division’s Senior Vice President. Team was simultaneously tasked by CEO to drive culture change across the company.
Led overall media and communications strategy for two significant acquisitions.
Set strategic direction and drove tactical execution of global influencer program to support companywide push to transform the network into a software platform. The role blended marketing, communications, social media, corporate affairs and business development to communicate Alcatel-Lucent’s presence in new markets and among new influencers.
Established the first-ever Alcatel-Lucent presence at SXSW. Leveraged industry relationships to create traffic-driving conference partnership with Rovio (Angry Birds). Created and organized “Flight Club” influencer roundtable to advise key corporate customer on the pilot of an innovative new business model. Originated App Idol and Idea Wall programs which generated more than 1,000 new ideas on the convergence of the network and applications.
Aggressively inserted the Alcatel-Lucent brand into new media channels and markets via creative community support and sponsorship, guerrilla marketing tactics and traditional marketing/PR tactics. Created innovative community underwriter role with top industry influencer conference, saving the company nearly $500,000 and establishing relevance in emerging cloud computing and big data markets. Developed controversial program at company’s highest profile trade show by organizing a panel of upstart competitors to directly address how they were competing in the market; program spawned immediate partnerships and business opportunities.
Worked with corporate marketing and communications to adapt processes and protocols to fit the needs of a faster-paced media market.

ZER0 TO 5IVE, Principal; Apr 2008 – Jan 2010

Senior member of established 20-person marketing communications firm.
Directly drove $250,000 in new business through an aggressive engagement strategy with external influencers in targeted enterprise collaboration and Internet infrastructure markets.
Introduced social media technologies and best practices to agency. Designed agency’s first social media services practice.

PAGE ONE PR, Senior Counselor; Feb 2006 – Apr 2008

Member of agency’s first senior leadership team. Agency acquired in 2011 by Lewis PR.
Ran $600,000 book of business. Clients included startups in open source, high-volume transaction middleware and application development tools. Responsible for overall budget and staff planning for a team of four.
Drove business media coverage in the Christian Science Monitor for Sourceforge, expanding the client’s visibility beyond technology; BusinessWeek for Atlassian on the growth of wikis, including a follow-on profile naming the company’s co-founders as two of tech’s best entrepreneurs; Barron’s for Synopsys, which profiled the company on its 20th anniversary and was one of the first to highlight Synopsys’ role in the electronics industry; and Investor’s Business Daily for Synopsys, which highlighted the CEO’s background and efforts on immigration/H1-B.
Set strategy and delivered strategic media coverage for Aria Systems’ Series A funding and competitive wins for Krugle with IBM and Amazon.

UNISYS, Vice President, Communications; Mar 2004 – Feb 2006

Lead and managed media relations for company’s strategic high performance and open source computing initiatives. Served as senior communications leader for company’s vertical industry business units.
Managed a remote staff of three professionals and $800,000 agency relationship.
Led multi-country media initiative to establish category and support for the launch of a global RFID-based supply chain solution (company’s largest, most successful announcement of the year). Secured more than 450 stories/mentions.
Tapped as interim writer for newly-appointed CEO. Written materials included CEO’s first all-employee broadcast, client video introduction, opening/closing panel remarks, and various human resources communications.
Created internal media training program to groom high-potential spokespeople.
Launched cross-company editorial board to identify and develop proactive media pitches. Initial board discussion resulted in story placement in The New York Times.

