 |
Making his Move
By John Hanc
Michael Oliveri (B.S. '93) earned his undergraduate degree at NYIT the hard way: He went at night, taking one or two classes a semester over the course of six years. "At that time, managing a $50 million business, with a wife and two kids, and going to school, it was real tough," he says
.
But it paid off. Oliveri graduated in May, '93 and two months later was promoted to director at Tektronix-the high-tech corporation he had joined in 1973 as a shipping clerk. He moved to the company's headquarter in Beaverton, Ore., and in short order was promoted vice president of Americas sales and marketing and later, vice president of worldwide sales operations.
This year, he was paid the ultimate compliment, when the competition came calling: In April, LeCroy Corp., a leading supplier of high-performance digital oscilloscopes, recruited Oliveri as vice president of Americas sales.
Oscilloscopes are instruments that measure electronic signals. They're used to test the speed and accuracy of everything from a Pentium chip to the microprocessor in your dishwasher, meaning that in this wired, chip-driven world of ours, they are an essential part of life (see related story, p. 22).
LeCroy-which is based in Chestnut Ridge, N.Y.-is a $150 million business. Oliveri's clients include household names like Motorola, Intel, Nextel, JDS Uniphase and Nokia.
"Those are our top accounts," he crows. "It's exciting to work with state-of-the-art equipment and state-of-the-art companies," I really enjoy seeing emerging technology before everyone else gets to."
Oliveri also enjoys the pure competition of his job. "Sales is a battle," he says. "It's really great to see the results of your effort."
And his results have been noticed. "I have known Mike for almost 20 years and have been impressed by his consistent ability to move aggressively to deliver impressive results," says LeCroy CEO Tom Reslewic.
Those same qualities that have made Oliveri a leading figure in high-tech marketing, manifested themselves in the classrooms of NYIT a decade ago-and, incidentally, also helped him develop his style of management.
"I like to build a team and staff and empower them to solve problems," he says. "Some of this I learned in those classes…about the importance of not trying to do it all yourself."
|
|
