Student Profile: Bob Marsh

His company is OMNIA Technologies Inc., but Robert P. Marsh is as much a business-process problem-solver as he is an international telecommunications expert.

That’s why he appreciates the Professional & Continuing Education courses he takes at USM. His everyday work life at this level directly engages knowledge from the courses he has taken.

Bob founded the Portland-based company in 1998. Today, he designs and implements telecommunication systems, locally and across the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

“People want to buy technology,” he says, “but they also need to improve their business process. It could be any one, sales, order management etc.

“Often the customer will ask, ‘What do our processes have to do with telecommunications?’ My reply is, ‘When we improve business processes, then match those to the needed technology, we’ll have greater success.’”

Marsh has taken numerous courses through the Professional & Continuing Education Program at USM, beginning nearly 20 years ago with Project Management, and more currently with Business Coaching courses. Just this year he completed Lean Six Sigma Training, to the Black Belt level.

Bob has added an internationally accredited Professional Certification in Corporate Coaching.

He is a voracious researcher and reader, and it’s a good thing. His profession is “changing by the day. It was changing by the month five years ago and by the week three years ago,” he says. “I’m astounded by the rate at which it evolves, but we are intending to stay ahead of the curve. We are constantly on the lookout for advancing technologies, culling out the not-so-good, vetting the others and ultimately choosing to work with the best.”

“I want to be prepared to walk into a business and have that business say, ‘Yeah, you’re the company who can help us.’

“Initially we spend time with the customer helping define their technological challenge and contrast how that might map to a fractured or flawed business process. Then, with a new process, we design and implement a new telecommunication system”.

He credits the USM courses with adding value to his professional skill set.

“Just this morning I met with a customer wrestling with a business problem who was convinced technology would eliminate the problem. After a few hours of assessment, we concluded that the problem was in fact process- and technology-related. . . .”

“Education? I love it!” During a previous 13-year career at Digital Equipment Corporation, Bob estimates he took “two hundred weeks” of training. USM, he says, has been a worthy extension of that professional learning continuum.

In addition to the noncredit training, Bob took a heavy load of courses for two years to earn his BS in Industrial Technology at USM.

With focus and determination, Bob Marsh leads a team to design and implement state-of-the-art technology across the continent. He enthusiastically credits the USM programs for providing vital support for that work.

As a problem-solver, he knows how and where to stock his toolkit.