Steven Haines - World Renowned Product Management Expert and Author

Steven Haines is the founder and president of Sequent Learning Networks. Steven studies modern corporations and advises executives so they can effectively organize to produce successful products and brands. Steven is motivated by an inexorable curiosity to learn the most important best practices used for Product Management so that he can credibly teach Product Management and Marketing leaders how to organize for success.

How did it happen? While a Product Management leader at AT&T in the 1990's, he worked on a corporate task force that carried out important anthropomorphic benchmark research. He learned how well-run firms manage their products and services. Combining that knowledge with his corporate Product Management leadership experience, he formed Sequent Learning Networks and its subsidiary, The Product Management Executive Board as a specialty advisory services firm that serves mid-size to large scale multinational corporations.

Drawing on his work with his clients and Sequent's ongoing benchmark research, he authored two industry defining books: "The Product Manager's Desk Reference" and "Managing Product Management: Empowering Your Organization to Produce Successful Products and Brands." These books have provided leaders with relevant, applicable, and timely guidance so that they can optimize their product portfolios, engage their people, and deliver business results.

Over the years, Steven has developed an unending passion for Product Management. He wants senior executives and managers to care more deeply for benefits that a well-run product organization can deliver. Steven is a remarkable resource, both as an advisor, workshop facilitator, and a speaker because he challenges leaders and managers to break organizational paradigms and to create vital links between their markets and their companies so they can produce successful products and brands.
Email: sjhaines@sequentlearning.com

Art Brody, Ph.D. - Executive Vice President

Art Brody's 30-year telecommunications and technology management career encompasses strategic planning, product planning, market management and systems engineering. Art leads Sequent's corporate benchmarking efforts and works closely with executives to help them improve the foundational process areas of Product Management. Prior to joining Sequent, Art served as president of A. T. Brody & Associates, Inc., a technology consulting company established in 1990, Art focuses on helping clients such as equipment manufacturers, software vendors, computer suppliers, service providers, universities and the investment banking community to realize opportunities and solve problems through strategic business consulting, market analysis and product definition engagements. Prior to establishing his consulting practice, Art was a member of the technical staff and a technical manager at Bell Laboratories, served as Vice President of marketing and sales for Technicom Systems, and was Director - new products for ADK Pressure Equipment Co.

Lisa Hida - Senior Vice President

Lisa Hida is a Senior Vice President at Sequent Learning Networks. Lisa's 20 years of executive leadership experience spans the business functions of finance, sales, marketing, and product management in the oil and gas, chemicals, and life science industries in companies such as DuPont, Conoco, and Kendro Laboratory Products. Her multi-industry, cross-functional perspective provides the depth and breadth of hands-on experience Sequent's clients rely on for facilitated guidance in its courses and advisory programs. In her last corporate position, she was Division Director of Marketing for ThermoFisher Scientific, where she effectively trained and led global cross-functional teams in the development of market focused strategies which spanned multiple business units. In her five years with Sequent, Lisa has been working with corporate clients in the telecommunications, financial services, insurance, life science, and oil & gas industries. Lisa has been fundamental to curriculum development, including Sequent's Product Strategy and Planning Workshop and Managing Product Managers. In addition, she has developed customized curriculum and providing consulting services to various corporate clients on request. Lisa's passion for people, product management and marketing stand as a hallmark to her success in developing winning product portfolios and in empowering the teams which supported these endeavors.

