Endorsements & Recommendations

Endorsements & Recommendations
W e s t e r n Se n s i b i li t i es - M u l t i cu l t ur al Per sp ecti ves

U n i t e d K i n g d o m - S w e d e n - M a l a y s i a - T h a i l a n d

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© Paul K. Stokes 2009

Paul Stokes
Endorsements & Recommendations
“management is doing things right;
leadership is doing the right things” –
Peter F. Drucker

The highest accolade any one can receive
is one that is given by your peers, your
team or your customer.
With a 20+ year career, nearly half
international, I am fortunate to have met
& worked with some extraordinary
individuals & teams.
I am even more privileged to receive their Paul with the Volvo/Polestar Swedish Touring Car Championship E85
Bioethanol Team at an event in Bangkok, Thailand (Nov. 2007)
views on working with me.
The following presents a small collection “I had the pleasure to work with Paul during the
Motor Expo Thailand 2007. Paul is creative,
of their comments . . .
organised & professional.”
Robert Dahlgren, Race Driver

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Paul Stokes
Endorsements & Recommendations: Asia
Asia
The many Asian markets provide a wealth
of diverse cultural & business interactions
- constantly changing - as are
technologies & opportunities.
Perspectives on relationships, in Asia
nothing is static – in this rapidly
developing environment the ability to
manage & lead diverse cross-cultural
groups of variously talented individuals is
a must for any successful manager.

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Paul Stokes
“Paul brings calmness, assurance, & strategic “Paul is creative & motivated &
vision into the senior management positions he extremely talented at getting the best
has held within the business environment. This out of any team by engaging &
coupled with an uncompromising passion, will inspiring them. Strangely combines
to succeed, & genuine concern for all staff rock star creativity & flair with
make Paul an excellent Senior Manager.” procurement attention to detail &
questioning of every penny invested. A
John Duggan, Planning/Distribution Mgr.
very inspiring business partner.”
Stephanie Bell, CEO

“Buttoned down. Realistic. Customer driven.
Those are the top 3 values/attributes that come to
mind when I think of Paul. A leader that stands out
from the crowd.”
Vishnu Rajasingam, Sales/Dealer Ops Mgr

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Paul Stokes
“Since working within Asia Paul has stood “Paul has great integrity & a positive attitude.
out as being truly an expert & specialist He is a rare professional who truly understands
within all marketing/general management how to balance & meet the objectives of both
disciplines. He understands the parties to work together for a win win situation.
complexities & dynamics involved in I highly recommend Paul & hope to have the
working within these markets & has shared opportunity to work with him again.”
his guidance & depth of knowledge with me
many times. He has that rare talent of Anne Wong,
being able to navigate & guide his VP Asia-Pac Marketing BVI
marketing agendas to produce amazing
results over & over again. Paul is one of a
handful of people that I truly & honestly “A consummate professional, Paul always
look up to as a mentor & someone that I provides high levels of service & is an
hope & expect to continue to work with in enjoyable man to do business with.”
the future.”
John Watson, CEO
Peter Bachner, Principal Bachner Assoc. Diethelm Travel Asia

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Paul Stokes
“Paul is an enthusiastic champion for his “Paul is a thorough, detailed businessman with a
portfolio & never lets anything come keen grasp of creative & how it can work to solve
between his vision & the tasks that need marketing problems. He is an astute partner who
to be completed.” challenges one to go one better - we did on many
occasions. I have no hesitation recommending
Ross Higgins, GM
Wearnes Motors (HK) Ltd Paul - a pleasure to work with & his knowledge of
the key personnel & issues is 2nd to none.”

Charlie Blower, ECD
“I had the privilege of working with Paul & EuroRSCG Asia-Pacific
being part of strategy sessions with him.
He has a solid understanding of the Asia
market & is the perfect person to work
within the sensitivities of the diverse
Asian markets. Paul is a calm &
calculated person & it is a highly
pleasurable experience to work with an
organized person like him. I would love to
work with him again...”
Pankaj Nayak
GM, MediaCom Malaysia

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Paul Stokes
“The automotive market in Thailand is “I have worked closely with Paul over the last
incredibly difficult & being responsible for few years & have found him to be thoroughly
the Volvo brand is probably the most professional. He has an in-depth knowledge
challenging assignment in Paul’s life. of the Motor industry & possesses Sales &
Despite the extreme adversity he is doing Marketing skills that would be equally at
a wonderful job at building the brand, home in any number of businesses.
strengthening the dealer network, building He has entrepreneurial flair & is a natural
the capability of the local team & protecting leader.”
his volume. He is a great team player & it’s
always a pleasure to work with him. I give Stephen Watkins CEO
Paul my highest recommendations.” Mondial Assistance
Bruno Charvet, Deputy MD
Mazda Sales Thailand

