Rossen Petkov
Senior Executive
Summary
Senior Commercial Executive with significant achievements in growing and transforming businesses, large and small.
A business leader at heart, experienced in developing and leading high performing teams, through ultra competitive markets, in B2B, B2C, e-commerce channels across Central and Eastern Europe for major enterprises like Nokia and Microsoft.
Solid track record of design and implementation of integrated Revenue Growth Management
approaches and plans to drive topline revenue growth and margin expansion with Customers and Partners across South East Europe countries.
Commercial leadership experience of building multi-year capability plans to drive joint value creation with Partners and Customers Broad expertise spanning General Management, Commercial & Finance, Sales, Technical
Sales, Marketing, Brand Management, Customers & Consumers segmentation, P&L, Channels and Business partners management, Revenue Growth Management, Business & Channel strategy, Products and Services management, Go To Market, Distribution
(Enterprise, SME, Retail, Consumer, Online).
Goal-oriented Commercial manager with superior ability to think from planning to execution.
Overview
21
21
years of professional experience
1
1
Language
Work History
Board Advisor
Bulgarian Air Traffic Control Agency
01.2022 - Current
- Strengthening company's financial performance with diligent oversight of budgetary processes and risk management.
- Serving as ambassador for company at public events or conferences where appropriate representation was needed from board members'' perspectives.
- Assisting in developing effective succession planning strategies to ensure continuity in leadership positions over time.
- Participation in board committees focused on audit, compensation, nomination or other areas related to governance excellence.
- Spearheaded initiatives to optimize operational efficiency, reducing costs while maintaining service quality levels
General Manager South East Europe & CIS
HMD Global
11.2016 - 01.2022
- Lead building multi-year capability plans to drive joint value creation with Customers and Business partners;
- Drive orchestration (including commercial, sales, marketing, go-to-market, channel management) to grow business impact across Customers and Partners portfolio.
- Provide leadership to build right partner capacity and capabilities from within existing ecosystem through recruitment of key new partners aligned with broader needs for Area.
- Regional KPI's set accountable - profitability, product mix, subscriptions, renewals rate, market share, brand awareness, activations.
- Build and maintain strategic partnering relationship with new and existing customers and partners.
- Responsible for entire business processes, commercial and trade value proposition, partner relationship management.
- Influence Europe leadership to align strategy and resources to help team achieve targets
- Continuous win-win negotiations with customers and channels.
- Maintain price integrity, discount control, awareness of regional metrics (expense control, headcount, productivity).
- Proactively support continuous improvement of assigned staff's personal development and motivation.
- Develop and sustain credibility and trust within assigned accounts and build key relationships inside accounts.
- Build key relationships across functional teams to most effectively leverage business resources.
- Deliver business strategy and develop procedures to improve operational quality and team efficiency
Business Group Lead South East Europe & CIS
Microsoft Corporation
05.2014 - 11.2016
- Led customers and partner engagement, business growth strategy and overall customers and partner performance for 180+ direct Operator customers, Retailers, Distributor Partners and Resellers at Microsoft in 13 countries in CEE.
- Surfaced new revenue opportunities, enhancing pipeline to boost revenue area wide by launching Windows phone OS and App store across area. Increased total sales by 22% across 13 countries.
- Built high impact relationships with customers' and partners' senior leadership.
- Managed team of 15 direct reports ( people managers and individual contributors ), overseeing hiring, training, and professional growth of employees.
- Set and managed quotas and drove full sales and marketing cycle.
- Set aspirational goals and drove team towards success while ensuring effective teaming and coordination between roles and across teams to win business and remove blockers.
- Drove sales, revenue and activations KPI's to goals.
- Accountable for financial targets, profitability, products, and services mix and market share targets achievement.
- Orchestrated continuous win-win negotiations with partners, customers, and channels.
- Maintained price integrity, discount control and awareness of regional metrics (expense control, headcount, productivity).
- Proactively supported continuous improvement of team members personal development and motivation.
- Developed and sustained credibility and trust within assigned local and global accounts. Built key relationships inside accounts up to C level.
General Manager Romania & Balkans
Nokia Corporation
01.2010 - 04.2014
- Led team of 15 direct reports - Sales, Marketing, Finance, Go To Market, Logistics, Products and Care ( people managers and individual contributors ) for Nokia Corporation with full P&L ownership in 8 countries (Romania and Balkans Area).
- Drove year-over-year business growth while leading operations, strategic vision and long-range planning.
- Achieved $380 million in sales ( smart and feature phones ) first year increasing it to $420 million in next three years
- Exceeded 52% market share in 5 consecutive years across all measurable countries (source GfK).
- Managed annual marketing budget in excess of $20 million
- Monitored and analyzed market opportunities, trends and shifts in competitive landscape.
- Owned business decision to identify new areas and channels of growth.
- Led countries strategy creation and communication translating long-term strategy into near-term objectives.
- Carried out continuous business analysis of existing portfolio by keeping close track of portfolio entities through business case development and follow-up over agreed timeline.
- Managed products and services business plan process including product strategy, market and customer segmentation, balance of investment on product functionality areas.
Executive Board Member
Bulgarian Air Traffic Control Agency
01.2010 - 01.2014
- Managed risk exposure effectively through regular assessment of potential threats and implementation of mitigation strategies.
