Some relationships begin as transactions and become something more. My introduction to Hector Barresi started with an interview.
I was hired by Mighty Guides on behalf of Mouser Electronics to sit down with Hector and explore his experience in industrial control systems and manufacturing. What I expected was a good conversation. What I got was a masterclass from someone who had spent decades at the highest levels of industrial automation: GE, Honeywell, Danaher, IMI Precision Engineering, IDEX Corporation and Spectris, and had seen, firsthand, what happens when organizational knowledge doesn’t keep pace with organizational ambition.
That conversation stayed with me. And when Retained Intelligence began taking shape, Hector was one of the first people I thought of.
Today, I’m proud to announce that Hector Barresi has joined the Retained Intelligence Advisory Board as a Founding Advisor.
Who Hector Is
Hector brings more than 25 years of executive leadership across industrial B2B markets. He has led product management, marketing, and go-to-market strategy across P&Ls ranging from $135M to $1.2B, with teams spanning North America, EMEA, and APAC.
His work has touched predictive maintenance, smart factory automation, industrial digitalization, and IoT-enabled product development, including the creation of Tintelligence, recognized as the world’s most advanced IoT and cloud-based B2B digitalization platform for the paint industry.
He is now president of Sextant International, where he advises mid-market B2B companies on enterprise AI strategy, translating board-level accountability into measurable operational outcomes. He is a TEDx speaker, holds an MBA in International Commerce from IAE France, and carries a certified executive coach credential from CoachU.
In short: Hector has operated at exactly the level our clients are navigating. He understands the complexity, the stakes, and the cost of getting knowledge management wrong.
Why This Matters
Retained Intelligence exists to solve a problem that every industrial organization eventually faces: the expertise that drives performance lives inside people, not systems. When those people leave, through retirement, turnover, or restructuring, they take decades of irreplaceable knowledge with them.
Hector has watched this happen at scale. He has led organizations through it. And now he brings that perspective to bear on the methodology we’re building, ensuring that what Retained Intelligence delivers is not just technically sound, but operationally defensible at the executive level.
Having Hector on the advisory board makes Retained Intelligence sharper. It makes our message to industrial and manufacturing leaders more credible. And it means that when we sit across from a client navigating a knowledge crisis, we have someone in our corner who has been on their side of the table.
Welcome to the board, Hector. I’m glad the interview led here.
Learn more about the Retained Intelligence Advisory Board at https://retainedintelligence.net/advisory-board/