Experienced Instructors

Cindy Cruzado has more than 25 years of product and go-to-market experience in the high-tech software industry. She has worked with groundbreaking solutions in U.S. and international markets and across multiple industries, including higher education, meteorology, finance and CRM.

Prior to joining Pragmatic Institute, Cindy held a variety of executive roles, including vice president of product marketing at WeatherBug and Blackboard, and most recently as chief product officer at a stealth-stage startup. As an instructor, Cindy brings deep and broad product experience with a proven track record of strategic and operational leadership in startup and enterprise environments. Her specialty is building market focused product teams who deliver the delightful customer experiences that drive brand preference. She has been part of founding product companies, a successful IPO and had products recognized by CODie. Cindy is also an experienced presenter at international events.

“After seeing how successful Pragmatic Institute’s lessons were for my own portfolios and teams, I wanted to share my passion for product management with others and help them do some remarkable things.”

 Formerly a competitive swimmer, Cindy has coached varsity and masters swimming in the U.S. and New Zealand for more than 20 years. Her spirit of adventure extends to bungee jumping, trekking and open-water swimming.

David has more than 25 years of experience working in technology companies. He specializes in product marketing and product launch, with an emphasis on effective go-to-market strategies and execution. His extensive background includes development, sales, product management, product marketing and executive positions.

Jon Gatrell had more than a decade of experience in product management, marketing, sales and corporate development in B2B and B2C software in the healthcare, manufacturing, government, secure data and transportation industries before he joined Pragmatic Institute. Jon held vice president of product management and marketing positions at Inovis and most recently, at Stonebranch. He also lectured at Eastern Michigan University.

Jon’s specialty is product packaging and positioning products for global markets. He has successfully implemented the Pragmatic Institute Framework at multiple companies and integrated it into several acquisition plans. Jon became a Pragmatic Institute instructor “to teach other individuals and companies how to use the tools that made my career and team successful.”

Jon has contributed articles to Convince and Convert, Pragmatic Marketer and writes the Spatially Relevant blog.

Steve Gaylor has been developing product management and marketing teams and growing organizations for more than 25 years. He has demonstrated success in strategic-leadership roles, providing solutions to a broad variety of industries, including electronics, consumer products, IT and financial services.

He has held executive-level positions in companies ranging in size from six to 82,000 employees, including Texas Instruments, Harbinger, Peregrine Systems and Inovis; his most recent role was as vice president of program deployment for PrimeRevenue, a SaaS company.

Steve says he became a Pragmatic Institute instructor “to help lots of individuals and companies grow and succeed, rather than focusing on one company and its employees.”

He is a frequently requested speaker and has spoken on e-commerce topics at numerous user, analyst and industry conferences.

Amy Graham has more than a decade of experience in product management, development and operations. Known for her ability to bridge the gap between IT solutions and the business, Amy has launched and managed a variety of products, including multi-million dollar software projects and mobile apps.

In addition, Amy has experience creating the product management function from the ground up, expanding it into a global product management function and shepherding company acquisitions.

Amy became a Pragmatic Institute instructor because she is “passionate about creating progressive products that ‘wow’ the market.”

Prior to joining Pragmatic Institute, Amy was vice president, client services and product development at TalenTrust. She previously served as director of technology solutions at Bright Horizons Family Solutions and on the leadership team at Work Options Group.

She is the two-time recipient of the Founders Award (star employee of the year) and the “Purple Hard Drive Award” for excellence in leading the application development team at Bright Horizons.

Todd Middlebrook has more than 20 years of experience as a leader in product management and marketing at companies ranging from startups to some of today’s biggest technology companies. 

As director of worldwide enterprise competitive sales for desktop and services at Microsoft, Todd led and supported one of Microsoft’s most effective sales forces. He also served as product manager at IBM Tivoli Software, product line manager at Torchquest Inc. (formerly 2ndWave, Inc.) and vice president of product management at Virtual Bridges.

During his time at Microsoft, Todd was the recipient of numerous awards, including three consecutive ”Performance Excellence” and “Outstanding Customer Focus” awards in recognition of his executive engagement effectiveness; and two “Distinguished Speaker” awards.

Todd took his first Pragmatic Institute class three days after becoming a product manager. “I literally had no experience in marketing. However, what I learned over two days of classes had more impact on my career than my college degree or post-college training. I jumped at the chance to become an instructor so that I could share that method and have a similar impact on the careers of my students.”

Rich Nutinsky has more than 20 years of experience in the software industry, including 15 years in product management. He has launched several successful software products using the Pragmatic Institute Framework. 

Prior to joining Pragmatic Institute, Rich served in various product management positions, pricing and purchasing roles including at D&B Software, IMI, Arasys Systems, Spring Lake Technology and McKesson. Rich also provided consulting services to market leaders such as Microsoft, AT&T, DuPont, MSA, DCS Solutions, GE, Starbucks, Nike, Sherwin Williams, Coremark Industries and Siemens, working with senior-level executives to improve their product strategy, product management and marketing processes.

“I discovered Pragmatic Institute training in 1999 and began adopting the Pragmatic Institute principles. It changed my career trajectory. I soon became a founding partner in a software company, did a lot of consulting and served on boards. When I was ready for my next adventure, a friend suggested I contact Pragmatic Institute and I finally found what I was meant to do.” 

