Lisa M. Tsufura

Marketing Manager
CVI Melles Griot Laser Group, Carlsbad, California
Country of origin: USA

What I do.
I am the Marketing Manager for CVI Melles Griot Laser Group, where I am involved with planning, directing, and coordinating laser product line business plans, marketing strategies, and new product development and promotion. In my role I seek out new business opportunities, whether they lie in new markets, new geographies, or new sectors, and get to hear first hand what the newest developments and business trends are. This involves occasional travel to conferences, tradeshows, other countries, and customer sites. It has been a great way to meet and engage with key researchers and industry experts as well as get a taste of our world's global cultures.

What I find exciting.
Being able to communicate and define the product and business desires of the marketplace to the organization, and then participate in making them a reality. It is a great feeling of accomplishment.

What I wish someone had told me.
I thought that business development and marketing roles were only for non-engineering people. I felt that if I pursued a marketing role I would be abandoning my "technical brain" and the optical engineering education I had invested in. I discovered, however, that I really enjoyed interfacing with customers on design requests and wanted more involvement in bringing business opportunities to fruition. I was full of ideas on how to improve products and their promotion. If only someone had told me then that what I really wanted to do was product management. I found that it offered the best of both worlds: the ability to use both your technical brain as well as your business brain. I ultimately landed there, but wished it had been sooner.