Increased pressure to reduce costs, continued industry consolidation, global competition, and accelerated time-to-market are a just a few of the challenges facing businesses in the consumer, industrial markets and resources segment Increased pressure to reduce costs, continued industry consolidation, global competition, and accelerated time-to-market are a just a few of the challenges facing businesses in the consumer, industrial markets and resources segment. To meet these challenges, companies are implementing radically new business models, such exploring new levels of collaboration between buyers and suppliers, and wrestling with redefined business processes and increasing supply chain efficiency and visibility. Mergers and acquisitions, the globalization of markets, the fight for customer loyalty and power shifting from the manufacturer to the retailer are compounding the ever-changing landscape. BearingPoint is a leading business advisor and systems integrator that provides consultation on a variety of business issues from Evaluation and Prioritization of Internet Initiatives, Improving Client Relationships to Supply Chain Optimization and Enterprise Operations. It provides clients with actionable blueprints, experience in project management and transfer knowledge to support their current and future business initiatives. The Consumer Industrial and Technology Markets practice helps world-class clients, such as Sears, Celanese, Chevron, Texaco and Honeywell address these challenges.
Consumer, Industrial and Technology Team
Mr. Taormina leads the Industrial & High-tech Market segments within BearingPoint. He oversees service delivery to industrial products, aerospace & defense, automotive, transportation, complex manufacturing, heavy machinery, metals & mining, electronics, and software. His organization also provides Supply Chain, Procurement and Services support across Consumer, Industrial and Technologies businesses. He has over 20 years experience managing and implementing large-scale operations improvement and information technology solutions for senior executives and organizations seeking to improve growth, efficiency and market competitiveness. Prior to joining BearingPoint, Mr. Taormina was Vice President for the telecommunications vertical at Oracle Corporation. He also served as a Vice President of the Raytheon Corporation and held several executive-level positions in the industrial & aerospace divisions at General Electric Corporation. He is a graduate of Georgetown University, holds a Masters in Information Systems from American University and is a graduate of the Executive Program at the Wharton Business School.
Mr. Hardy is a Managing Director in BearingPoint’s Consumer practice with over 18 years experience serving clients in the retail industry. In addition, he leads BearingPoint’s US Retail Sector and is responsible for developing and overseeing its strategy, sales, marketing, thought leadership, service delivery, and profitability. Mr. Hardy has served some of the world’s largest and best-known retailers where he advises senior executives on the opportunities and challenges facing their industry. He has led some of BearingPoint’s largest retail transformation engagements in areas such as customer experience, supply chain, merchandising, and store operations. Mr. Hardy has a history of delivering value to his clients in the form of increased revenue and margins, reduced costs, and improved customer experiences. Mr. Hardy has significant experience across multiple retail formats including department store, discount, specialty apparel, chain drug, convenience store, grocery, and mass merchant. He is a frequent speaker at retail conferences, such as those organized by the National Retail Federation, and is a regular contributor to several trade and business publications. Mr. Hardy attended the Georgia Institute of Technology where he received a BS in Industrial Engineering.
Mr. Jeff Maness is a Managing Director in BearingPoint’s Consumer industry segment and leads the consumer solutions practice, responsible for developing performance improvement strategies for the Retail/Wholesale, Consumer Packaged Goods, and Life Sciences industries. Mr. Maness has extensive experience advising senior executives at leading retail and consumer packaged goods companies-including Sears, Lowe’s, CVS, Payless Shoe Source, and Furniture Brands International-to define strategies and implement solutions to transform business operations. Mr. Maness has been with BearingPoint for over 10 years and has lead many of BearingPoint’s largest retail engagements in areas including operations strategy, marketing & advertising effectiveness, customer management, IT transformation, and retail technology. Mr. Maness has a proven track record on delivering real, measurable results to BearingPoint clients through increased margins, reduced cost, and improved customer experience. Mr. Maness writes and is often cited as a source for many retail industry publications-including Chain Store Age and Executive Technology-on topics including marketing and advertising, store operations, pricing optimization, internet commerce and retail technology. Mr. Maness has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University and a Masters in Business Administration from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Mr. Maness is affiliated with the National Retail Federation, the Retail Marketing Institute, the Grocery Manufacturers of America, and the International Mass Retailing Association.
