Robert Rodin

Chairman & CEO, RDN Group

Rob Rodin is the Chairman and CEO of RDN Group and a strategic investor/advisor and manager. He is focused on portfolio companies for several venture capital and private equity funds. Special focus on corporate transitions, customer interface, sales and marketing, distribution, supply chain management, Internet and technology strategies. Additionally, he serves as Vice Chairman, Director and Chairman of the Investment Committee of CommerceNet which researches and funds open platform, interoperable business services to advance commerce and healthcare.

Mr. Rodin served for over 10 years as CEO and President of Marshall Industries (NYSE: MI) a global, industrial, electronics distributor and supply chain management company with approximately $2 billion in sales. The company managed more than 2500 employees, 500 suppliers, 300,000 part numbers, and 77,000 customers in 36 countries. Customers and suppliers included Intel, General Electric, AT+T, Motorola, IBM, Toshiba, and Siemens. Quality and customer demands required compliance with many of the following disciplines: Six Sigma, ISO 900X, Malcolm Baldridge, TQM, and Deming’s Total Quality System.

At Marshall Industries, Mr. Rodin engineered the reinvention of the company, turning a conventionally successful $500 million distributor into a web enabled $2 billion global competitor. He lead the enterprise design which created a complete transformation of the company’s organizational structure and entire IT platform (and interface modules) which included complete development and implementation of the following systems: ERP, MRP, forecast and demand planning, CRM (customer relationship management), SRM (supplier relationship management), ERM (employee relationship management) and an ASRS (automated storage retrieval warehouse system). All of these solutions were required to interface seamlessly with the company’s global customer base and Marshall’s joint venture partners (in 36 countries in Europe and Asia).

Additionally, he was the creator of the “World’s Number One Business to Business Website” as recognized, 2 years in a row, by Advertising Age Magazine. Information Week Magazine highlighted Marshall Industries as the “World’s Number One Company in the Use of Technology”, and CIO Magazine recognized Mr. Rodin as one of the “Top 100 Leaders for the New Millennium”. UCLA presented Mr. Rodin with the “Information Systems Award for System Leadership” and the University of Connecticut presented him with the “Distinguished Alumni Award” and elected him to the “University Hall of Fame”.

Mr. Rodin’s book, “Free, Perfect and Now: Connecting to the Three Insatiable Customer Demands”, chronicles the radical transformation of Marshall Industries. The changes he led have been taught as case studies at Harvard Business School, Columbia University, University of Southern California, MIT, and Stanford University. The transformation was also covered by CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine, and reviewed in several books including “The New Economics” by W. Edwards Deming and “Customer Intimacy” by Fred Wiersema.

After the sale of Marshall Industries to Avnet Inc., Mr. Rodin lead the spinout of several new start up companies which brought to market many of the company’s IT and Internet properties to provide extended supply chain management tools for the electronic industry.

Mr. Rodin’s current Board activities include: Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of CommerceNet, Board Member / Director of SupplyFrame (SupplyFX), Board of Leaders of the University of Southern California (USC) Marshall School of Business, Board Member / Chairman of Compensation Committee of ALS TDI (The ALS Therapy Development Institute), Advisory Board Member of LASEC (Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission) and Board Member YPO / WPO LA (World Presidents Organization and 2013-14 Co-Chapter Chairman).

Mr. Rodin formerly served on the Board of Directors (until sale) of Marshall Industries (NYSE: MI), Board Member / Director / Advisor of IntriPlex, Board of Directors of Napster (NASDQ: NAPS) (formally Roxio) as Chairman of the Compensation Committee and a Member of the Audit Committee, Director and Member of the Governance and Nominating Committee of SM&A (NASDQ: WINS), Director of Inter-Tel (NASDAQ: INTL), Advisory Board of Distribution at University of Southern California, the Board of Directors of RosettaNet, as a Trustee of the W. Edwards Deming Institute, Board Member/Director Cyber Coders, Board Member / Director of CollabRx, Board Member / Director of ABB Concise, Advisory Board of Electronics Supply & Manufacturing Magazine (CMP Publications), on the planning committee for Harvard and Stanford Presidents Seminars (YPO) and on University of Connecticut (UCONN) School of Business Board of Advisors (Executive Council and Strategic Development Committee) and President of NEDA’s (National Electronic Distribution Association) Education Foundation.

View Robert Rodin’s LinkedIn profile