peterhildebrandt     user-centered design & music  
 
Peter Hildebrandt
Executive Leader/Mentor
770.623.8303    
    

Seasoned leader and mentor who cares about developing the people as much as the business. Workshop facilitator and one-on-one coach with methodologies across all aspects of business: leadership, marketing, financials, product development, sales, and manufacturing. Special emphasis on deeply understanding customers the business serves. Strengths in:

  • Executive coaching
  • Management methodologies
  • Product design & development
  • Group moderation
  • Consumer research
  • Product marketing
  • Financials
  • Technical leadership
  • Workshop facilitation

Professional Experience
2010 – Present
Aria Lights, Inc., Johns Creek, GA
Owner
  • Aria Lights designs and manufactures music stand lights for professional musicians, symphony orchestras, dance companies, touring shows, Broadway, and more
  • The brand that professionals trust
  Aria Forte Rechargeable Music Stand Light
2013 – Present
Covetability, Atlanta, GA
Principal
  • Coach medium and large businesses to improve profitability by making products covetable by their customers
  • Specialize in user research using formal methods (surveys, feature-function tradeoffs, card sorts, etc.) and informal methods (focus groups, usability testing, anthropology, etc.)
  • Regularly teach workshops on Blue Ocean Strategy, research techniques, pricing, and product differentiation
  Teaching Blue Ocean Workshop

2000 – 2013
Steelcase, Inc / PolyVision division, Atlanta, GA
Director, Global Product Management, Research and Development
  • Member of the executive management team reporting to the CEO
  • Oversaw all research, product development, and product management employees globally
  • Defined the global corporate product strategy and roadmap
  • Directed the corporate environmental strategy including indoor air quality standards and zero-carbon footprint manufacturing
  • Managed corporate patent portfolio (82 plus patents) and all technology licensing activities
  • Responsible for full product lifecycle: product definition, competitive analysis, positioning, pricing, new product introduction, maintenance, and culling
  • Negotiated strategic licensing and partnership agreements
  • Directed all scientific research, including porcelain chemistry, metallurgy, interactive gesture, stylus and touch technologies
  • Directed all engineering resources: mechanical, electrical, software, sustaining engineering, testing, documentation, certifications, and localization
  • Responsible for products sold into 85 countries and four channels, including electrical and safety certifications into each country
  • Supervised / mentored employees in three locations on two continents and development contractors globally
  • Drove user research through focus groups, usability testing, heuristic evaluations, and formal techniques
  • Managed a multi-million dollar budget
Key Accomplishments
  • Successfully launched and life-cycle managed twelve interactive product lines from user requirements through launch to end-of-life
  • Made continuous improvements in porcelain enameled steel, resulting in millions in additional yearly revenues and sustained annual growth
  • Instituted numerous process improvements including a global phase-gate development process, an engineering change system, and a global CAD & software version management system
  • Generated 50+ patents and patent applications in interactive technologies
  • Brought PolyVision interactive products from zero to 22% market share in education two years.

1999 – 2000
Pixid, Inc., Portland, OR
President
  • Co-founded the company and brought it from zero to $1M in worth in less than one year.
  • Managed business development, marketing, product design, and advertising.
  • Contracted with outside customer service and fulfillment houses to keep company lean.
  • Company produced software for whiteboard capture with digital camera.
  • Within 10 months, two companies separately offered buyouts.
  • Sold the company’s assets to PolyVision Corporation (above) in May 2000.
  PolyVision fuse visualizer
PolyVision Walk-and-Talk interactive whiteboard
PolyVision eno interactive whiteboard
Pixid WhiteboardPhoto
1992 – 2000
Hildebrandt Consulting
Independent User Experience Consultant & Contract Software Designer
  • Hewlett-Packard Company – Drove usability testing and user research on printer designs. Led the corporate effort to set standards for user interface design of all HP products with embedded web pages.
  • Intel Corporation – Developed focus studies for the design of a new line of consumer peripherals, wrote the Windows control panel for a wireless keyboard and mouse product.
  • Intel Corporation – Led effort to design the user experience for certificate-based security models.
  • Nike, Inc. – Led the user interface design for Nike’s worldwide shoe and apparel order-taking system.
  • Rain Bird, Inc. – Conducted user research and then developed a 192 page design specification for a Windows-based landscape sprinkler central control system.
  • Rain Bird, Inc. – Designed the front panel and user interface of the IM series sprinkler controller.
  • Roche Pharmaceuticals – Designed pharmacoeconomic drug models.
  • Harte-Hanks Interactive – Designed pharmacoeconomic drug models.
  • Learning Tree International – Edited and taught four-day Windows software development courses worldwide.
  • Media Architects, Inc. – Wrote a Windows image processing control sold by Borland.
  • Extended-Range Forecasting, Inc. – Developed Windows software for graphical weather forecast delivery on subscribers’ computers.
  • City of Portland, Oregon – Designed and wrote software to control traffic signals through pagers.
  • Microfield Graphics, Inc. – Designed firmware and user interfaces for electronic whiteboards.
  • CAChe Scientific, Inc. – Through usability testing, redesigned the user interface on a 3D molecular modeling CAD package.
  • Also designed and tested user interfaces for an interactive CD-ROM of family statistics, an in-flight entertainment system, a shoe merchandising system, and more.
  Intel wireless peripherals
Nike order management system
RainBird IM controller
Roche pharmacoeconmic analysis
1990 – 1992
Micro-Forecasts, Inc., Portland, OR
Vice President, Engineering
  • Co-founded the company, a weather forecasting firm.
  • Grew the company to 15 people.
  • Managed engineering and meteorology staff.
  • Developed forecasting tools for meteorologists, numerous weather sensors, and a voice response system handling 30,000 calls a month with automated credit-card billing.
  Micro-Forecasts Windsight software
1988 – 1990
CAChe Scientific Inc., Beaverton, OR
Chief Software Architect
  • Software architect of Macintosh and Windows-based stereoscopic 3D molecular modeling system.
  • Did user research, wrote detailed design specifications, and directed the software development effort to create and evolve the application software.
  • Developed a custom stereoscopic graphics card and co-processor board.
  CAChe Scientific 3D molecular design system
1985 – 1988
Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, OR
Senior Software Architect
  • Performed basic research in stereoscopic computer graphics (hardware & software).
  • Spun off CAChe Scientific, a molecular modeling company, to productize the technology.
 

