AMR Research

As chief strategy officer for AMR Research, Kevin O'Marah brings a unique blend of intellectual prowess, practical business experience, and energy to AMR Research's clients. During his nearly seven years with the firm, Kevin has worked with hundreds of companies on manufacturing, product lifecycle management (PLM), and supply chain strategy. Kevin launched AMR Research's PLM practice, and is a seminal author on PLM, having been included in over 100 articles defining the application's footprint, business impact, and market dynamics. He has also contributed to the firm's definition and coverage of demand-driven supply networks (DDSN), having authored several reports, including the AMR Research Supply Chain Top 25, defining the link to business operating metrics. He was named an AMR Research Fellow in 2002. Prior to joining AMR Research, Kevin worked on supply chain projects in a variety of industries including telecommunications, semiconductors, and chemicals. As a vice president at Oracle Corporation, Kevin focused on supply chain and product data management strategy. He spent several years with Gemini Consulting, now part of Ernst & Young (GCE&Y), working with manufacturing companies on supply chain and product strategy. He worked with Mercer Consulting in London and Company Assistance Limited in Warsaw earlier in his career. A graduate of Boston College, Oxford University, and Stanford Business School, Kevin frequently speaks at industry events and executive conferences, where he is noted for his dynamic and engaging style. He is a widely published author and has been quoted in numerous business publications including The Financial Times, Fortune, BusinessWeek and The Wall Street Journal.

Bob Blakeley joined AMR Research as Chief Financial Officer in 1999. He is responsible for providing operational guidance and financial discipline to all business activities. Prior to joining AMR Research, Bob worked at XTRA Corporation where he was Vice President and Corporate Controller. XTRA is a leader in the freight transportation equipment leasing business. While at XTRA, Bob was responsible for analyzing financial results and maintaining proper internal control procedures and policies. He was also responsible for budgeting, forecasting, taxes and information technology, as well as strategic and operations planning. In early 1999, Bob was instrumental in developing and implementing a Shared Service Center plan to centralize company-wide financial, administrative, and IT functions. Bob also gained significant experience acquiring and integrating newly acquired businesses while at XTRA. Bob received his B.S. in Accounting from the University of Rhode Island and earned his MBA from Boston University.

Michael is responsible for AMR Research's overall client management strategy and service delivery. Over the past thirteen years at AMR Research, he has managed several groups and also led AMR Research's initial launch into Europe. Prior to this position, he was Senior Vice President, Research Advisory Service with responsibility for research analysis, advisory products, and service delivery. Michael was also AMR Research's Managing Director, International Operations, based in London, where he was responsible for AMR Research's operations throughout Europe.

Nancy joined AMR Research, Inc. in 1998 with the responsibility of creating CNBS as a standalone AMR service offering. Utilizing over 15 years of high-tech experience, Nancy has successfully developed CNBS into the only service of its kind in the industry. The primary focus of CNBS is to provide senior executives with critical information and strategic counsel needed to effectively negotiate software license and implementation agreements. The overall goal of the service is to assist in providing a fair contract for the client, benchmarked against the market, while maintaining a positive relationship with the vendor before, during, and after the negotiations. Prior to joining AMR Research, Nancy served as Vice President of Worldwide Contracts and Special Bids with Marcam Solutions, Inc. While there, she was responsible for all worldwide software and service contract negotiations, development, rollout and maintenance of worldwide pricing, multinational sales and special bid programs in all direct and affiliate operations. At Marcam, Nancy was named annually to the Presidents Club from 1992 through 1996, and in 1997 she received the Presidents Award. Prior to her tenure at Marcam, Nancy served in various management roles at Dun & Bradstreet Software and McCormack & Dodge. Nancy holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts.

As the vice president of AMR Research's quantitative research group, Bob Kraus oversees vendor-based market-sizing research, market forecasting, and user-based survey research focused on software adoption and IT budgeting. Bob also oversees questionnaire and sample design, field interviews and surveys, statistical analysis and modeling, and report composition. Prior to this position, Bob worked as a management consultant for pricing and product feature research at International Planning and Research. Before this, Bob worked for six years in both the quantitative research and SMB services practices at AMR Research. Bob previously worked at Nortel Networks, Inc. as a research manager. Before Nortel Networks, Bob worked as a customer research consultant for Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Bob received his BS in mathematics from the University of Vermont and his MS in experimental statistics from the University of Rhode Island.

