Ron Bates

Managing Principal
Executive Advantage Group, Inc.

As a Managing Principal with Executive Advantage Group, Inc., Ron Bates is an Executive Search Consultant, Executive Coach, and Sales Performance Coach.

I believe everyone has the right to achieve their career potential, and that belief drives everything I do.

Whether I'm working with companies or executives, everything I do is focused on helping them do 5 things:

1. Know what you've done - by deconstructing, reconstructing, and assessing the value you've delivered.

2. Know your potential - by rediscovering and clearly articulating how you've delivered value, and your potential to deliver differentiated value.

3. Know the purpose behind your value - by rediscovering and articulating why you do what you do.

4. Identify and close the gaps to achieve your potential.

5. Act! Knowledge is inert. Acting on what you know to close gaps and achieve your potential is what counts.

To realize my vision: My work focuses on how to inspire action. I guide companies and executives in how to identify, creatively communicate, and position their differentiated value to inspire employers and customers to take the actions required to achieve their potential. I advise and coach executives all over the world, to include high performance sales teams and their leadership, and I help companies hire the great people who will help them realize their potential. I speak to anyone who will listen. I work to be my own best case study, practicing everything I preach.

Executive Coaching

Ron has been an Executive Coach to 100s of executive across the globe responsible for multi-billion-dollar business operations over the last +20 years. Examples Companies: Altera, Avaya, Celestica, Cisco, Ciena, Deloitte Consulting, Dun & Bradstreet, Diebold, EMC, Ericsson, Ernst & Young, ESPN, Flextronics, Fujitsu, Harman International, Harte Hanks, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Lear Corporation, Medtronic, Merck, Microsoft, MTV, Neiman Marcus, Northrop Grumman, Oracle, PerkinElmer, Red Hat, Sanmina-SCI, SAP, Seagate, Skype, Synaptics, TRW Automotive, Victoria's Secret, Xerox, WorldCom, et al. executives responsible for multi-billion dollar business units. Example Roles and Industries: CEO, COO, CFO, CRO, CSO, CMO, CHRO, CTO, Global Business Unit Leader, Global Sector Leader, Country Manager, International Operations, Sales, Global Strategic Sales, Global OEM Sales, Global Supply Chain, Professional Services, Managing Partner, Finance, Engineering, Human Resources, and other executives across Optical Networking (COO), BioTech (CEO), BioTech/Pharma (Bus. Dev.), RFID (Sales), Medical Device (Bus. Dev.), Consumer Products (CEO), Semiconductor (COO), Automotive (VP/GM Europe), and Investment Banking (CFO), et al. In addition to across North America, Ron has coached executives across the globe. Example locations: UK, Latin America, Abu Dhabi, Amsterdam, Israel, Singapore, et.al.. Many of the executives Ron has coached over the years have had previous experiences with Executive Coaching. The reason executives like an Intel Country President, the Chairman of Sony Electronics, and others like them, are referred/reach out to Ron for Executive Coaching is summed up best by a common client comment, “No one does what Ron does.”

Retained Executive Search

Possessing +20 years in retained executive search experience, Ron is actively involved with Board of Directors and Executive level searches for pre-IPO, private, public, and multinational companies. Prior to Executive Advantage Group, Ron was with Heidrick & Struggles as a Partner in their International Technology Practice based in their Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park office. Prior to joining Heidrick & Struggles, Ron Bates was a top performing Managing Director with the retained executive search firm StratfordGroup (Division of $4B Spherion - NYSE: SFN). Ron joined the firm in 2001 to help grow the practice. Ron is actively involved with Executive and Board level searches for pre-IPO, private, public, and multinational companies. Ron has successfully executed retained executive search projects across Board of Directors, Executive P&L Management, Manufacturing, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, Customer Service, Finance, Engineering, Sales, Marketing, and Business Development, and other disciplines.

