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Our Leadership Team:
Mary Drotar
Partner
Mary Drotar is a strategic innovation professional with extensive industry and
consulting experience. Her career encompasses multiple dimensions of innovation,
including the development of products, services, business models, business
processes and the customer experience.
Mary began her career at Ford Motor Company and she progressed through various
positions in marketing and development. Mary then joined AT&T Bell Laboratories,
concentrating in the areas of strategy, voice of the customer and scenario
planning.
Mary transitioned to consulting and she successfully helped scores of companies
capture the Voice of the Customer, and understand the market and competition
then leverage this in developing strategy as well as new products, services and
business models. She was Director of Consulting at Cambridge Management
Consulting and subsequently appointed the position of Vice President at
Targetbase Marketing, a firm specializing in marketing analytics.
Mary has an MS in Organizational Leadership and Development from College of St.
Catherine’s and an MBA from The University of Chicago. She is certified as a New
Product Development Professional (NPDP) by the Product Development Management
Association (PDMA). She is also certified by the PDMA as a NPDP Preparation
Review Instructor, and is on the certification committee. Mary serves on The
University of Chicago Innovation Roundtable Board as the VP of Community and
Business Development. She also serves as a board member for the PDMA Chicago
Chapter as the VP of NPDP certification.
Kathy Morrissey
Partner
Kathy has over 15 years of experience with Fortune 100 companies specializing in
market and customer research, strategy, business processes and models. She is an
expert in quantitative and qualitative tools and techniques of market and
customer research. Kathy has been a senior manager in research and strategy
positions with Ameritech, Household International and CNA Insurance Companies.
She has led research projects to predict failure of banking institutions,
analyze retail banking networks for performance and acquisition fit, develop
direct mail targeting models, develop customer segmentation systems, quantify
customer value and understand customer choices and preferences. She has led
large teams in developing customer data warehouses and has coordinated planning
initiatives for information strategy and business strategy.
Kathy is also a successful entrepreneur, having founded two small businesses in
the music industry. She developed the highest-trafficked music-specific website
in the Chicago area and the largest music industry conference in the Midwest,
along with new products and services that supported the business models. Kathy
successfully sold her business in 2005.
Kathy has an MS in Statistics from Carnegie-Mellon University and has completed
the doctoral core courses. She also has an MBA from the University of Chicago.
She is an active and long-standing board member of the Chicago Chapter of the
American Statistical Association and served two terms as President.
She is certified as a New Product Development Professional (NPDP) by the Product
Development Management Association (PDMA). She serves on The University of
Chicago Innovation Roundtable board as the VP of Product Development and is
actively involved in the PDMA.
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Strategy 2 Market consultants live and work according to the following key principles
Developing a Healthy and Sustainable New Product Development System:
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Creativity is fun, but it must be directed and grounded in reality
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We believe a clear strategy and specific knowledge about customers, markets and competitors are essential to new product development
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Good processes have to be supported by an appropriate infrastructure: the right organizational structure, culture, people, tools, and metrics
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Processes are essential, but rarely work without the right skill set. We provide training and coaching along with a knowledge base that can be accessed by your team on an on-going basis
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Real life experience makes training come alive. Our trainers are primarily consultants, with an interest in sharing their knowledge and helping others learn
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We treat others as we’d like to be treated
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