Cloud computing, motorcycles, sailing, photography

Microsoft Alliance Director

SUMMARY

Håkan brings 20 years of experience and business acumen from building impactful partnerships in the Microsoft ecosystem, both from roles inside Microsoft and from roles with companies looking at creating winning strategies with Microsoft. His ability to leverage both sides of the relationship is particularly valuable in order to manage across teams and achieve results, be it in corporate engineering partnerships, through joint marketing efforts or in driving revenue through collaborative field sales.

He is a hands-on self-starter and leader with outstanding collaborative and communication skills and widely acknowledged for creating win-win situations while leading cross-functional teams to results. Håkan is experienced with a wide range of computer technologies, industry standards and current business drivers. With a postgraduate master’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering he has been successful in software development, sales, marketing, building partner ecosystems and creating strategic alliances. He thrives in collaborative environments and is energized by creating new solutions and taking them to market.


 

BUSINESS EXPERIENCE

  • Building Strategic Partnerships and Alliances
  • Leading International Business Development
  • Winning with Innovation through Incubation
  • Teaching Consultative Selling and Social Marketing
  • Developing Partner Programs
  • Recruiting Cloud Service Providers
  • Winning with a Team
  • Creating Solutions and Driving Product Marketing

 


 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

DATACORE SOFTWARE                                                                                        2011 – present

Redmond, WA & Ft Lauderdale, FL

Director Worldwide Alliances

Håkan is building and managing an ecosystem of strategic alliances across a diverse set of server (OEM), storage (IHV), software (ISV), cloud (CSP) and hosting partners (MSP) which includes defining and executing partner programs and go-to-market initiatives including the DataCore Ready certification program.

Key projects and responsibilities:

  • Managing all aspects of the Microsoft Partner Network Gold membership, covering staff training, certifications, product certification, references and customer satisfaction research
  • 2 years onsite at Microsoft Partner Solution Center driving technology adoption.
  • Recognized for 2 years Microsoft Partner of the Year Award Finalist.
  • Launched the DataCore Cloud Service Provider program for Hosters/Managed Service Providers
  • Built and launched the FastV hyper-converged storage appliance with Synnex/Hyve
  • Managed 20+ storage partners through the DataCore Ready Certification program
  • Led evaluation process for adoption of SMI-S with SNIA industry organization and the Microsoft System Center team.
  • Successful alliance engagements include CommVault, Dell, HGST, Huawei, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle and VMware.

 

KONSULT PARTNERS LLC                                                                                     2010 – 2011

Redmond, WA

Vice President and Chief Conversation Starter (co-founder)

Leveraging his online marketing skills learned at Microsoft he co-founded Konsult Partner as a marketing agency focused on bringing social media and content marketing to mid-sized organizations. He was active as a public speaker and instructor on topics covering Social Media and Structured Networking.

 

MICROSOFT CORPORATION                                                                                 1997 – 2010

Corp HQ, EMEA HQ & SWEDEN

 

MICROSOFT CORP. HQ
Redmond, WA

Director Global Partner Recruitment, Developer & Platform Evangelism (2007 – 2010)

Håkan created the strategy, field program and online platform for recruiting software development companies to Microsoft’s Office, Visual Studio, Windows Server, SQL Server and Dynamics CRM platforms. He led a global team through the incubation and execution of the program resulting in the addition of 25,000 new software partners.

Key projects and responsibilities:

  • Directed market research, and created strategy for breadth partner recruitment.
  • Created the InnovateOn recruitment platform and supporting marketing campaigns including worldwide field programs.
  • Leveraged search engine marketing and optimization, online advertising, and print media.
  • Managed $5.5m budget for worldwide execution.
  • Led team of 9 and directed team of 120 technical marketing evangelists in 14 worldwide subsidiaries.

 

ISV Evangelism Role Owner (2005 – 2007)

Directed a worldwide community of 90 technical marketing evangelists.

Key projects and responsibilities:

  • Leading the yearly rhythm-of-the-business for the Microsoft ISV Evangelist field role, including goal setting, metrics, training and personal development.
  • Coached individuals in worldwide subsidiaries 1:1 as well as the whole community.
  • Developed and implemented consultative selling principles, enabling field relationships with CxO level decision makers in customer and partner organizations.
  • Represented the field role in engagement with all business groups at Microsoft.

 

Intel Alliance Manager, Engineering and Marketing Collaboration (2002 – 2005)

Håkan was recruited from Microsoft EMEA HQ to Microsoft Corp HQ to manage collaborative engineering with Intel Corporation covering multiple hardware and software products.

Key projects and responsibilities:

  • Enabled 1:1 executive relations including depth briefings for Microsoft’s executive team and across product groups.
  • Responsible for IP, legal and contractual negotiations.
  • Supported joint global partner marketing including major product launches.
  • Led Bill Gates’ onstage introduction of Windows Server 64-bit with demonstrations of realtime HPC simulations using CFD and 3D rendering, in collaboration with Stuttgart University’s HLRS department.

 

MICROSOFT EMEA HQ
London/Paris/Munich, Europe (2000 – 2002)

Regional Alliance Manager for Global Partner Relationships

Responsible for transformation of partner ecosystem across the EMEA region. Managed relationship with BMC, Siebel, Vignette, Ariba, Commerce One, Staffware and Intel.

 

BizTalk Business Development Manager (1999 – 2000)

Introduced XML and the Microsoft BizTalk Framework across EMEA region. Built early adopter community among customers and partners. Spokesperson for all press and analyst communications.

 

MICROSOFT SWEDEN

ISV Account Manager (1997-1999)

Developed partner channel ecosystem of 140 Independent Software Vendors, ISVs. Recognized by partners for strongest alliance performance.

 

EMT AB                                                                                                1995 – 1997

Stockholm, Sweden

Lead Product Manager EMT InfoDesk

Introduced the FileNet (IBM) document management and workflow solution solution to the Scandinavian market.

Software Development Manager EMT Mechslide

Led software development team for the the mechanical CAD solution Mechslide, which was acquired by Genius/AutoCad.


 

EDUCATION | CERTIFICATION

Royal Institute of Technology
Stockholm, Sweden (1991)

  • Master of Science, Computer Science and Engineering
  • Project for M.Sc. Thesis – Cochlear LTD (Healthcare), Sydney, Australia
    Developed program for “Configuring Hearing Prosthesis for Young Children”; focus on the behavioral research of children’s response to Cochlea implants, with graphical cues for configuration of hearing prosthesis microprocessor.

Certifications/courses

  • Management Excellence for Leaders of the Future – Microsoft Corporation
  • Certified Motorcycle Safety Instructor – WA State Certified, Motorcycle Safety Foundation Curriculum

 


 

SOCIAL


Keywords: software defined datacenter, SAAS, software defined storage, vice president alliances, Microsoft alliance manager, Intel alliance manager, software partner, business development, storage virtualization, channel partners, distributors, cloud programs, Azure, Windows Server, System Center, Hyper-V, ESX, VMware, Cisco, Citrix, Dell, Lenovo, hyper-converged, internet of things, server consolidation, big data, flash storage, SSD, caching software, metro cluster, high availability, disaster recovery, backup, SharePoint, SQL Server, StorSimple, IAMCP, MPN, Salesforce, SAP, OpenStack, open source, Linux, HP/UX, Solaris, Avnet, Ingram Micro, Lifeboat, Immix, Arrow, Insight