SENIOR ADVISORS

 
Dr. Pankaj Ghemawat

Pankaj Ghemawat is arguably the most well-known figure in the field of Global Strategy. He is the Anselmo Rubiralta Professor of Global Strategy at IESE Business School. Professor Ghemawat earned his A.B. degree in Applied Mathematics from Harvard College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and his Ph.D in Business Economics from Harvard University. He then worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company in London before joining the Harvard Business School (HBS) faculty in 1983. He spent 25 years on the full-time faculty at Harvard Business School. In 1991, he was appointed the youngest full professor in Harvard's history. He joined the IESE faculty in 2006. 

Professor Ghemawat’s current teaching and research focus on globalization and strategy. He has developed a 30-session MBA course on the topic, chairs focused programs at IESE and at HBS on Getting Global Strategy Right, and has written more than 50 articles and case studies on the topic.  His “Regional Strategies for Global Leadership” received the McKinsey Award for the best article published in the Harvard Business Review (HBR) in 2005. Other recent globalization-related publications include “Managing Differences: The Central Challenge in Global Strategy,” the lead article in the March 2007 issue of HBR, “Why the World Isn’t Flat” in the March/April 2007 issue of Foreign Policy, and “Global Integration ≠ Global Concentration” (with Fariborz Ghadar), the lead article in the August 2006 issue of Industrial and Corporate Change.

Professor Pankaj Ghemawat published in September 2007 a book titled "Redefining Global Strategy" published by Harvard Business School Press, to enormous acclaim. Professor Ghemawat’s other books include Commitment, Games Businesses Play and Strategy and the Business Landscape. In addition, he is one of HBS’s 10 best-selling case writers, serves as the Departmental Editor for Strategy at Management Science, holds editorial positions with half-a-dozen other journals, has been elected a fellow of the Academy of International Business, and is a director of the Tata America International Corporation. He was elected a fellow of the Academy of International Business in 2007,and in 2008, has received the IESE-Fundacion BBVA Economics for Management Prize and been named the Educator of the Year by the BPS Division of the Academy of Management. In August 2008, he won the Irwin Outstanding Educator Award from the Academy of Management (California). He has been the first European Business School Professor who receives this award. In October 2008, he was appointed Fellow of the Strategic Management Society (SMS).

Dr. Mike Peng  

Mike W. Peng received his PhD from the University of Washington. He holds the first ever Provost’s Distinguished Professorship at the University of Texas at Dallas. Prior to joining UTD, Dr. Peng was anassociate professor at the Ohio State University. He has taught in five states in the United States, as well as China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam. 

Professor Peng is widely regarded as one of the most prolific and most influential scholars in global strategy—both the United Nations and the World Bank have cited his work in major publications.Truly global in scope, his research focuses on firm strategies in regions such as Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and North America, covering countries such as China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam. He has published approximately 60 articles in leading academic journals and authored four books, including Global Strategy (1st edition, 2006; 2nd edition, 2009), which is the best-selling textbook in this field in the world, and Global Business (1st edition, 2009).   

Professor Peng is also an active faculty trainer and consultant. He has provided on-the-job training to over 300 professors. He has consulted for organizations such as BankOne, Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong Research Grants Council, National Science Foundation, Nationwide Insurance, Ohio Polymer Association, U.S.-China Business Council ,and The World Bank. He has also published his work in leading practitioner journals such as the Harvard Business Review, Academy of Management Executive, and China Business Review.

Professor Peng’s high-impact, high-visibility research has attracted significant external funding, totaling more than half a million dollars. At present, his research is funded by a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Grant (formerly known as the Young Investigator Award). At $423,000, this is the single largest grant the NSF has awarded to a business school faculty member. He carried more than half of this five-year funding to UTD.  

 
SP Joshi

An engineer and an MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Joshi has specialized in market entry and marketing strategies for Indian markets. Based out of New Delhi, India, he has been advising companies from across the world about entry strategies for growing Indian markets for over ten years.

Having worked for over 23 years in Indian industry at senior management levels in diverse areas such as automotive, chemicals, building products, industrial products and consumer durables, Joshi is well versed with ground realities of the Indian market and with regulatory environment. His deep understanding of Indian business environment and business methods is the reason for his success in strategic business partner search in India. He has assisted several companies from Australia, Germany and Singapore etc. not only in marketing research & formulating their entry strategies but also has helped facilitation of process of setting up businesses.  He has been a key note speaker at some international seminars on ‘How to do business in India’ including Riding the Indian Elephant’ held in Melbourne in 2007. He is also a senior advisor to an Australian Business Chamber in Sydney.

