Michael J. Lanning (Atlanta) – Managing Director & Chairman
Author, consultant, lecturer, and founder of The DPV Group
His and firm’s work has widely influenced business thinking and practice, past 25 years
First created concepts (and coined phrases): Value Proposition, Value Delivery System, Value-Delivery, and Customer’s Resulting Experiences
He and firm pioneered DPV methodology to discover major strategic insights by creatively studying what customers actually do (versus relying on asking them to reveal what they want)
Has served >80 clients, via consulting and executive education, in N. America, Europe, Australia/New Zealand, SE Asia, and China in B2B and B2C businesses
Industries served include Info Technology (HW, SW and Integration), Chemicals and Plastics, Telecomm, Imaging, Lighting, Logistics, Pharmaceuticals, Oil & Gas, Transport, Financial Services, Construction, Paper, Other Forest Products, Concrete, Beverages, Steel, and others
Author, 1997-98, definitive book on this topic, also titled Delivering Profitable Value
Has taught an executive-education and graduate-school course based on his concepts to many thousands of managers worldwide, and guest lectured at grad business schools of Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Melbourne
Strategy Consulting, McKinsey & Co 1980-87, where he first created the seminal Value-Delivery concepts, then further developed them in collaboration with McKinsey partner Edward G. Michaels
Brand Management, Procter & Gamble, 1973-1980
BA Mathematics, Columbia
Frank P. Bifulco, Jr. (Boston) – Managing Partner
Recently joined The DPV Group as Managing Partner after a distinguished career in Senior Marketing, General Management, and Consulting positions
Now leading DPVG’s application of strategic consumer-marketing principles to both B2C and B2B clients
Most recently Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, The Home Depot
President, Hasbro North America Sales, after being President & General Manager, Hasbro Games
Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, The Timberland Company
Senior Vice President, Marketing, The Coca-Cola Company
Managing Partner, The American Consulting Group – co-founder, provided Marketing Consulting to diverse roster of clients
Brand Management, Procter & Gamble
MS Engineering, Cornell; BS Engineering & Management US Military Academy at West Point; MA Management Central Michigan U (while working full time in US Army)
Helmut Meixner (Cincinnati) – Senior Director
28 years general and brand management, extensively international, with Procter & Gamble
8 years’ experience with The DPV Group, helping clients in Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Lighting, Electrical Equipment, and other industries benefit from his many years’ strategic and general management experience, and deep understanding of the DPV concepts and methodology
Contributed to development and evolution of DPV concepts and tools, drawing on principles learned from extensive P&G strategic management experience
Highly developed skills include strategic planning and integration of global, regional, and local plans to achieve superior results in highly competitive markets
Very accomplished leader, skilled at energizing & enabling complex organizations to achieve ambitious goals, and at developing and deploying systems to flawlessly execute critical tasks
P&G experience included numerous marketing and general management positions in US, including VP Global Strategic Planning, Laundry Products; held high level international roles in Germany, Belgium, Mexico, Latin America, Canada, and lastly as Country General Manager P&G India
The DPV Group 2001-to-present; Procter & Gamble, 1973-2001
BA Vienna; MBA UCLA; fluent in German
Miller L. Macmillan (Destin, Florida) – Director
>25 yrs strategy consulting, management, and executive-level HR consulting; Society Int’l Bus Fellows 1999-01; Macmillan & Co 1990-96; McKinsey & Co. 1976-90
The DPV Group since 1997; DPV applications in chemicals, energy, forest products, professional services (accounting and law), financial services, and software
Participated in some of early development of DPV concepts and tools
Has served over 50 clients, from start-ups to Fortune 50, in strategy development and organizational effectiveness projects, for clients in US, Europe, Mexico, Japan, and Australia
Industries served include banking, chemicals, paper, railroads, telecomm, natural gas/energy services, pharmaceuticals, software, education, the Olympic Games, and others
Past President, International Society of Business Fellows
BA English, Yale; MBA with High Distinction, Harvard
Dr. Tim Fealey (Atlanta) – Senior Consultant
29 years Procter & Gamble, with roles as divisional Global Director of Product Development, and later VP and Managing Director, Strategic Planning for Food and Beverage Worldwide
Three years as Vice President Worldwide R&D, Coca-Cola Corporation
