Mark Hilton
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Auburn, CA, United States
Toptal member since October 24, 2020
Mark has led major technical product initiatives in communications, media, technology, and aerospace, covering North America, Europe, and Asia. He has spearheaded groundbreaking products from strategies through roadmaps, development, marketing, and go-live. Whether leading a large product unit or serving as an individual contributor, he optimizes investments to maximize financial returns. With technical and business expertise, Mark bridges these two worlds to achieve desired business results.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Agile
- Competitive Intelligence
- Data Analysis
- Market Research
- Product Management
- Product Marketing
- Product Roadmaps
- Team Leadership
Work Experience
Principal Consultant
MJ Hilton Consulting
- Developed a market launch initiative for a set of services including trusts, insurance, and precious metals as legal tender.
- Completed the licensing test for property and casualty insurance sales.
- Participated as a member of the board of directors for a cryptocurrency offering.
- Developed a market launch strategy for a software company that holds a patent for offloading IBM mainframe workloads from z/OS to Linux.
Vice President, Live Production Product Unit
Grass Valley, a Belden Brand
- Managed the P&L of a large, live production unit with an R&D budget of $15 million.
- Grew the camera and switcher product lines between 10% and 20% per year.
- Led a team of 110 engineers and 10 product managers across three sites: The United States (California), the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.
- Spearheaded product line rationalization efforts after the acquisition of SAM, leading to increased market share.
- Provided thought leadership as an industry and technology expert at multiple events and in the press.
- Led the development and launch of dozens of products, including system TV cameras, production switchers, and replay systems.
- Played a crucial role in the strategic shift from hardware-based products to cloud-enabled software solutions.
Vice President, Networking Product Management
Grass Valley, a Belden Brand
- Led the integration of the modular and routing product lines resulting from the acquisition of Grass Valley by Belden.
- Defined and evangelized the IP networking strategy and roadmap for media networks.
- Established a strategic partnership with Cisco to provide core routing technologies to complement Grass Valley's routing and processing options.
- Developed GV Node, the market's first IP-based, modular routing and processing platform.
- Managed a team of five product managers covering over 1,500 separate products.
Manager of Product Management
Hewlett Packard
- Managed the Ethernet switch product line managers, covering a portfolio of hardware and software products that grew from $330 million to $1 billion in annual revenue.
- Managed and mentored distributed teams of up to 12 professionals, including product managers, UX designers, technical marketing, marcom, and training, located in North America, Europe, and Asia.
- Ran an EMEA marketing services team based in Grenoble, France. This 18-month assignment covered product and solution management, marcom, public relations and analyst relations, and training sub-teams.
- Led the roadmap and integration activity for the $2+ billion acquisition of 3Com.
- Launched 3Com's Chinese-developed routing portfolio into the rest of the world. Conducted regular interlock meetings with the development teams in Beijing and Hangzhou to prioritize features on the development roadmap.
- Led the AllianceOne solutions team, which helped recruit, define, and deploy third-party software solutions on HP's server blade hosted within the 5400zl modular Ethernet switch. Contributed to marketing content for more than 12 separate solutions.
- Played a key role in early cloud initiatives by defining and launching VSR-100, a cloud-based routing product, in support of network function virtualization.
Manager of Product Management
Thompson Media
- Defined and brought to market 50 new modular processing and routing products.
- Grew a $22 million modular product line to $30 million over three years.
- Developed the first embedded web server in a modular product in the market.
- Completed a two-year ex-pat assignment in London to run EMEA business development and regional product management for the networking business unit.
- Merged two competing product lines into the number-one market share product line following an acquisition.
Product Manager
Tektronix
- Led market research and strategic positioning activities, from concept to the development phase, for a new line of measurement products.
- Defined and launched handheld oscilloscope products and associated accessories.
- Completed product rationalization of over 3,000 accessory parts.
Structural Analyst
Lockheed Missles and Space
- Analyzed the structural integrity of solar arrays and various mechanical components for the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope projects.
- Led structural design activities on a $700 million NASA proposal and study contract called EOS.
- Developed detailed math models of complex structures and tested prototype structures to verify and refine the math models.
- Used DalPro, a suite of hundreds of Fortran-based subroutines, to program complex static and dynamic structural analysis runstreams.
- Supported ad hoc analysis of previously launched surveillance satellites in support of upcoming product refreshes.
Project History
Native IP Camera
https://www.grassvalley.com/products/cameras/ldx-100-series/ldx-150/Served as the executive sponsor of the first live production, 100Gbps, native-IP, system camera.
Cloud-based Enterprise Branch Router
https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-c03952700Defined and launched the first cloud-hosted, enterprise branch router.
Master Control Switcher Development
Product managed the Maestro Master Control Switcher featuring a unique touchscreen interface combined with purpose-built, modular HW control panels and processing engines.
Education
Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Marketing and Finance
University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley, CA, USA
Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering
University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley, CA, USA
Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering
Brigham Young University - Provo, Utah, USA
Certifications
Pragmatic Marketing
Pragmatic Institute
Skills
Tools
Jira
Paradigms
Agile Product Management, Agile, Software-defined Networking (SDN), Database Design, Testing, Augmented Reality (AR)
Platforms
SharePoint, Blockchain
Industry Expertise
Insurance
Other
Product Management, Marketing, Data Analysis, Market Research, Product Roadmaps, Team Leadership, Product Marketing, Pricing Strategy, Hardware, Reporting, Product Strategy, Microsoft Office, Competitive Intelligence, Budget Management, IP Networks, Sales Training, Routing, Go-to-market Plans, Program Management, Salesforce, Corporate Finance, Marketing Communications (MarCom), Machine Design, Optimization, Finite Element Method (FEM), Product Design, Structural Analysis, Technical Reports, Graphical User Interface (GUI), Cloud Architecture, Process Improvement, Unified Communications, Product Ownership, SaaS Product Management, Business Design, User Experience (UX), Product Portfolio Manager, Business Development, Acquisition Analysis, Sales Forecasting, Fintech, Pricing, Videos, Audio, Digital Media, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cryptocurrency, Property Insurance, Networking, Media
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