Joshua Matson

Candidate: President & Owner · Electronic Systems of Wisconsin

Milwaukee, WI — 35 minutes from the Racine facility
joshua.matson@gmail.com · 920.210.3429
linkedin.com/in/joshuamatson

Summary

Electrical & computer engineer turned sales and growth leader, returning to the industrial world he started in — this time as an owner. Nearly a decade at Rockwell Automation selling automation to motor manufacturers and industrial OEMs through Midwest distribution, then enterprise sales strategy, analytics, and practical AI leadership at Gartner. Built for a company whose next chapter needs a sales engine, disciplined pricing, and recurring service revenue wrapped around an engineering reputation that already leads its market. Has never built a test system — and knows it. Year one is for learning the shop from the people who built it.

What ESW Needs — and the Track Record Behind It

A sales engine built around Tim — redeployed a 2,000+ person specialist sales organization through facilitated change (not mandates); drove adoption of a buyer-centric sales process later published as a case study; designed the sales model for 5,000 sellers and $7B at Rockwell. Carried a bag first: grew a $35M Wisconsin-area territory ~7% YoY and a $350M regional territory ~5% YoY with a team of 30 technical SMEs.
Distribution & the Midwest channel — drove ~80% of personal quota through distributors and partners; knows how Wisconsin manufacturers actually buy.
Pricing that honors the work — owned pricing strategy for Rockwell's Architecture & Software products across a $350M territory; prices to value, not to cost-plus habit.
Recurring service revenue — built renewal-retention tooling that lifted retention 27% at Gartner; built predictive retention models across $5B of recurring contracts. Certified Care is the same discipline at shop scale.
Patient, technical account growth — grew a global mining account from $300K to $10M by solving engineering problems, not by discounting.
A small team, developed — recruited and mentored 200+ engineers and sellers; promotes from within.

Experience

Rockwell Automation — Milwaukee, WI

2009 – 2022

The world's largest company dedicated to industrial automation — motors, drives, and the plants that build and use them.

Global Manager, GTM Strategy & Sales Model Design (2020–2022) — Designed the data-driven sales model covering 5,000 sellers and $7B+ across 50+ countries; advised the CRO on deploying up to $1B; integrated go-to-market for 6+ acquisitions; managed the PTC partnership and a 30+ sales-engineer team.

Head of Global Sales Transformation (2018–2020) — Led Rockwell's shift to a buyer-centric sales process (published case study); redeployed a 2,000+ person overlay organization of technical specialists through facilitated change management.

Regional Manager, Architecture & Software (2015–2018) — Ran a high-share $350M territory, growing ~5% YoY with 30 subject-matter experts; owned pricing strategy for A&S products; led Smart Machine OEM strategy and executive workshops; grew a mining account $300K → $10M; recruited and mentored 200+ professionals.

Area Manager, Architecture & Software (2013–2015) — Grew a $35M territory ~7% YoY across 13 business lines; ~80% of quota through distribution.

Sr. Global Commercial Engineer / Leadership Development Program (2009–2013) — Authored industrial network & security best practices used by 1,000+ customers; lectured 1,000+ customers worldwide.

Gartner — VP & Senior Director roles

2022 – present

The world's leading research & advisory firm — recruited after four years as a Gartner client during the Rockwell transformation.

VP, Revenue Technology & AI Strategy (2024–present) — Owns the technology and process behind 8,000+ customer-facing associates; built practical AI tools that give sellers 100,000+ hours a year back and lifted renewal retention 27%; manages a ~$70M technology budget.

Senior Director, Sales Analytics (2024) — Led the analytics informing the C-suite across $5B in contract value and 24,000 client organizations; built predictive retention models.

Senior Director, Global Sales Strategy & Operations (2022–2024) — Designed and scaled the sales process for ~6,000 sellers; built the forecasting process that cut leader burden while improving accuracy.

Education

B.S., Electrical & Computer Engineering — Marquette University, 2009

Skin in the game $150,000 down from family savings · personal guarantee on the full seller note · 35 minutes from the building, moving nowhere · wife Andrea fully aboard. The risk I'm taking is the clearest statement I can make about what I believe ESW is worth.