For a large part of his working career, Joshi worked for Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. a large Indian automotive company with annual sales of 7 billion USD at senior positions in marketing & sales. Mahindra is also poised to become largest tractor company in the world. He also worked for Degussa AG of Germany (now Evonic Industries AG, a fortune 500 company) as their Vice President in India.

Joshi is a visiting professor in areas of strategic marketing and distribution management at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and other prominent business schools of New Delhi in India. Joshi knows most of generally spoken languages in India. He is a widely traveled person within and outside India.

 
William Billeaud, Sr.

Bill Billeaud, Sr. has been an active practicing trial attorney for over 35 years. For the past twenty years Bill has concentrated in the FELA field of practice which involves railroad related litigation representing railroaders injured on the job. He first practiced railroad law with a defense firm in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1986 to 1992. Since 1992, however, he has represented only railroad employees injured in the course of their employment. He has brought cases in both state and federal courts for railroad employees in all crafts including Locomotive Engineers, Conductors, Switchmen, Carmen, Electrical Workers and Maintenance of Way Employees.

Bill is licensed to practice law in Louisiana (1972), Illinois (1973), Missouri (1990) and West Virginia (2001). In addition to those states where he is a member of the bar licensed to practice in that jurisdiction, he has represented numerous other injured railroad employees in Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, Minnesota, Oklahoma and District of Columbia. Bill has been a frequent speaker at rail labor union meetings throughout the south and midwest.

By way of background, Bill graduated from Louisiana State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geology. He then entered the United States Air Force as a 2nd Lieutenant and three years later he was accepted as a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He left the FBI in 1969 to resume his legal education at Loyola School of Law in New Orleans. Bill retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force Reserve where he was assigned to the Judge Advocates General Office.

Bill was elected President of the Madison County, Illinois Bar Association in 1986 while he was living and practicing in the St. Louis metropolitan area. He has also been a mediator in the St. Louis area since 1997. He has received advanced mediator training and has successfully mediated numerous personal injury cases.

Bill and his wife returned home to Louisiana in 2001 and reside in Mandeville, Louisiana. Since returning, Bill has practiced out of the Davis • Saunders Law Firm in New Orleans (Mandeville), Louisiana, directly with Ben Saunders of the firm, who is Chair of the Executive Committee of the Designated Legal Counsel for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. The firm is experienced in handling not only railroad cases, but also certain Maritime cases involving career loss for seamen, as well as Aviation Death litigation.  

Richard Gallagher

Richard Gallagher is a graduate of the U. S. Merchant Marine Academy & University of Miami School of Law. He was admitted to practice law in Texas & Florida and has been designated a Proctor in Admiralty by the Maritime Law Association of the United States. He is also a licensed ship's officer and a retired Naval Reserve Officer. His professional experience includes three years as a ship's officer, three years as a maritime trial attorney, 10 years on the staff of SEDCO, Inc. and another 10 years with Hunt Oil Company.

 
Since 1996, Richard has maintained an international and maritime law practice based in Dallas with an emphasis on performing projects and overseas assignments for oil industry companies.  He has also served as an expert witness and performs ad hoc consulting services.  His clients have included ExxonMobil & Mobil Oil, Triton Oil, Pioneer Natural Resources, ENSCO International, Paragon Engineering, Shell Oil, Dublin International Petroleum, Kosmos Energy, British Petroleum plc and RA Global Services. Richard's work has carried him to 40 countries. He is adept at dealing with foreign governments, enjoys working in multi-cultural environments and is a longtime member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators.  For the past three years he has served as the Chair of the International Law Section of the Dallas Bar Association and received the “2008 Special Section Award” by the DBA.

Juha Harkonen

Juha assists companies in the EMEA, Russia and the Americas on reorganization initiatives and startups. His typical client is in the technology field of collaboration spaces, access management, mobile, and/or social software but has experience across verticals. Juha is an expert on business processes and re-engineering for operational excellence. He has lived most of his life in different regions of the globe and has a heightened appreciation and ability for building cultural bridges in a fast paced multinational environment.

