Ron has over 30 years of experience designing, developing and managing sales and marketing channels.  From 1978 through 1991, Ron was Apple’s key channel strategist, and as such, was central to Apple’s reputation as the innovator in channel development, as well as their growth from “start-up” to a $6.5 Billion market leader (at the time).  As one of Apple’s earliest management team members, he developed many channel policy and practice “firsts” that have since become industry standards. 

Following Apple, Ron was recruited to Sun Microsystems to create and direct the channel transition from the technical market space to the commercial server market. This required performing an overhaul of Sun’s existing world-wide channel architecture.  Ron led the company through the industry’s first (culturally difficult) process of transitioning from a “territory based” direct model to a “named account” partner integrated mix.  His leadership of this model was the first to achieve channel best practices and carried the weight of Sun’s growth from $3b to $19b. 

After leaving Sun in 1994 - but continuing to guide them as a client - Ron began the work to build Rohner & Associates into Silicon Valley premier channels consultancy.  Ron and his team of professionals have led scores of channel engagements for many of the most prominent companies in technology.  Names like Cisco, Sybase, Informix, Seagate, Apple, Sun, Aspect, Access, Remedy, Hyperion, and Microsoft have all benefited from Rohner & Associates strategic approach.

Taylor Pohlman rejoins Rohner & Associates in 2009 after serving as VP, Global Subscription and Support at Autodesk, Inc. the leading producer of design software, where he drove definition and growth of the customer Subscription business.  Over the last three fiscal years there, he grew Subscription and Support revenues 75 percent from $380M  to $700M while holding the expense growth rate to less than a third of revenue growth rates.

The Autodesk performance was another key contribution in a career that spans over 25 years of high-level management experience in the computer industry. That wealth of experience includes more than 20 years in all aspects of the personal computer and workstation hardware and software business utilizing both direct and indirect channels.  In addition to Autodesk, Mr. Pohlman has worked for leading companies such as Apple Computer and Sybase, and has extensive entrepreneurial experience as founder and president of several software companies, including venture-funded Forethought, Inc., original producer of FileMaker and PowerPoint.

As a founding member and twelve year principal in the consulting firm of Rohner & Associates, Taylor has worked with a wide variety of high technology clients, primarily focusing on the channel worthiness and readiness of services and product offerings to match channel requirements.  As an advisor and board member to technology companies, Mr. Pohlman has also helped dozens of companies achieve their plans and their potential.

Mr. Pohlman’s line management experience includes worldwide organizations as large as 700 people, with manufacturing, sales, marketing, development, and distribution and support functions, including enterprise and developer support.  As Director at Apple and Vice President of Sybase and Autodesk, he has had P&L responsibility for revenue up to 700 million dollars.  He has a track record of over-achieving revenue and contribution while consolidating and building organizations and holding expenses under budget.

Peiman Amoukhteh specializes in developing simulators, statistical models, and analytical tools. These tools help develop and communicate the channel strategy, as well as providing the client with an interactive tool for evaluating their own channel strategy parameters and alternatives.

Peiman has 20 years of industry experience in engineering, engineering management and corporate management. He has strong problem-solving and analytical skills, and extensive experience in statistics, systems dynamics, six-sigma, and theory of constraint. Peiman was President and COO of Comtel Electronics, was founder and CEO of S2i2, Inc. and was Director of Advanced Technology Group at Solectron Corporation.  

At Comtel Electronics, Peiman was responsible for the day-to-day operations; as well as performing due diligence on acquisition targets. At S2i2, an ISV, he co-developed and marketed a Quality Management System for discrete manufacturing and at Solectron he pioneered the company’s efforts into high-density interconnects. Peiman is also a frequent lecturer on systems dynamics, statistics, and process / product reliability.

Happily, Kurt Yeager rejoins Rohner and Associates after a recent five-year stint at Avaya as Global Channel Strategy Director.  Prior to that, Kurt was a valued member of the R&A team for five years. Kurt provides insight and situation analysis for any type of Rohner & Associates engagement.  He focuses on scenario modeling, financial modeling and metrics development, with an emphasis on the product proposition and channel partnering. 

Kurt’s strengths in conceptual thinking, analysis, and communications, coupled with a broad channel operational background enables him to quickly grasp and articulate a business problem, establish criteria, and develop creative solutions which can be successfully implemented. Kurt has twenty-three years of computer industry experience in sales, marketing, technical support, engineering, operations, business development and strategic planning, always with a channel-oriented development and implementation approach. 

