PHILIPPE PIERNOT, PH.D.

(650) 924-1224

CTO / VICE PRESIDENT OF ENGINEERING

Innovative, hands-on executive with record of leading design and development of high technology products, improving processes and procedures to drive revenue, efficiency, and market share.

Results-oriented visionary with unique background in software engineering and design. Expertise in mobile applications and infrastructure, Internet technologies, eCommerce, Internet telephony, media streaming, enterprise software, systems integration, and product design. Strong strategic and long-range planning abilities; skilled in setting product and technology strategies in B2C and B2B environments. Diverse background covers engineering, user experience, innovation, network operations, quality assurance, customer support, and marketing functions.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Director Software Engineering

, Openwave Systems, Redwood City, CA

2009-present

Brought on board to revitalize innovation at Openwave, a global software company delivering traffic management and messaging solutions to 100+ mobile and fixed-line operators. Managed advanced technology, user experience, and technical publications teams with staff of 25 employees across 3 global locations.

Conceived of Amplicity, an operator-facing platform that lets web developers leverage network assets to rapidly create and deploy applications within the browser. Evangelized product internally and to key customers, resulting in Sprint Nextel selecting the solution and in a 10% market cap increase.
Established advanced technology group, internally promoted its charter, and created vision and all processes.
Dramatically raised visibility of user experience group within the company and improved products’ usability.
Fostered culture of innovation by leading product and technology brainstorming sessions.
Served as key member of the Patent Committee and filed numerous patents.

Director User Experience Design

, Yahoo!, Sunnyvale, CA

2007-2009

Directed design of Framework, a set of reusable AJAX-based user interface components, interaction patterns, and design guidelines used across APT, Yahoo!'s next generation digital advertising platform. Additionally served as Director of User Experience Design for Yahoo! Groups.

Managed all Framework design activities and coordinated 9 teams across 3 locations.
Streamlined internal and external processes, improving efficiencies between Interaction Design, Visual Design, User Experience Research, Prototyping, Product Management, Engineering, and Quality Assurance teams.
Defined the Framework strategy and championed Framework adoption outside of APT by Yahoo! Web Analytics and Yahoo! Search Marketing Desktop. Shipped 3 Framework releases.

Founder and VP Engineering

, 995 SOFT, Palo Alto, CA

2002-2006

Founded and grew 995 SOFT into a leading developer and publisher of games, utilities, and reference applications for smartphones. Successfully sold company to Paris-based InfraWorlds and became VP Online Distribution.

Supervised application development, porting, and quality assurance. Leveraged open-source software.
Increased revenue 50% year-over-year by setting low prices to reduce competition, minimizing development costs, aggressively growing the product catalog, expanding distribution, and running profitable ad campaigns.
Established products as best sellers by securing lucrative online and offline distribution deals, negotiating optimal advertising rates, and maximizing cross-sells and repeat sales.
Brought all of InfraWorlds' assets under a unified storefront and expanded online distribution reach.

CTO and VP Engineering

, Bertelsmann BeMusic / Myplay, Redwood City, CA

2001-2002

Recruited to facilitate sale of Myplay — a provider of digital music subscription and private label locker services — to Bertelsmann by overseeing due diligence efforts, reducing costs, and eliminating piracy.

Directed Software Engineering, Network Operations, and Customer Care departments (combined staff of 20.) Hired and mentored key employees (100% retention post acquisition.) Managed $7.5M operating budget.
Established software development, release management, monitoring, and escalation procedures.
Reduced costs 25%, fraud 70%, downtime from 240 to 20 minutes/month, streaming bandwidth from 150 to 80Mbs, and storage from 40 to 20TB by improving music locker service and renegotiating contracts.
Integrated Myplay's digital music subscription service with Bertelsmann's online music retailer CDnow.

VP Product Development

, Pagoo Communications, San Francisco, CA

1999-2001

Held full responsibility for the design, implementation, customization, and delivery of Pagoo's innovative Voice Over IP products and services. Pagoo is now part of RingCentral.

Built product development organization from ground up and established 4 key groups: Web Engineering, Client Software, User Experience Design, and Quality Assurance. Hired and led team of 4 directors and 20 engineers.
Released Call Catcher (Internet Call Waiting application for PC and Mac) and redesigned website featuring new sign-up, eCommerce, and customer support sections. Evolved service into flexible VOIP platform.
Customized solution for delivery to Cisco Systems and Italian ISP Tiscali.

Founder and Chief Technology Officer

, Zowie Intertainment, San Mateo, CA

1998-1999

Spun-off the R&D project I was managing at Interval into a separate company. Zowie shipped its line of award-winning interactive toys to all major retailers Q3 1999. The company was later acquired by Lego.

Led creation of the business plan, established product and technology roadmaps, and secured initial funding.
Served as key member of executive team; participated in competitive analysis, market definition, product design, engineering processes, strategic partnerships, and fundraising. Oversaw patents and inventor relations.
Architected Zowie's Software Development Kit. Supported all hardware, software, and manufacturing efforts.

Manager and Member of Research Staff

, Interval Research, Palo Alto, CA

1995-1998

Interval was Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s think tank and start-up incubator. Reported to CEO.

Hired and managed a 10 person team of researchers, engineers, designers, and business consultants.
Invented and developed new (user) input technology then led the design and prototyping of its applications.
Planned and oversaw usability tests and market research studies. Filed over 10 patents.

Research Scholar

, Stanford University (Knowledge Systems, AI Laboratory), Stanford, CA

1993-1995

Completed Ph.D. research in AI and Human-Computer Interaction. Topic: Programming by Demonstration.
Won "Best Hardware/Software Integration and User Involvement" and "Best Presentation" awards at the 1994 Apple Interface Design Competition for designing, prototyping, and testing a children's Internet-enabled PDA.

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Computer Science
, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France.
Research conducted at Université Pierre et Marie Curie and Stanford University.
M.S. in Computer Science
, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France.
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering
, Ecole Centrale de Nantes, Nantes, France.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Technical skills: Java, C/C++/Objective C, Javascript, PHP, ActionScript, HTML5, AJAX, JSON, XML, SOAP, RSS, REST, HTTP, SMTP, MIME, H323, TCP/IP, iOS, Android, Google App Engine.
Advisor at YesVideo (2005-present), AudioPress (2009-present), Sceneplay (2009-present), PeerPong (2007-2009); Intern at Apple's ATG (1993), Stanford's KSL (1991), ExperTelligence (1990.)

PATENTS

Attention Manager for Occupying the Peripheral Attention of a Person in the Vicinity of a Display Device: US 6,034,652, US 6,750,880, US 6,788,314, US 7,348,935 (currently being asserted by Paul Allen.)
Browser for Use in Navigating a Body of Information, with Particular Application to Browsing Information Represented by Audiovisual Data: US 6,263,507, US 6,880,171 (currently being asserted by Paul Allen.)
Coded Objects and Methods for Detecting Such Coded Objects: US 6,108,612.
Coded Object System and Code Recognition Methods: US 6,151,564.
Computer Method and Apparatus for Interacting with a Physical System: US 6,167,353.
Detecting Physical Objects States Using Electromagnetic Sensors: US 6,417,663.
Method and system for link-triggered link-translating proxying: US 8,626,853.
Video Camera Based Computer Input System with Interchangeable Physical Interface: US 5,953,686, US 6,047,249.