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As vice president of marketing and customer operations John Graff plays a critical role in the National Instruments virtual instrumentation revolution. He directs an integrated team of marketing and sales professionals who are focused on educating a worldwide audience of engineers and scientists about the cost and time savings of computer-based measurement and automation.
Graff combines both the creative and technical resources of his marketing staff to communicate the benefits of NI software and hardware products which work seamlessly with standard PC technologies. By integrating these activities with those of the NI customer operations team Graff maximizes NI effectiveness and efficiency when managing product inquiries from more than 25 000 customer accounts worldwide.
One of Graff's responsibilities is looking for new ways to leverage the power of the World Wide Web. In 1994 he played an instrumental role in launching ni.com and since then has helped the company establish innovative online services that not only help customers choose the right product but also assist them in quickly making their purchases online. Another innovative feature of ni.com is NI Developer Zone an online community where engineers and scientists can share their own experiences with virtual instrumentation. NI Developer Zone provides customers with access to the latest information about data acquisition motion control measurement techniques and more.
Graff recently led the effort to redesign and globalize ni.com. The site is now localized in nine different languages including English French Italian Spanish German Japanese Korean Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Today ni.com receives almost 18 million visits annually and is consistently recognized as one of the top Web sites for engineers and scientists.
In addition to direct communication with customers Graff has fostered worldwide relationships with publishers and editors of trade journals and magazines. Both trade editors and financial journalists alike regularly note the success and growth of NI and its management team.
Graff also has worked with technology giants to forge partnerships with companies such as Analog Devices Intel Microsoft and Texas Instruments. Because of these efforts NI has identified product road maps and developed products that integrate with technology partner companies in order to benefit the customer. Graff also focuses his technological expertise in the education of area youth as a board member of the Austin Children's Museum.
Finally Graff plays a key role in fostering the company's highly regarded corporate culture of innovation fun and excellence. Under Graff's direction NI consistently communicates with employees worldwide so that they know the latest company news have updates on long-range corporate goals and can share their own thoughts about their work. In addition employees are celebrated annually during Employee Appreciation Week. Employees are encouraged to grow their career through the Superior Employee Development program. As a result NI has been named one of FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" seven years in a row.
Graff's responsibilities also require him and his staff to work closely with the National Instruments R&D department to set marketing plans for new generations of products. NI releases approximately one new product every day of the year resulting in a record number of launches since 2003. NI showcases many of these new products at NI Week which is now recognized as one of the industry's top conferences.
Previously Graff served as NI director of corporate marketing corporate marketing manager product marketing manager and applications engineer. He received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 1987. | 