About Gunnar Branson
A Chief Marketing Officer with a focus on commercializing innovation, Mr. Branson has over 20 years experience in professional services sales, product innovation and marketing. He has transformed businesses and accelerated growth as a leader, strategist, business developer and innovator.
A former marketing executive for real estate and financial companies such as Heller Financial, GE Capital, Transwestern and Booth/Hansen & Associates, Gunnar is a proven leader, skilled with new product development, cross-sales, sales and marketing strategy. As a consultant, Gunnar has developed new products, channels and markets, implemented cross sales platforms and advised on sales management, change management and training for clients such as Jones Lang LaSalle, Wrightwood Capital, GEMSA Loan Services, Jackson Healthcare, Perseus Capital, GE Healthcare, Sterling Capital Partners, Real Estate Media, Mayer Brown, Rowe & Maw, Leo Software, Lakeshore Properties and Digital Minds. Gunnar also acted on behalf of clients to secure new clients and contracts in a sales or business development capacity.
Through a JV with NPI, Inc., he also provided marketing strategy, business development, and product development services for clients such as GE Healthcare Financial Services, Wells Fargo, CIBC, Imation and Ecolab.
Gunnar believes that innovation isn’t something you do at an off-site – rather it’s a daily survival strategy for every employee in a company. He conducts round tables, presentations and blogs on the subject and is developing a book with the working title,
Everyone Innovates; a hacker’s guide to innovation.
For more of his views on innovation, go to www.bransonpowers.com.
About Robert Reich
Robert B. Reich has served in three US national administrations, most recently as US Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton. He also served President-Elect Obama’s Transition and Advisory Board.
He has written twelve books, including The Work of Nations, which has been translated into 22 languages; the best sellers The Future of Success and Locked in the Cabinet; and his most recent book, Supercapitalism.
Professor Reich is also Co-Founding Editor of The American Prospect magazine. In 2003 he was awarded the prestigious Vaclav Havel Vision Foundation Prize, by the former Czech President, for his pioneering work in economic and social thought. In 2008, Time magazine named Mr. Reich one of the ten most successful cabinet secretaries of the century. Reich is currently Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley.
About Buckley Brinkman
Mr. Brinkman is a results-driven senior executive with an established track record of over 25 years of experience as a change catalyst. As both an executive and corporate renewal consultant, he developed a talent for creating strong teams focused on customers and results. He has led organizations to success through his ability to identify and leverage inherent employee talent and align it with marketplace challenges. Mr. Brinkman has successfully refocused a variety of companies, creating more than $600 million of realized market value for firms that engage him.
Mr. Brinkman is currently the President of Vallon, LLC, the premier interim executive talent contracting firm in Minneapolis. Prior to joining Vallon, Mr. Brinkman founded Launchpad Partners, an advisory firm for mid-market companies under stress. He also served as President and Chief Operating Officer for U.S. Music Corporation. As a the Chief Operating Officer of Manchester Companies, Mr. Brinkman and his team were awarded the “2006 Turnaround of the Year” award for his work on an engagement that created over $325 million in realized market value. In addition, Mr. Brinkman has provided executive leadership to companies ranging from $5 million to over $4 billion in sales, including Smurfit Stone, Rand McNally, Carta Mundi, and De La Rue Cash Systems.
Buckley Brinkman holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
612.230.3549
The Changing World of Employment
About Adam Hartung
Adam Hartung is Managing Partner of Spark Partners, a suburban Chicago consulting firm focused on innovation, growth strategies and achieving above-average performance. Adam started, financed and sold three start-up companies, and is still an active angel investor. He ran Business Development, implementing innovation and creating growth delivering above-average returns with PepsiCo and DuPont. He has consulted as part of The Boston Consulting Group, Coopers & Lybrand, Index and Computer Sciences Corporation. He is a Forbes leadership columnist, author of Create Marketplace Disruption: How to Stay Ahead of the Competition (Financial Times Press, 2008) and The Fall of GM: What Went Wrong and How To Avoid Its Mistakes (FT 2009.) He is also contributing editor to The Journal of Innovation Science. He was awarded an MBA with Distinction from the Harvard Business School, and is a faculty and advisory board member for the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.
847.726.8465
Adam@SparkPartners.com