Dave Blake is responsible for managing AMR Research's Contract Negotiation Service. Leveraging over 14 years of industry experience, Dave leads client engagements, and specializes in software, implementation, and offshore outsourcing negotiations. He advises clients throughout the negotiation process, providing clients with his expertise on the negotiation of the business, financial, and risk mitigation elements of their technology agreements. Dave, an expert on the outsourcing of ERP production support and application development and maintenance to offshore locations, derives his knowledge from practical experience leading and managing the due diligence, sourcing, evaluation, and implementation of outsourced offshore development centers and complex system integration agreements. Prior to joining AMR Research, Dave worked at Lucent Technologies. Prior to Lucent Technologies, Dave worked at the Department of Defense in a variety of positions. Dave earned a BS in business management from the U.S. Air Force Academy, and a JD from Suffolk University Law School. He is a member of the Massachusetts Bar and the NCMA.

Debra Hofman brings over 20 years of experience in the research and advisory business to her position as a vice president at AMR Research. Her research focuses on supply chain excellence and the effective use of metrics and measures in optimizing performance. Previously, she launched and led AMR Research's Benchmark Analytix Service, which provided company-specific supply chain performance assessments tied to the use of technology and best practices. Prior to joining AMR Research, Debra was a partner at Benchmarking Partners, Inc. At Benchmarking Partners, she led primary research studies focused on realizing value from information technology investments. Debra also worked as a senior member of the Center for Information Systems Research at MIT's Sloan School of Management. Debra holds a BA in economics and environmental science from the State University of New York at Binghamton, and an MBA from New York University.

In line with AMR Research's 2006 forecast, the supply technology market grew 7% in 2007. Despite the gloomy economic conditions of 2008, AMR Research is optimistic about supply chain technology. AMR Research estimates 7% growth overall on a CAGR rate basis for the next five years.

As vice president of human resources, Lisa is responsible for establishing the global strategy and direction of all human resource programs and policies. This encompasses providing global HR services that focus on increasing organizational effectiveness through talent acquisition, retention, coaching, and training. Lisa collaborates with the executive team on all strategic initiatives and is committed to maintaining AMR Research's strong corporate culture. Lisa has over 12 years of human resources experience, eight of those at AMR Research. She earned a B.S. in Business Administration from Merrimack College.

Mark Atwood brings more than 17 years of experience in product management, product marketing, strategy and consulting, alliances, and business development to his role at AMR Research. He leads the company's custom research efforts, working closely with AMR Research clients on primary research-based engagements that help those clients with their product and marketing strategies. Since joining AMR Research, Mark has worked with a wide variety of AMR Research clients across a number of industries, leading project-based work in areas such as mobile applications in supply chain, sustainability and corporate social responsibility, downstream data in CPG, supply chain risk management, logistics and distribution, business intelligence and analytics in financial services, and enterprise collaboration. Mark joined AMR Research from META Group, where he was a director in the IT vendor practice of META Group Consulting. Previously, Mark was director of global alliances at Lycos. Before that, he worked at Compaq Computer Corporation and Digital Equipment Corporation in a variety of product management and product marketing roles in the desktop workstation division. Mark began his IT career as an applications programmer, where he developed, implemented, and maintained the management information systems that supported marketing and sales force automation for a leading manufacturer of surgical and medical devices. Mark graduated cum laude with a BA in English literature from Middlebury College. He earned his MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College, concentrating in strategic marketing.