Michael J. Surface is the Managing Director responsible for BearingPoint’s Consumer Segment in the Western United States, covering the Retail/Wholesale, CPG, and Life Sciences industries. For the past fifteen years, he has been leading strategic and tactical consulting assignments with global Fortune 200 companies. His areas of expertise span strategic business planning to technology implementations. Including Starbucks, Mike is currently working with Nordstrom, Safeway, Longs Drugs, Chevron Texaco, PetsMart and Trader Joe’s. Prior to joining KPMG, Mike was a broker assistant at Merrill Lynch and was also a General Manager for TGI Fridays. Mike received both his BA and MBA from Cal Poly Pomona, concentrating in Finance. He serves on the Finance Committee of the Orange County’s United Way in California and also is the chair of the Finance Committee of the Alzheimer’s Association Orange County’s Chapter in California.
Phil Garland is senior vice president for BearingPoint’s Life Sciences sector that serves over 300 clients globally in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical devices industries-including all 13 among the Fortune 500. As leader of this business unit, Mr. Garland assists life sciences companies with operational strategy, process and system architecture, program and change management, systems implementation, infrastructure, and business process outsourced / managed services. Major clients supported include Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Aventis and Medtronic. Mr. Garland manages the delivery of four key Life Sciences solutions-Selling Optimization, Product Supply Optimization, R&D Productivity, and Enterprise Productivity-whose benefit can be measured in a company’s income statement. Mr. Garland has over twenty years of experience in management and systems consulting, and he is also a CPA. Prior to leading the Life Sciences sector, he has worked with clients in a variety of industries, including: Health Care; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Communications and Content; Public Sector; Transportation; and Software industries.
Robert Rhea is the Senior Vice President of BearingPoint’s Consumer Packaged Goods Industry Segment. He is responsible for leading sales, solutions and account teams in providing systems integration, operational improvement and business advisory services to over 60 clients in the consumer products, food & beverage, apparel and tobacco industries. Mr. Rhea has over 15 years experience in the consulting field focusing on applying technologies and processes that transform organizations-enabling top-line growth, reducing costs and increasing operational capability and efficiency. In his role, Mr. Rhea has engaged several leading CPG companies such as The Coca-Cola Company, Brown & Williamson, Procter & Gamble and Estee Lauder. In addition he is active with several Industry forums including the Grocery Manufacturers of America. In particular his skills include systems integration, supply chain, logistics, manufacturing, ERP and customer relationship management enterprise solutions.
Mr. Blaesing leads the global Consumer business unit for BearingPoint which includes the industries of Retail/Wholesale, Consumer Packaged Goods, and Life Sciences. During his more than twenty years of experience in strategy and technology consulting, Mr. Blaesing has led numerous projects related to business/systems strategy, transformation, process re-engineering, organization design, change management, and technology implementation for a number of premier clients across multiple industries. At BearingPoint, Mr. Blaesing has been a key innovator in developing and delivering solutions that address an industry's unique business and technology ecosystem. Specifically within Consumer, Mr. Blaesing has produced three key vertical solutions which address all facets of "The Customer", "The Product", and "The Enterprise": Selling Optimization, Merchandise - Supply Optimization, and Enterprise Productivity, respectively. Also, Mr. Blaesing initiated a multi-year agreement with the National Retail Federation (NRF) Foundation to publish Retail Horizons, an annual benchmarking and forecasting study on retail industry trends, challenges, and opportunities. The initial study debuted in January 2003 and identified three major currents characterizing the present retail marketplace: The Customer-Centric Enterprise, The Data-Knowledge-Action Continuum, and The Boundaryless Organization. Mr. Blaesing is a member of leading industry associations including the National Retail Federation, the Association of Retail Technology Standards, the International Mass Retail Association, the Retail Marketing Institute, and the Grocery Manufacturers of America. He is a frequent speaker at industry events and his opinions are often solicited by media such as the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, GMA Forum, STORES, Chain Store Age, Executive Technology, and RIS News.