curriculum vitae
Dennis L. MuellerAccountability, Belonging & Loyalty
|
Download a one page PDF of Dennis' resume
Dennis' full work history is also available at linkedin.com Contact Dennis here for contract or full time opportunities |
approach
I believe all companies can cultivate loyalty and success. Great companies are made from exceptional people, an inspiring purpose, and a disciplined culture of excellence. Without insightful and emotionally intelligent leadership focused on customer success, loyalty is rarely achieved. As a leader, I am driven to create strategies that inspire and empower employees to deliver extraordinary and consistent customer experiences.
work experience
Leadership Coach
Wanderlight (self-employed) 2014 – Present |
I believe any person with the right motivation can become a great leader.
Leadership is a skill. And like any skill, it can be learned. A leader, by its definition, is a role describing a relationship to other people. My work as a Leadership Coach focuses primarily on relationships: relationships to coworkers; relationships to beneficiaries and investors; and relationship to self. Approach:
I work with all levels of titles. I have experience coaching CIOs, CTOs, VPs, PhDs., academics transitioning to industry, and individual contributors transitioning to leadership roles. |
VP Innovation & Emerging Technologies
DataEndure (formerly CMT) 2004 – 2014 |
I managed the innovation process that identified product strategies, business opportunities, and new technologies. My research and planning enabled DataEndure to develop new capabilities to better serve our clients and partners alike leading to 8 fold revenue growth within 4 years of joining.
I evangelized solutions and our capabilities to both customers and partners. I built and led a sales engineering team of 7 people to support these efforts as our business grew. Our efforts enabled hundreds of clients' success by focusing on customer outcomes. Understanding and handing off customer outcomes to post-sales teams resulted in a far better customer experience. I established and operated a consulting services and cloud MSP division of more than 35 people with 24x7 on-call support. Our team worked with multiple vendor support organizations to have a seamless experience to the end-user. Over my decade long tenure at DataEndure, I was responsible for many aspects of the business including team building, public talks and presentations, SOW creation and legal contract negotiation, technical marketing and sales, IT, and company education and certifications. |
Director of Engineering
Helio Solutions 2001 – 2004 |
I led the technical services organization with responsibilities including technology direction and vendor relations, creation of professional services team, technical sales, and IT.
|
Dir. Engineering, Co-founder
Digital Infusion, Inc. 2000 – 2001 |
Digital Infusion was a technology consulting firm focused primarily on implementing enterprise class storage solutions to Fortune 1000 companies. As my first significant business venture, I was responsible for sales, management and execution of professional services. Great customer service and proactive support with functional documentation were the hallmarks of our success.
|
Sr. System Engineer
Tumbleweed Communications, Inc. 1999 – 2000 |
I was responsible for all of the Professional Services Organization data center architecture and operations
|
Sr. System Engineer
Gobosh 1998 – 1999 |
I engaged customers in pre-sale architecture and performed hands on technical professional services for products we sold.
|
Sr. Frontline Engineer
Cisco (contracted through Adecco) 1997 – 1998 |
I supported multi-platform/OS computing environment for 600+ internal engineers at Cisco, performing server and end-point related troubleshooting with emergency and non-emergency issues.
|
passions
My family is my joy. They are the motivation to achieve greatness and become a more compassionate human being. When my child was born, it was the first time I truly understood what a priority is. Life became more challenging but far simpler. I used to feel pulled in a thousand directions by the needs of work and home but now I have clear insight to prioritize my responsibilities. Being the primary caregiver for my child also offered me a greater awareness and appreciation for mothers and the challenges of raising a child. Being there to support my wife in her career and care for my child was such a gift that men rarely get to experience. My family has made me a better person and a more compassionate leader.
|
It is my personal mission to bring joy into this world and I believe that making people’s work environment safe and fulfilling has a huge impact. We spend a majority of our waking hours interacting with people during their (and our) employ. It has been proven that doing the right thing for employees and customers make companies more successful, and yet many leaders opt for short term gains at the expense of their customers and employees. As a leader, truly understanding what business you are in and how the game is played makes your business more resilient and drives both employee and customer loyalty. I have helped many leaders with these challenges and I want to help your business achieve the greatest success possible while upholding your values.