In 2006, he joined Tellus International, Inc. as a Chief Operating Officer. In his current role Juha leads Tellus Research initiatives into social media marketing and B2B social networking. Juha is a frequent speaker on the social networking and has advised a number of Fortune 100 companies on their social engagement strategies.

Before joining Tellus, he was Chief Executive Officer of Stonesoft Inc., the American subsidiary of Stonesoft Corp., a global business continuity solutions vendor. During his tenure at Stonesoft, he accumulated numerous contacts within the federal, financial services, and telecom sectors. He has extensive experience in selling to the US federal government and collaborating with Microsoft and IBM in the Americas region.

Mr. Harkonen received his Masters in Science - Industrial Engineering Management from the University of Lappeenranta in Finland and a second Masters in Science - Quality Management from Cranfield University in the UK.

Lars Hilse

Lars is an internationally prominent web strategist, international SEO and social networking disciple, speaker and e-implementation specialist.  His firm, Deutsche Webdesign, is based in far northern Germany, between Hamburg and Denmark. Lars is a perfect candidate to develop and lead projects involving global expansion which require significant e-marketing or global web strategy and implementation.  His clients are diverse yet currently focused in the international trade and development and finacial sectors.  They are in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.  Most of our work with Lars is performance-based compensation.  This is a model obviously attractive to Lombard's new and existing clients.  

L. Mark Billeaud

 
L. Mark Billeaud began his career in the commercial real estate business in 1988 and has developed a broad background in development, leasing, acquisitions, dispositions and construction.  Prior to forming Laurus Realty Ventures, Mark was a partner with Maune Development Company in St. Louis where he was involved in all facets of growing a “ground up” real estate enterprise including deal generation, leasing, development, re-development, acquisitions, dispositions, new markets and construction.  Mr. Billeaud and his partner developed and acquired a portfolio of 1,000,000 square feet and $55.0 million in value in a five year period.
Before joining Maune, Mr. Billeaud was Vice President of the St. Louis Industrial Business Unit of Duke Realty (NYSE:  DRE).  During his six years at Duke, Mark was involved in the leasing, acquisition and development of an industrial portfolio that eventually grew to over 4.25 million square feet.  Mr. Billeaud was in charge of operations of the industrial group in 2003 and 2004 before joining Maune.  Prior to Duke Realty, he was a Vice President with Trammell Crow Company in its St. Louis office, involved with general brokerage, office and industrial product leasing, and investment sales.  Mr. Billeaud graduated from The Ohio State University with a degree in finance.
 

Mr. Billeaud is involved as a developer associate with the local St. Louis Chapter of SIOR (Society of Office and Industrial Realtors).  He is also on the board of MGA (Missouri Growth Association) and serves in multiple capacities with the St. Louis Chapter of NAIOP, Commercial Real Estate Development Association, including the President of the Chapter, Governmental Affairs Chairman and the founding Board of Governors.  Mark is also a member of the National NAIOP Capital Markets Forum.  

Nitish Singh

Nitish Singh is a leading and globally renowned expert in the emerging field of website globalization. He is also one of the pioneers in the development of educational programs in localization/international e-business and has raised significant financial contributions to support such initiatives. Dr. Singh is Assistant Professor of International Business at the Boeing Institute of International Business at Saint Louis University. Prior to it he was a Professor at California State University Chico and headed the localization certification program there. His educational efforts in the field of localization have been supported by US Department of Education, CSU, Google, HP, IBM, Microsoft and other companies. Dr. Singh is also the co-author of the critically acclaimed book: "The Culturally Customized Web Site: Customizing Websites for the Global Marketplace," which is highly recommended by ChoiceReviews Online. He holds a Ph.D. in Marketing and International Business from Saint Louis University, an MBA from Pune University-India and an MA in Marketing from University of Glamorgan UK.

Dr. Singh also has been active in training and consulting in the field of localization for websites, international e-business strategy, doing business in China and India, and marketing to Hispanics online. He has provided such training and consulting now to more than 200 individuals and corporations across the globe. Some of the organization he has provided training and consulting for include HP, IBM, Yahoo, Globalization Partners, Canon, Lionbridge, and FedEx. He is currently working on several new books in the area of localization and is continuing to develop new training programs in the field of localization. 