- Ensured compliance with regulatory requirements by promoting adherence to relevant laws, policies, and industry best practices.
- Collaborated with other board members to develop and execute programs and initiatives to advance organizational mission.
- Provided guidance and leadership on strategic planning initiatives and organizational development.
- Oversaw business-wide changes to modernize procedures and organization.
Country Manager Nokia Bulgaria
Nokia Corporation
01.2008 - 01.2010
- Led Sales, Marketing, Finance, Go To Market, Logistics, Product Management and Customer Care team of 15 direct reports for Nokia Corporation with full P&L ownership and accountability.
- Provided leadership to build right partner capacity and capabilities from within existing ecosystem and through recruitment of key new partners aligned with broader needs for Company.
- Initiated and deployed Direct Business Mode blueprint ( selling direct to some of key Operator and Retail customers ) taken further as case study and implemented broadly across Europe.
- Drove company profits by developing and strengthening relationships with industry partners and potential clients.
- Developed and drove partner engagement strategy across enablement and business growth for Country.
- Led partner engagement, business growth strategy and overall partner performance in Country.
- Built high impact relationships with partners' senior leadership.
Account Executive
Nokia Corporation
08.2006 - 01.2008
- End-to-end accountable for overall business with key partners and accounts including strategy, planning, execution, advocacy governance and learning.
- Accountable for growing business of Nokia customers and partners through planning, executing and landing impactful Marketing and Go-To-Market (GTM) campaigns.
- Responsible for creating and managing existing and future sales revenue with specific accounts, within defined products and business areas with primary focus on sell-in activities and coordination of trade marketing, marketing activation campaigns and B2B.
- Led cross functional team to develop and maintain relationships with multiple decision makers and stakeholders.
- Drove new business development through qualifying leads, building relationships and executing strategic sales.
- Increased profitability and pipeline development by leveraging diverse marketing channels and sales strategies.
- Secured high-value accounts through consultative selling, effective customer solutions and promoting compelling business opportunities.
Commercial Director
Kontrax Ltd.
08.2003 - 08.2006
- Managed end to end commercial activities of Kontrax Ltd. – Nr.1 IT&C System Integrator in Bulgaria (source IDC Bulgaria); namely sales, marketing, products and services.
- Surpassed yearly sales targets 12% (revenue grew up to $ 20 million ) consistently and maintained solid Nr.1 System Integrator rankings ( revenue and profit ).
- Led team of highly professional employees spread across 28 regional offices including HQ.
- Identified and recruited 400 reseller partners country wide to expand business and achieve revenue goals.
- Defined right market positioning of company, conceptualizing new business opportunities for company, reviewing and monitoring marketing and sales plans and directing market assessments, surveys, trends analysis and competitor's intelligence.
- Assessed and proposed establishment of new business relationships.
- Built company image in market and endorsed strategic aspects of relationship between company and key clients including Government, Corporate customers and SME.
- Ultimate owner of negotiating contract terms and conditions with customers.
- Observed tight deadlines and strict budgetary controls to avoid waste and streamline costs.
- Performed duties in accordance with all applicable standards, policies and regulatory guidelines to promote safe working environment.
- Used coordination and planning skills to achieve results according to schedule.
Education
Diploma - Business Management
Wharton Business School
Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaMaster of Science - Computer Science And Programming
Technical University of Sofia
Bulgaria 04.2001 -
Skills
- Deep understanding of Partner business models, industry and competition
- Proven track record of building business relationships with CEO's, CIO's, CTO's, CXOs
- Inclusive and collaborative - driving teamwork, diversity and cross-team alignment
- Strong executive presence including communication skills, presentation skills with high degree of comfort to large and small audiences
15 Years of experience in revenue growth & commercial management, products, services and channel marketing, partner channel development in Telecom & CES industries
- Financial Management and Budgeting
- Channel Strategy
- Extensive experience of managing people and virtual teams across functions and geographies
- Business Development and Planning
- Commercial Strategy Development
- Change Leadership Experience
- P&L management and responsibility experience
- Territory Management
Accomplishments
Winner of the Evrika Foundation Award for “Young Manager” in 2003. The Evrika Foundation Award for young manager is given to a young person under 35, who has achieved the best results in the field of management and has proven his or her entrepreneurial spirit, assertiveness, communication ability, and language or computer skills.
Timeline
Board Advisor
Bulgarian Air Traffic Control Agency
01.2022 - Current
General Manager South East Europe & CIS
HMD Global
11.2016 - 01.2022
Business Group Lead South East Europe & CIS
Microsoft Corporation
05.2014 - 11.2016
General Manager Romania & Balkans
Nokia Corporation
01.2010 - 04.2014
Executive Board Member
Bulgarian Air Traffic Control Agency
01.2010 - 01.2014
Country Manager Nokia Bulgaria
Nokia Corporation
01.2008 - 01.2010
Account Executive
Nokia Corporation
08.2006 - 01.2008
Commercial Director
Kontrax Ltd.
08.2003 - 08.2006
Master of Science - Computer Science And Programming
Technical University of Sofia
04.2001 -
Diploma - Business Management
Wharton Business School
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