Nicola (Nick) Sanna

 info@nicksanna.com 

Summary

Market-driven, growth-stage CEO/COO. Successfully developed high tech organizations into early market leaders both in the US and in Europe.

  • Average yearly growth rate of operations exceeded 50% for most of past 15 years.
  • Directly contributed to the planning and growth of an infrastructure mgmt. software company from $9M to $150M.
  • Grew EMEA branch from 0 to $12M+ in 3 years. Grew start-up’s sales from 1 to $6M in 2 years.

Hands-on operations, marketing, product management, direct and indirect sales experience for diverse product lines.

  • Managed organizations of up to $150M-700 people. Talented at attracting, growing, motivating management teams.
  • Established global distribution channels and strategic partnerships with market leaders (HP, Dell, Oracle/Sun, BMC…).
  • Effective influencer of industry research analysts.

Familiar with capital marketplace.

  • Completed multiple equity and debt financing rounds with prime venture capitalists and venture banks.

Servant-leader leadership style.

  • E&Y Entrepreneur of Year Finalist (Washington region 2008)
  • AeA High-tech Entrepreneur of Year (Florida 2002)

Masters in Economics & Business, 110/110 cum laude, University La Sapienza, Rome, 1991.

  • Scaling Your Business – Stanford Graduate School of Business Course, 2014
  • Business Administration & Strategic Planning – College dei Cavalieri del Lavoro, Rome, 1986-1990 (Scholarship from the Foundation of Italy’s top Entrepreneurs/Industrialists)
  • Fluent in English, French, Italian, German. Intermediate Spanish.
  • Born in Vienna, Austria. Dual US and EU citizenship.

Professional Experience

CXOWARE, Inc. – Leading SaaS provider of cyber risk management solutions (3/2015-)
President

Strategy & Management Consultant (9/2014-2/2015)

  • Analyzed and re-defined strategy to launch new cyber-risk management solution, including market study, competitive analysis, solutions design, launch and growth strategy, strategic goals setting, strategic planning.
  • Designed new websites for new commercial offering and for parallel user community.

Various
Board Member and Advisor

  • Digital Risk Management Institute (10/2014-2/2015)
  • Waverley Labs, Security Services and Software Company (9/2014-2/2015)
  • Netuitive (7/2014-12/2014)
  • Blankchat, Social Media Marketing Startup (8/2014-)
  • School of Business and Economics at the Catholic University of America (9/2011-)
  • The Economy of Communion, Social Entrepreneurship Initiative (9/2007-)

Netuitive, Inc. – Leading provider of Predictive Analytics for IT – Reston, VA – 9/2002-6/2014
President and CEO, Board Member

  • Turned failed start-up into recognized leader in its category.
  • Analyzed market and re-defined growth strategy. Assembled hands-on management team; refined go-to-market strategy for whole new product category over time: from initial OEMs to Enterprise Sales and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).
  • Sold $100m+ in software to prestigious customer base of early adopters, including eight of top ten banks (Bank of America, Citi,..), many leading telecom (Verizon, Vodafone,..) and e-Commerce companies (eBay PayPal, Amadeus,..).
  • Received multiple awards for analytics solution: Morgan Stanley CTO Innovation award 2011 – Codie Best Systems Mgmt software 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 – Best of VMworld 2007, 2009, 2011.

e-Security, Inc. – Rockledge, FL – Internet Security Management Software Company – 2/2000-9/2002
President and CEO, Board Member

  • Reorganized start-up, spin-off of ASG. Analyzed market and validated product strategy, recruited management, completed equity round, established global sales channels, grew sales and established product management process.
  • Positioned company as early market leader in the security information and event management space.
  • Grew revenues from $1m to $6m in 2 years.
  • Company was ultimately sold to Novell.

Allen Systems Group (ASG), Inc. – Largest Solely Owned Systems Software Company – Naples, FL & Paris, France – 10/1996-1/2000 & 3/1994-8/1995
Chief Operating Officer 

During my tenure at ASG, revenues have grown from $9m to $150m+.

  • Managed day-to-day operations worldwide.
  • Supervised integration of 4 acquisitions: Viasoft, a Platinum division, Beta Systems US, NSA.
  • Directed the creation of a Product Management organization and helped define the company’s positioning.

Vice President Sales EMEA   

  • Defined growth strategy for European market.
  • Launched EMEA operations for ASG: after 3 years, revenues exceeded $12M and ASG’s penetration in large corporations was at 50% in France, 40% in the UK, 40% in Italy and 30% in Germany.
  • Identified and helped negotiate 2 European acquisitions.

Amplitude International – Security Software Vendor – Paris, France – 8/1995-10/1996
Vice President of Sales & Marketing

  • Analyzed market and competitive environment. Defined go-to-market strategy.
  • Built sales and marketing organization.
  • Created Partner Program and established indirect distribution channel.
  • V-Analyst product became the #1 antivirus in France with 35% market share, until Symantec acquired the product.