Dr. Singh is the recipient of research excellence awards from CSU and Saint Louis University and was named one of the top 10 reviewers for International Marketing Review. He has published a series of journal articles exploring the issue of website localization, and is continuously expanding on this research stream to website adaptation issues across Europe, Asia and Latin America. His research has appeared in top academic journals such as the Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS), Journal of Business Research (JBR), Psychology & Marketing, International Marketing Review, Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, Thunderbird International Business Review, Journal of Advertising Research, Multinational Business Review, Journal of Consumer Behavior and others. He has also presented his research and spoken at more than 50 academic and business conferences.

Carlos Elizondo

Carlos A. Elizondo is Co-Founder and Principal at Bailey & Elizondo LLC, a master partner with Lombard Global. He brings to bear a broad range of financial services experience, including public accounting, transaction advisory, corporate finance, underwriting, portfolio management, and business development. Most recently he was Team Leader for GE Capital’s Global Enterprise Client Group where he managed a team of professionals responsible for global relationship management and new business origination for GE’s key customers. Since joining GE in 2001, he has held a variety of additional roles, including SVP Relationship Manager, VP Origination and VP Portfolio & Underwriting. In these capacities, he led and closed numerous transactions, producing over $6 billion of loan commitments in products ranging from leases to loans to customers needing growth capital, acquisition finance, recapitalization, restructurings, and leveraged buyouts. In addition, his leadership in the Technology & Electronics industry led to the creation of the Electronics industry vertical within GE’s Corporate Lending, where Mr.Elizondo led the originations efforts on the West Coast.Prior to his career at GE, he held several roles at Arthur Andersen LLP, performing business and transaction advisory services for clients in various industries. In this capacity, he managed audit teams and clients, and was responsible for planning, supervision and billing. In addition, Mr. Elizondo executed buy-side and sell-side diligence engagements, including tax and accounting structuring, merger integration and post-transaction analysis for private equity investorsand strategic buyers. He worked on the creation of detailed valuation models for acquisition and/or divestiture analysis.Mr. Elizondo’s transaction experience includes originating, due diligence, structuring, underwriting, negotiations, syndications and portfolio management for global acquisitions and divestitures or investment evaluation. He is well versed in a variety of financial products, including: corporate loans, interest rate hedges, distressed debt, second-lien loans, securitizations, factoring facilities, leveraged, tax and structured leases, trade finance, vendor programs, real estate finance, equity and other structured finance products.

Mr. Elizondo received his BA in History from The University of Texas at Austin and his MAcc from the University of Southern California where he was a Leventhal Academic Fellow.  

Ralph Capio

Colonel Ralph J. Capio, USAF (Ret.), is an attorney specializing in contract law and international law.  He also has teaching experience that spans more than 30 years.  Presently, he is the President of International and Business Consultants, Las Vegas, NV.

Col. Capio, a former US Air Force judge advocate, held numerous responsible positions at home and abroad.  He was the legal advisor at the United States Transportation Command, Scott Air Force Base; Director of the Contract, International and Aviation Law Division at Headquarters, Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base; and, Chief Counsel and Staff Judge Advocate at the headquarters for the United States Training Mission to The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh.  He was also a previous Staff Judge Advocate at Sembach Air Base, Germany, Staff Judge Advocate at Misawa Air Base, Japan, and directed the US Sending State Office at the US Embassy, Rome, Italy.  He also had extensive experience in the private practice of law.  He was Of Counsel at Armstrong Teasdale, LLP, St. Louis, Missouri, one of the oldest and largest law firms in the Midwest, where he specialized in Government Contract Law.  He recently completed an extended assignment in Afghanistan for the World Bank.

Col. Capio has been a member of the adjunct faculty at Saint Louis University, where he taught The Legal Environment of Business and International Negotiations.   He has also held teaching positions at the University of Maryland's European and Asian Divisions, McKendree College, Boston University, the University of Tampa, and Webster University, where he taught various legal and contracting related courses. Col. Capio is the author of numerous published articles, including "The Nature of Contracting in a Global Environment," presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Academy of Business Disciplines.

Col. Capio has a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration (BA) from Rutgers University, a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from the University of New York at Albany, a Juris Doctor (JD) from Union University, Albany Law School, a Master of Laws (LLM) from George Washington University, and a Master of International Business (EMIB) from Saint Louis University.  He holds a Professional Designation in Contract Management (PDCM) from the Air Force Institute of Technology, and a Masters Certificate in Commercial Contract Management from George Washington University.  He is admitted to practice law before the United States Supreme Court, the New York Court of Appeals, the United States District Court (NDNY), the United States Court of Federal Claims, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.

