Company Executive Leadership
Bill Burns
Chief Executive Officer
Bill Burns has been named Chief Executive Officer, Zebra Technologies, effective March 1, 2023. Bill has more than 30 years of experience in the technology sector and joined Zebra Technologies in 2015. In his prior role as Chief Product & Solutions Officer, he oversaw the strategy, investments, and development of Zebra’s expansive portfolio of products and solutions. During this time, Bill extended Zebra’s market share leadership across its core businesses while entering adjacent and expansion markets, delivered on the company’s Enterprise Asset Intelligence vision, and strengthened Zebra’s strategic relationships with its customers and partners. Prior to joining Zebra, Bill served as Chief Executive Officer of Embrane, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital backed startup which was acquired by Cisco in April 2015. Prior to joining Embrane, Bill served as Chief Executive Officer of Spirent Communications, a global leader in test and measurement solutions publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange. He has also held various executive and sales leadership roles at Tellabs, Inc. Bill has a Master of Business Administration from Temple University, a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Misericordia University, and an Associate Degree in Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.
Nathan Winters
Chief Financial Officer
Nathan Winters was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Zebra in January 2021, following his role as acting CFO, which he assumed in August 2020. Prior to assuming the Zebra CFO position, Nathan served as the company’s Vice President of Corporate Financial Planning & Analysis and Business Operations since 2018. Prior to Zebra, Winters served in financial roles for GE for more than 16 years where he held multiple CFO positions, most recently serving as CFO of GE Healthcare Global Supply Chain. He received his Bachelor degree in Finance and Economics from the University of Kentucky.
Jeff Schmitz
Chief People Officer
Jeff Schmitz became Chief People Officer, Zebra Technologies in March 2023. Jeff has more than 30 years of experience in the technology sector and joined Zebra Technologies in 2016 as Chief Marketing Officer. As CMO, Jeff launched the company’s award-winning PartnerConnect program and led Zebra’s first major brand refresh. In 2020, Jeff also took on the role of Chief Human Resources Officer. For the past two years while holding the dual CMO/CHRO position, Jeff has focused on attracting, retaining, and developing top talent and creating opportunities for growth and development as part of an inclusive culture and diverse workforce. Prior to joining Zebra, Jeff served as Executive Vice President for multiple business units and sales at Spirent Communications along with other senior leadership roles including Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President of Networks & Applications. Before joining Spirent, Jeff held executive positions at Rivulet Communications, Visual Networks and Tellabs Inc. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Marquette University and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Tom Bianculli
SVP, Chief Technology Officer
Tom Bianculli serves as the chief technology officer of Zebra Technologies. In this role, Tom is responsible for the exploration of emerging opportunities, coordinating with product teams on advanced product development and Internet of Things (IoT) initiatives. The chief technology office is comprised of engineering, business, customer research and design functions. Tom began his career in the tech industry at Symbol Technologies, Inc. (later acquired by Motorola) in 1994 as part of the data capture solutions business. In the following years, he held positions of increased responsibility including architectural and director of engineering roles. Tom has been granted over 20 U.S. patents and is a Zebra Distinguished Innovator and Science Advisory Board associate. He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering from Polytechnic University, NYU and serves on the board of directors for the School of Engineering at the New York Institute of Technology.
Joe White
Chief Product & Solutions Officer
Joe White became Chief Product & Solutions Officer, Zebra Technologies in March 2023. Joe has more than 20 years of experience in the automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) industry and joined Zebra in 2014 when the company acquired the Motorola Solutions’ Enterprise Business. In his previous role as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the company’s Enterprise Mobile Computing business, he led the advancement of Zebra’s mobile computing and warehouse automation strategy. Prior to joining Zebra, Joe served in executive positions at Motorola Solutions, Symbol, Matrics, RFID Global Solutions, CAIS Internet and Digex. Joe has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Maryland. In addition, he is a named inventor on several patents and serves on the Board of Celcy which builds robotic smart cooking appliances. Joe is also the recipient of the 2019 Richard Dilling Award for his advocacy of innovation within the AIDC industry and the U.S. Department of Defense’s Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Patriot Award for his support of employees serving in the National Guard and Reserve.
Michael Cho
Chief Strategy Officer
Michael (Mike) Cho joined Zebra in March 2010 as vice president, strategy. Previously, he led MA and strategy as vice president, business development for the healthcare division of Amcor, a global packaging company, and as vice president, business development for CommScope, a global leader in communications solutions. Earlier in his career, Mike was a management consultant with McKinsey Company, Accenture, and PwC. He received his Master’s degree in Business Administration from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Joachim Heel
Chief Revenue Officer
Joachim (Joe) Heel joined Zebra as senior vice president, global sales, in September 2014. Previously, Joe served as vice president of enterprise sales at IBM, where he oversaw the sales of the company’s product and services portfolio in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and, later, for the U.S. Midwest region. He is the former senior vice president of global services for Avaya, a provider of business collaboration and communications solutions, as well as for Sun Microsystems, which was later acquired by Oracle Corporation. Earlier in his career, Joe was a partner at McKinsey Company, where he worked for 13 years. He received his Master’s degree in Business Administration and Master of Science from the University of Karlsruhe in Germany and a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Cristen Kogl
Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary
Cristen Kogl was appointed senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Zebra Technologies on September 1, 2018. She joined Zebra in 2015 and has held a variety of progressive positions including vice president, corporate counsel and vice president, assistant general counsel and assistant corporate secretary. Prior to joining Zebra, Cristen was the executive vice president and general counsel at National Express LLC - North American division of National Express Plc. She held vice president and corporate secretary positions at The ServiceMaster Company where she was also deputy general counsel and W.W. Grainger, Inc. where in addition to those roles, she was chief compliance officer. Earlier in her career, at Spyglass, Inc., she held the roles of vice president and general counsel. Cristen received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School and her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Lake Forest College.
Tamara Froese
Chief Supply Chain Officer
Tamara (Tami) Froese was appointed as the Chief Supply Chain Officer at Zebra Technologies in November 2022. She joined Zebra in March 2020 as Chief Procurement Officer, with responsibility for all Zebra Direct and Indirect procurement. Prior to joining Zebra, Tami worked at General Motors for more than 22 years. At General Motors, she held leadership roles in supply chain and cross-functional leadership roles in manufacturing, engineering and transformation, with an extensive focus on procurement, supply chain and cost management. Tami received her Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management from Michigan State University and a Master's degree in Business Administration from Oakland University.
Robert Armstrong
Chief Marketing Officer
Robert (Rob) Armstrong became Chief Marketing Officer, Zebra Technologies in March 2023. Rob has nearly 20 years of experience in the B2B technology sector and joined Zebra in 2014. Throughout his career, he has held various go-to-market leadership roles, most recently serving as Zebra’s Senior Vice President of Integrated Marketing & Channels. In this role, Rob oversaw go-to-market strategy and downstream marketing execution for the full Zebra portfolio, inclusive of customer segment, product, and digital marketing; channel and brand strategies; media relations; pricing; and analytics. During this time, he led a diverse, high-performing team of marketing and channel professionals to drive preference globally and evolve the perception of the Zebra brand in over 100 countries in collaboration with more than 10,000 partners in Zebra’s growing channel ecosystem. Prior to joining Zebra, Rob held various global and regional roles across product development, business development, operations, and marketing at Motorola Solutions, including assignments in Asia Pacific and Europe. Rob has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, and he currently serves as a board member for Bernie’s Book Bank and FIRST Illinois Robotics.