Robert J. Herbold

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (Retired), Microsoft Corporation
Managing Director, Herbold Group, LLC

Robert J. (Bob) Herbold, retired executive vice president and chief operating officer of Microsoft Corporation, is the Managing Director of Herbold Group, LLC, a consulting business focused on profitability, operational, and marketing issues. Herbold serves on the Board of Directors of Agilent Technologies, Indachin Ltd. Hong Kong and First Mutual Bank. Also, in 2001 he was appointed by President Bush to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and currently chairs the Education Subcommittee of the Council.

Herbold joined Microsoft in November 1994 as executive vice president and chief operating officer. During his tenure in this position until spring 2001, he was responsible for finance, manufacturing and distribution, information systems, human resources, corporate marketing, market research, and public relations. During his 6.5 years as COO, Microsoft experienced a four fold increase in revenue and a seven fold increase in profits. From spring, 2001 until June, 2003 Herbold worked part time for Microsoft as Executive Vice President assisting in the government, industry, and customer areas.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Herbold spent 26 years at The Procter & Gamble Company. In his last 5 years with P&G, he served as senior vice president of advertising and information services. In that role, he was responsible for the company’s worldwide advertising/brand management operations as well as all marketing related services such as media and television program production. He was also responsible for management information systems and market research on a worldwide basis.

Herbold’s experiences at Microsoft and Procter & Gamble were the basis of an article he authored in the January, 2002 issue of the Harvard Business Review entitled “Inside Microsoft: Balancing Discipline and Creativity”, which focuses on how companies can improve their profitability and agility. In 2004 he authored a book (published by Doubleday) titled The Fiefdom Syndrome; The Turf Battles that Undermine Careers and Companies – and How to Overcome Them. His second book ( published by McGraw Hill) was just released; it’s titled: Seduced by Success; How the Best Companies Survive the 9 Traps of Winning.

Herbold has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Cincinnati and both a master’s degree in mathematics and a Ph.D. in computer science from Case Western Reserve University. Herbold is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Heritage Foundation, Nanyang Technological University and the Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the Board of Overseers of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and is Senior Executive in Residence at INSEAD, Singapore Campus. He is also the President of The Herbold Foundation, which is primarily focused on providing college scholarships to science and engineering students.

About The Herbold Group, LLC

The purpose of The Herbold Group, LLC is to help organizations improve their performance and profitability. The approaches, while primarily applicable to corporations, can also be helpful to non-profits, educational institutions and government bodies.

The Herbold Group can help you do the following:

• Avoid the Ravaging Legacy Practices Brought on By Success
• Identify and Dismantle Bureaucracy and Fiefdoms
• Improve Profitability and Agility
• Reorganize and Staff for Increased Innovation
• Find Ways to Significantly Improve Your Cost Structure
• Improve the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Your IT Organization
• Avoid Common Marketing Traps
• Put Discipline in Your HR Practices

Bob Herbold, the Managing Director of The Herbold Group LLC, provides presentations for groups of thousands as a keynote speaker, for annual management meetings, for management teams seeking to find ways to tackle their problems, and a whole variety of other types of groups. The topic areas mirror the issue areas outlined above.

Bob also provides consulting services designed to provide an organization with an assessment of the issue of concern, and an outline of suggested actions to generate significant improvement.