“Moving to Asia, he demonstrated fast adaptation to a totally new working &
business environment. He was immediately ready to take part & positively
challenge the business development in sales, marketing & customer service.
Bringing many valuable new ideas & suggestions to our customer service ops.
Paul is very consistent & focused in delivering results for the organization.
It has been a pleasure to work with such a professional person.”
Ari Niemenpää VP Customer Service
Volvo Car Asia-Pacific

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Paul Stokes
“Paul was my client while I worked at New “I have known Paul for a few years now we still
Media. He has an amazing ability to identify work together in what can only be described as
issues & recommend solutions to fix them. very difficult market conditions in Thailand. He is
His direct managing style & commitment to a true pro, very detailed & a pleasure to do
excellent results inspired the team to work business with.”
smarter & harder. As a client he was clear Neil Holt
about performance expectations & open to MD, EuroRSCG Thailand
new ideas. He also took the time to share
his extensive knowledge about the auto “Paul has always been extremely fair as a client,
industry, which helped us to service Volvo pushing to deliver alternative/creative solutions,
better, resulting in a winning client-agency demanding an eye for detail & professionalism,
partner relationship. I very much look all of which reflect his own work ethics. I have
forward to working with him & his team in worked with Paul for over two years in the past &
the future.” it was always in a very good working relationship
Carmen B Koda, Client with clear objectives. As a client he was a
Svc Dir New Media Worldwide pleasure to work with & a true professional with
the highest standard of work ethics.”
Paul McNeill
GM, Motivator China

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Paul Stokes
“I have been working on few projects with “Paul is energetic & passionate about his
Paul since I arrived in Thailand. Paul is a business, he combines excellent functional
real professional of the automotive industry expertise with a strong business sense. I have
with great experience. His capacity to very much enjoyed my business interactions
adapt to the Thai environment & culture with him. On top of this he has a an excellent
have impressed me a lot.” sense of humour & is a pretty good amateur
Christophe Martin, MD photographer too!”
Volvo Trucks & Bus Thailand Paul Turner
Country MD BP/Dir Asia Pac Lubes

“In his Regional role, Paul was able to
“Paul was a pleasure to work with as a client.
provide us with ideas, suggestions & plans
What impressed me about him was his
that we were able to implement within our
constant effort to up level marketing at Volvo,
business to improve our brand & floor
specially in the area of making marketing more
traffic. He was always open to discuss
accountable.”
ideas & pleased to educate us in learning
more about marketing. His work was
always very professional & well structured.” Gautam Dutt,
Bus. Dir, Media Planning Grp
Andrew Basham
President Volvo Car Taiwan

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Paul Stokes
Endorsements & Recommendations: Peers/Mgrs
“All winning teams are goal-oriented.
Teams like these win consistently
because everyone connected with them
concentrates on specific objectives.
They go about their business with
blinders on; nothing will distract them
from achieving their aims”
– Lou Holtz, (former Notre Dame football coach)

Peers, Colleagues & Managers
The inherent ability to work together with
you peers, cross-functional, colleagues &
management to achieve joint success in a
common vision is essential to any
enterprise. Essential to get the job done!
Here are some views from my peers &
some former managers of working with
me . . .

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Paul Stokes

“I have had the pleasure to work with Paul both at Volvo Cars HQ is Sweden as well as at
the Regional office in Malaysia. Paul is one of the few people I have met during my career
that hasa good quot;split thinking visionquot;. Paul is very talented strategist but he also has the
capability/capacity to never loose focus on running the daily business, he is a perfectionist.
He is very professional & knowledgeable in Sales & Marketing strategies as well as a very
experienced manager. He is target oriented & he never gives up !! He always tries to find
new ways to solve problems or identify sales/marketing opportunities. He has a good
manner, never raises his voice, but he get him messages through anyway.
Paul is a good communicator & a leader, he has the ability to clearly deliver a message,
without being rude, & quickly come to the point. He is very experienced in both leading
projects as well as running bigger organisations.
It has been a pleasure to work with Paul during the years. I have learned a lot from Paul & I
can really recommend him for advanced management positions. I wish him the best & I
hope our paths will cross in the future.”
Keith Schafer VP Sales/Product/Dealer Network
Volvo Cars Asia-Pacific & Volvo Car Corp

