Larry Pendergrass
Management Consulting Expert
Location
Portland, United States
Toptal Member Since
April 19, 2022
Larry is an expert in product development and has commercialized 200+ products. With 40 years in high tech, including 20 years as an executive, he specializes in complex combinations of hardware and software. He has leadership and direct experience in all aspects of product development, including engineering, manufacturing, and marketing. Larry's enterprise experience includes HP, Agilent, and Keithley, which was purchased by Tektronix/Danaher. He has an MBA and a master's degree in physics.
Larry is available for hire
Hire LarryCareer Highlights
Owner
ExecNPD Source, LLC
VP of WiFi Development | Site General Manager
Keysight Technologies
EVP of New Products | CTO
Keithley Instruments (Purchased by Tektronix/Danaher)
Education
Master's Degree
Case Western Reserve University
Case Studies
Business Process Re-engineering for a Business Unit
New Product DevelopmentProduct ManagementManufacturingEngineeringLeadershipChange Leadership+ 32 more
Establishment of Strategy and Project Portfolio Management
New Product DevelopmentProduct ManagementManufacturingLeadershipLeadership DevelopmentProject Leadership+ 17 more
Expertise
Business Process Improvement (BPI)Engineering ManagementInnovation ManagementNew Product DevelopmentProject Cycle TimeProject Portfolio Management (PPM)StrategyWork Experience
2021 - PRESENT
Owner
ExecNPD Source, LLC
- Performed executive management consulting for new product development.
- Served board members and executives from primarily high-tech companies.
- Consulted on new product development pipelines: product management, including strategy and project portfolio management; engineering execution; and leadership training and development.
- Published a book entitled Core Tenets for New Product Development Leaders, available on Amazon.
Focus areas: New Products, New Product Development, Product Strategy, Product Management, Project Portfolio Management (PPM), Program Management, Strategy, Corporate Planning, Engineering Management, Business Process Improvement (BPI), Management Consulting, Executive Coaching, Operations Improvement, Business Strategy, Innovation Management, Execution, Project Cycle Time, Organizational Design, Organizational Behavior (OB), Risk Analysis, Appreciative Inquiry (AI), Metrics, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Business Process Re-engineering, Software Development Management, Hardware Development, Agile Program Management, Leadership, Change Leadership, Quality Management, Project Leadership, Team Leadership, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Leadership Strategy, Executive Consulting, Executive Presentations, Project Management, Change Management
2018 - 2021
VP of WiFi Development | Site General Manager
Keysight Technologies
- Served as the wifi test systems business owner and site GM, owning the P&L, wifi engineering, product management, and manufacturing. Managed 70 people in five sites in the United States, Canada, and Europe and an $11 million annual budget.
- Integrated an acquired company with a startup culture into Keysight, bringing the necessary structure and process to make it a successful division. This was a major change management project.
- Spearheaded a complex re-engineering plan to improve product strategy, planning, and development; manufacturing; and customer focus. This included massive changes in processes, training, tools, equipment, leverage/reuse, and platform management.
- Replaced the entire management team in engineering, increased communications to the team and sponsors, and nurtured executive-level relationships with key customers.
- Implemented changes that significantly improved teamwork, morale, shipment quality, assurance of supply, customer-focused design, and cross-functional decision-making while reducing attrition from 20% to 2% per year.
- Created a NIST traceable manufacturing test process, reduced the backlog by 10x, and improved manufacturing quality by 5x.
- Revealed design philosophy issues inherent in the architecture and plotted a course toward future improvements, including high leverage/reuse across the entire company. Execution led to 2x revenue growth and gross profit in two years.
Focus areas: Product Management, Manufacturing, Business Ownership, R&D, Engineering, Leadership, Leadership Development, Software QA, Production & Quality, Wireless Systems, Change Leadership, Project Leadership, Team Leadership, P&L Responsibility, Strategy, Organizational Behavior (OB), Innovation Management, Execution, New Product Development, Project Cycle Time, Engineering Management, Project Portfolio Management (PPM), Organizational Design, Marketing, International Commerce, Operations Management, Supply Chain Management (SCM), Risk Analysis, Negotiation, Appreciative Inquiry (AI), Metrics, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Business Process Re-engineering, Software Development Management, Hardware Development, Agile Program Management, Business Strategy, Operations Improvement, Product Strategy, Electronics, Quality Management, P&L Management, Program Management, Marketing Management, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Leadership Strategy, Executive Presentations, New Products, Business Process Improvement (BPI), Process Improvement, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Project Management, Change Management
2016 - 2018
EVP of Engineering | CTO
uBeam Inc. (Now SonicEnergy)
- Served as an executive team member, officer, EVP of new products, and CTO. Owned research, engineering, and creation and management of the product management department. Managed around 25 people at two sites with a $7 million annual budget.
