Colin Smith

Current

Senior Product Manager at McAfee

Past

Product Manager - AliasStudio at Autodesk
Senior Consultant - Consumer Products at Autodesk Consulting
Project / Engagement Manager - Consulting Services at Alias Systems

Product Manager at Alias Systems
Product Marketing Manager at Alias Systems
Product Manager - New Products Group at Alias Systems
Product Manager - StudioTools at Alias
Senior Education Specialist - Design at Alias|Wavefront
Systems Trainer at The T. Eaton Company
Installer / Consultant. at Newgen Dealer Service Systems

see less...

7 more...

Education

Sheridan College
Ryerson University

Recommended

13 people have recommended Colin

Connections

435 connections

Industry

Computer Software

Colin Smith’s Summary

An experienced Product Manager with the ability to manage both new and mature software products from product definition, development and launch to ongoing product life cycle management. Strives to understand customer requirements and market/industry trends in order to recommend the most suitable course of action. Analyzes key performance indicators in order to make product decisions. Demonstrates resourceful problem solving and successfully communicate technical concepts in layman’s terms. A proven leader and key contributor to multi-functional teams with the ability to work effectively with stakeholders at all levels of an organization. Utilizes effective presentation skills with a variety of audiences. Willing to take on challenges and adaptive to change.

Colin Smith’s Specialties:

Product Management, Product Life-cycle Management, Consumer Products Design - 3D best practices, Product Marketing, Project Management, competitive analysis, Managing cross functional teams, product planning.

Colin Smith’s Experience

Senior Product Manager

McAfee

(Public Company; MFE; Computer & Network Security industry)

July 2009 — Present (9 months)
Product Manager - AliasStudio

Autodesk

(Public Company; ADSK; Computer Software industry)

October 2007 — January 2009 (1 year 4 months)

Product Manager for AliasStudio family of products consisting of 4 products – DesignStudio, Studio, SurfaceStudio and AutoStudio. AliasStudio is an industry-leading 3D software application for consumer products and automotive design and styling. The software provides a comprehensive set of visualization and analysis tools for the entire shape-definition process, from concept sketches through Class-A surfacing.
Activities included:
• Product and roadmap planning: Assessing the industry, driving the discovery process to uncover customer needs and conducting competitive analysis. Customers included General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, BMW, Volvo, Toyota, Honda, Motorola, Astro Design, Nike, RKS Design, Alchemy Labs, Kolher, Dell, and Apple.
• Assessing 3d party technologies and company intellectual properties in order to offer unique product features or to fill product gaps through integration or strategic partnerships.
• Formulating product and market strategies as a member of the product strategy team responsible for the review of product performance and product line strategy for the product line.
• Leading a cross functional product team (development, licensing, release management, product line management, legal, PR, support and marketing)
• Managing relationships with key accounts, value added resellers and channel partners.
• Contributing to the marketing collateral design and message – review and acceptance of product branding and naming, signature imagery, packaging, print and web collateral.
• Interacting with internal product teams responsible for Adsk Licensing, Crash Error Reporting and Customer Involvement Program in order to exchange requirements and integrate 3rd party corporate initiatives in to product roadmap
• Establishing and managing the beta program in order to have adequate testing of the beta and candidate gold versions of the software.
• Internal and external product evangelist.
Senior Consultant - Consumer Products

Autodesk Consulting

(Public Company; ADSK; Computer Software industry)

January 2006 — October 2007 (1 year 10 months)

Provided technical consulting services and project management on Alias design products in order to define, design, build and deliver Company solutions to meet customer needs in Consumer Products. Provided technical and business consulting to customers to insure successful implementation and ongoing support.

