Augusto Vidaurreta, Chief Strategy Officer
at GSD Venture Studios
We are very excited to announce that we have added Gus Vidaurreta to the GSD team! Gus will help drive growth of sales for our portfolio companies and assist with building infrastructure at GSD.
Gus brings a diverse background in operations and business ventures, along with an extensive network in South Florida and other major markets.
"We are thrilled to have Gus on the team and are confident he knows exactly how to help our portfolio companies Go Global." - Gary Fowler
Gus' Background:
From 1972 until 1982 Gus worked at The Miami Herald Publishing Company, where he held different positions in the business side of the newspaper. In 1984 he joined the consulting division of Arthur Andersen (now Accenture). He stayed with AA until 1988, when he left with other Andersen managers and founded The Systems Consulting Group (SCG), a full-service information system consulting firm. Although SCG never solicited external funding, it grew rapidly, and it was twice listed by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest growing 500 private companies. In August of 1995 Cambridge Technology Partners (CTP) purchased SCG for 30 million dollars. Gus served as a Vice President in CTP until June of 1998. During that time, he was responsible for the operations of the U.S. South East region and Latin America. The two regions combined to staff over 500 professionals and generated over 50M in yearly revenues.
After the sale of SCG, Gus became involved in other diversifying ventures. During the last 20 years Gus has:
Funded and started Adjoined Consulting – sold to Cap Gemini,
Owned and operated the famous Firehouse IV restaurant,
Purchased, grew and sold P&L Packaging (plastics),
Was an active part owner of 3 hotels, one in Singer Island and two in Jacksonville, Fl – All successfully sold,
Was part of the financing group of Michael’s Genuine Food and Drink,
Was part of the starting ownership group for Horizon Bank – sold in 2006,
Gus is currently a partner at Rocket Wagon, a consulting firm that leverages advanced technologies (Internet of Things and digital solutions) to drive business transformation. Gus’ title at Rocket Wagon is VP of Business Development and Client Engagement.
In 2001 Gus co-authored the popular book Business Is a Contact Sport, and co-founded RAM Strategy, Inc., a consulting, training and executive coaching firm built around Relationship Asset Management (RAM), the main topic of the book. The book was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated to Chinese and Polish. He has lectured on the topic of RAM at The World Bank, American Express, Centex Rooney, Trivest, The Miami Chamber and the following universities: Carnegie Mellon, Texas, Florida, Maryland, Miami, Florida International, Arizona, Babson, George Washington, George Mason, DePaul, Illinois, Northern Illinois, Emory and UCLA. Gus completed a tour of China in the spring of 2005 to present the concept of RAM.
He practices what he wrote in the book.
Education & Awards:
Gus earned a B.A. degree from Miami Dade Community College (1976) a B.S. in Business from Florida International University (1980) and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Florida (1984). In 1996 he was one of the finalists for Florida’s entrepreneur of the year. Also, in 1996 the University of Florida Graduate School selected him as the outstanding alum. In 1999 he was selected by Florida International University as the outstanding alum for the School of Business. In 2001 Gus was selected by Florida International University to enter its "Entrepreneur" wall of fame. Gus was selected as the graduation keynote speaker at Florida International University in 2003 and at the University of Florida in 2004.
Most recently Gus has taken management courses at MIT in the area of the internet of Things with an emphasis on its impact to business models.
Gus lives in Miami Beach with his wife Jeanie.
"Gus walks his talk and knows how to Get Shit Done! We're happy to have him on our team!" - Derek Distenfield