Rich was named Philadelphia Man of the Year by the National Wholesale Drug Association during his tenure at McKesson and Service Provider of the Year, Microsoft Corp., NGBS Project. He served on the boards of Spring Lake Technology and DC Solutions.

Diane Pierson has more than 20 years of experience delivering product management and marketing results in the big data/analytics, publishing and digital marketing industries. In addition to holding multiple vice president and general management roles, she started a consultancy specializing in go-to-market strategy and organizational alignment. Diane applied the Pragmatic Institute principles to clarify roles and organize teams, prioritize product development based on market need, and to jump-start the growth of stalled products. She brings a results-focused understanding and executive mindset to her role as a Pragmatic Institute instructor.

 “I joined Pragmatic Institute because the principles work in the real world. They worked for me as a leader when I implemented them and for my clients when I advised them. I wanted to help others succeed by sharing this content with product teams still in the trenches.”

 Prior to joining Pragmatic Institute, Diane delivered more than $100 million in revenue to companies, including Dun & Bradstreet, LexisNexis, InfoGroup and Copyright Clearance Center. Her efforts have been recognized by numerous SIIA CODiE and MarCom awards for product and marketing excellence, as well as appearances on KMWorld’s List of Trendsetting Products. She is a popular speaker at industry events.

Paul has more than a decade of experience in hardware, software and services product management and marketing. During his career, Paul has launched and managed dozens of products, started his own business and successfully implemented the Pragmatic Framework at several companies.

His experiences range from large companies to startups, and across a wide range of technologies and business models. His focus on building market-driven teams gives him a unique ability to relate to product management teams and executives that are transforming their business.

Dylan is from Maryland and moved to NYC to complete a Ph.D. in soft condensed matter physics. Previously, he was a research assistant and adjunct professor at NYU and was a teaching assistant at the University of Maryland where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in physics and math.

In addition to being interested in quantitatively reasoning about the world, he enjoys writing, performing, climbing and cooking.

Michael studied mathematics and music as an undergraduate at the University of Arizona before obtaining a master’s degree studying computational statistics at Arizona State University. He has developed usable software tools alongside cutting edge statistical theory, putting new ideas in the hands of researchers and practitioners. This research experience, along with his time spent in academic and professional teaching positions, sparked a love for sharing knowledge and helping others grow.

As an undergraduate research assistant in an artificial intelligence and music lab, Michael wrote Python code to model musical data for a jazz-improvisation robot. Later, he developed an R package and a novel procedure to allow biologists to automatically compare and select among many statistical models with confidence. Michael has also taught prospective graduate students to take the GRE for Kaplan Test Prep, and served as a TA for upper level mathematics courses.

In his free time, Michael turns this passion for math and science toward art, creating code-based visual art and organizing events for digital art and music.

Gonzalo has studied both physics and Computer Science during his time as an undergraduate. Then, after completing a Master’s degree in Chile, he did his PhD at the University of Oxford, working on data management and machine learning. During this time he collaborated and interned with the Unified Data Analytics group at IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center, where his work led to publications and international talks. Gonzalo has a passion for teaching, having been lecturer and teaching assistant in over 30 courses in a wide range of topics from thermodynamics to database systems. In his spare time, Gonzalo enjoys reading, movie-going and traveling.

Born and raised in deep South Texas, Don studied chemical engineering at MIT and Cornell where he researched renewable energy systems. Don was attracted to data science because it is an interdisciplinary field that combines math, statistics and computer science to derive insights of processes using data. Don has worked as a model developer for GreenFire Energy.

He enjoys puns, wearing ties, cardigans and everything fall.

Ana obtained her Ph.D. in Physics before becoming a postdoctoral fellow at the Rockefeller University where she worked on developing and implementing an underwater touchscreen for dolphins. Previously, Ana worked as a doctoral research at Jozef Stefan Institute and a teaching assistant at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. Now she combines her love for coding and teaching as a data scientist.

She spends her free time doing pottery, sometimes climbing and every now and then scuba diving.

Russ was born in TN, grew up in NY, and got his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Georgia Tech. After that, he lived and worked for seventeen years in the United Kingdom, including Warwick University and the University of Liverpool, where he was a lecturer.

In his spare time, Russ reads all sorts of science-y things he probably doesn’t really understand and plays board games.

Rich moved from particle physics to data science when he left academia, and is excited to be joining his interests in data and programming with his love of teaching. Previously, he worked as the lead systems consultant for Verizon. He was a postdoctoral researcher at UC Davis, and a research and teaching assistant at MIT.

 In his spare time, he’s a fan of science, speculative fiction, board games and hiking.

Robert studied squishy physics in Chicago, Amherst and Santiago, Chile, before uniting his loves of computers, teaching and making pretty graphs at The Data Incubator and Pragmatic Institute.

In his free time, he plays tuba and right field, usually not simultaneously.

Nicholas has taught English in France, Spanish in Qatar and now data science all over the world. He completed his PhD and two Master’s degrees at Yale University before becoming a TDI graduate. Before joining the Pragmatic family, Nicholas worked at Williams College, Hamad bin Khalifa University (Qatar) and the University of Southern California. 

After his globetrotting, Nicholas has settled down in Los Angeles with his amazing wife and their adorable pit bull.