Business Planning Consultants: 22

Summit Associates of Bedford is a Materials and Manufacturing firm offering growth strategy, operations improvement, and international sourcing to commercial clients ranging in size from $3 to $150 million.

Summit Associates has a record of fixing troubled organizations and driving growth in complex technology based operations. Skilled at positioning small and middle market companies for sustained growth, they have commercial experience in ten countries, including creation and oversight of global partnerships in Europe and India and acquisition, sale, and licensing of fifteen technologies in seven countries.

Consulting Services:

Turnaround Leadership Organizational Change and Alignment Accelerated New Product / Market Development Product Launch

Lean Manufacturing Technology Acquisition Sale and Licensing International Partnerships Technology Valuation

Principal, Thomas W. Caldwell, PE, has over 40 years of experience in Materials Research and Development, Process and Product Development, and Manufacturing Operations in the Precision Cast and Machined Products industry.

Mr. Caldwell has designed and manufactured components for consumer and industrial products, including safety-critical applications such as aircraft landing gear brakes, seat belt lockup devices, windshield wiper, and window lift motor systems. He has experience creating and guiding technology development and manufacturing partnerships in Europe and Asia, licensing and selling intellectual property and creating supply chains in China.

Mr. Caldwell has lectured in the USA, Germany, Switzerland, and India on manufacturing premium quality metal products and manufacturing processes, and was a technical paper peer reviewer for 20 years for the Society of Automotive Engineers. A United States patent holder, he has published peer reviewed research in electrochemistry and materials processing, and has written and spoken numerous times on the subject of Materials Selection.

View Thomas A. Caldwell's Expert Witness Profile.

Swenson Consulting offers Snow Removal Services and developed its own proprietary snow operations software and can help business owners who desire to build or maintain a software package to assist their snow operations. They offer general business advice for many different types of situations including:

• Growth Development and Strategy for Snow Removal Businesses
• Diversification of Snow Removal Business Services
• Effective Collection of Invoicing for Snow Removal Businesses

Principal, Jeremy Swenson, CSP, has satisfied requirements by SIMA (largest nationally recognized snow and ice trade organization-Snow and Ice Management Association) to become a Certified Snow Professional. There are less than 250 CSP’s in the USA.

Mr. Swenson owned and operated Snowmen, one of the largest snow and ice management companies in North America for over 20 years. He has obtained Security Clearance and is trained for onsite snow operations at the IRS Regional Headquarters, FBI Headquarters, Department Of Treasury Buildings, and many types of Airport, Railroad, Organ Transplant Centers, and Medical facilities. He stays current with the modern methods and systems used today in snow and ice removal operations, procedures, equipment, contracts, and is very familiar with the types of de-icers used in the snow removal industry today. He has successfully navigated hundreds of slip and fall accidents and snow removal-related incidents. After overseeing thousands of commercial accounts over the years, he has worked through almost every issue that is relevant to a snow removal operation in the industry.

View Jeremy Swenson's Expert Witness Profile.

Rod Tasker specializes in Payment Services, Transaction Banking, and e-Commerce. He has over 20 years of experience working for major banks in strategic and business planning and cradle to grave product management, including business cases, feasibility, piloting, commercialization, and retirement. Mr. Tasker consults in strategic management and innovative solution delivery in the banking and finance industry. His achievements in Australia and internationally include:
     - Leading a team of 25 people in developing an internet payment service
     - Developing an enterprise Sales and Service architecture for a major bank
     - Developing an international payments business architecture & operations strategy for a major bank
     - Obtaining consensus amongst a consortium of 15 global banks for the strategic vision and plan for implementing B2B international ePayments
     - Developing a variety of e-Banking and e-Payment products and services
     - Building a payments business from start-up as CEO

Areas of Expertise:

Payments e-Commerce Transaction Banking Identity Services

Product Development / Product Management Piloting Commercializing Business and Strategy Formulation

Consulting Services - Mr. Tasker is engaged by companies that offer payment services as products or services, or for whom payments are "strategic" or "core," for example, insurance companies, exchanges, retailers, and investors wanting to evaluate payment business acquisitions, mergers, or funding opportunities. His services include:

Strategy Formulation Business Planning Profitability Improvement Change Management

Program and Portfolio Management Regulatory Compliance Risk Analysis Ventures / Mergers & Acquisitions

Leo A. Wrobel has earned broad notoriety and acclaim as an author, technologist, speaker, and Mayor (former) for over 30 years. Leo is a principal at Dallas-based b4Ci Inc. and is a nationally known Business Resumption Planning and Disaster Recovery expert. 

Leo and his team have served as advisors to Boards of Directors for businesses of all sizes and types. His seasoned advice can save money now and make money later. His team has included the founder of Qwest, Director of the US Mint, Chief of Staff to the Chairman of the Texas Public Utility Commission, the President of Fidelity Telecommunications, and more.

Speaking Engagements:
An engaging speaker, Leo has a dynamic presence and a passion for perfection. Rest assured your audience will stay awake as this energetic speaker makes the complicated simple, and conveys even the most abstract technical concepts in a fun and lighthearted manner! Leo has published 12 books and 800 trade articles and has lectured worldwide including Tel Aviv Israel, Santiago Chile, and most recently as a guest of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. Wrobel has also extensively supported legal teams in Disaster Recovery and telecommunications cases. 

