Jonathan Horvath wrote...
...
Tab 1 has a side by side comparison of various products (each
column has a different product with all kinds of data for the
product in the rows) - such as product name, tech manager, sw
manager, product manager, electrical manager, etc...

product name * * *product 1 * * * *product 2 * * product 3
launch date
sw release
tech mgr * * * * * * * * * xxx
sw mgr
product mgr
...
Tab two is a table of resource assignments per product. column 1
lists the products, row 1 lists the function (tech manager, sw
manager, product manager, etc). the cells then liks who is assigned
to each product and function.
...
tech sw product mgr
product 1 jim john eric
product 2 sue scott jane
product 3 bob deb jack

what i would like to do is create a forumla in the cell in tab one
that says "for the product listed in row 1, find that product on
tab 2, then find the function listed in column 1 for this product
and find that function in tab 2, then put the name of that person
into this cell"

So the 'source' data would be in the second worksheet? If so, name the
complete table (including the top row of functions and the left column
of products and the blank top-left cell) Tbl. Also, this would be MUCH
EASIER if all the function labels were EXACTLY the same in both
tables. So if the function is shown as 'tech mgr' in the first
worksheet, it should appear as 'tech mgr' rather than 'tech' in the
second worksheet. If not, you'd need a 3rd table with 2 columns, one
for function name in the first worksheet and the other for the
corresponding function name in the second worksheet. I'll assume
you've made the function names the same in both worksheets.

I'll assume the table in the first worksheet begins in cell A1, so
'product 1' would be in cell B1 and 'launch date' in cell A2. Tech
manager for product 1, in cell B4 would be given by

=VLOOKUP(C$1,Tbl,MATCH($A4,INDEX(Tbl,1,0),0),0)

You could fill B4 down then the B4:B# right as far as needed.