At Silicon Graphics, Kurt launched strategic marketing initiatives for the Worldwide Customer Services organization, including international service channels and entry to the professional services business. He spent six years at Apple where his channel initiatives included the industry-leading PowerBook Service program, the Performa consumer channel initiative, and Apple’s launch of two-tier distribution.  Kurt’s technical and product focus was first developed at Triad, both in support and as a product manager for new hardware and software products.

Stuart is a channel journeyman with unique experience and expertise.  He is a lawyer and expert in distribution law.  Stuart has been leading initiatives and supporting the high technology industry for over 20 years, assisting technology companies in the design, implementation, operation and transition of their sales and marketing channels. This includes establishing compliance programs for monitoring internal and external channel activity, compliance boards for reviewing and adjudicating allegations of improper channel partner and employee conduct related to channel activity, and enforcement programs that utilize intellectual property and contract law to shut down illegal gray market and broker activity. 

Stuart served in-house for ten years as Sun Microsystems General Counsel for Worldwide Sales, managing a legal organization responsible for all aspects of ongoing and prospective commercial operations. In addition to providing legal expertise, Stuart has a wide range of functional and senior management experience in areas including channel engineering, vendor leasing, strategy and investment, strategic negotiations, and product development and marketing. 

Stuart has served as special counsel for the government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands and, while at Fenwick & West, as a consultant to the United States and Canadian Chambers of Commerce. He has authored such diverse publications as the "Marshall Islands Nuclear Claims Tribunal Act of 1987," Competition and Antidumping Laws in the Context of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (Ontario, 1991), and "Developments in Antitrust: Exclusionary Aspects of Licensing" (1990).

Mark has more than 25 years of experience in channel sales, sales management and corporate executive positions in the technology industry. He has held positions as VP of Channel Sales, VP Sales and VP Sales/Marketing in both public and private companies.

He has a wide range of experience in channel design, creation and management.  As a divisional President for Intelligent Electronics, he created some of the first channel programs in the microcomputer distribution industry.  At the time, Intelligent Electronics was a $3.5B microcomputer distribution and computer reseller franchise company.

Mark has worked with Rohner and Associates since its inception in 1994.  He has served as a consultant for such companies as Apple, Sun, NetApp and Microsoft. He has also been assigned as an interim VP Sales/Channels in assisting technology companies recruit and build sales and channel organizations.  His most recent positions were VP Sales, Persistence Software and VP Sales, Americas and Asia/Pacific for Qualys, Inc.

James Cape has been working in the Silicon Valley high technology industry since 1983.  During his first seventeen years he worked at Intel Corporation where he gained broad experience in a variety of sales and marketing positions including building Intel’s Enterprise Platform Group to a $1.5B business in less than 18 months through major OEMs, systems builders and white box makers; and developing key alliances with ~300 ISVs including industry leaders SAP, Oracle, Seibel, Novell, SCO, Rational and BEA.

In 2001 James left Intel to form a consulting practice focused primarily on channel program development, channel/market analysis, product launch (preparation and execution), marketing program development and “best practices” creation around key sales and marketing processes.  Client engagements include IBM, Intel, SanDisk, SGI and Phoenix Technologies.  James has been closely affiliated with Rohner and Associates since 2002.  Examples of clients James has focused on are projects at Network Appliance, Sun, Cisco, Seagate and NetManage.

As a seasoned channel professional, James has had many experiences working with a broad variety of partner types in both commercial and retail channels and is adept at linking product strategy to channel strategy while developing practical programs that positively impact partner behavior.

A highly experienced channel executive, Jim provides channel strategy development and implementation expertise to our client engagements.  To drive client revenue, Jim places emphasis on providing the client clear strategy with “street ready” implementation guidance.

With over 28 years in sales, channel sales, alliance development, and executive management positions, Jim brings to the firm a wealth of partner and customer facing experience.   Jim has held positions as VP worldwide Sales, VP Channel Sales, and VP worldwide alliance management in both startups and large multinational companies. 

As a line executive, Jim's channel management experience extends back to Apple's first “glory” days period (1980’s).  It was there that he initiated and led the industry's earliest engagement model of a direct sales force collaborating with partners to capture large enterprise and institutional accounts.  At Apple, he also helped build the company's systems integration organization, a first in the PC industry.  At the time, as one of the industry's dominant players, this helped Apple drive acceptance into the enterprise market through its national integration partners program.

More recently, Jim has led channel and alliance organizations at Digital Equipment, Informix AltaVista and FrontRange Solutions.  He has served as the president of a systems integration spin-off, and has operated his own consulting practice.