Strategic Planning & Program Leadership Director

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MARK DOWNEY [Budapest, Hungary Email LinkedIn]

Director – Strategic Planning Portfolio Management Program Leadership PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

A curious, engaging, and inspirational leader who gets things done and moves those around him to be their best. Experience with growing startups and delivering enterprise programs, greenfield operations, and cross-functional transformation initiatives across technology, manufacturing, SaaS, and engineering environments. Ability to translate corporate strategy into multi-year roadmaps, govern portfolios, and drive measurable business outcomes. Strong background in PMO, coaching, executive stakeholder engagement, and program delivery.

CORE SKILLS & EXPERTISE

Leadership & Mentoring Cross-Functional Leadership Strategic Planning & Execution Enterprise Program Leadership Portfolio Management & Governance OKRs & Performance Metrics Enterprise Stakeholder Management Change Management / Transformation PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Expertivity: Senior Consultant, Client Strategy & Growth - Sep 2025 – Dec 2025

● Business development initiatives for a Lean consulting practice

● Supported leadership team with portfolio prioritisation and go-to-market execution Kluster Coworking : General Manager - Sep 2024 – Sep 2025

● Launched and scaled a greenfield coworking operation, including business planning, operations, and P&L ownership

● Built and led cross-functional teams across sales, operations, finance, and community management

SabeeApp (Hotel Management SaaS) : Growth Lead - Jun 2022 – Jan 2024

● Led cross-functional transformation initiatives across marketing, sales operations, and customer success

● Improved portfolio execution resulting in 11% increase in qualified leads and 6% improvement in sales conversion rates

Oriana (Low-Code Enterprise Software) : Business Development - Nov 2017 – Apr 2022

● Built partner ecosystem across UK, Ireland, Romania, Switzerland, and Poland

● Led analyst relations strategy resulting in inclusion in Forrester industry report

● Supported executive leadership with international growth roadmap execution UNLEASH Global HR Events : Head of Strategy - Nov 2017 – May 2018

● Led strategic planning workshops to align teams around corporate objectives 2

● Supported launch of startup innovation competition as a core enterprise initiative M27 / Absolvo Kft : Client Manager - Oct 2016 – Nov 2017

● Managed portfolio of SME and scale-up consulting engagements

● Provided strategic advisory services on growth planning and operational execution Invendor Advisory : Client Advisory - May 2016 – Oct 2016

● Supported early-stage startups with business planning, execution roadmaps, and operational readiness initiatives

Bondweaver : Joint CEO (HR Analytics Software) - Dec 2014 – Jan 2016

● Led commercialization strategy for enterprise analytics platform

● Managed client acquisition, consulting delivery, and product positioning Givaudan (Global Manufacturing) : PMO Member - Jun 2010 – Jul 2012

● Core PMO contributor for CHF 170M greenfield manufacturing facility program

● Coordinated multi-workstream enterprise program delivery across engineering, operations, and external contractors

Pannonia Bio — Client Project Manager - May 2009 – Feb 2010

● Led planning and permitting program for large-scale biofuel production facility

● Coordinated regulatory stakeholders and government authorities ORS Engineering Consulting — Country Manager - Feb 2004 – May 2009

● Established and scaled Hungarian engineering consulting operation

● Grew business from market entry to operational break-even within two years Trend Technologies — Project Manager - Sep 2000 – Sep 2003

● PM for $40M manufacturing facility design, build, and operational readiness program

● Managed post-acquisition integration into US manufacturing organization Bausch & Lomb — Process Engineer - Sep 1998 – Aug 2000

● Supported manufacturing operations and continuous improvement initiatives

● Delivered process optimisation and quality yield improvements EDUCATION & CERTIFICATIONS

MBA — Central European University (CEU), Budapest

BEng (Hons) Manufacturing Systems — University of Paisley, Glasgow OKR Coach Certification — OKR Consortium GmbH

Professional Coaching Certification — Intact Academy Budapest ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Languages: English (Native), Hungarian (Fluent)

Board Membership: Irish-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce (14 years)

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