LEAD CONSULTANTS

Steve Carpenter

Steve Carpenter  is a successful senior executive and serial entrepreneur with an extensive background in building organizations locally and globally. His 34 years of executive level experience transcend a number of business segments including information technology services, customer relationship management, financial services and healthcare services in global markets as diverse as Europe, South Africa, India, Singapore, Australia and the Americas. He has held senior positions as CEO, President, COO, CFO, and SVP.  From an industry perspective, Steve brings approximately twelve years of experience in financial services, nine years in sales and marketing, seven years in healthcare technology, and six years in commercial information technology to Lombard Global. This diverse experience has enabled him to understand what is required of companies as they mature and expand locally and globally. As such, he led the financial groups that took two companies public on  the NASDAQ exchange and has been on the buy and/or sell side of 20 corporate transactions. As a founding member of the management team that launched Affiliated Computer Services (NYSE: ACS), a global information technology and business process outsourcing company, Steve led the development of a number of the business units that resulted in an organization today that is $5 billion (USD) in annual revenue. As Chief Operating Officer for ActionSystems, an international customer relationship management company, Steve led the company to a five fold increase in revenue and helped conclude its sale to a publicly traded company. Steve expanded his experience to include HIPAA compliance, digital imaging, and employee health benefits administration as the President of two U.S. based companies, Xtria and then CBCA. Steve is applying the experience gained at these companies to provide executive level leadership to organizations in new and emerging global markets that include consumer digital media (MediaCart), mobile media (Interactive Mobile Media), and health & wellness management (Engage Health). Steve’s value proposition is to help new and emerging sector USA and international companies grow and expand their businesses in the global arena. This proposition is based on delivering executable solutions that leverage the right people with proven codified processes and enabled with innovative technology and data analytics. He has a Bachelors in Finance and Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. Steve resides in Frisco, Texas USA (near Dallas) with his family.   

Nina Hallquist 

Nina Hallquist is a strategic marketing professional with more than 15 years of experience in global market research and analysis, strategy development, business planning and implementation.  She has a strong track record of managing successful cross-functional projects across remote locations, from coordinating the set-up of the European operations for a US-based telecommunications company to managing the international network market analysis and strategy development for a global network equipment supplier.  She has worked in both the corporate environment, at firms such as U.S. Cellular and WilTel Communications, and at consulting firms such as Frost & Sullivan and BearingPoint.  Her consulting clients have included GMAC, Cisco Systems, and British Telecommunications among others.  She has also published articles on telecommunications and technology for the Economist Intelligence Unit, the research arm of the Economist magazine. 

Nina’s interest in global affairs is long-standing and stems from her family background; she is half-Belgian and speaks French.  She has a Master’s degree in European politics and international economics from George Washington University in Washington, DC, and a Bachelor’s degree from Trinity University in San Antonio, TX.  She currently resides in Chicago, IL.

Dr. Rajesh Kumar

Dr. Kumar is an Associate Professor of International Business Strategy at the University of Nottingham Business School in the UK where he is currently teaches Management Strategy and Indian Business and Society. His role with Lombard Global involves the strategic direction and growth of its global delivery system. He is also involved in the execution of current business in India and the UK. Prior to moving to the UK, Dr. Kumar was an Associate Professor at the Aarhus School of Business, University of  Aarhus, and Director of the Indian Research Center there. Along with Anand Sethi, he is author the book, Doing Business in India (MacMillan 2005).  Dr Kumar’s expertise lies in International Business and within this domain his work has focused on the management of alliances, international negotiations, and managing in emerging markets with a particular focus on India. Dr Kumar has a PhD degree in International Business from New York University, an MBA from Rutgers University, and a Masters degree in Economics from the University of Delhi, India.  He is an active researcher and leads seminars on doing business in India for global firms and consults for multinational firms around the world.    

 
Melinda Lockhart

Melinda Lockhart is a former senior executive focused on achieving positive results for companies.   Her extensive local and overseas experience has made her an expert in driving business growth and profitability both domestically and internationally.  She has helped businesses that range in size from small and medium-sized businesses to billion dollar corporations.  Melinda’s industry experience includes manufacturing, aerospace, government, financial services, outsourcing, and healthcare industries in both the United States and Europe. She has run global businesses and worked extensively throughout Europe and in the US. Her clients have included Rolls-Royce, Citigroup, American Express, Ford, and the defense departments in both the US and UK.

Melinda’s broad and deep range of skill sets were developed from her experiences in all sectors of the business at EDS, now HP.  They include strategy, marketing, sales, R&D, corporate finance, operations, account management and portfolio development with venture capital partners at EDS.  Ms. Lockhart’s knack for turning around ailing businesses is as equally strong as her ability to drive new business.  She has been “parachuted in” to critical business turnarounds; including on-site earthquake assistance to businesses and revising business strategy in response to the 9-11 impact. In addition, Melinda led the joint industry-government cyber-security plan development for the Clinton administration and served as advisor and policy expert to the European Union Commission on Cybercrime.  Her successful approach to business has earned her mentions in various business books and management journals.  She is known as an inspirational speaker on business leadership, growth and innovation.

Ms. Lockhart is a past board member of a software company and various charitable boards, such as Habitat for Humanity. She is currently the Development Chair for Girls, Inc.; a charity devoted to leadership development for “at risk” girls.

Ms. Lockhart received her Executive Education from London Business School and earned Graduate Certificate in Finance from SMU.  She received her Bachelor’s from the University of Texas at Dallas. 

