Jim Ruprecht is a Fortune 250 executive and intrapreneur, a small business owner and entrepreneur, a consultant and author. He has distinctive competency in leading organizational transformations, and is a high-energy consultant, coach, speaker, and facilitator, experienced working with teams from 3 to 300.
Profile
Jim is a pragmatic leader with strong business acumen, an entrepreneurial spirit, combined with a talent for building high performing teams, and creating competitive advantage by weaving culture, process, and technology. An inspirational leader, Jim brings a sense of adventure, diversity of thought, and a combination of creativity and experience to make a difference. He likes to push the edge of the envelope not only in what he designs and builds, but also in how it is designed and built. With quality at the heart, whatever Jim designs and builds is done in ways that are honorable, fun, and produce results in which the craftsman can take pride, and the customer will exclaim, "Cool!"
Although Jim's Degree is in Quantitative Methods, his career has been one of leading increasingly challenging transformations--building new organizations, renovating under-performing ones, and revitalizing neglected ones. Most of Jim's career has been spent leading technology organizations at an eclectic variety of large and small, centralized and decentralized, and public and private firms, during economic conditions ranging from times of dramatic growth to times of dramatic cost and competitive pressure. He also has extensive international experience having led teams in Europe and the Far East.
Over the course of his deliberately eclectic career, Jim has:
- Earned his reputation as a pragmatic numerator leader with strong business acumen, an entrepreneurial spirit, combined with a talent for weaving culture, process and technology in ways that add value for customers, and build competitive advantage for his team.
- Demonstrated ability to formulate and align strategy, process, technology, and lead organizational change.
- Become accomplished at inculcating quality as a value in the organization, and promoting the concepts, methods, tools, and training necessary to actualize that value in practice.
- Learned to move quickly from concept to pragmatic issues.
- Proven ability to consistently deliver large-scale, complex, mission-critical programs and projects on time and within budget.
- Become skilled at explaining complex topics in everyday language.
- Developed an authentic ability to build relationships with, cultivate consensus among, and communicate naturally with people regardless of their level or background.
- Demonstrated ability to lead initiatives across organizational and geographic boundaries.
- Exceled in recruiting, developing, and retaining talent, and growing high performing teams.
- Become a high energy, engaging speaker and facilitator; an articulate and compelling writer.
Hands-On Leadership Experience
Windward Leadership, Founder & President
Medtronic: VP, Next Generation Programming, Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management (CRDM) Product Development; CIO & VP, CRDM IT; Corporate Information Systems (CIS) Group Manager, Infrastructure & Strategic Planning Services; CIS Distributed Systems Manager; Neuro IT Manager.
Cambium Partners, LLP: Co-Founder & Partner
Endurant Business Solutions, Inc: VP, Management Consulting
Seagate Technology: Director, Recording Head Operations IT
Star Tribune: Systems Group Manager
3M: IS Audit Supervisor; Senior IS Auditor; IS Auditor
Board Experience
- Stealth Mark (2004 – Present)
- Clean & Clear Corp (2006 – 2010)
- Mounds Park Academy (1991 – 2003)
Publications & Appearances
- Book: Windward Leadership: Taking Your Organization into the Prevailing Winds and Political Seas.
- Articles: Leadership Excellence, Cutter IT Journal; the Cutter email Advisor; Auerbach Publications, plus numerous conference proceedings.
- Speaking Engagements: MN-PMI Grass Roots Innovation Team (GRIT), MN Chapter of the American Society for Quality, The Cutter Summit, The Project Management Institute; Minnesota Emerging Technology Council; State of Minnesota Information Policy Office; HF Sherwood & Associates IS Executive Forum in Milan, Italy; 3M; The Society for Information Management; International Federation of Information Processors; DPMA/ASM; DB/EXPO; Augsburg Alumni Association; Keane Executive Breakfast Series in Minneapolis and Atlanta; IBM Twin Cities Customer Center; KnowledgeWare Showcase Alliance; and KnowledgeWare International User Conferences.
- Video Appearances: The Covey Leadership Center; James Martin Insight; and KnowledgeWare.
Life-Long Learning
- B.Sc. Quantitative Methods, University of St. Thomas.
- Certificate: Strategic Planning for Information Systems, Harvard Business School.
- Certificate of Mastery: Business Process Engineering, Michael Hammer, Hammer & Associates.
- Certificate of Achievement: Leadership & Mastery, Peter Senge, Innovation Associates, Inc.
- Certificate of Achievement: Advanced Leadership, Stephen Covey, Stephen R. Covey & Associates.
- Certificate of Achievement: Design for Quality, Lawrence Miller, Miller Consulting Group.
- Certificate of Achievement: Managing Quality Through Teams, Lawrence Miller, Miller Consulting Group.
- Certificate of Achievement: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey, Stephen R. Covey & Associates.
- Certified Facilitator: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey, Stephen R. Covey & Associates.
- Certified Information Systems Auditor: CISA.
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE): member.
- Minnesota Mentiuum 100: mentor.