1977 – 1985 (junior high through college)
Numerous other high-tech positions & contracts
  • Computer graphics hardware, software, & firmware design, video game software, terminal firmware, television weather graphics hardware and software, networking hardware, state competency testing research, power company insulation efficiency software, and others.

  WITS satellite picture
Education
North Carolina State University, BSEE, summa cum laude (4.0 in major), 1985


Awards/Honors
CopyCam Patent, No. 7,427,983 2015 Annual Partnership Gwinnett Award - Finalist for Influence
2015 Product Camp Atlanta - Best Session award for Blue Ocean Strategy Workshop
2015 Gwinnett Chamber Pinnacle Award - Finalist for Best Small Business Resource
2014 Product Camp Atlanta - Best Session award (of 44 workshops) for Blue Ocean Strategy Workshop
2007 Steelcase, Inc. Crawford Award for product innovation

U.S. Patents Issued
  • 10,958,873 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 9,904,462 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 9,870,195 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 9,866,794 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 9,858,033 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 9,495,735 Document Unbending & Recoloring Systems & Methods
  • 9,495,587 Document Unbending & Recoloring Systems & Methods
  • 9,471,269 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 9,465,573 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 9,448,759 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 9,430,181 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 9,189,107 Eraser for Use with Optical Interactive Surface
  • 9,116,656 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 9,027,015 Interactive Communication System Having an Integrated Key Drive System
  • 8,899,990 Display mounting systems
  • 8,890,842 Eraser for Use with Optical Interactive Surface
  • 8,757,819 Conveniently assemblable interactive systems and display device
  • 8,723,815 Interactive communication systems
  • 8,610,641 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 8,243,028 Eraser assemblies and methods of manufacturing same
  • 8,179,382 Visual communication system
  • 7,948,448 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 7,834,819 Virtual flip chart method and apparatus
  • 7,750,892 Portable interactive communication systems
  • 7,427,983 Visual communication system
  • 7,242,394 Slidable electronic whiteboard system
  • 4,896,210 Stereoscopic graphics display terminal
  • 4,808,979 Cursor for use in 3-D imaging systems
U.S. Patents Pending (Published Applications):
  • 20150042622 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 20150042622 Eraser for Use with Optical Interactive Surface
  • 20140198981 Document Unbending Systems and Methods
  • 20140085166 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 20140006976 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 20130343609 Document Unbending and Recoloring Systems and Methods
  • 20130339888 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 20130339880 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 20130339861 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 20120162870 Conveniently Assemblable Interactive Systems
  • 20120162061 Activation Objects for Interactive Systems
  • 20120069054 Electronic Display Systems Having Mobile Components
  • 20110279350 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 20110083109 Electronic Whiteboard
  • 20100275132 Interactive Communication Systems
  • 20090309854 Input Devices with Multiple Operating Modes
  • 20090309853 Electronic Whiteboard System and Assembly with Optical Detection Elements
  • 20090309841 Eraser for Use with Optical Interactive Surface
  • 20090309839 Eraser Assemblies and Methods of Manufacturing Same
  • 20090146965 Interactive Communication System Having an Integrated Key Drive System
  • 20080297595 Visual Communication System
  • 20080192017 Automatic Projection Calibration
  • 20080165137 Slidable Electronic Whiteboard System
  • 20070106950 Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith
  • 20070044028 Virtual flip chart method and apparatus
  • 20050280636 Interactive communication systems
  • 20050235215 Virtual flip chart method and apparatus
  • 20050219225 Virtual flip chart method and apparatus
  • 20050156952 Interactive display systems
  • 20040239640 Slidable electronic whiteboard system
  • 20040070616 Electronic whiteboard
Numerous other international patents on file


Avocations

References
Solid references available upon request
 
  Copyright © 2020, Peter Hildebrandt