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Robert Austin
Executive Director at Rolls-Royce Owners' Club, Inc.
Professional Background
Robert Austin is a renowned expert in automotive marketing and public relations, with nearly five decades of experience dedicated to building and defending powerful automotive brands. His passion for automobiles and expertise in marketing strategy has enabled him to make significant contributions to some of the industry's most iconic names, including Rolls-Royce and Volvo. Currently, Robert is focusing his efforts on the non-profit organization Great Carma, which aims to inspire high school-age students to explore career opportunities in the automotive repair sector. Through this initiative, he is generating awareness of promising careers and providing scholarships that empower the next generation of automotive professionals.
Robert's career took a pivotal turn when BMW acquired the Rolls-Royce brand. He was recruited to lead the communications efforts for the North American market, which is the largest market for the company. He successfully revitalized the brand, transforming its image and performance after years of benign neglect. The introduction of the new Phantom in January 2003 marked a significant turning point. Over the next five years, under Robert's guidance, Rolls-Royce reclaimed its prestigious place as the pinnacle automotive brand and emerged as the undisputed leader in the ultra-luxury car category.
Before his influential role at Rolls-Royce, Robert enjoyed a remarkable 32-year tenure at Volvo, where he held various communications positions. He served as the head of public relations for Volvo in the United States from 1978 to 1991. Subsequently, he became the Director of Marketing Communications from 1991 to 2002, overseeing advertising, web initiatives, auto shows, direct marketing, and product public relations. During this period, Volvo experienced consistent sales growth, showcasing Robert's effectiveness in shaping the brand's market presence. His efforts were recognized with prestigious accolades, including being named to the Automotive News All Star Team and featured in Ad Age's Marketing 100. He also won the first Clio Award presented to a client for five consecutive years of creative excellence, reinforcing his reputation as a leading figure in automotive marketing.
Robert's diverse experience and deep knowledge of the automotive industry position him as a valuable resource for brands seeking to establish themselves or revive their presence in the market. His enthusiasm for problem-solving in marketing and public relations is complemented by an extensive network that supports brand development.
Education and Achievements
Robert Austin's academic foundation is rooted in his studies at Milton College, where he pursued a Bachelor's degree that encompassed the fields of Physics and Chemistry. Additionally, he furthered his education in Mechanical Engineering at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. This solid scientific background contributes to his unique approach to marketing and communication in the automotive industry, as it allows him to intertwine technical understanding with creative branding strategies.
Throughout his career, Robert has been involved in numerous organizations, holding various leadership roles that further solidify his expertise in automotive marketing. He has served as the Executive Director at the Rolls-Royce Owners' Club, Inc., bringing a wealth of knowledge and dedication to the group of passionate enthusiasts that admire this iconic brand. In addition, he was the Principal at his own firm, Robert Austin Brand & Communications, where he offered consulting services that combined strategic insight with industry experience.
Robert also held significant roles in corporate communications, including his tenure as Vice President of Corporate Communications at Volvo Financial Services, and as Senior Partner at Auto Futures Group. His leadership as General Manager Communication at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars North America, LLC, showcases the extensive responsibility he undertook in shaping the communication strategies for a luxury automotive brand renowned for its heritage.
Achievements
Robert's career achievements are numerous and reflect his dedication and impact within the automotive industry. His noteworthy accomplishments include the following:
- Successfully revitalized the Rolls-Royce brand image in North America, restoring its status as the premier luxury car manufacturer with strategic communication efforts.
- Led the launch of the new Phantom in 2003, which was pivotal for the brand's resurgence and elevated market perception.
- Instrumental in achieving consistent sales growth for Volvo throughout his 32-year tenure, demonstrating an effective marketing approach that resonated with consumers.
- Received accolades such as the Automotive News All Star Team and recognition in Ad Age's Marketing 100, underscoring his prominence as a leader in automotive marketing.
- Won the first Clio Award given to a client, evidencing his commitment to creative marketing excellence for five consecutive years.
- Actively engaged in mentoring and supporting aspiring automotive professionals through his role at Great Carma, where he focuses on generating awareness of automotive repair careers among young people.
Overall, Robert Austin exemplifies a passion-driven career dedicated to the growth and sustainability of automotive brands. He tirelessly fosters connections within the industry and promotes meaningful career pathways for future generations. His vast experience, enthusiasm, and commitment to excellence continue to make a significant impact on the automotive world.
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.