Managed a team of 7 technical consultants located in the US and Canada.
Project / Engagement Manager - Consulting Services

Alias Systems

(Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

2005 — 2006 (1 year )

Provided technical consulting services and project management on Alias design products in order to define, design, build and deliver Company solutions to meet customer needs in Consumer Products. Provided technical and business consulting to customers to insure successful implementation and ongoing support.
Product Manager

Alias Systems

(Computer Software industry)

2003 — 2005 (2 years )

Product Manager for Alias SketchBook Pro, an award winning 2D sketching and illustration software program designed specifically for creative professionals using the Table PC / Wacom tablet hardware.
Activities included:
• Gathering requirements from the creative professional market in order to create MRD for V2 and V3.
• Managing multifunction team in an agile environment n order to track progress and make changes to plan as needed.
• Contributing to the marketing collateral and packaging design and message - Alias SketchBook pro was the first "shelf ready" product in the Alias product line.
• Establishing and managing partnerships with external Tablet PC and pen tablet companies (Motion Computing, Acer, Toshiba, HP, Electrovaya, Lenovoto, Wacom) distribute OEM versions of the software.
• Creating and distributing sales demo material
• Establishing a business relationship with Apple in order to port the software to the Mac platform.
• Managing with web channels (Digital River and Journey Education) to distribute software.
• Partnering with Microsoft Table PC group and Wacom in marketing and events.
• Establishing and managing a user group in order to create user success stories for sales and marketing.
• Internal and external product evangelist.
Product Marketing Manager

Alias Systems

(Computer Software industry)

2002 — 2003 (1 year )

Product Marketing Manager for the launch of Alias SketchBook Pro. An award winning 2D sketching and painting software for the Table PC and Wacom tablets.
Product Manager - New Products Group

Alias Systems

(Computer Software industry)

2001 — 2002 (1 year )

Worked with the New Products team to create and validate software products for the Consumer Products industrial design market.
Product Manager - StudioTools

Alias

(Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

August 1999 — August 2001 (2 years 1 month)

Product Manager for StudioTools family of products consisting of 4 products – DesignStudio, Studio, SurfaceStudio and AutoStudio. StudioTools is an industry-leading 3D software application for consumer products and automotive design and styling. The software provides a comprehensive set of visualization and analysis tools for the entire shape-definition process, from concept sketches through Class-A surfacing.
Activities included:
• Gathering requirements globally from industrial designers in the consumer products market and designers and technical surfacers in the automotive market in order to create market requirement documents and product requirement documents.
o Customers included General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, BMW, Volvo, Toyota, Honda, Motorola, Astro, Nike, RKS Design, Alchemy Labs, Kolher, Dell, and Apple.
• Contributing member of a cross functional product team (development, licensing, release management, product line management, legal, PR and Marketing) responsible for managing software releases at various stage gates.
• Managing relationships with key accounts, value added resellers and channel partners.
• Contributing to the marketing collateral design and message – review and acceptance of product branding and naming, signature imagery, packaging, print and web collateral.
• Collaborating with the education department for the creation of online and print learning documents.
• Establishing and managing the beta program in order to have adequate testing of the beta and candidate gold versions of the software.
• Internal and external product evangelist.
Senior Education Specialist - Design

Alias|Wavefront

(Public Company; SGI; Computer Software industry)

August 1994 — August 1999 (5 years 1 month)

Created courseware and conducted training of computer aided industrial design (CAID) software globally. Accreditor
for Alias|Wavefront Instructor Certification Program (AWIC).
Systems Trainer

The T. Eaton Company

(Retail industry)

1992 — 1994 (2 years )

Responsible for training Eaton employees in the Greater Toronto Area on in-store systems.
Installer / Consultant.

Newgen Dealer Service Systems

(Computer Software industry)

1989 — 1992 (3 years )

Responsible for installing hardware and training service department staff on shop scheduling and customer retention software in automotive dealerships across North America. Also managed existing accounts on software operation.

Colin Smith’s Education

Sheridan College

Justice and Loss Prevention , Law, Court Systems, Sociology, Criminal Studies, Policing , 1986 — 1988
Ryerson University

Marketing, Economics, Management