Executive Profile: Philip D. Hill, Founder of HBO Systems, Inc

Phil is a consultant, coach and speaker specializing in helping to bridge the gap between strategy and operations.  Throughout his career, he has combined his leadership, organizational, and technical skills to successfully execute key IT projects for the US Air Force, several software development companies, and for HBO Systems, Inc.  Phil founded HBO Systems in 2000 with the belief that the key to effective deployment of IT is integrating the strategic management of technology with the core business – not as a separate function isolated from strategic business planning.

He started his career in the US Air Force leading several Directed Energy research programs, helping to prove that laser weapon systems could be used to target hostile missiles.  The resulting systems are now beginning to be deployed by the military. He then worked for SVS, Inc, a startup company aiming to become a center of excellence in Directed Energy technology for both government and commercial contracts. Phil's role was crucial in establishing the company and successfully leading the real-time software practice at SVS.  SVS became the fastest-growing high technology company in New Mexico and was recently purchased by Boeing.

After this, Phil was recruited by Datacube as a product line business manager to directly lead the vision for the company’s core product line. During his first two years, he dramatically revived the product line, cutting down time-to-market by a factor of four.  During that time, Datacube returned to profitability for the first time in five years and experienced the largest sustained growth in its history.  He was eventually named VP of Engineering, leading the development and introduction of a new generation of technology.

Phil then joined TimeØ, a division of PerotSystems focused on developing eBusiness solutions. At the time, TimeØ's key client was W.W. Grainger, who was using TimeØ to build a digital marketplace for indirect materials.  However, repeated project delays had caused the contract to be suspended.  Phil stepped in to revive the contract and successfully completed the work within one year. The site opened to the public on May 19, 1999, to rave reviews and was ranked the third best eBusiness web site on the internet. This project allowed W.W. Grainger to successfully spin-out the Internet Commerce group, which was then merged with Works.com in 2000.

In 2000, Phil founded HBO Systems as an independent consulting company, bringing with him the same skills and vision that enabled his previous employers and clients to succeed in industry.  In this role, he has helped a broad range of clients strategically assess their IT capabilities and establish successful, truly effective IT visions and management processes.  His customers have ranged from the State of Maine to several software development companies, and now to Higher Education institutions.  Both public institutions such as the University of Iowa and for-profit institutions such as DeVry University are currently changing their e-learning vision and strategy with Phil’s help.

Phil earned his Master’s and Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.