Chris Fletcher brings more than 25 years of industry experience to his role as a research director at AMR Research. A well-known industry analyst and enterprise applications veteran, Chris is responsible for research and coverage in Customer-Facing Technologies, eCommerce, Enterprise Mobility, and Enterprise 2.0 as a member of AMR's Enterprise Strategies Service. Prior to joining AMR Research, Chris was director of alliance and solutions marketing at Nokia. Chris was also a vice president and research director with Aberdeen Group for six years. Chris has held a variety of business development and management positions within established and start-up technology companies such as Action Technologies, AT&T, Staffware plc, and Symbol Technologies. Chris has been quoted in many leading trade and business publications including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and InformationWeek. Chris received his BA in philosophy from the University of New Hampshire, and his MBA from UNH's Whittemore School of Business and Economics.

As research director for AMR Research, Dana Stiffler is part of a team that studies service providers and helps companies understand the benefits, costs, and risks of working with them. Dana has led the coverage of Tier One consulting and IT services companies for the firm since 2002. Her research focuses on the business and IT trends that affect corporate technology implementation and operations, with a particular focus on enterprise application implementation and support. Prior to joining AMR Research, Dana spent three years at Meridien Research (now IDC's Financial Insights), where she was responsible for launching their Emerging Trading Technologies practice in 1999. Earlier in her career, she served as policy analyst at Stuart N. Brotman Communications. Dana received her BA in international relations from Claremont McKenna College, and her MA in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.

David Aquino is a research director in AMR Research's Supply Chain Process and Technology Service. He is responsible for the research and analysis of best practices and enabling technology focused upon: Demand Management, Vendor Managed Inventory, Inventory Segmentation, and Organizational Design and Talent Management. Before joining AMR Research, David was the vice president of supply chain at Aramark Uniform and Career Apparel, where he was responsible for developing the process, organization, and proprietary supply chain technology to support the direct sale apparel organization and several key integration efforts between the three operating divisions. Prior to Aramark, David was the vice president of supply chain at AAi. Foster Grant, Inc. David earned his BS in marketing from Syracuse University and his MBA from Fordham University. He is certified in production and inventory management from the Association for Operations Management (APICS).

As a research director for AMR Research's Quantitative Research Service, Fenella Sirkisoon is responsible for conducting quantitative market research, which includes designing questionnaires and samples, conducting field interviews and surveys, and performing statistical analysis of research data and reports. Fenella has written extensively over the past five years about trends in IT spending, specifically in the manufacturing and services industries among mid-size and large organizations. Prior to joining AMR Research, Fenella worked as a senior research analyst for Urban and Associates. She also worked in senior research positions for Odyssey Ventures, Atlantic Marketing Research and Macro International, now a part of Opinion Research Corporation. Fenella received her BA from Hunter College.

Greg Aimi brings more than 20 years of business experience within supply chain, technology, marketing, and high technology to his position as research director at AMR Research. Greg provides vendor research and best practice analysis in supply chain management, global trade, and visibility and event management. His work has focused on the continual re-optimization of supply chain functions in response to the daily disruptions and dynamic change of the real world. Before joining AMR Research, Greg held several senior management positions. At RedPrairie, he was responsible for establishing product strategy and aligning the product vision with customer needs. Greg received his B.A. from the University of North Texas.

As an analyst with AMR Research's Industry Value Chain Strategies Service, Jane Barrett specializes in industrial manufacturing research. Jane also covers supply chain execution trends and best practices in sourcing and procurement, order management, and collaborative commerce. Jane brings over 20 years of experience in consulting and ERP to her role as a research director. She has helped global multi-nationals and mid-market manufacturers plan, design, and implement solutions that achieve their business objectives, and she has led the development of tools and methodologies to support clients in project management, process design, lean manufacturing, and performance metrics. Jane has also helped manufacturers address business initiatives involving globalization, operations, supply chain, compliance, standardization, and restructuring. Jane was the vice president of professional services for Glovia International prior to joining AMR Research. Prior to joining Glovia International, Jane worked for seven years at QAD Inc., where she was responsible for the North American consulting organization Jane was also the joint owner and director of OpenPro Ltd. in South Africa, the QAD distributor for sub-Saharan Africa. Earlier in her career, Jane worked for Hewlett-Packard and Unilever in South Africa. Jane earned her BA from the University of Natal, South Africa.