Nicola Innocentin

Nick is one of the most talented and prolific marketing and brand-building practitioners in Italy. His reputation throughout the world continues to grow. A former professional soccer (global football) player in Italy, Germany Scotland and the USA, Nick speaks five languages, including Italian, English, Spanish, German and French. Nick's current efforts are focused on market development of Germany and Austria for the Italian uniform manufacturer Macron SRL. His other clients include: PIZ BUIN, Adidas Italia, Ducati, Giorgio Armani, Roberto Cavalli, L'Oreal, Datch, Nestle Italia, Coca Cola Italia, Slamball, Dondisalotti/Sofa and Demax SRL. Nick's education includes studies in tourism management at the University of Economy Bologna and the Masters program in marketing and management at Boston College. Nick offices and resides in Bologna and Rimini, Italy and in San Marino. 

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicola_Innocentin#Usa  

Pierpaolo Dondi

Pierpaolo is the Chairman of Dondi Salotti SRL, one of Italy and Europe's largest and fastest growing furniture retail chains.  The roots of Dondi Salotti go back to 1958, when his father opened the first store near Montova, Italy.  Today Dondi Salotti has over 40 stores across the country and revenues near $150 mlllion USD. Dondi was one of the first furniture chains in Europe to use modern consumer financing. The success of the firm can be also attributed to an untiring work ethic, industry innovation and attention to business detail, particularly in regard to analytics. 

Lombard Global has helped Dondi Salotti complete transactions in commercial real estate and international relocation. In addition, it has an ongoing advisory relationship with the firm.   As such, it has provided consultation in issues ranging from global expansion to international taxation, point of sale, marketing and advertising, supply chain and human resources.  

Fu Yixiang

Mr. Fu, best known to all as Gianni, was born in China and immigrated to Italy with his family very early on in his life.  He picked up the Italian language and an international way of conducting business.  As a seventh generation entrepreneur, Mr. Fu conducts business at some of the highest levels of Chinese government and business. His charisma and salesmanship should only be experienced.  Gianni is an unbelievable asset to Lombard Global, our clients and his firm, Passion Group and clients. 

Mr. Fu has started and runs several businesses globally in furniture, fashion, real estate and selected import/export.  He resides in Parma, Italy with his family when he is not in China or elsewhere in the world.

Dr. Kannan Ramaswamy  

Areas of Expertise: Energy sector, oil & gas, Global strategy, Emerging markets, India, South Asia, Mergers and acquisitions, Top management, corporate governance 

Kannan Ramaswamy, Ph.D., is the William D. Hacker Chair Professor of Management in the Department of Global Business at Thunderbird School of Global Management. He is world-renowned for his expertise on global strategy, emerging markets – including India and South Asia, the energy sector, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions and global management. A native of India who is now a U.S. citizen, Dr. Ramaswamy has consulted for several U.S. and European multinationals. He is an award-winning executive educator whose teaching and research interests span emerging market multinationals, business groups and corporate diversification, mergers and acquisitions, privatization, and jointventures.

In addition to teaching in Thunderbird’s full-time programs, Dr.Ramaswamy teaches extensively in the school’s Corporate Learning programs. He has participated in programs with multinational companies including American Express, EDS Corp. (now part of Hewlett-PackardCo.), Dow Chemical, General Motors, Mattel, Brasil Telecom, Delta AirLines, Astellas Pharmaceutical (Japan), LG Electronics (Korea),Ericsson, Motorola, ExxonMobil, Baker Hughes, ONGC (India), Integra(Russia), and SK Corp. (Korea).  Dr. Ramaswamy also directs several Thunderbird programs including the program on Globalization: Merging Strategy with Action that deals with global strategy issues, and the Advanced Management Program for Oil and Gas Industry Executives dealing with contemporary issues in oil and gas.

Dr. Ramaswamy’s research – which has appeared in distinguishedj ournals including Strategic Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Academy of Management Journal, Management International Review, Journal of Management and Journal of Business Research – focuses on a broad range of topics:  challenges facing emerging market multinationals, the performance impact of corporate diversification; competitive consequences of privatization; the role of strategic fit in mergers and acquisitions; and equity vs.operational-control issues in joint ventures. Much of his recent research in these areas has centered on emerging markets. Dr.Ramaswamy’s work has been featured among the best papers at these prestigious national meetings eight times; his work was chosen “best paper” twice at the Academy of Management national meetings. As a faculty member at the academic institutions he has served, Dr.Ramaswamy has won numerous awards for research excellence.