Randy Huffman

Randy 's background consists of over 30 years in global retail strategy and tactical execution with Fortune 500 and small to medim-sized businesses. He consults regularly with executives from a variety of industries to help create solutions to retail problems by providing strategies for short and long term growth. Prior to forming his own company, he led the International General Merchandise team at Wal-Mart, helping develop and execute global growth strategies.

Randy has a diverse background in retail which include international business strategy development, brand development, global sourcing, supplier development, merchandise assortment planning, financial analysis, process improvement,  business integration, buying and store operations.

Randy is knowledgeable in multiple categories including housewares, small appliances, furniture, consumer electronics and apparel.  He also has diverse knowledge of mass retailers, dollar stores, discount stores and department stores, having demonstrated success throughout his career in each of these areas.  He was named Store Manager of the Year, Buyer of the Year, Sourcing Manager of the Quarter and Outstanding Business Leader for his accomplishments.

Randy began his retail career in 1976 with a regional department store chain learning the fundamentals of retail as Sales Manager, where he successfully launched his career being promoted to Store Manager through creative merchandising, marketing and sales solutions. He has a BS in Business Administation from the University of Soutrhern Arkansas.   

Hongxin John Zhao

Dr. Zhao is the David Orthwein Professor of International Business at Boeing Institute of International Business, John Cook School of Business at Saint Louis University. He is also Editor of the Multinational Business Review and recognized globally as a one of the world's premier China business experts.  Prior to Saint Louis University, he was Assistant Professor at The National University of Singapore.  Dr. Zhao, having grown up in Beijing, is well-connected at the national government level. He held various positions with the Dept. of International Cooperation, Ministry of Science and Technology and at the Dept. of International Business & Technology Exchange, Ministry of Commerce (then Ministry of Foreign Trade) in Beijing.

Dr. Zhao's long-term consulting clients include TCL Corporation in China, Emerson Electric and Boeing.  Some of his notable articles are the following: Magnusson, P. and Zhao, H. (forthcoming). A branding strategy for emerging market firms entering developed markets, Journal of International Consumer Marketing; Zhao, Hongxin and Vincent Hsu. (forthcoming issue 6, 2007). Social ties and foreign market entry: An empirical inquiry. Management International Review; Zhao, Hongxin, Taewon Suh and Seung Kim. (2006). On the determinants of global internet diffusion: Across-country analysis.  Journal of Global Information Management; Sing Natish and Hongxin Zhao (2004) Analyzing the Cultural Content of Websites:  A Cross National Comparison of China, India, Japan, and US, International Marketing Review.  Research in progress  includes Zhao, H. and Kim, S.,  A note on the effects of social capital and quality of regulatory environment on FDI: A cross-country study (under review).  Management International Review. Books & book chapters include: Sing, N., Hongxin Zhao, and Hu, Sherry (2005). Cultural adaptation on the web: A study of American companies domestic and Chinese web sites, in Gordon Hunter and Felix Tan (eds.)

Dr. Zhao is ranked by the Asia Pacific Journal of Management as one of the world's most  productive researchers on China business and management (13th). As a co-principal investigator, he was awarded a Strategic Research Grant of HK$153,000 by the City University of Hong Kong 2006. Finally, Dr. Zhao is identified by the research project of Michigan State University as one of the 89 most prolific researchers in international business (the entire world).  

Dan Robben

Daniel L. Robben is President of DLR Consulting LLC based in Saint Louis, Missouri.  DLR Consulting is a management consulting firm focused on operations improvement and transition / integration  management. Scope of work, within the U.S. and overseas, includes managing programs in the areas of finance operations improvement/systems integration, merger and acquisition integration, outsourcing assessment and transition management and operations compliance management. Business clients served are domestic to international, multi-industry and small to large in size.   

Prior tothe formation of DLR Consulting, Mr. Robben served as a Senior Manager of Management Consulting for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC.  Mr. Robben focus was in the areas of project management and business development within the Supply Chain Management and Business Process Outsourcing sectors. 

Before a career in management Consulting, Mr. Robben held engineering positions with McDonnell Douglas Corporation (Boeing) 

Mr. Robben has an MBA from WashingtonUniversity – St. Louis and a Bachelor of Science degree from The University of Illinois – College of Engineering.     

Geoff Sinn

Geoff Sinn is a highly innovative, results-oriented senior executive who has over two decades of experience in the area of Managed Services.  He is recognized as a pioneer and thought leader in the industry, and has been a key player in the growth of Managed Services from a niche offering in the 1990’s to an accepted way of doing business today.  He has successfully implemented a Managed Services business six times, both as LOBs within larger companies and as stand-alone entities.  He has held senior level positions – CEO, VP, Director - at companies ranging in size from Fortune 500 to raw start-ups; in each case, having full management and P&L responsibility for the businesses he established.   

Geoff’s experience in Managed Services is extensive covering a wide variety of IT disciplines, including remote monitoring and management, backup, replication, storage, disaster recovery, business continuity software-as-a-service, email archiving, security, hosting, and cloud computing.  He is credited with implementing the industry’s first stand-alone tape outsourcing business, storage utility business, and end-to-end Virtual Business Continuity business aimed at the mid-market.  In addition, he built one the most successful Storage Service Providers in Arsenal Digital Solutions which was purchased in 2007 for over $100M.  Geoff has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of New Brunswick and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario, one of the top 20 business schools in the world.  Geoff currently resides in Cary, North Carolina.

global growth