Janet Sherlock brings more than 20 years of IT leadership and operational experience to her role as Research Director, Retail for AMR Research. Her coverage areas include store and cross-channel operations in the retail enterprise. Prior to joining AMR Research, Janet was Vice President and CIO at Calico Corners, where she developed and executed the company's E-Commerce and Information Technology strategies and initiatives. Janet held senior leadership positions in various companies including: Guess?, Inc., where she was the VP of IT, ARCO am/pm stores, and Mobil Oil, where she was responsible for downstream retail systems for the U.S., Latin, and South America markets. In addition to her IT experience, Janet also has functional experience in store operations, franchisee operations, merchandising and buying, web marketing and analytics, and business process reengineering. Janet has a B.S. in Business Logistics from the Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from Marymount University.

Kevin Mixer brings more than 17 years of experience in the automotive industry to his role as research director at AMR Research. Responsible for the firm's analysis of the automotive and heavy equipment industries, Kevin uses the unique experience he gained working directly for auto manufacturers and in the industry to help reduce the risk and financial liability that automotive manufacturers face today with product failures. Kevin's recent research efforts have focused on assisting auto manufacturers reduce warranty costs from the current $12.5 billion mark, improving detection to correction cycles from over 250 days to fewer than 100 and complying with government mandates such as T.R.E.A.D. He works with automotive and heavy equipment manufacturers in leveraging electronic commerce technologies and ERP solutions in the delivery of supply chain solutions. Kevin developed "early warning" concepts that help reduce the number of quality failures in the field by as much as 25 percent for Fortune 500 and mid-market manufacturers. Kevin began his career at Ford Motor Company, where he focused on enabling the globalization of Ford's product development process. During his tenure, Ford awarded Kevin for his work on the Ford 2000 effort, for which he helped bring control to the company's $13.5 billion global indirect material spend. Building upon his experience at Ford Motor Company, Kevin led KPMG's electronic commerce auto practice working with Fortune 500 clients as they wrestled with using enabling technology to improve operations. Kevin frequently speaks on the strategies that automotive companies need to survive in today's challenging economic environment. He also works with Western Kentucky University and Purdue University to educate industry experts and future thought leaders in manufacturing. Kevin is frequently quoted in publications such as Automotive News, Forbes and InformationWeek.

Kevin Reale brings twenty years of manufacturing experience at Fortune 500 companies to his role as research director in the automotive practice at AMR Research. Prior to joining AMR Research, Kevin worked as an executive director in the supplier relationship management business unit at i2 Technologies. Before taking on this role, Kevin worked in the automotive and industrial business unit at i2. Kevin was also a lead partner in the automotive supply chain and operations solutions group at IBM Business Consulting Services. At KPMG Consulting, Kevin was a senior manager. Kevin holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and an M.B.A., both from Lawrence Technological University.

Kevin Sterneckert brings more than 25 years of experience to his role as Research Director, Retail at AMR Research. Kevin is primarily responsible for researching, analyzing, and writing about the technologies, best practices, and trends surrounding consumer-centric merchandising and related topics in the retail industry. Prior to joining AMR Research, Kevin was the senior director of global product strategy for merchandise planning, optimization and supply chain at Oracle Retail. He also served as the GM & VP of Retail for DemandTec, a provider of merchandise optimization solutions. Kevin held several store department positions at HEB Grocery Company and also led their perishable pricing activities for several years. He managed operations development domestically and directed the private label program and supply chain activities in Mexico City with Wal-Mart Supercenters. As a CIO of a billion dollar grocer, he delivered a complete enterprise replacement of all back office, store operations, and merchandising systems. Kevin also worked with the leading provider of private label, Daymon Worldwide, addressing technology, industry initiatives, and retail research. Kevin obtained his B.S. in Computer Science with an emphasis in systems design from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

