|
Bob Bortner is skilled in international business
management strategy, technology access and utilization, with expertise
in cross-cultural people skills and database design.
Bob founded the Community Empowerment Network in 2001. Since then, Bob
has engaged with multiple public and private-sector partners for
projects in South Africa, Latin America, East
and South Asia.
Bob coordinated serveral projects for
Greenstar Corporation in South Africa and Brazil.
He has helped to establish the business case for programs in the
village of Kgautswane, Limpopo Province, and to identify how
Greenstar will participate in the World Summit on Sustainable
Development in Johannesburg. He continues to advise the community
on a variety of development efforts.
In Brazil Bob is currently managing a set of joint Greenstar, Sandia
National Labs and USAID projects along the Rio
Tapajós in the Amazon and attempting to develop a third
project near Rio Branco in Acre state. These projects
will involve the construction of solar powered, internet enabled
telecenters and then work closely with local partners and the community
to integrate the technology into a wide variety of development efforts,
including potentially the Greenstar Digital Culture Program.
Over the past couple of years, Bob has also assisted with the
utilization of IT in a number of development efforts including Tarahaat
in India, Fundação Pensamento Digital in Porto
Alegre Brazil and Digital Partners in the US.
Previous business experience includes work as a Corporate Account
Representative, Headquarters Sales, for Microsoft Corporation,
running a virtual team based in Redmond, Washington responsible for
developing customer satisfaction, identification of customer
information technology needs, and contract negotiation.
Bob's team was responsible for managing and implementing a marketing
program targeted at converting influential Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect
users and their workgroups to MS Word and MS Excel, working closely
with over 300 channel partners to build their business development
skills, marketing and sales resources and to engage in corporate
accounts.
He also served as Territory Manager for Small and Medium-Sized
Businesses, Enterprise and Channel Sales, in the U.S. Great Lakes
District, and was also responsible for Anti-Piracy efforts for the
headquarters district.
Previously, Bob Bortner was an independent consultant in Washington,
D.C. and Seattle, WA, who pursued market development and distribution
opportunities for a variety of products, including computer software.
He successfully developed a distribution network in Puerto Rico,
and researched and co-authored studies involving satellite telecenters
utilization in the Dominican Republic. He was also involved
with the management of petrochemical project task force with Trinidad
while working with the Puerto Rico Economic Development Administration
as Industrial Promotions Officer. His primary responsibility for
generating US, Far East and European investment in a five-nation
Caribbean territory and managing relationship between the Puerto Rico
Government and those countries. This earlier work also generated over
$300 million investment in Trinidad and Barbados in a
two year period.
Bob oversaw and managed all aspects of the
participation by four Puerto Rican government agencies and 10
exhibitors in international trade shows in Trinidad. He also researched
and implemented counter-trade exchange in Brazil for International
Trade and Investments, Chicago, IL, which involved identifying target
products, locating and negotiating with US buyers and Brazilian
suppliers.
He worked closely with top management from pharmaceutical, chemical,
electronics, metallurgy and other industries to promote investment
sites and expedite relocation. Key investors included General Electric,
Schering Plough, Mobil Oil, GTE, ICI, and Matsushita. Bob met regularly
met with key government officials in the region, including the Chief
Minister of the British Virgin Islands and the former Secretary of
State of Puerto Rico. These efforts resulted in more than 20 projects,
together worth $500 million.
Bob Bortner holds a Masters of Arts degree in International Affairs,
with emphasis in International Economics, Social Change and Development
from Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C. and Bologna, Italy. He
also earned BA in Chemistry with a minor in Business from Indiana
University, Bloomington, IN and the University of Kent in Canterbury,
England.
|
