Robert Bortner
Mr. Bortner is the founder and Executive Director of the Community Development Network and the President of Acumen International, a consultancy working around the world on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to promote sustainable social and economic development (www.acumenintl.org) .
Bob is skilled in international business management strategy, technology access and utilization, with expertise in cross-cultural people skills and database design. He has managed multi-disciplinary teams and projects addressing macro/policy level, as well as individual and community level for over 25 year. Many of these projects and teams have applied renewable energies and ICT as tools for individuals and communities to generate income, as well as to meet other development objectives, including education, health and governance. Initiatives have included the design and implementation of a program which provides hard and soft skills development, and access to capital and domestic and international markets for a range of non-traditional products. Bob’s cross-cultural skills have been honed by a lifetime of living and working in many regions of the world, including North and Latin America, Western Europe, Israel, Southern Africa, and India and Southeast Asia.
Bob coordinated several projects for Greenstar Corporation in South Africa and Brazil. He has helped to establish the business case for programs in the village of Kgautswane, Limpopo Province, and to lead Greenstar participation in the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. He continues to advise the community on a variety of development efforts. Bob has also assisted with the utilization of IT in a number of development efforts including Tarahaat in India, Fundação Pensamento Digital in Porto Alegre Brazil and Digital Partners in the US.
Previous business experience includes work as a Corporate Account Representative, Headquarters Sales, for Microsoft Corporation, running a virtual team based in Redmond, Washington responsible for developing customer satisfaction, identification of customer information technology needs, and contract negotiation. Bob's team was responsible for managing and implementing a marketing program targeted at converting influential Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect users and their workgroups to MS Word and MS Excel, working closely with over 300 channel partners to build their business development skills, marketing and sales resources and to engage in corporate accounts. He also served as Territory Manager for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Enterprise and Channel Sales, in the U.S. Great Lakes District, and was also responsible for Anti-Piracy efforts for the headquarters district.
Previously, Bob Bortner was an independent consultant in Washington, D.C. and Seattle, WA, who pursued market development and distribution opportunities for a variety of products, including computer software. He successfully developed a distribution network in Puerto Rico, and researched and co-authored studies involving satellite telecenters utilization in the Dominican Republic. He was also involved with the management of petrochemical project task force with Trinidad while working with the Puerto Rico Economic Development Administration as Industrial Promotions Officer. His primary responsibility for generating US, Far East and European investment in a five-nation Caribbean territory and managing relationship between the Puerto Rico Government and those countries. This earlier work also generated over $300 million investment in Trinidad and Barbados in a two year period. Bob oversaw and managed all aspects of the participation by four Puerto Rican government agencies and 10 exhibitors in international trade shows in Trinidad. He also researched and implemented counter-trade exchange in Brazil for International Trade and Investments, Chicago, IL, which involved identifying target products, locating and negotiating with US buyers and Brazilian suppliers.
He worked closely with top management from pharmaceutical, chemical, electronics, metallurgy and other industries to promote investment sites and expedite relocation. Key investors included General Electric, Schering Plough, Mobil Oil, GTE, ICI, and Matsushita. Bob met regularly met with key government officials in the region, including the Chief Minister of the British Virgin Islands and the former Secretary of State of Puerto Rico. These efforts resulted in more than 20 projects, together worth $500 million.
Mr. Bortner received a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Bob's resume (27KB(.pdf)