CONNECTING THE HIDDEN

My name is Milan Kocic. I was born in Belgrade (then Yugoslavia, now Serbia) and moved to US in 1986 when I was 15. I finished High School (IB) in Washington D.C.

Ever since childhood I was interested in Art, Music, Design, Science and Innovation. It probably had something to do with the fact my Father was a Nuclear Engineer and my Mother was an Architect.

During and after High School I had a great draw to Product Design, Fashion Design, Music and general creative endeavors, but the Eastern European parent forces took over and gave me an option to chose between Engineering or Medicine. I ended up in London and graduated with a degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering and Economics at King’s College London. After college I moved to NYC and spent a year working in Music Studios as I also played classical piano for over 13 years while growing up.

I then moved to Chicago a year later for a consulting job. Soon after I ended up as a Technical Engineer in a company that would eventually become Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence. In my career at Hexagon I also did 9 years of Commercial Sales, spent couple of years at Zeiss (main competitor of Hexagon) in Product Development and have spent most of my time in last 12 years back at Hexagon building awareness about Design Thinking and UX and leading disruptive innovation and digital transformation programs. All products you see on previous pages are a result of my ideas combined with customer insight and brought to fruition with a diverse team.

During COVID I built MyCare (currently $70m+) and MyQuality (currently $5m+) services and in last three years I ran Sixth Sense Open Innovation Platform which was pitched, built and now being ran by me and a small external team. Most recently I joined GelSight, one of the startups that was participating in Sixth Sense as VP & Head of Product.

In some ways I would say my career brought me a full circle back to the beginning of what I really wanted to do, innovation and design amazing, useful and functional things...

RESUME/CV

MILAN KOCIC

milanakocic@gmail.com | (630) 258-6516 | Pawtucket, RI 02860 | linkedin.com/in/milankocic

Head of product Innovation

Business Architect & Innovator, Unlocking Unseen Opportunities For Transformative Growth

Creative business architect and innovator with expertise building new products, revitalizing existing offerings, and advising startups/corporates with a focus on innovation that is disruptive and profitable. Leverage diverse experience in engineering, product management, and open innovation to identify and translate customer pain points into effective products and services and devise shortest path to revenue. Combine creative problem-solving, customer-centric approach, and ability to bridge technology and commercial success to drive innovation and growth.

Leadership STyle

Dedicated to delivering value and driving success with a leadership style characterized by an unwavering focus on both long-term strategy and nimble execution. Combines visionary thinking with the capacity to coalesce cross-functional teams, leverage enterprise resources, and foster a collaborative, transparent culture. Committed to developing and empowering team members, publicly recognizing individual contributions to reinforce a shared sense of purpose and ownership.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

GelSight

VP and Head of Product, 2024 – Present

Joined a post-seed startup to build a scale existing and new product portfolio. Building out a scaled roll out of new hardware and software (cloud and AI)

§ GelSight was a winner of Second Cohort of Sixth Sense (see below). GelSight has grown by over 45% per year for the last three years. My role was added aid the ability to scale and keep the high rate of growth.

§ Currently partnering with industry leading companies to enable further growth of the product portfolio.

Hexagon MI

Founder and Head of Sixth Sense Open Innovation / Startup Revenue Acceleration Platform, 2021 – 2024

Proposed, built, and launched Open Innovation/Revenue Acceleration Platform for Hexagon MI (Sixth Sense – sixthsense.hexagon.com), working with 10-15 startups in Advanced Industrial/Deep Tech space per 12-week cohort to help scale businesses via connections to Hexagon products and Hexagon customer base. Managed $850K budget.

§ Partnered with external consultants and agencies to successfully launch a startup program within 6 months, leading development of 3 cohorts supporting 23 startups, resulting in 6 ongoing collaborations with Hexagon.

§ Elevated Sixth Sense startup program to premier destination for startups through marketing and PR campaigns, attracting attendees from innovation, startup, and VC communities and generating 250+ program applications.

Director of Product – New Product Development & Innovation Services, North America, 2020 – 2021

Took on critical role to establish cohesive service-as-a-service structure, transforming ineffective hardware maintenance contracts into robust integrated support offerings, while leveraging customer-led innovation to enhance t customer experience and implement forward-thinking commercial strategies.

§ Transformed System Service Contract offerings by developing MyCare program, increasing system contract coverage from 800 to 5,500, tripling revenues to >$60M with a 65% margin and 85% renewal rate within 2 years.

§ Successfully transitioned MyCare into global program now offered in the Americas, EMEA, and China, significantly enhancing customer retention and engagement.

§ Streamlined Hexagon's labor-intensive contract programming process, developing MyQuality portal, automating 95% of inspections and boosting business flow by 50% while positioning for further expansion.

“Milan is a curious and passionate individual who likes to research, to play at the cutting edge of technology where applications and user requirements meet, constantly learning and exploring, a strong networker, someone who can marry commercial flair with the understanding of technology fundamentals to design and deliver on projects.” – CEO Hexagon

Senior Product Manager - Global Product Strategy and Design (PROXI), 2017 – 2021

Managed products from inception to birth, working with internal cross-functional teams focused of delivering engaging experiences and transformative innovation to $1.5B division of Hexagon AB. Led internal strategy and product design group to transform user experience insights into innovative technologies.

§ Authored 30+ patents and successfully launched 6 products resulting in $100M+ in new product revenue through synthesis of user behavior research and design thinking methodologies.

Product Manager – New Product Experience and Innovation, 2013 – 2017

Product Manager – Software, Sensors, and User Experience, NA, 2011 – 2013

Returned to Hexagon as first product manager, responsible for establishing the product direction, development, and customer experience across the company's entire software and sensor product portfolio. Later transitioned to lead innovation and new product experience creation, driving customer-centric product planning, marketing, and offerings in global setting.

§ Drove revenue growth across product lifecycle by enhancing customer engagement and relationships, defining customer-centric product vision, and collaborating cross-functionally to deliver impactful product experiences.

§ Instrumental in establishing global program for IIoT implementation within HMI, integrating internal middleware and partnering with external providers like Salesforce, GE, Microsoft, and AWS to deliver comprehensive, customer-centric IIoT solutions.

Zeiss

Product Manager – Software - Zeiss IMT North America, 2009 – 2011

Oversaw product management for Calypso and other Zeiss IMT North America software, collaborating cross-functionally to develop sales strategies that drove a 50% increase in software revenue by enhancing customer workflows.

Hexagon MI

Aftermarket Sales Manager for Mid-West US and Mexico, 2002 – 2008

Led high-tech software and hardware sales efforts across the Midwest US and Mexico, driving over $5M in annual software sales by collaborating with direct sales and distribution channels, and solidifying reputation as company's top software sales performer by deeply understanding customer pain points.

Additional Hexagon MI Experience: Technical Software Sales Manager for Midwest US | Systems Integration Engineer

EDUCATION

MBA, International Business & Strategic Management | Illinois Institute of Technology

BEng Joint Hons, Electronic & Electrical Engineering & Economics | King's College London

SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTISE

Innovation, Startup Engagement, Product Management From Inception To Death, User Research & Experience, Prototype Development, Technology Trends, Connecting The Dots, Product &Service Development,

Innovation From Research To Birth (and Sometimes, Death)