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Paul Stokes
“quot;I had the great fortune of working closely “Paul is a highly professional & dedicated
with Paul in his Senior Management role colleague. Facts & figures are more relevant
within Product Marketing & as VP, Marketing then opportunism. Also a very understated feel
& Strategy. His ability to tackle complex of humour is always present. Creativity &
challenges & come up with creative yet viable solution seeker are key words for his way of
solutions truly set Paul apart from his peers. working.”
Moreover, Paul's work ethic & team leadership
Robert Timmers
set the bar for many around him & Product Mgr, Volvo Cars Nederland BV
continuously allow his department to deliver
tangible results with the end customer in mind.
He's a fantastic communicator with a great “Paul & I have worked together for many years,
sense of wit that allows him to inspire & build & in some of the most challenging business
strong relationships with all business conditions. Paul is an absolute professional
stakeholders.quot; who not only has commercial acumen &
Greg Hembrough experience, but also a true strategic approach.
Car Line Mgr. Volvo Car Corp To me, Paul is a good friend as well as trusted
colleague.”
Peter Johnson, Director
Brand/Prod Exp Volvo Cars

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Paul Stokes
“Paul is a performance oriented manager in “Paul is an exceptionally guy to work. He is
the best word. He sets up clear objectives & diligent, intelligent & extremely hard working.
framework for the work to be done; His input was invaluable to us at Product
combines a very good strategic mindset with Planning as it was comprehensive & fully
an understanding of the operations & details grounded in market reality. His ability to think
needed to be completed to reach the end- 'outside the box' is astounding. In tense
state. He is always open to listen to opinions meeting situations, he builds empathy with the
& thoughts & engage in dialogue. An other participants & gets his point of view
accomplished communicator with a humane across without making enemies. He networks
side & a good sense of humour, without extremely well on both a professional & casual
loosing sight of the objective to achieve. It basis. Paul is indeed a “rising star” &
was challenging, educating & fun to support deservedly so buttressed by honesty &
Paul & his team in their work.” integrity. I wish him well in his current & future
Niklas Andersson professional career”
Mgr Bus. Env. Analysis
Dominick Hemeryck
Sr Bus Analyst, Prod Plg
“I experienced Paul effectively managing a
new position in a new country & work
culture. He demonstrated intellectual rigour
& a determination to get the job done in a
fast changing & demanding environment.”
David Thomas
President, Volvo Car Russia

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Paul Stokes
“Paul is an exceptional business analyst with
“Paul is a diligent & hard working colleague who
a strong ability to capture, structure, review,
could always be relied on to find pro-active &
identify best option scenarios out of multiple
creative ways to tackle sales & marketing
data & information sources & present his
challenges. His sharp eye for detail & attention
views in a very compelling & convincing
to deadlines combined with an analytical
way. He has a very broad & deep
background ensured that projects would be
understanding of the automotive business in
complete & well executed with measurable
terms of offer, marketing & sales. Paul has
results.”
taken on diffcult challenges with passion &
success both in central functions as well as Roger Ormisher, Dir Brand/Product
in leading market operations. His permanent Experience. Volvo Car Corp
quest for managing performance & change
is the expression of his ambition to deliver.”
Dominique Crappier, Dir. Network Dev. “Paul has a natural talent to provide detailed
Volvo Car Overseas Corp analysis & fact to support the business case
whilst not losing sight of the overall business
objective. He is also refreshingly direct &
“Paul is a high performer at work & delivers
avoids corporate bulls**t!!”
results on time, with impressive quality. It’s very
easy to feel comfortable in his company as he Alan Carpenter
has a sense of humour that I appreciate much. Dir. Intl. Fleet Sales
I can only congratulate anyone that has an
opportunity to work with Paul in the future.”
Johan Norinder
Bus Dev. Volvo Car Special Vehicles