Range of university teaching experience in graduate business schools, economics, engineering, and chemistry
Consumer-product development consulting, major chemical firms, with DPVG, since 2002
Various small-business consulting 2000-02
P&G experience included key role as R&D Leader on breakthrough shampoo-technology “BC 18″ – allowed P&G to first expand hair-care business beyond US, with major success in 3 brands achieving global leadership and $7 Billion worldwide revenues
Also played important role in developing new products that enhanced the nutritional benefits of beverages, including Sunny Delight (valued at $800 Million) and NutriStar (for developing economies)
Ph.D. Physical Inorganic Chemistry, Georgetown; U. Chicago MBA; B.Sc. U. Hull (England)
Dr. Joel Epstein (Melbourne, Australia) – Senior Consultant
17 years strategic and business planning, consumer and B-to-B markets
Well versed in DPV approach, exceptionally strong in creative strategic thinking and analysis and a highly effective communicator
DPVG since 2000; DPV applications in consumer imaging, residential building materials, chemicals (adhesive raw materials), mobile telecoms
Eastman Kodak 1983-99
Ph.D. Chemical Physics, Carnegie-Mellon
Sam Ross (Cincinnati) – Senior Consultant, Packaging Specialist
Consultant specializing in Packaging and issues related to Package Design and Development
31 years’ experience in Package Design for Procter & Gamble; retired in 2002 as Global Design Director, Fabric & Home Care Products
In recent years, created and designed equity graphics and packages for several international and regional consumer goods firms
With DPVG, made important package design consulting contributions to a major project for a large pharmaceutical, and advised on other smaller projects
BA, CSU Long Beach, CA; Masters, Xavier University (Cincinnati)
Alistair W. Macleod (Melbourne, Australia) – Senior Consultant
17 yrs strategic planning, marketing & distribution, change/HR management, IT integration in financial services, and public sector
The DPV Group, 1998 to present
Applied DPV in large computer systems support, construction materials, mobile telecoms, logistics, chemicals (adhesives, and coatings, raw materials) and forest products
BA Macquarie University, Sydney; MBA, U. New South Wales
Daniel H. Draper (Rochester, New York) – Senior Consultant
>25 years marketing, strategic planning, engineering, and general management experience; extensive domestic and international
In both B-to-B and B-to-C businesses, a proven record of surfacing superior market- focused strategic alternatives
A world-leading expert in integrated retail solutions; unconventional focus on developing winning retail resulting experiences to concretely improve business
Uses distinctive methodologies she created, including DFP (Driving Frontline Performance), Performance Triangle, and others, integrated with DPV framework and methodology
Creates physical presentation, and rigorously controlled, scripted staff-consumer interface
>25 years experience in retail-related consulting, in part as leader of Frontline Strategies, retail consultancy based in Melbourne
BA, University of Witwatersrand, S. Africa
Gates Moss (Cincinnati) – Packaging and Manufacturing Process Specialist
>30 years management experience in Packaging and Manufacturing, for Procter & Gamble
20 years Packaging Development managerial roles, most recently including Associate Director North American Fabric Care and Global Coordinator for all Fabric Care Packaging (1993-2002)
Recently joined DPVG, helping clients think strategically about packaging, and more effectively and efficiently develop packaging that helps deliver their chosen Value Proposition
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Michigan; MBA Harvard
Steven J. Puls (Atlanta) - Business Analyst
3 years in Customer Service for Residential Homebuilders
7 years management experience in mass-merchant store and industrial building supplies
Analytic support for DPV projects in Paper, Consumer Electronics
Accounting and administrative management support for DPVG, 1994-present
BA, Political Science, UCLA
Michael Griffiths (Saratoga Springs, NY) Business Analyst
Barely of legal drinking age, Michael still brings 3 years’ business-analyst experience, impressive academic record, and brilliant analytic capabilities, to The DPV Group
Currently conducts business research, quantitative analysis, and Web design for The DPV Group
Other analyst experience: GIS Invest, UK (rail infrastructure investment firm); Grocery Power, California (internet start-up, developed product-info processing techniques); EWS Railway, UK (analyzed bottled-water transport market, identified growth opportunities for rail)
Education: To graduate BA Skidmore College 2010; approved for unusual Self-Determined Major (Epistemology of Social Sciences); secondary education in England, 4 years, and California (International Baccalaureate)