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07 October 2015 This letter recommends Norman Thomas, currently Senior Director of Technical Communications at Qualcomm, Incorporated. Until I retired a year ago, I was Vice President of Technical Publications at Qualcomm, and Norm reported directly to me. I’ve known Norm since I joined the company in 1995. He’s always impressed me with his many business development achievements, including his Publications- related work such as business writing and proposal development. When the opportunity arose in 2008, I negotiated his transfer to our organization. There he took charge of Hardware Publications and made significant improvements to its structure, teamwork, productivity, service to clients/customers, and document product quality. Qualcomm derives a large share of its revenue from the sale of chips and telecommunications reference designs. We tasked Hardware Publications with documenting the company-internal and -external information for these chips and designs. It’s critical that the specifications and test information for digital and RF chips be accurate, complete, and clear. Good internal documents enable timely and effective collaboration between engineering teams, as well as the correct manufacture of products. Under Norm’s guidance, Hardware Publications implemented XML-based structured authoring tools and processes, as well as document automations based on proprietary engineering technology. These changes improved accuracy, reduced time to market, and increased design information re-use, resulting in significant cost savings across all phases of product development, manufacturing, and customer deployment. To achieve this outcome, Norm negotiated extensively with top executives to get capital budget and their buy-in for cross-functional changes. He negotiated with vendors regarding purchasing terms, and to get their commitment regarding future enhancements to their software products. He also oversaw the development and presentation of training for his own departments and the engineering departments they served. We leveraged his skills as a program manager, product manager, change manager, and team leader to accomplish these goals. When Norm took charge, Hardware Publications consisted of several departments in San Diego, San Jose, Taiwan, Shanghai, and Bangalore. Norm used his familiarity with other cultures and languages to good effect. He incorporated staff brought on board through acquisitions and mentored local and global team members as needed to develop their skills and optimize overall performance. He extended service to design groups in Europe, especially the UK. He was entirely responsible for strategic planning, budget administration, and detailed resource management for his organization. Norm also contributed actively to strategic planning and financial analysis for departments lead by his fellow directors. Norm consistently earned our highest performance rating, as well as the respect and trust of executives, peers, subordinates, and clients. He is unfailingly professional and diplomatic, yet firm, effective, and direct in his interactions. I can recommend him whole-heartedly and wish him continued success in the future. Sincerely, Kristie McCue Vice President (Retired) • Technical Publications • Configuration Management Cell phone: 619-929-7272 E-mail: [email protected] Page 1 of 1
