Leadership
Trust your future to a proven pastJim Neumann founded Webmark after serving in VP- and director-level roles for top tech marketers like IBM, AT&T, and NCR, as well as niche technology leaders in their respective markets. By combining the methodical best practices of large organizations with the intensity of entrepreneurial ones, he has helped launch more than 450 products and dozens of new emerging companies, resulting in billions of dollars in revenue and shareholder value. He brings a client-side mindset to Webmark consulting engagements, demanding the same clarity, accountability, and data-driven ROI he expected as a client.
LOOKING BEYOND THE BOX
Prior to launching Webmark, Jim served as founding group vice president of marketing and communications for the IBM Technology Group, a bold strategic initiative that unified IBM’s microelectronics, storage, networking, displays, printing, pervasive computing, and other technology businesses into an integrated intellectual property portfolio pursuing $20 billion in OEM revenue. He initially joined IBM as director of marketing and communications for its Networking Division.
Before that, Jim headed U.S. Stratcom for AT&T’s $3.4 billion Global Information Solutions business, leading all U.S. marketing, marcom, and branding activities following AT&T’s visionary acquisition of NCR and, years later, NCR’s successful reemergence as an independent company. He began his career at Data General, the audacious minicomputer company made famous by the Pulitzer-prize winning novel, “Soul of a New Machine” in the early heydays of the computer industry.
BIG STAGES, HIGH STAKES
Over the years, Jim participated in some of the most ground-breaking developments in the technology industry, including the launch of the first PC-compatible laptop, first real-time AI system, and historic industry alliances. These included business development and coop-marketing initiatives through strategic partnerships with Apple, Sony, LG, Nokia, Samsung, Cisco, Dell, Gateway, HP, GE, Autodesk, Eaton, Schneider Electric, and others. He also developed substantial M&A, crisis management, and corporate sponsorship experience — including Olympic Games from Los Angeles through Sydney — for which his work has been nationally recognized.
KEEPING THE FUN IN MARKETING FUNDAMENTALS
In his corporate roles, Jim earned a reputation as a team player who consistently received the highest-possible ratings in annual performance reviews, employee engagement ratings, and peer-to-peer/360-degree appraisals. He earned “Coach of the Year,” honors based upon his team’s exceptional employee engagement results, a “First in the Foxhole” award attaining for the highest peer-to-peer ranking on a 14,000-employee campus, and an AT&T GIS “Great Performance” award, presented to the top 1% of employees whose management practices foster employee engagement and business practices innovation.
START-UP, SMART-UP, AND SHAKE-UP EXPERIENCE
Beyond large corporations, Jim held a wide range of executive leadership roles with niche technology leaders across the United States, including FICO, Clinicient (health care EMR, Practice Management software and RCM), Power Analytics and ETAP (model-based analytics for power and energy), Gensym Corporation (expert systems for process control and industrial automation); Structural Dynamics Research Corporation (mechanical CAE/CAD/CAM and PLM software); and Symbolics (artificial intelligence).
INDUSTRY AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Outside the office, Jim serves as guest and motivational speaker for a wide range of business, professional, technology, and charitable groups, having served as a volunteer executive for the United Way and other civic organizations. He and his wife live in San Diego; two college-age children, both of whom are Eagle Scouts, attend University of California Santa Cruz (Economics & Technology Management) and Dartmouth (Computer Science).
EDUCATION
Jim received his M.A. from Boston University, completing his self-directed major in business communications from the College of Communications (COM) in conjunction with School of Management (SMG); he previously earned his B.A. in communications, with minors in marketing, English, sociology, and philosophy, from the University of Dayton. Mid-career, he also earned an executive MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, sponsored by the AT&T School of Business.
While in college, Jim enjoyed the unique distinction of being elected by his peers to three national leadership posts in the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), serving consecutively as Northeast District Director, National Vice Chairman, and ultimately National Chairman; with 11,000 members and 300+ chapters, PRSSA is one of the world’s largest professionals societies serving the public relations, social media, marketing, marcom, and communications field today. Jim is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated from St Xavier High School.