William Crossman
Bill Crossman is a senior management professional with international and domestic experience as CEO, COO and CFO of enterprises ranging from entrepreneurial start-ups to Fortune 100 level companies. He has a proven track record of successfully commercializing emerging technologies - creating a clearly focused strategic vision and business plan through team-based development – then implementing the plan by developing distribution channels and forming strategic alliances to drive revenue growth and increase shareholder value.
As CEO of ISOPur Fluid Technologies, Crossman led the company’s development from beta-stage product introduction to global growth with expanding applications in multiple vertical markets. After re-engineering the corporate governance, intellectual property protection, legal and financial structure of the company, he created a long-term strategic vision and business plan, and led the commercialization of the company’s unique fluid purification technology. Despite a weak economy and severely restricted capital spending by industrial customers, sales grew from $100k to more than $1 million in one year. Bill initially raised $2 million from private equity investors and then $9 million from institutional and strategic investors in 2002 when venture capital investment was very limited. Important strategic alliances and OEM sales relationships were developed with Siemens, Atlas Copco, Hess MicroGen, Marubeni, Sanwa Shoko, BHP Billiton, and others, creating a platform for continued strong growth. The value of the founding shareholders’ common stock increased more than tenfold in less than three years under Crossman’s leadership.
As Chief Financial Officer of Otis Elevator Company – Asia Pacific Operations, Crossman implemented a broad asset management program spanning operations in 23 countries that resulted in a 53% improvement in Return On Assets. He also developed acquisitions, joint ventures and major capital investments in Japan, China, Korea, Australia, India and Southeast Asia. He contributed to profit growth of 20% per year and market share gains of 1% per year in this mature $1.5 billion operation, despite aggressive competition from large Asian conglomerates. Bill also worked as Vice President of Marketing & Business Development of a maritime company where he was responsible for the commercial development of the ocean bulk transportation business, including the development of a $180 million LNG transportation project.
As a management consultant, Crossman has helped CEOs and COOs of technology companies, manufacturing operations and service firms alike to leverage their companies by creating team-based organizations focused to achieve continuous improvement of their manufacturing and business processes. He led the implementation of best practice strategies that consistently achieved dramatic improvements in productivity, quality and responsiveness. Typical results include productivity gains of 100% or more, reduction of lead-times by 60 to 95%, inventory reductions of 70+%, and elimination of overtime. He also created the Kaizen Blitz program for the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME). This ultimately involved more than 100 manufacturing companies across the US as host organizations and became the subject of a video and book entitled The Kaizen Blitz. Bill holds a BS degree from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point and a MBA from the University of California – Berkeley.