Gopal RajGuru

Gopal RajGuru is a sales, negotiation skills and innovation trainer and coach based in Geneva, Switzerland. His background is primarily in high technology sales, marketing and management. In addition, he lectures on managing and executing sales in an entrepreneurial business-to-business selling environment in the EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale à Lausanne) Executive MBA and Masters of Technology program.

Previously, he ran the international expansion of WRQ, the American software company, and settled in the Netherlands to establish the European headquarters. He set up companies in the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Dubai and Singapore, building a business with a turnover of more than $100 million using a combination of direct key account sales, and channel based sales and fulfillment.

Gopal’s teaching focuses on the presentation and implementation of pragmatic concepts, tools and methods rather than a purely academic approach. As a business leader and consultant, he aims to ensure that the objectives of a project or mandate are achieved – measuring action and accomplishments rather than the volume of paper generated. In his workshops, his goal is not to teach, but to help participants learn.

• Bachelor of Arts, Scandinavian Languages (Swedish)
• Bachelor of Arts International Business (Trade & Investment)
• University of Washington – Seattle, WA USA

Studies

• Department of Scandinavian Languages – University of Washington @ Seattle
• Department of International Studies – University of Washington @ Seattle

Professional Experience

• Independent Consultant (Innovate+Grow Group) – since 1995, in leadership development and sales performance improvement for business-to-business selling with more than 250 clients, designing & delivering workshops in 195 countries
• University Professor – since 2001 at École Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne – Leading and Executing Sales as part of the Executive MBA in the Masters of Technology
• University Professor – since 2004 at Aalto University (formerly Helsinki School of Economics) in leadership development, innovation methods, sales performance improvement, organisational development and high performance teams
• Manager @ PwC – 1998-2000 – leading diverse teams in year 2000 project implementations around the world for clients in the pharmaceutical, transportation, and manufacturing fields
• Managing Director International – Walker Richer & Quinn – 1988-1995 – established and operated the international subsidiaries of an American software company based in Seattle building revenues from $100K to $100 million over 8 years, with 175 staff and offices in the Netherlands, Germany, France, UK, Sweden, Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai, Sydney and a joint venture in Japan