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Paul Stokes
“Paul is a meticulous person who always “I had a chance to experience Paul in his
delivers top quality input on time. He is an position at Volvo Cars Product Marketing as a
extremely professional person, with a wide never-giving-up driving force of necessary
range of knowledge & experience. I miss changes & of delivering tasks he was
him a lot in the Volvo head quarters in responsible for. He has with great portion of
Gothenburg, & I hope to have the devotion & enthusiasm contributed to the
opportunity to work with him again in the establishment of new processes within his
future. Until then, I wish him all the best in function, using both smart diplomacy &
his current challenge.” extensive energy. He always took full
Daniel Backman, Product Mgr responsibility for delivering what he promised to
C30, S40, V50 Volvo Car Corp deliver. He was also easily approachable,
making time for a discussion on both work
“I worked with Paul during his time as issues & as a colleague!”
President of Volvo Cars Thai sales co. Paul Jana Wignell
has a never ending flow of good marketing Strategy Mgr, Volvo Car Corp
ideas. The launch of the E85 Volvo Car in
Thailand would never happen without Pauls
initiative both internally & by lobbying the
Thai authorities.”
Oskar Falk VP Overseas Mfg
Volvo Car Corp

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Paul Stokes
“Paul was a highly articulate & conscientious “When a Designer has to create a product
member of the team with a solid grasp of suited to a particular or Global Market, the input
reality. He was always able to see the & guidance from the Business/Market Team is
strategic view as well as create a road map essential. Working with Paul several years now,
to achieve it. Detail conscious & likeable as he has always proven to be the most
an individual, & never slow to make an knowledgeable, clear & concise, in his
insightful comment about an issue made him understanding of all of the necessary disciplines
an active & very valuable team player. It is & product requirements, I have needed to
good to see his career progressing as it is & cover. He is extremely hard working &
with his gained experience, this makes him a professional, no matter what the situation.
very good asset to any business in any Above that, he is a truly nice guy to know, & a
sector.” great person to work with or for.”
Malcolm Wade, Dir. Sales, Marketing Steve Harper
& Dealer Ops Volvo Car UK Platform Chief Designer, Volvo Cars

“Paul is a focussed & insightful individual, with a deep understanding of the
business arena. What I found particularly interesting in Paul's approach was
his ability to make a strong impact based on the powerful intelligence gained
from his market research, which served to enhance his personal impact in the
overall global business, & to customers & colleagues in the UK & beyond.”
Tom Russell
HR Manager (UK & Ireland), Volvo Car UK

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Paul Stokes
“Paul is an extremely focussed & “I worked closely with Paul during 2003 - 2005
challenging manager. His grasp of his brief as Market Vice President at Volvo Car Asia
is always commendable & allows him to Pacific. During that time Paul in his role were
support his colleagues & the business focusing his efforts in continuing to build the
towards optimising understanding & from Volvo brand in the AP region & strengthen our
there targeting resources & activities position in the premium segments. Paul's
towards performance achievement. Paul's strategic thinking & his ability to structure task
clear mind & comprehensive analysis of both at hand are areas which I specifically would like
data & situations provides clarity & ensures to highlight. He also has a very strong
that solutions are not hastened into, but are command in his written language which is
planned to be most effective & crucial when trying to cut through culture &
implementable. A calm individual he is an country barriers in achieving a common
excellent team member or leader, depending objective.”
upon each situation. I would certainly Magnus Boman
welcome an opportunity to work with Paul Dir. Lifecycle Mgt
again at some point”
Hugh Reid MD Volvo Car Finance UK
Regional Pres. UK, NL, B & Ire

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Paul Stokes
Endorsements & Recommendations: The Team
“The way a team plays as a whole
determines its success. You may have
the greatest bunch of individual stars in
the world, but if they don't play together,
the club won't be worth a dime.”
– Babe Ruth (Baseball player)

My Own Team
Leading ones immediate team to follow a
vision but contribute fully from their
individual talents to the final team, or
company, goal takes the ability to draw
the best from each & make all members
feel valued.
This is more true in Asia than anywhere.
There follows some comments from my
direct team members . . .

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Paul Stokes
“I had the pleasure to have Paul as my “Paul personifies all the positive aspects of a
manager for almost 2 years. During this high achieving person. He cares for the output
period I was amazed by Pauls ability to & results of company & also mind of employee
always incorporate the overall business & junior staffs. He is tenacious & self-motivated
strategy whilst managing day to day work. creating dynamics & energy in the team. He
Paul has great ability to coach people & has the ability to analyze & see the difficult
bring out the best from each individual as situation & do the right thing to solve it or
well as support his team. He has great & recommend what should be considered in a
valuable business knowledge. I warmly joint team solution. He is dynamic, works hard
recommend him for higher management & has proven cross-cultural capability. He
positions.” brings good, new, modern, creative ideas to us
all the times & leads Volvo recovery in our
Christian Gemoll Project Mgr/
Training, Volvo Car Asia
market in modern way.”
Suthalinee Jungsathitkul
Marketing, Volvo Car Thailand
“I first knew Paul when he was Volvo Car Asia
Pacific & have now been working with him at
Volvo Car Thailand for two years. Paul is very
insightful, creative & a good team player.
Paul's writing skill is also very strong. I have a
lot of fun working with him.”
Chantana Vatanaromya
VP Marketing, Volvo Car Thailand

