Roy Taylor is Corporate Vice President and Head of Global Channel Sales. In this role, Taylor is responsible for managing and growing AMD's channel business globally.
A 25-year industry veteran, Taylor has had a multi-faceted career as a technology evangelist, content strategist and entrepreneur in both start-ups and established companies. He joins AMD from Rightware, a Finland-based software start-up where he was chief sales officer. Prior to Rightware, Taylor spent a decade at NVIDIA where he held a number of leadership roles including Vice President Telco Relations, Vice President Content Relations and CTO for PCGA (PC Gaming Alliance), Vice President for GPU Sales and Vice President of EMEA Sales.
An avid gamer and IT enthusiast, Taylor started his career in the component distribution business and was a founder of Addtron, a firm representing sales and marketing for semiconductor leaders such as Aureal, IBM Microelectronics, NEC, Nexgen, and others in Europe. Taylor holds a bachelor's degree in Business Studies from Maidstone College, Kent, United Kingdom. More details can be found at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/roytaylor
To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link
DISCUSSION:
Questions--Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic
:00:27:
Roy, can you share highlights and useful lessons learned from your long successful history with entertainment, technology sectors, and entrepreneurship?
"....In my twenties I won a very large contract from IBM Microelectronics to be their sales marketing rep company in Europe which at the time set a lot of records.....In my thirties I went to work for NVIDIA, set up their business in Europe from scratch and then turned that into a 300 million dollar business....During my forties and my tenure in America with NVIDIA I developed a number of worldwide programs which helped propel them to record sales....In terms of lessons during that time....The ability to think boldly and act big and not be intimidated I think are important lessons certainly from my career's success...."
:02:37:
As a notable top leader, what are your top leadership tips?
:04:41:
What are your top five tips for innovation and entrepreneurship?
:08:07:
What attracted you to AMD considering the many options you have?
:10:38:
What are AMD's current plans and future goals and more importantly how will they be executed?
:14:07:
I know that you were at CES in January, what was the reaction there?
:14:38:
How does AMD differentiate itself?
:15:59:
What are your views on global challenges?
:20:08:
Are there other areas or ecosystems or market conditions that continue to surprise you?
:21:50:
What will you do next?
:22:50:
What do you see as the top 5 upcoming disruptive innovations?
:29:04:
There is rapid growth in free content - what are your views on that?
:32:02:
Can you talk about what are the top ICT growth regions internationally?
:35:44:
There is this whole idea of crowdfunding which is just exploding worldwide. In fact the World Bank did a report on it in 2013. What are your views on that?
:38:20:
From your extensive speaking, travels, and work, please share three stories (amusing, surprising, unexpected, amazing).
:41:19:
Outside of your role at AMD, what are your three passions?
:42:33:
If you were conducting this interview, what 3 questions would you ask, and then what would be your answers?