Alex Ruan, MBA

Lead the international business unit from brand inception to an omni-channel presence in floor care. Manage a team of 150, doing business in 30 countries, including the biggest players in e-commerce and retail. Strategically focused on consumer-centric innovations and product differentiations, while being accountable for driving day to day business operations and overall P&L.

Sengled is a global manufacturer of IoT / smart home devices, producing a full range of app-controlled, intuitive, and eco-friendly lighting products. As the General Manager of Sengled USA, was brought on board to expand business operations into the US market, which at the time only included traditional light bulb and lighting fixture products. Starting in 2013, led the ideation to reinvent the light bulb, with an innovative plan to pivot the company into the consumer electronics market by designing and manufacturing smart lighting products. Was then responsible for managing the end-to-end development of the new smart lighting product line, through all steps of the product development life-cycle, from conceptualization through mass production. With the initial launch of smart lighting/IoT product, made breakthrough retail push into Amazon and Home Depot, followed by Costco and Best Buy. Sengled today is the second leading global smart lighting brand, with extensive retail, service provider, and commercial channel presence. Received the ‘Best of Innovation’ award at the 2015 and 2016 CES Innovation Awards for the new smart lighting product line.

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. is a multinational networking, telecommunications equipment, and services company. Huawei is the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world, currently ranking as number 83 on the Fortune Global 500. As the Vice President of Sales at Huawei, was brought on board to facilitate Huawei’s expansion into the US market, an initiative which had been facing significant challenges due to government scrutiny and US product readiness. While waiting for Huawei to be structurally ready to enter the US market, was responsible for leading an integrated team of Sales Engineers and professional services members. In addition to team leadership, played an integral role in building executive relationships with keystone US-based customers, including Comcast, Charter Communications/ Time Warner Cable, and Cox. While in this position, successfully negotiated and closed a massive infrastructure deal with Comcast, which still ranks as Huawei’s largest infrastructure to date.

Nortel Networks was a multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer, headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario. At its height, Nortel employed over 94k employees and accounted for more than a third of the total valuation of all the companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. As a Director of Sales at Nortel Networks, led an elite sales team trained to sell Nortel’s services to key cable customers in the US, including Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, and Rogers. As an executive leader, strategically pulled in marketing, product management, sales engineering, and professional services teams to negotiate and close deals, as needed. As the Director of Sales, grew Nortel’s presence in the US and Canada to the largest fiber optics provider in cable.

Nortel Networks was a multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer, headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario. At its height, Nortel employed over 94k employees and accounted for more than a third of the total valuation of all the companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. As the Director of Sales Engineering for Nortel Network’s US East region, oversaw a top-forming team of 18 Sales Engineers located from Toronto to Miami. Key focus included team management, process improvement, and culture development. Using telecom expertise, ensured all Sales Engineers were highly trained on the technical intricacies of each Nortel wireline product. Awarded the ‘Nortel Circle of Excellence’, an award which is given to the top 1% of Sales Executives and Sales Engineers in the company.

Nortel Networks was a multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer, headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario. At its height, Nortel employed over 94k employees and accounted for more than a third of the total valuation of all the companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. From November 1999 to July 2000, was the Market Development Manager, brought on board to help Nortel expand services through alternative network providers, including cable and satellite partnerships. In July 2000 was promoted to Market Development Director for Nortel Optical Networks, responsible for overseeing a team of 6. In both roles worked to identify new market opportunities by conducting market and competitive analysis, as well as crafting core value propositions.