As a member of AMR Research's Engineering and Manufacturing Operations team, Simon Jacobson examines how manufacturers apply IT within both the local production environment and across the entire product supply network. He researches and works closely with clients on current and future manufacturing architectures, measurement strategies, and technology best practices across the manufacturing industries that AMR Research serves. Simon is frequently quoted in the press and presents often at industry events on such topics as manufacturing compliance and Manufacturing 2.0. He provides insights on technology markets, including Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence (EMI), Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S), Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), Quality Management Systems (QMS), as well as the evolving role of manufacturing-focused service providers. Prior to his role as Research Director, Simon was a Sr. Research Analyst covering both manufacturing operations and the midmarket ERP segment. Before that Simon worked as the Program Manager for AMR Research's manufacturing operations service. In this position, he managed the team's strategic client relationships, business development efforts, and coordinated research efforts to ensure that market trends and demands were adequately reflected. He also worked to create cross-functional synergies with AMR Research's sales, marketing, and research departments. Simon earned his BA from the University of Vermont.

As a research director for AMR Research, Steve brings over 15 years of supply chain and technology implementation expertise to AMR Research's clients. Steve's insight spans supply- and demand-side topics. His research is particularly focused on trends in supply globalization and tactics for agile supply network response. Prior to joining AMR Research, Steve directed sales operations for New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. In this role, Steve led radical worldwide re-design of the company's supply planning processes, instituting advanced materials, capacity, and freight hedging techniques via the company's Chinese supply line. Steve also directed administration of $1 billion in U.S. sales orders, managing inventory allocation, available to promise, and perfect order tracking and analysis. Before New Balance, Steve served as an executive vice president at SupplyChainge, Inc., the software company that pioneered Lead Time Optimization (LTO) supply planning solutions. Steve was responsible for the company's go-to-market planning and execution and helped manage its transition from manufacturing services provider to supply planning software enterprise. Steve was also the co-founder and executive vice-president of Lucy Activewear, Inc., the multi-channel retailer of women's sports apparel and accessories. Prior to Lucy, Steve was a senior product marketing engineer at Intel Corporation, where he was responsible for new product and new venture development. Earlier in his career, Steve worked as a senior analyst in the environmental strategy group at Abt Associates, Inc. and as a strategy consultant to Fortune 500 senior executives at Bain & Company. Steve graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College. He earned his M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Wayne McDonnell brings 18 years of experience to his role as Research Director, Life Sciences. He is responsible for research across the life sciences and healthcare value chain, including the pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, wholesale, and hospital industries. Wayne's specific focus is on manufacturing, quality, and product supply management across these industries. Wayne joins AMR Research from Stryker Biotech where he held the position of Director of Global Supply Chain. He provided leadership to a global supply chain organization that delivered long-term global strategies for supply chain management, strategic sourcing, packaging and distribution. Prior to Stryker Biotech, Wayne held various roles in operations and materials management with Merck. His experiences at Merck included chemical plant operations, capital projects planning, supply chain management and global procurement. Wayne earned his Bachelor's Degree in chemistry from Bucknell University and his MBA from Rutgers University.

Bruce Henderson created names for each of the quadrants in Boston Consulting Group's matrix. Over time, the model has been reinvented by other companies as a way to show where software firms magically fit in their sectors. It's our turn now as we consider the Tragic Quadrant.
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Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT Bruce Richardson

Eric Klein, research analyst at Boston-based AMR Research Inc., said small companies often are nervous about getting bogged down in the complexity of an ERP implementation. That nervousness partly explains the slow growth in ERP adoption among small businesses. Klein said vendor revenue from ERP adoption among small customers those with revenue less than $50 million grew by just 3.3% last year. It's the midmarket firms, with revenue between $50 and $250 million, that are seeing the robust adoption rate at 17%. And ERP revenue grew by 13% among companies with $250 million to $1 billion.

Hallie Burkhart is responsible for analyzing client material and preparing the deliverables that support the negotiation and business advice delivered during AMR Research's client engagements. Hallie is responsible for identifying critical business, financial and legal issues. Further, she provides written analysis of vendor pricing and business practices as well as software license, implementation services, and outsourcing agreements. Prior to joining AMR Research, Hallie worked at Investors Bank & Trust as a senior strategic contract analyst. Prior to Investors Bank & Trust, she was a law clerk in the Office of the Counsel to the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Labor. Hallie earned her BA from Denison University and her JD from Suffolk University Law School.