- Led significant aspects of this late-stage, pre-sales startup focused on wireless power transfer to cell phones through airborne ultrasound.
- Performed managerial and technical work, including system and non-linear acoustics modeling, airborne ultrasonic transducers, phased arrays, a vision system, beamforming, firmware, and software.
- Produced a POC model used for technology validation, public demos, and fundraising of $10 million+. Drove a change in strategy from the initial target market and product to a more practical product-market fit.
Focus areas: Product Management, R&D, Engineering, Hardware Design, Leadership, Leadership Development, Business Strategy, Product Strategy, Strategy, Acoustics, Consumer Electronics, Project Leadership, Team Leadership, Innovation Management, Execution, New Product Development, Engineering Management, Marketing, International Commerce, Operations Management, Supply Chain Management (SCM), Legal, Risk Analysis, Negotiation, Appreciative Inquiry (AI), Manufacturing, Metrics, Software Development Management, Hardware Development, Operations Improvement, Materials Science, Electronics, Quality Management, Change Leadership, Program Management, Marketing Management, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Leadership Strategy, Executive Coaching, Executive Presentations, New Products, Corporate Planning, Process Improvement, Market Research, Project Management, Change Management
2015 - 2016
SVP of Engineering
Loud Technologies, Inc. (Now LOUD Audio)
- Served as an executive team member, officer, and SVP of new products, sharing P&L responsibility with the executive team and partnering with the product management team.
- Managed around 60 people in four sites in the United States, Canada, and China and a $12 million annual budget.
- Led new product engineering, including digital and analog audio mixers, PA and studio monitor loudspeakers, recording interfaces, and guitar amplifiers.
- Advised a less experienced product management director on product strategy, roadmaps, and project portfolio management.
- Completely re-engineered the organization. Devised and initiated a significant change management project to create a world-class product development organization.
- Transitioned toward modern design and development techniques, including Lean, Agile, and Flow. Increased design outsourcing, rapid prototyping, platform management, and financially and metric-driven actions.
Focus areas: R&D, Engineering, Acoustics, Audio, Project Portfolio Management (PPM), Product Management, Leadership, Leadership Development, Business Strategy, Product Strategy, Strategy, Consumer Electronics, Change Leadership, Project Leadership, Team Leadership, P&L Responsibility, Organizational Behavior (OB), Innovation Management, Execution, New Product Development, Project Cycle Time, Engineering Management, Organizational Design, Marketing, International Commerce, Operations Management, Supply Chain Management (SCM), Risk Analysis, Negotiation, Appreciative Inquiry (AI), Metrics, Business Process Re-engineering, Software Development Management, Hardware Development, Agile Program Management, Operations Improvement, Software QA, Production & Quality, Electronics, Quality Management, P&L Management, Program Management, Marketing Management, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Leadership Strategy, Executive Coaching, Executive Presentations, New Products, Corporate Planning, Business Process Improvement (BPI), Process Improvement, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Project Management, Change Management
2012 - 2015
Principal
TechZecs, LLC
- Completed around 40 consulting assignments over three years. Generated new executive-level contracts and executed project-based consulting.
- Served as one of 15 senior executive consultants, providing consulting services to executives from high-tech companies.
- Consulted on M&A targets and partnerships, corporate and product strategy assessment and training, product management, project portfolio management, operations and execution improvements, and leadership development.