Praise and Accolades for Leo A. Wrobel: 

As a Seminar Host:

• Very knowledgeable. Ready to explain and eager to hear questions. Excellent.
• "Presentation skills were very effective and no question was a dumb question."
• "Good anecdotes and real-life examples, Excellent."
• "Leo adapted the course to fit our needs."

As a Consultant:

• "You have us pegged. Your methodology is perfect, don't change it." - CIO of $76 billion financial services company

Five Stars on Amazon.com!

• "Disaster Recovery Planning for Communications and Critical Infrastructure is a scholarly examination of how the vulnerabilities in modern-day infrastructure can best be protected from threats such as terrorism and natural disasters. Authors Leo A. Wrobel and Sharon M. Wrobel, both highly skilled professionals in the field, cover the technologies that can help spread the word quickly when things go wrong, how to set up procedures for "4Ci" (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence), the basics of a solid emergency response plan, templates for assessing the weaknesses of everything from hospitals to power grids to large business enterprises, "first alert" procedures, and much more. A scholarly, well-researched text featuring cutting-edge, life-saving preparation measures, Disaster Recovery Planning for Communications and Critical Infrastructure is an absolute must-have for disaster recovery planners and experts, and anyone else responsible for planning for worst-case scenarios. Highly recommended."

See more Wrobel books at link above or order at www.4ci.us.

View Leo Wrobel's Expert Witness Profile.

Eric Kimberling, MBA, is one of the most recognized and respected independent Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems experts in the world, giving 100% unbiased advice to clients for more than 20 years.

Throughout his career, Mr. Kimberling has helped hundreds of high-profile enterprises worldwide with their ERP initiatives, including Nucor Steel, Petro Masila, the Yemen Government, the City of Charlotte, NC, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, Kodak, Samsonite, Coors, Boeing, Duke Energy, Filson, and Lucent Technologies, and the Alaskan Native Tribal Health Consortium, to name a few. 

Mr. Kimberling has helped manage ERP implementations and reengineer global supply chains in countries as diverse as China, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Lebanon, and the United States. He has won numerous industry awards for his experience and contributions, including Supply Chain Pro to Know and Best Independent ERP Blog award from ERP Focus.

Consulting Services:

ERP Software Selection SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, Epicor, Infor, and other ERP Systems Organizational Change Management Implementation Project Management Independent Verification and Validation

Project Recovery Merger and Acquisition Business Integration via Strategic Planning Business Process Reengineering Six Sigma Enterprise Strategy

Mr. Kimberling has dedicated himself to giving keynote speeches at industry conferences and universities worldwide, and has been quoted in thousands of articles in newspapers, magazines, and books, including the Wall Street Journal, CIO Magazine, and Fortune. He has authored, published, and presented more than 50 ERP articles and white papers, and is the author of Panorama’s series of ERP Reports, quoted in dozens of publications per year. He is also the author of the acclaimed book, “Lessons from 1,000 ERP Implementations.”

Mr. Kimberling holds an MBA with an emphasis in operational strategy and a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. He is also Six Sigma certified and a certified practitioner of multiple ERP solutions, including SAP, Siebel, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, Epicor and Infor, among others. He has won numerous industry awards for his experience and contributions, including Supply Chain Pro to Know and Best Independent ERP Blog from ERP Focus.

View Eric Kimberling's Expert Witness Profile.

Avinash Vashistha has dedicated his career to the unique requirements of the Global Outsourcing Market. His background and understanding of the practices surrounding Offshore Markets provides clients with a custom offshoring strategy, supplier / build mapping, favorable pricing, reduced risk, successful transition and sustainable performance contracts that address issues unique to offshore delivery.

Mr. Vashistha has evaluated and conducted due diligence on over 200 supplier firms, including companies in India, Russia, China, Philippines, Malaysia, C&E Europe, US, Canada, UK, Ireland and Vietnam. He has directed sourcing assessments, IT and BPO / KPO sourcing transactions and executed program governance models realizing $6 Billion in savings for clients. Avinash also developed significant expertise in the areas of R&D, Technology, Human Resources, Finance and Accounting, Analytics, Investment Research, claims processing and other domain specific voice and back office business processes. Mr. Vashistha has been a strong proponent of well-qualified, but lesser known tier-two suppliers in the competitive sourcing process.

Thought Leader: His opinions are sought and recognized by worldwide organizations and conference organizers such as IDC, NASSCOM, CITEM, C-Level, Private Equity Conference, the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, CII, SBPOA and IAOP. Leading media conglomerates such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Time, The Straits Times, The Business Times, USA TODAY, CNN, CNBC, Forbes, Business Week, Bangkok Post, NDTV, Times Group, Business Standard and Cyber Media have featured Avinash extensively. He has been recognized by HRO Today as ‘HRO Superstar’ for 2006 and 2007 in the category of thought leaders and advisors on outsourcing. He has also been recognized as ‘FAO Superstar’ for 2007.

Dustin Domerese is a Business Consultant in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, business IT systems, and databases, providing specialized expert witness services for litigation involving software failures, system implementations, and technology disputes. He supports legal teams in assessing the feasibility of lawsuits, delivering expert testimony, and preparing comprehensive background reports for complex technology-related litigation.