|
I love to travel because I always come back emboldened and enriched with fertile and original ideas. When I travel, my conscious mind is exposed to new stimuli and I get to experience a different way of being. Understanding how we are all unique and adapt to life situations differently helps me become more adaptable and open to new ideas. Travel, vacation, and daydreaming serve an important function for my brain, all brains. Breaks are so necessary for original ideas and general productivity. Creativity flourishes in the time in between work. Even a small break like taking a walk in nature can give the brain the space needed to be more creative. Travel forces me to be present to what is around me and that break does wonders for my mental acuity.
|
Ever since I first watched sci-fi programs like Star Trek, TNG, I was obsessed with the idea of a smart home. The promise of convenience and efficiency to the average person is compelling, but for those who have disabilities, it could mean the difference between dependence and self-sufficiency. I've been an early adopter of smart home technology for more than a decade, and the biggest challenge is that most manufacturers are selling smart home technology as a novelty or lifestyle product rather than a reliable utility to help people who need it. Even with the likes of Google, Amazon, Samsung, Comcast, Leviton, etc… investing in smart home products, their focus is on convenience and wireless home security. As a result, performance is unreliable, the features are quaint, integration is haphazard at best and the user interface tends to be complicated. This means that the people who would benefit most from this technology cannot rely upon it and only us geeks who have tolerance for such challenges are integrating it into our lives. Product strategy and vision matter. When the manufacturers’ focus changes to truly improving the quality of life for all people, I believe that product reliability and functionality will improve to the point where smart home products will be the standard for all of our homes. “Computer, please file my taxes, vacuum the living room, and pick up my dry cleaning. Thank you!”
|
I’ve been throwing events since I was a kid. I have a theater background and love to make themed immersive experiences for my guests. What I had done intuitively, and later learned explicitly, was to use environment to pluck people from the mundane into a setting that inspires awe. Walt Disney was a master at designing captivating settings and his legacy continues in his company’s theme parks, movies and other entertainment. He knew that the power of an enchanting setting would make people present to the narrative and feelings he wanted to convey. Setting is just as important for an office as it is an amusement park or art exhibit. The right setting can inspire people. Studies have proven that the feeling of awe shifts our perspective away from ourselves and allows for greater openness and generosity. Setting can make us more creative, healthier and happier people.
|
I grew up enamored with cinema. Star Wars and Spielberg films held such a warm place in my heart as a child, and that love continues. As a result, I have been collecting, curating and digitizing movies for almost 2 decades. As any anthropologist will tell you, society and culture are defined by their stories. The narratives we use to describe our lives are important. Movies are a great example of the power of stories. A good film can change your perspective, inspire you to action and evoke emotions that last a lifetime. As leaders, we need to tell the story of our mission and vision. We need to evoke powerful emotions that spark engagement.
|
Cooking and culture are intrinsically linked. I love the process of cooking. I also am driven to nurture people and relationships with food. When I travel I like to say I eat my way through countries, but I also love learning to cook their local cuisine. Food is one of the best ways to experience a community’s traditions. I’ve always felt that sharing a meal with someone is about having our social needs met just as much as our nutritional needs. I am currently trying to perfect a chicken congee recipe.
|
I am a little obsessed with light. Light allows us to see but it also focuses our attention and sets the mood for a space. Light is one of the most important factors in creating the proper setting for an event or environment. Appropriate lighting can be the difference between feeling safe and feeling uneasy. The right lighting can improve productivity, sharpen awareness and reduce mental fatigue. Although light is just one factor in the holistic view of creating a great setting, most people’s first impression of an environment centers around light. And as the old saying goes, there is no second chance to make a first impression.
|
I have an unquenchable desire to create and art is one of my outlets. I've worked in pencil, charcoal, pen, water colors, digital graphics, photography, and light. For the last several years, my wife and I have created large scale pastoral light installations at music festivals. The dynamic lighting reacted to music to envelop the participants in a magical canopy. On a smaller scale, I try to make any environment in which I live filled with art, beauty and things that manifest joy.
|