Mike Harris
Studied at Owen Graduate School of Management (Vanderbilt)
Works at Harris CMO Partners
Available tomorrow
Starting at 7:00 PM UTC
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About Mike
I've spent 30 years building and leading marketing organizations for B2B and technology companies, including CMO and senior executive roles at Fortune 500 and growth-stage companies across SaaS, enterprise software, IT solutions, data storage, and data analytics—and I bring that experience directly into how I coach. My marketing leadership has contributed directly to four successful company exits: Givful (acquired by iSolved), MEDarchon (acquired by Xsolis), DataFrameworks (acquired by Dell Technologies), and Anacomp's Magnetics Division (acquired by a New York private equity firm). Across these engagements and 25+ years of prior executive leadership, I've built go-to-market strategies from scratch, run marketing operations engineered for top-tier execution, positioned companies for investor and board scrutiny, including pitching venture and private equity firms on Sand Hill Road and in New York, and led and scaled global marketing teams through growth, turnaround, and transition. I've owned P&Ls exceeding $100 million, sat with boards, and been the executive brought in to fix what wasn't working and prepare a company for its next chapter, whether that was a product launch, a turnaround, or an acquisition. Alongside this operating career, I've coached dozens of CEOs, CMOs, and marketing leaders, and spent four years mentoring MBA students at UC San Diego's Rady School of Management, one of whom recently reached back out, twenty years later, to ask me to mentor her again. If you're a founder or rising executive who wants a coach who has actually sat in the seat—who has built the strategy, run the operation, faced the board, and closed the deal—I bring that expertise and enthusiasm directly to you.
Why do I coach?
From my first day at Vanderbilt's business school, and throughout my career, I've worked with some of the best minds in business. I genuinely enjoy showing talented people how to see business challenges from a market perspective, and creating strategy and marketing that makes a positive impact quickly and efficiently. My focus is on strategic thinking and excellence in execution that delivers rock solid results to the sales pipe. I have created and led market-focused turnarounds at two $100 million SBUs, one at a $500 million company and another at a Fortune Global 100. As a marketing executive I helped lead four companies to positioning that led directly to successful exits. I enjoy sharing that knowledge and expertise with enthusiastic founders and executives, and helping them solve complex challenges with hands on guidance. After decades of applying these methods across dozens of companies and executives, I can look at a company's market position, or an executive's leadership presence, and quickly diagram what's needed to close the gap between where they are and where they want to be.
Work Experience
Founder
Harris CMO Partners
August 2002 - Present
Independent marketing executive and thought leadership creator with 30 years of B2B and technology marketing leadership, including executive and CMO roles at Fortune 500 and growth-stage companies, leading marketing organizations end to end. For the past several years, has operated independently as Founder of Harris CMO Partners, delivering CMO-caliber thought leadership and interim CMO leadership directly to technology and B2B clients, including engagements that led to three acquisitions (Dell Technologies, iSolved, and Xsolis) and a Fortune 500 financial services thought leadership program for JP Morgan. Brings the judgment of someone who has owned a $100 million P&L and sat with the board, combined with hands-on execution of all facets of B2B marketing.
VP Marketing & Investor Relations
Entrada
2000 - 2002
Recruited to build the marketing and investor relations function from the ground up for Entrada, a $25M venture-backed data storage company developing a router-based technology to transfer large data files over the internet, breaking through the ~10 km distance limit of fiber channel networks that had confined large file transfers to campus-like environments. The router broke files into encrypted packets for transfer and reassembled them at the destination. Built and led a 5-person marketing team and set the go-to-market strategy ahead of the company's product launch; organized and led briefings with leading industry analysts (including IDC, Gartner, and Enterprise Storage Group) and trade press to build market anticipation for the launch. Owned all investor relations materials and traveled with the CEO to pitch venture and private equity firms, including Sequoia Capital and other Sand Hill Road and New York investors and banks, generating strong investor interest and favorable press coverage. When the September 11 attacks froze technology investment and sales, was asked to wind down the marketing team; the company was unable to recover and ultimately folded.
VP Marketing, Magnetics Division
Anacomp
May 1998 - September 2000
● Recruited by Heidrick & Struggles to lead marketing for the $100M Magnetics Division of Anacomp, a $500M data storage company recently emerged from bankruptcy, with a mandate to turn the business around and prepare it for sale as the industry shifted away from magnetic tape toward higher-cost storage technologies the company was unwilling to fund. ● Convened the division's senior product experts, most with 10+ years of tenure, in a two-week working session to identify new growth opportunities from the company's existing strengths. The session surfaced a new proprietary service to migrate stored data from magnetic tape to modern storage formats for the company's base of 2,000 customers, many blue-chip financial services firms. ● Built and launched the go-to-market program for the new service, drawing on the division's deep customer trust and technical credibility. The service was an immediate success, generating $5M in revenue at significantly higher margins than legacy tape sales, and the division was acquired by a New York private equity firm within months.
Director of Marketing & Product Planning
Philips
April 1990 - October 1996
● Hired into international marketing with responsibility for Central and South America. ● Two years in, asked by the CEO to develop an exit strategy for the company's large-screen TV division, a $100M business that had once held dominant North American market share but had lost share and profitability for five consecutive years. After two weeks of independent analysis, made the contrarian recommendation to turn the division around rather than exit it. ● Given ownership of the division to lead the turnaround. Built the company's first cross-functional business team, a novel organizational model at the time. Within 18 months, stabilized market share and customer losses and swung income from operations from –$7M to +$5M.
Management Consultant
PwC
June 1988 - April 1990
● Researched and co-created market opportunity analysis for BellSouth supporting the company's entry into the cellular service industry; the team's analysis directly informed BellSouth's decision to enter the mobile services market. ● Researched and recommended business reorganizations for major manufacturers, including Westpoint Pepperell, a large textiles manufacturer. ● Recruited to Philips Electronics following the 1990 closure of the firm's Atlanta Business Planning practice during the recession. Note: My employer was Coopers & Lybrand, a predecessor to PwC.
Education
Owen Graduate School of Management (Vanderbilt)
MBA, Marketing
1984 - 1986
Full time student, graduated with MBA degree.
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Bachelor's Degree, Communications
1976 - 1981
Majored in journalism.