Michael O'Connor Clarke
Brief Biography
[Last updated: February, 2010]
A storyteller, strategist, and corporate bullet-catcher – Michael has more than twenty years' experience in corporate communications and technology marketing in Europe and North America.
Recognized as a pioneer in social media, Michael has been an active blogger since early 2001 and has designed and participated in numerous successful social media initiatives that have shown tangible, measurable results.
In his 10 years in the agency world, Michael provided marketing and communications counsel to a wide range of clients including Accenture, Allstate, Amazon.ca, AOL Canada, Borland, Compaq, CNW Group, eBay, EnStream, H&R Block, Herbal Magic, Hitachi, Intel, itemus, Lotus, MDS, Pfizer, Rogers, Sharp Electronics, Travelocity.ca, and many others.
In former roles, he developed thick layers of corporate scar tissue as head of worldwide marketing for one of Canada’s largest publicly-traded software firms, was part of a team that took a software startup from zero to IPO in eight months, and ran product management for the first company to experiment with paid blogging.
Michael's work on the agency side included stints with both small and large public relations firms. He was President of Mansfield Communications, a small, Toronto-based firm, where he had complete P&L responsibility and direct hands-on management of operations, human resources, targeted corporate marketing and business development.
Prior to Mansfield, Michael spent time as Senior Vice President in charge of the national Corporate and Technology Practice groups for Weber Shandwick, one of the world's largest public relations agencies.
Before moving into agency life, Michael led the communications plan for one of the largest and most successful technology sector mergers in Canadian history – Hummingbird's $305 million acquisition of PC DOCS Group.
Prior to the Hummingbird acquisition, Michael was Vice President, Corporate & Worldwide Marketing for PC DOCS Group, a leading international software developer. At PC DOCS, Michael had complete executive responsibility for all marketing programs, advertising, PR, tradeshow events, demand creation and online marketing; managing a team of over 40 marketing staff throughout the company’s worldwide network of offices in 18 countries.
Michael came to Canada in 1996 as a co-founder and head of Product Marketing for LAVA Systems, a company he helped navigate through a successful IPO, raising $36 million through two rounds of stock offering. LAVA Systems was subsequently sold to Open Text in 1998.
Michael's career started in PC hardware sales in the late 1980's, as UK sales manager for a small, privately-held distributor and OEM based in London, England. He studied Philosophy at the University of Wales and currently serves on the advisory boards of two privately-owned Toronto-based technology companies.
[Last updated: February, 2010]
A storyteller, strategist, and corporate bullet-catcher – Michael has more than twenty years' experience in corporate communications and technology marketing in Europe and North America.
Recognized as a pioneer in social media, Michael has been an active blogger since early 2001 and has designed and participated in numerous successful social media initiatives that have shown tangible, measurable results.
In his 10 years in the agency world, Michael provided marketing and communications counsel to a wide range of clients including Accenture, Allstate, Amazon.ca, AOL Canada, Borland, Compaq, CNW Group, eBay, EnStream, H&R Block, Herbal Magic, Hitachi, Intel, itemus, Lotus, MDS, Pfizer, Rogers, Sharp Electronics, Travelocity.ca, and many others.
In former roles, he developed thick layers of corporate scar tissue as head of worldwide marketing for one of Canada’s largest publicly-traded software firms, was part of a team that took a software startup from zero to IPO in eight months, and ran product management for the first company to experiment with paid blogging.
Michael's work on the agency side included stints with both small and large public relations firms. He was President of Mansfield Communications, a small, Toronto-based firm, where he had complete P&L responsibility and direct hands-on management of operations, human resources, targeted corporate marketing and business development.
Prior to Mansfield, Michael spent time as Senior Vice President in charge of the national Corporate and Technology Practice groups for Weber Shandwick, one of the world's largest public relations agencies.
Before moving into agency life, Michael led the communications plan for one of the largest and most successful technology sector mergers in Canadian history – Hummingbird's $305 million acquisition of PC DOCS Group.
Prior to the Hummingbird acquisition, Michael was Vice President, Corporate & Worldwide Marketing for PC DOCS Group, a leading international software developer. At PC DOCS, Michael had complete executive responsibility for all marketing programs, advertising, PR, tradeshow events, demand creation and online marketing; managing a team of over 40 marketing staff throughout the company’s worldwide network of offices in 18 countries.
Michael came to Canada in 1996 as a co-founder and head of Product Marketing for LAVA Systems, a company he helped navigate through a successful IPO, raising $36 million through two rounds of stock offering. LAVA Systems was subsequently sold to Open Text in 1998.
Michael's career started in PC hardware sales in the late 1980's, as UK sales manager for a small, privately-held distributor and OEM based in London, England. He studied Philosophy at the University of Wales and currently serves on the advisory boards of two privately-owned Toronto-based technology companies.
Michael is also part of the team behind HoHoTO, an extraordinary fund-raising initiative built and promoted entirely through social media that has raised over $80,000 to help hungry people to date.
[btw: in case you're arriving at this page directly via an external link to this post, a little context:
This is the personal Weblog (or 'Blog') of Michael O'Connor Clarke. The blog homepage is here.
Everything written here is my own personal opinion and bears absolutely no relationship to the opinions of my employers or clients.]
[btw: in case you're arriving at this page directly via an external link to this post, a little context:
This is the personal Weblog (or 'Blog') of Michael O'Connor Clarke. The blog homepage is here.
Everything written here is my own personal opinion and bears absolutely no relationship to the opinions of my employers or clients.]