IBM, Director, Communications (3x promoted); Feb 1997 – Mar 2004

Drove communications for multi-billion dollar, cross-company pervasive computing division.
Two programs nominated for the Holmes’ Report Gold Sabre (Superior Achievement in Branding and Reputation) award for business-to-business campaigns of the year.
Led media campaign to wrestle mindshare from top data management competitor. Awarded “Best Competitive PR Program” by IBM leadership.
Served as publicist for IBM’s top Internet visionary. Successes included page one stories in LA Times and millennium edition of The New York Times; cover story in Fast Company; half-page feature in USA Today; numerous Q&A profiles; and bylined article co-written with the “father of the Internet” in Financial Times. Developed messaging for major speeches, including keynotes at ETRE, Internet Summit and 3GSM.
Created first IBM-wide PR measurement system through executive stretch assignment.
Managed $1.2 million agency relationship
Provided communications counsel to three general managers. Managed team of five pros.
Provided media relations support for IBM’s Internet payments, rich media and knowledge management businesses.
Drove global, multi-company launches for industry-wide electronic check and DVD watermarking initiatives.

AT&T, Manager, Media Relations; Feb 1997 – Mar 1998

Primary media relations manager for AT&T’s business data services, including Web hosting, Internet access and IP backbone.
Served as spokesperson on e-commerce related topics.
Successfully translated complex networking technologies for business audiences and related business strategy messages for trade audiences.

POPPE TYSON, Account Supervisor; Sep 1994 – Feb 1997

Led a four-person team to build and execute the first communications programs for Internet start-ups PSINet, Monster.com, Tripod and DynamicWeb.
Primary media relations contact for AT&T’s Software Solutions Group. Successes include widespread coverage for the launch of the Plan 9 distributed operating system created by the lead AT&T Bell Labs researchers behind UNIX.
Generated significant national and regional print and broadcast coverage for the launch of NJ’s first compressed natural gas fueling station.
Represented public relations division on cross-agency advertising pitches.

GCI GROUP, Account Executive; Jul 1993 – Sep 1994

Executed targeted programs for the Hong Kong Economic Trade Organization to generate positive media coverage for visiting cabinet-level officials.
Monitored environmental/public policy issues and developed appropriate communications vehicles for the New York State Low-Level Radioactive Waste Siting Commission.
Drove media relations efforts for Remington and Panasonic consumer electronic products, securing placements in major consumer and trade publications.

THE ROWLAND COMPANY, Senior Account Executive; Aug 1992 – Jul 1993

Member of three-person spokesperson/crisis training team.
Researched and developed public information materials for controversial siting of multinational chemical firm’s co-generation facility.
Created daily media briefing vehicle for international oil marketing and refining company, as well as rapid response briefing documents on issues affecting international pharmaceutical company.

OGILVY ADAMS & RINEHART, Account Executive; Junior Account Executive; May 1991 – Aug 1992

Executed a proactive national media relations program for Shell Oil’s “Answer Book” public awareness program that generated significant coverage in national daily media outlets. Supported outreach efforts through the proactive identification and creation of alliances with large-scale and complementary distribution channels.
Monitored trends and issues for Fortune 200 natural resources company.

Education

The College of New Jersey, BA Communications with concentrations in Professional Writing and Organizational Communications; 1987-1991
Vice President of New Membership for college’s InterGreek Council
Member of The Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity
Four-years varsity cross country

Personal & Career Enrichment Activities

Mobile Monday Mid-Atlantic, President, Member of Board of Directors (2012-2014)
Adjunct professor, The College of New Jersey (Storytelling for Business)
Co-founder of Corporate Rebels United
Pro bono communications strategy and execution for The Dementia Society
Serve as director of communications for Thompson Bucks County Classic, part of the U.S. Cycling Pro Road Tour
Successful completion of IBM Accelerated Executive Leadership program
Graduate of IBM Basic Blue Management School
Selected to participate in IBM High Potential executive program
Selected to participate in Alcatel-Lucent Key Performer executive program
Guest Lecturer, Rutgers School of Communication (2005-2011); The College of New Jersey (2010-2012)
Speaker: LeWeb 2010 (App Challenge Awards); Social Media Business Life conference (opening keynote 2011, 2016; closing keynote panel moderator 2010); RCR Wireless/Mobile Monday (moderator); Gluecon (moderator); PR + Social Media Summit (featured speaker; presentation featured as top presentation on Slideshare with 60,000 views); MonktoberFest, API Days (moderator)