Focus areas: Management Consulting, Product Management, R&D, Engineering, Leadership Development, Manufacturing, Operations Improvement, Business Strategy, Product Strategy, Project Portfolio Management (PPM), Strategy, Innovation Management, New Product Development, Execution, Project Cycle Time, Engineering Management, Organizational Design, Operations Management, Risk Analysis, Appreciative Inquiry (AI), Metrics, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Business Process Re-engineering, Software Development Management, Hardware Development, Medical Devices, Agile Program Management, Leadership, Production & Quality, Quality Management, Change Leadership, Project Leadership, Team Leadership, P&L Management, Program Management, Marketing Management, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Leadership Strategy, P&L Responsibility, Executive Coaching, Executive Consulting, Executive Presentations, Due Diligence, New Products, Corporate Planning, Business Process Improvement (BPI), Process Improvement, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Market Research, Project Management, Change Management
2003 - 2012
EVP of New Products | CTO
Keithley Instruments (Purchased by Tektronix/Danaher)
- Served as an executive team member, officer, EVP of products, and CTO. Shared P&L responsibility with the executive team and partnered with the product management team. Managed 200+ people in the US, China, and India and a $37 million annual budget.
- Increased revenue by 35%, gross margins by 10 pts, and revenue from new products to 35%.
- Created new capabilities in RF wireless, ultrafast pulse, and CV, adding $30 million in annual incremental revenue.
- Launched two new-to-company product categories (an RF vector signal analyzer and source) within two years of the first hires, delivering $10 million in first-year revenue. The products were recognized for leadership and received numerous awards.
- Significantly reduced project cost and cycle time by introducing forward-looking platform management; rapid prototyping; and Lean, Agile, and Flow methods.
- Improved schedule accuracy by more than 3x, reduced cycle time by more than 30%, and increased the number of product releases by 5x for platforms and 10x for extensions.
- Improved the quality of products 2-4x while eliminating manufacturing burn-in.
- Completed pre-offer research for 65 potential acquisitions with annual revenue ranging from $10 million to $700 million.
- Improved EAR compliance and established an ITAR-compliant product development process, reducing annual revenue at risk by $10 million.
- Nurtured relationships with key customer executives, contributing to $10 million per year in salvaged contracts.
Focus areas: New Product Development, R&D, Engineering, Software QA, Leadership, Leadership Development, Business Strategy, Product Strategy, Product Management, Quality Management, Wireless Systems, Change Leadership, Project Leadership, Team Leadership, P&L Responsibility, Strategy, Organizational Behavior (OB), Innovation Management, Execution, Project Cycle Time, Engineering Management, Organizational Design, Marketing, International Commerce, Operations Management, Legal, Risk Analysis, Negotiation, Manufacturing, Metrics, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Business Process Re-engineering, Software Development Management, Hardware Development, Agile Program Management, Operations Improvement, Production & Quality, Electronics, P&L Management, Program Management, Marketing Management, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Leadership Strategy, Executive Presentations, New Products, Corporate Planning, Business Process Improvement (BPI), Process Improvement, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Due Diligence, Project Management, Change Management
1981 - 2003
Engineering, Science, and Management Roles
Agilent Technologies (Previously Part of HP)
- Progressed through design engineering, physics, product management, team lead, and management positions up to director level.
- Led or contributed to breakthroughs in a wide range of industry solutions: medical imaging, semiconductors and other discrete devices, materials research and crystal growth, test and measurement, and wireless communications.
- Played a pivotal role in innovations and advances in diverse technologies: electronics, photonics and optics, acoustics, magnetics, DSP, RF and microwave, and embedded and application software.
Focus areas: Medical Devices, Materials Science, Physics, Optics, Acoustics, Growth, Wireless Systems, Photonics, Simulations, Project Leadership, Team Leadership, Execution, New Product Development, Innovation Management, Project Cycle Time, Engineering Management, International Commerce, Operations Management, Risk Analysis, Quantum Electronics, Manufacturing, Business Ownership, Metrics, Software Development Management, Hardware Development, Business Strategy, R&D, Engineering, Hardware Design, Software Design, Operations Improvement, Product Strategy, Leadership, Software QA, Production & Quality, Electronics, Quality Management, Change Leadership, Program Management, Marketing Management, New Products, Process Improvement, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Education
2007 - 2009
Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA)
Case Western Reserve University - Cleveland, OH, USA
1978 - 1981
Master's Degree in Physics
University of California - Davis, CA, USA
1975 - 1978
Bachelor's Degree in Physics
California State University - San Diego, CA
Certifications
SEPTEMBER 2006 - PRESENT
Leadership Development Program
Eckerd College
AUGUST 2006 - PRESENT
Strategic Marketing Management
Stanford Graduate School of Business
AUGUST 2005 - PRESENT
Management of High-Tech Companies
AeA/Stanford Executive Education