Forrester Appoints Helmut Schwarz Vice President Of European Sales
Forrester Research B.V. (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced the appointment of Helmut Schwarz as vice president of European sales. Based at the company’s European Research Center in Amsterdam, Schwarz will report to the managing director of Forrester Research B.V., Robert W. Davidson. With responsibility for growing Forrester’s business with European clients and expanding the sales organization, Schwarz will field sales teams based in Amsterdam, London, and Frankfurt.
“In its three years of operation, our European business has reached a level of maturity that demands the strategic and unifying influence of this high-level appointment,” said Davidson. “Helmut’s exemplary track record of leading and developing an international sales force and impressive track record of successfully selling high-value business services in Europe will be essential components of our continued expansion. Also, his experience of maintaining a single cohesive corporate ethos while remaining responsive to European cultural differences will be critical as we expand Forrester’s reach and influence,” he added.
Schwarz joins Forrester from System Integrators Inc., a US-based firm that develops solutions to its customers’ software processes, where he was Managing Director Europe from 1998 to 2001, with responsibility for the company’s three European operations — in Germany, France, and the UK. While there, he was responsible for all sales and marketing activities on the Continent. Significant achievements in this role included the development of the sales and marketing strategy from a product to project orientation and the implementation of a consultative sales structure.
Prior to this, Schwarz held successive senior management roles, including four years as Managing Director, Europe with Optronics International Corp., and Managing Director for the Austrian subsidiary of Chromos Group. His formal training was in the technical aspects of publishing; from 1974 to 1983, Schwarz held a series of increasingly senior roles in German and Austrian publishing firms, moving progressively from production to sales and product management. He holds an abitur and engineering degree in prepress and printing methods from the College for Graphic Arts, Vienna, from which he graduated in 1974.