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Paul Stokes
“Attention to detail, expressive, caring & “Paul is a highly energetic & focussed
excellent follow up are just a few of the things manager with great dedication to achieve
that comes up when I think of Paul. He has targets with quality & a pleasure to work
plenty of patience & willing to listen first before with. Paul has a terrific eye both for
making any judgements. Everyone knows him strategic overview & details & a great
as soft spoken person & I cannot recall him ever communicative talent with a fantastic
raising his voice, which is a clear sign of sense of humour which he can use
maturity. Besides that, he is very approachable powerfully to challenge & inspire as well
& makes anyone comfortable when dealing with as negotiate.”
him as he doesn't have the typical bossy
character. In short, makes you at feel at ease.” Per Rödjer, Analysis Mgr
Volvo Car Corporation
Akhtar Sulaiman, Regional Product
Marketing Mgr, Jaguar & Land Rover

“Paul has great leadership capabilities. He is
very professional in his job & has good
managerial skills. A very supportive Manager.
I enjoyed working with Paul.”
Jessie Gee, CEO PA
Volvo Car Asia Pacific

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Paul Stokes
Endorsements & Recommendations: More . . .
“Paul is well structured & very logic in his actions. He likes things to be done in an
orderly way, in time & with the right people. He is very loyal to the company he
works for & his own task, but he can also go out & have a beer & a chat as friends. He
has by now a wide experience from various tasks within a car company, the best,
Volvo.” - Per Norinder, President, Volvo Car Corp, Various Markets.

“Paul has a lot of passion & commitment as an individual colleague & friend. He
loves to drive projects & processes forward with an excellent anticipation of the
unknown in front of the Team. Paul is/has fulfilled all commitments & have a lot of
focusing to do the quot;right thingsquot;, which have assisted Paul to succeed in what he
have committed to do Excellent Communication/marketing material development, &
as well excellent skills & knowledge to utilize existing available material, this to
reduce cost & as well benefit from already research result in a very professional
quot;localquot; final execution when so needed. I wish Paul all the success!” - Ingvar Enberg,
VP Customer Service Volvo Car Asia Pacific

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Paul Stokes
Endorsements & Recommendations: More . . .
“Paul is dedicated & seem to have the ability to work around the clock if necessary.
He has got a good sense of humour & is fun to work with.” - Magdalena Molin,
Product Mgr, Special Vehicles, Volvo Car Corp.

“Paul & I have worked together to support the product strategy & product marketing
of Volvo cars. As the manager of the Knowledge Centre, I have seen Paul utilize the
sources & services to ensure Volvo Cars have products which speak to the Volvo
brand & consumer wants or needs. Paul ensures that he has the accurate
information to ensure decisions are made. By working together Paul has saved the
company time & money by proactive bringing product to market on time & within
budget. I consider Paul a quot;fast-trackerquot; as his use of company resources like the
Knowledge Centre have assisted his successful work within Volvo Cars. The ability to
be aware of & utilize corporate resources for the bottom-line is a key success factor. I
would highly recommend Paul for any product marketing work as he is focused on
the brand & the consumer.” - Alicia Biggers, Senior Data Research Supervisor,
Ford Motor Company

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Paul Stokes
Endorsements & Recommendations: Summary
Passionate – Driven – Independent - Confident
Strategic Thinker with Practical Eye for Detail
Quickly grasps complex concepts, analyzes & interprets ideas/multiple data
sources into an executable & logical, results orientated strategy.
Innovative Entrepreneurial Marketeer
draws on penetrating consumer & competitive insights to develop imaginative
approaches that break through the brand expected to deliver real business
results.
Relationship Builder
Cultivates mutually beneficial (internal/external) business partnerships.
Participative Leader
Enables others to act toward a shared vision grounded in credible steps.

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T h a n k Y o u

For opportunities, contact me:
paulstokes007@msn.com

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