Re-accelerate. Reinvent. Reboot | Executive Mentor | Tech COO, VP & PMO Head

I’ve spent most of my career inside companies when things were hard.
 
Scaling. Restructuring. Turning around operations under pressure. Managing growth across cultures, time zones, and incomplete information.

I’ve been a CEO, COO, President, and Global VP, leading teams across North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. I’ve carried the responsibility of $1B contracts and P&Ls up to $115M, and led major transformation programs impacting more than 6,000 people. Most recently, I ran an AI data company with 1,000+ people across Madagascar and Mauritius.
 
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜’𝗺 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗺𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲. 
When ambition runs ahead of structure.  When strategy exists, but execution doesn’t stick.  When the playbook is missing, and decisions still need to be made.
 
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗜 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆: 
I partner with a small number of founders, CEOs, and boards, often in AI and Global South contexts- to bring clarity, discipline, and momentum when complexity creeps in. 

• 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗢𝗢 𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁: For companies in active transition.
• 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗿/𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿: For high-stakes decision-making and scale.
• 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿: For Global South executives navigating Western capital markets.

I also write about AI, power, and leadership - specifically how emerging markets can scale without simply inheriting Northern tech assumptions. Most of that thinking lives here: 📬 https://ericraza.substack.com/

Born in Madagascar. Global Citizen. Fluent in French and English. Based in Montreal, and wherever the work requires.

𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵, 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗹𝘆, 𝘄𝗲’𝗹𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

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🌍 🇲🇬 🇫🇷 🇨🇦 🇺🇸

Eric Raza

WINNSBORO, TOWN OF

Laboratory Technician

Errol Alger

Narrative Nonfiction Writer

Midlands Technical College

Taught studio courses in drawing, design, and painting in addition to online sections of Art History & Appreciation. Kept physical and virtual office hours using "Meeting Spaces" on Tutor.com and conducted studio art classes, virtually using Zoom.us when necessary. Managed the Art Studio Associate in Arts program and coordinated instructors of Art History & Appreciation and Film (Ground, Online, and Hybrid sections). All "Excellent" yearly reviews from superiors and by students in semester course evaluation averages.

Resigned: I was scheduled to teach ground studio courses in drawing, design, and painting as well as online sections of Art History & Appreciation during the summer and fall of 2022.  However, I was on medical leave for the entire spring semester due to hospitalization for a severe respiratory illness. A longer than expected convalescence led to my resignation. I was hoping to continue working with the Center for Teaching Excellence on a series of art podcasts; a truly wonderful experience. Eight episodes for the first of three series were already planned.

Instructor, Faculty Liaison & Coordinator

Adjunct: Taught Art History and Appreciation in the Humanities Department, promoting critical thought and an understanding of fine art (the aesthetic arts), functional/industrial/product design (the useful arts), and branding/advertising design (the commercial arts). Used Brightspace (D2L), a learning management system, to teach online, hybrid, and face-to-face (ground) courses; levels 1, 2, and Online/Hybrid certified. Served on the Adjunct Faculty Advisory Committee, the Education Faculty Learning Community (formulating vision for the future of our education transfer students) and as an SAT associate supervisor. Named Humanities Adjunct Faculty Member of the Year for 2012. Promoted to Lecturer in 2014; Lecturer Coordinator in 2016.

Lecturer Coordinator

Visual Song Fine Art School

Designed, taught, and promoted an interdisciplinary and integrated curriculum for a diverse group of privately educated students. Maintained an average enrollment of 200; Wrote regular press releases and maintained a web site to post philosophy of education, display student works, and inform the public of future course schedules with class descriptions; Regularly spoke at state-wide private school conventions and local support group meetings to maintain visibility. Designed, organized, promoted and directed student art exhibits and theatrical live-action musical productions for the public.

Founder Director

Trident Technical College

Taught commercial art and advertising design for adult students seeking and Associate Degree in Computer Graphics. To introduce my students to their potential future employers, I organized mock "Conference Room" opportunities for them to present their comprehensive design ideas to local creative directors of advertising agencies.

Commercial Graphics Instructor

Chernoff Silver & Associates

Designed and produced print media including logos, brochures, and catalogues for local, national, and international clients including Bank 1 Texas, British Airways, and the South Carolina State Museum. For the museum I designed a series of publications for which I am most proud: a 1993 catalogue, invitation, and panel card for a show titled "Handmade: The Year of American Craft in South Carolina" featuring 23 contemporary artists. As a set, these deliverables won "Best in Show" that year and the catalogue won "Best Publication" in the Southeast Museum Conference, a 13-state region. Locally, It won for me a Gold Addy and international recognition in the Printing Industries of America.

Advertising Agency Art Director

Alger Advertising Design Studio

Designed and produced print media and wrote body copy for a variety of advertising agencies in Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and High Point including Pace Communications, Barnes Dennis & Associates, and Cleland, Ward, Smith & Associates; Art Directed a “Key-Man” monthly newsletter for Deloitte/Haskins & Sells; Designed Specialty items such as a hot air balloon and an 11-story banner for the Tropicana Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey; Account Representative for clients including the Columbia Museum of Art, WMHK Radio, and Columbia International University.

Advertising Designer & Copywriter 

Guilford County Schools

Taught art, crafts, English composition, and photography on secondary level in both traditional and alternative settings.

Teacher

Degrees:
🔹️BFA-Art
🔹️MEd-Art Education

Writing Strengths:
🔹️Copywriting; Content Writing; Narrative Nonfiction
🔹️Press Releases
🔹️Marketing and Promotion
🔹️Editing

Specialties: 
🔹️Interdisciplinary Education; Integrated Curriculum; Critical Thought.
🔹️Cultivating a questioning frame of mind; the ability to think for oneself. 
🔹️Stimulating enthusiastic discovery; nourishing an awareness of purpose.

Certified Reading Education Skills: 
🔹️Corrective Reading; Enhancing Core Reading  
🔹️Explicit Instruction in Reading  
🔹️Phonological Awareness; Enunciation

Other Certifications:
🔹️Art Education, K-12
🔹️Slovak Language
🔹️ESL: TESOL/TESL/TEFL

Teaching and Advertising History in Brief:
1973-74: Fayetteville State University (NC)
1974-75: Piedmont Technical Institute (Roxboro, NC)
1976-77: Durham City Schools (NC)
1977-84: Guilford County Schools (Greensboro, NC)
1980-84: Center for Creative Arts (Greensboro, NC)
1987-94: Columbia Museum of Art (SC)
1990-94: Communities in Schools (Columbia, SC)
1992-94: Stevenson Correctional Inst. (Columbia, SC)
1995-96: Trident Technical College (Charleston, SC)
1996-10: Visual Song Fine Art School (Columbia, SC)
2010-22: Midlands Technical College (Columbia, SC)

1984-85: Art Director, Cleland, Ward, Smith & Assoc. (WS, NC)
1985-86: Art Director, Pace Communications, (Greensboro, NC)
1986-87: Graphic Designer, Barnes, Dennis & Assoc. (Greensboro, NC)
1987-90: Freelance Designer, Columbia Museum of Art (Columbia, SC)
1990-94: Art Director, Chernoff, Silver & Assoc. (Columbia, SC)

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Eric Raza

Errol R. Alger

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