Meet the Silver Apples: Michael Wooh, Head of Global Marketing at Gurobi Optimization
On behalf of the Marketing Club of New York (MCNY), The Customer recently interviewed several honorees – leading up to the Silver Apple Awards Gala (November 10, 2022) in New York. Here, we speak with honoree Michael Wooh, global head of marketing, Gurobi Optimization. Register today to join the greater MCNY community in celebrating Michael’s career achievements thus far.
Michael Wooh leads global marketing at Gurobi Optimization, a leader in decision intelligence technology. He joined Gurobi with more than 30 years of leadership experience and a proven track record with early-stage, mid-cap and Fortune 500 organizations. Before joining Gurobi, Michael served as CMO at Confirmit for nearly a decade, where he was responsible for global marketing and sales development. His executive leadership resulted in the company being positioned as an industry leader across all of its key markets. Prior to Confirmit, Michael served as vice president, marketing, at Computer Associates, where he was responsible for redefining enterprise-wide workload automation. At Platinum Technology, he led global automated operations, where he was responsible for the company’s top product division which contributed to the 1999 acquisition of Platinum for $3.5 billion. Michael has also held executive-level marketing positions at Passlogix, AutoSystems and OpTier where he was pivotal in creating the business transaction management market. Michael’s early career was grounded in Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs, Citibank, and National Westminster Bank.
Michael is a graduate of Cornell University and has completed certificate coursework in strategic marketing at Harvard Business School Executive Education. As a Cornell alumnus, he served on multiple boards including president of its Alumni Board of Directors. As board president, Michael founded the Cornell Cyber-Mentor Program, the university’s most successful, longest running, e-alumni program to date.
The Customer (TC): What attracted you to the world of marketing?
Michael Wooh (MW): My interest in marketing started in college, through my coursework, but the real spark came when I started a college-based business.
TC: Name a pivotal moment in your career that redefined your trajectory or stood out most (and why).
MW: A pivotal moment in my career is when I transitioned from sales engineering to product management. Product management led to product marketing, which in turn, led to corporate marketing.
TC: Marketing is now more data-driven than ever before. How do you help clients get the most from their data?
MW: The first step to use the data to better understand the customer journey and the client’s needs — to address their pain points and understand their desired business outcome.
TC: What’s the best business/career advice you would give to someone looking to become a chief marketer or global head of marketing?
MW: Let me offer several bits of advice:
- Lead by example. Integrity is a must. Do not create more followers, create more leaders.
- Be a good listener. Listen to your customers, listen to your team, listen to the market.
- Have functional hands-on experience with key marketing disciplines.
- Build high-performing teams.
- Be a visionary. Innovate, disrupt, be transformative, be a change agent. Challenge the status quo.
TC: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to a person choosing to enter the marketing world?
MW: Start broad then specialize on what you enjoy. Learn, learn, learn, and hone your skills. Focus on continuous improvement. Incorporate strategic thinking and planning into every initiative.
TC: Tell us something surprising about you.
MW: Fun Fact: I won the NYC poetry contest when I was in elementary school.
TC: What are a couple of your favorite outside interests?
MW: Travel, archery, martial arts, helicopters
TC: Do you have a hidden skill?
MW: I have a black belt in martial arts
TC: We’re not sure if there’s a helicopter pad on the roof of the Edison – but we look forward to seeing you feted during the MCNY Silver Apples Gala.