A member of the Board of Reviewers of the Journal of International Business Studies and the editorial board of the Journal ofI nternational Management, and the Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Dr. Ramaswamy has also served as guest editor of a special issue of theJ ournal of Operations Management on “knowledge offshoring.” With Thunderbird professor Andrew Inkpen, Dr. Ramaswamy co-authored the book Global Strategy: Creating and Sustaining Advantage across Borders published by the Oxford University Press. Dr. Ramaswamy earned a Ph.D.in strategic management from Virginia Tech; an MBA from the University of Madras in India; and a BS in physics from the University of Madras. 

Dr. Yan Zhongming

Dr. Yan Zhongming is one of China's top 10 real estate and strategic planning consultants. The three well-known cornerstones of his theory are entitled The Real Problem Analysis, The Globalization and Adoption of Ideas and the Project Profit Pattern Study. As an expert on Macao urban development research, Dr. Yan wrote a book named as "A City Brought by Monsoon Winds: Early Macao City History Research ". Besides this, another monograph book "Real Estate Concept  And Ideas Adoption" which presents his main theory exploring the development and progress of Chinese real estate.

Dr. Zhongming and his firm, Yansplan work for some of the most prolific and important developers in China. Their work includes residential and mixed-use development throughout China, particularly in Guangdong Province and Macao. These areas, concentrated in the Pearl River region of China, are the fastest developing and richest in terms of trade, GDP per capita and real estate in the world's fastest-growing and third largest economy.        

Billy Bisanga

Billy is a Ugandan based expert on international business strategy, the dynamics of doing business in Africa with East Africa in particular being his specialty. With the East African Community working towards full political and economic integration and also as one viable trade and investment destination, Billy has demonstrated and proved himself as a formidable resource person on investment opportunities, information and business advisory services in the region as more Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) continue to flow in. He currently works with Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU), which is Uganda’s apex body for the private sector advisory and info center in Uganda. It is an association of more than 200 business associations, corporate bodies and the major public sector agencies that support private sector growth. He is a holder of a degree in International Business pursued at the prestigious Makerere University Business School, Kampala Uganda’s leading business school and also in the East and central of Africa. He has completed and presented a research paper to the business School as a requirement for the award of his degree entitled “Export product quality in LDCS and trade volumes” in June 2008

He has also been on a specially selected team of expert  business people in the country to attend an Executive development programmes on International Business conducted by highly acclaimed Professors from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade covering areas of strategic management process, market identification, product & pricing decisions, export import documents, e-governance, international trade logistics methods of payment ininternational business, international sale/purchase contracts, and interpersonal skills for international business, trade services. He also has extensive knowledge in his study and practice areas related but not limited to,international business law, multi lateral trade systems, export and importsystems, export marketing management. Billy currently resides in Kampala,Uganda

Why the name Lombard?

Prosperous as a result of trade with the Far East, the Lombards of Italy set their sites on intra-European trade. As such, they became the drivers of economic growth for continental Europe. After the invention or reintroduction of double-entry bookkeeping in Northern Italy, modern banks and innovative financial institutions developed in the few other major commercial centers of Europe such as Barcelona and London. In fact, world-famous Lombard Street, the heart of the "City" or financial district in London, got its name from the large number of Italian bankers who kept office there.

Today, Lombardy is one of the engines of the global economy with a GDP at €500 billion euro. The region is one of the three richest regions in Europe, with a per capita gross domestic product that is 30 percent higher than the rest of Italy. In fact the latest Eurostat figures show that Lombardy had the highest GDP for a region in the whole of the EU.

Lombard Global, in turn, aspires to follow the path of growth led by innovation and leadership provided by the Lombards centuries ago.

Why the Fleur de Lis?

This choice was due to that of a more personal nature.  Mr. Billeaud, founder of Lombard Global, Inc. is of French descent and grew up primarily in St .Louis and New Orleans, both American cities founded by the French and who also prominently display the fleur de lis in their respective banners. More importantly, however, was his long term devotion to his favorite American football team, the Super Bowl Champion  New Orleans Saints.  We believe that the resilience that it takes to remain a devoted fan of the Saints is a trait that should be duplicated by businesspeople at all levels in management and with firms of all sizes...globally!