Among the projects Kalbfeld helped launch while at AP was GraphicsBank, the first online database of television graphics. He identified the revenue opportunity and validated it by surveying local television stations through one-on-one conversations and quantitative market research. He was also responsible for all revenue for AP’s custom video services within North America, and in that role led the development of revenues from service contracts as well as spot event coverage.

Kalbfeld worked with a variety of partners during his tenure at AP, including Microsoft and Conus Communications. As one of the leaders who drew up plans for various businesses, he identified the strengths and weaknesses of various potential partners and evaluated businesses ranging from satellite service providers to production houses.

Budget performance was one of Kalbfeld’s key responsibilities as Managing Editor of AP’s Broadcast division. He wrote the television and radio news operating and capital budgets for more than 20 years and implemented significant cost controls in tough economic times, such as the period after 9/11. He gained extensive experience in finding ways to get things done within a carefully drawn budget, and in identifying trade-offs that allowed AP to lower costs without reducing quality. His budget experience includes text, audio and video production and technology.

Kalbfeld led AP’s efforts to transform its text-and-audio Broadcast newsroom into a fully integrated video-audio-graphics-text operation. He led four transitions over two decades: the merger of the text and radio newsrooms; the addition of graphics to that operation; the addition of a 24-hour all-news radio network; and the reinvention of the newsroom to fully integrate video newsgathering and production. He analyzed the existing workflow, designed changes, explained to top management the business and operational case for those changes, and implemented the changes.

Kalbfeld has extensive experience in writing pro forma financial forecasts, including revenue, expense and operating costs. He wrote such plans for AP projects including GraphicsBank, the Online Video Network, All News Radio and various custom services. This kind of document is a financial model that enables analysis of the financial risks and returns for various assumptions about costs and revenues. They are an invaluable tool in understanding the financial dynamics of a proposed business, and where the resource limits should be.

(Note: Kalbfeld is not an accountant or financial professional. The benefit of his work in this area is the clear documentation of costs, revenues and assumptions involved in a business or project proposal.)

Kalbfeld was involved in negotiating many agreements during his tenure at AP. He worked with company attorneys as well as outside counsel to ensure that the terms of the agreements, as well as the specific language, reflected AP’s business and editorial goals. He worked with various partner businesses and vendors to obtain the terms AP required. In addition, Kalbfeld has extensive experience in negotiating and implementing collective bargaining agreements, having been AP’s point person on Broadcast-related labor relations for more than 20 years.

As a member of the team that launched AP’s management mentoring program, and a two-time mentor himself, Kalbfeld has extensive experience in helping managers to improve their skills and to manage change, having led the Broadcast news management team at AP for more than two decades. His experience in leading change within the Broadcast division enables him to share real-world stories with leaders who are about to embark on a similar journey. Kalbfeld was also a primary trainer of new sales and executive employees within AP’s Broadcast division, teaching them about AP’s products and how to communicate their value to customers and prospects.

During the course of his AP career, Kalbfeld led a number of changes in workflow and desk operations in the Broadcast newsroom. The operation evolved as the marketplace, members’ needs and technological capabilities changed. As a result, the entire Broadcast management team has extensive experience in identifying service needs and how they match with existing skills on the news desk, and in targeting the skills that needed to be added, those that were no longer critical to the success of the business, and those that remain central to a credible, objective news report.

The news management team in AP’s Broadcast division was continuously monitoring the performance of the editorial staff and newsroom managers. Kalbfeld was part of a company-wide team that drafted a new performance appraisal system for bureau chiefs. He established standardized criteria for assessing the on-air performance of reporters and anchors.

Kalbfeld implemented a program to train the broadcast editors posted in AP bureaus across the country. He established national training retreats for these editors, supervising the drafting of the syllabus and conducting some of the training sessions himself. He also designed and conducted regional meetings with bureau chiefs and broadcast editors and was the lead executive in designing and conducting AP’s first national video training seminar for non-video staffers.

One-on-one coaching is sometimes the most effective way to teach someone or help guide their advancement. In addition to his work as a mentor to up-and-coming managers at AP, Kalbfeld worked with a variety of staffers on their writing, editing, producing and on-air presentation.

A key part of effectively running a business or business unit is to understand the workings of that business and to establish metrics – means of measuring performance. Kalbfeld introduced a series of programs to measure the performance of AP’s Broadcast news operation, including quality, productivity and budget performance. It is equally important to recognize those areas of performance that cannot be quantified, but instead rely on the subjective editorial judgment of a company’s news leaders. Regardless of whether the measures are quantitative or qualitative, they can be reported, and Kalbfeld oversaw the systematic analysis of AP’s broadcast content as well as competing services. He also established systems for monitoring progress and reporting to top management on the execution of new product rollouts.

Kalbfeld led or played a key role in a number of major projects, including product rollouts, at AP. He has experience in managing all of the elements of a launch, from internal communications to training to marketing materials to rehearsals to final implementation. This experience has given him the skills to draft a thorough plan and help you implement it.