Sales Performance Coaching & Consulting

With +25 years of career Sales and Sales Performance Coaching and Consulting experience, Ron developed VisionMapping - a strategic sales/client partnership alignment platform. Ron has been trained in, and taught, multiple main stream strategic, consultative, solution selling paradigms when he was at Hewlett-Packard and Mentor Graphics. He has been trained in Miller Heiman's - Conceptual and Strategic Selling (i.e., "Red Flags & Blue Sheets"), Mack Hannon's - Consultative Selling, Neil Rackham's - SPIN Selling, and Holden's - Power Base Selling when he was at HP. Ron has also been trained in Target Marketing Systems' - Target Account Selling and Executive Level Selling, Mack Hannon's - Competing on Value, and Value Vision's - Value Based Selling (i.e., the competitor to Bosworth's - Solutions Selling) while at Mentor Graphics. Ron also developed and taught “Executive Call Planning”, and a course he created and has taught at Hewlett-Packard, Mentor Graphics, Computer Vision, Schlumberger, et. al., called "Critical Path Selling" (an executive level sales and tactical execution training course). Throughout his career, Ron has coached and mentored the execution of deals crossing complex hardware, software, business process reengineering, business process outsourcing, network optimization, systems integration, and professional services domains.

Career Industry Experience Coverage

Technology Background

With 30 years of industry experience, Ron’s management background includes full P&L responsibility, sales management and consulting management, hardware and systems product development management roles with Hewlett-Packard, TRW, Raytheon, Mentor Graphics and Computer Vision. His sales and engineering experienced in hardware and systems development, process assessment, IC and DSP design services, IP Core deployment, DFT/verification/emulation, semiconductor automated test platforms, custom automated test platforms, and design software consulting.

In addition to his sales management and consulting management background, what is most unique about Ron is that he possesses a deep technical background spanning a broad range of hardware and software technology disciplines. After obtaining a degree in Physics from the University of Oregon, and co-authoring "Far Ultraviolet Laser Resonance Raman Studies of Electronic Excitations": Advances in Laser Spectroscopy, Vol. 3, 1986, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Ron worked for companies such as Hewlett-Packard, TRW, Raytheon, Mentor Graphics and Computer Vision. From 500 MHz – 45 GHz, he has been responsible for multi-million-dollar development programs ranging from waveguide, stripline, MMIC devices and antennas for satellite communications, secure military and covert satellite reconnaissance systems, threat identification, anti-missile electronics counter measures, and radar jamming systems. He has developed verification strategies for MMIC T/R modules, High Power analog, mixed-signal, ASIC, and 50 MHz - 1.5 GHz digital IC and MCM semiconductor devices used in wireline and wireless terrestrial and space based Telecommunications applications. Ron has also designed custom automated test platforms for airborne radar, electronic counter measure, avionics and flight control systems, in addition to having developed antenna characterization and production test strategies for satellite, ship and airborne antennas. He has delivered product development process assessments for technology clients engaged in Concurrent Engineering and process/workflow product development Reengineering programs. Ron has also provided product development and DSP design support to clients engaged in applications of CDMA and TDMA communications technology; JPEG, MPEG video; voice compression, electronic surveillance, PDA, paging, embedded IP and programmable core applications. He has also provided LAN/WAN network performance assessments, network design/optimization/integration services, remote network monitoring, customer premise equipment installation & maintenance client services.

The following is a partial list of public sector Technology clients Ron has had the opportunity to provide service to during his 30-year career.

In addition to his role at Executive Advantage Group, Ron was also an Executive Director, Talent Acquisition Network with ExecutiveNetworks.com. With a 25-year legacy as a leading provider of executive peer networks to more than 225 large mostly global corporations - Executive Networks is focused on building the world's foremost constellation of HR-related executive peer networks.

With +40,000 direct contacts on on-line professional networking platforms, CNN's Maggie Lake referred to him as "the most plugged in man in the LinkedIn world" (CNN/LinkedIn IPO Interview). View his detailed networking profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Feel free to invite Ron to connect with you on the on-line networking platforms you use.

Also a recognized expert in on-line networking, personal branding and building a personal Internet presence, Ron has been an invited speaker at venues such as the Human Capital Institute, Marketing Executive Networking Group, British America Business Council, Expert Connections, Business of Success Radio is a regular guest on Netshare’s "Ask the Coach". Ron's interview was included in Leadership Without Borders: Successful Strategies From World-Class Leaders, by Ed Cohen, © 2007 John Wiley & Sons.