Kimberly Hammons - Senior Vice President

Kimberly Hammons is Senior Vice President of Organizational Development & Diagnostics at Sequent Learning Networks. With over 25 years in leadership roles at DuPont, Sterling Diagnostic Imaging and Agfa HealthCare, Kim's functional experience includes engineering, manufacturing, sales, sales management, product management, marketing, and marketing technical management. Kim's proven skills have helped organizations solve a variety of business problems in many different settings. Most recently at Agfa HealthCare Kim implemented the first integrated business planning process leading to focused plans that further aligned strategy, key initiatives, processes, and people. Her diverse functional background and experience leading global, cross-functional and culturally diverse teams in North America and Europe enable Kim to achieve measureable improvements in organizational capability that drive business excellence. Kim is a certified Change Agent and a DMAIC master practitioner. Kim received the DuPont Departmental Marketing Excellence Award for her contributions to sales and market growth. Kim is passionate about helping organizations achieve business excellence by developing individual capabilities and improving organizational effectiveness.

Judy Iskovitz - Senior Vice President

Judy Iskovitz's 30-year career spans Product Management, strategic planning, systems engineering, marketing, training, and coaching. Her success and experience is exemplified in the results she achieved in her career at AT&T, Lucent Technologies, Rutgers Business School and Optimal Business Performance (the consulting practice that she founded). As a global Director of Product Management, her focus on full stream life-cycle product management and business operations enabled her to drive dramatic revenue growth and bottom-line profitability improvement for the products she managed. At Rutgers University, she taught New Product Planning and International Marketing and enjoyed mentoring undergraduates, MBA and Executive MBA candidates. Ms. Iskovitz is a past president of the NY/NJ Metro chapter of the Product Development and Management Association. Judy is a natural networker, mentor, and facilitator. Her focus is enabling others to continuously improve their skills and careers. When she accidentally became a product manager in 1984 she knew she had found her professional home - she has been honing her skills and enabling others to do the same ever since.

David Abramowitz

David Abramowitz is a recognized marketing expert, and has spent the last 25 years helping dozens of companies create and build high performing businesses. His expertise includes not only all areas of marketing and product management, but global general management as well. He has run businesses, from $1.5 billion to start-ups, in over 50 countries. David has held global senior leadership positions in the Colgate-Palmolive, Reckitt Benckiser, and Newell Rubbermaid companies. In his last role, as Global General Manager of New Business Development for Newell Rubbermaid, he established a new division focused on globalizing $120 MM of B2B specialty businesses, and creating strategic global new categories, new geographies, and licensing opportunities. David currently manages Hillson Global Strategies, LLC, a marketing, business development, and conflict resolution consultancy. In addition, he is a Professor of Marketing at Rutgers Business School, an Operating Executive at the investment firm Unlimited Horizons, Inc., and a Professional Commercial Mediator. David holds an MBA in Marketing from the Wharton School of Business, an MA from the University of Pennsylvania in International Studies, and a BA from Georgetown University.

Debra Albert - Chief Operating Officer

Debra Albert is the Chief Operating Officer and Director of Organizational Development at Sequent, with overall responsibility for Sequent's sales and marketing efforts. She also leads Sequent's expanding Sales training and coaching programs. Debra has more than 15 years of experience in sales, marketing, and professional development in the information services industry and ten years of experience in the advertising industry. Prior to joining Sequent, Debra was Senior Vice President at TNS, a global market research company where she established a business development function and coached the organization through a very dramatic change. She was also a vice President at Datamonitor where she started-up the U.S. operation and set up five industry practice areas.

Beebe Nelson, Ph.D.

Working Forums founder & President, Beebe Nelson, is a well-known and well-respected consultant in the field of product development and innovation. Beebe has helped develop and implement a systemic understanding of innovation which includes the processes of Portfolio Management, Life Cycle Management, Market Segmentation, Technology Mapping, and Voice of the Customer and Product Definition. She is Director of the IAPD, the Product Development and Management Association's corporate member program, where she works with member companies to explore and solve thorny issues in innovation and product development. Her latest publication, New Product Development for Dummies (Wiley, 2007), co-authored with Robin Karol, provides the important basics in this field. Other publications include "Listening for New Products: The Conversations of Product Development" (CQM Journal), "Seven Steps to Strategic Product Development," PDMA Handbook of New Product Development, 1st edition (Wiley, 1996), and "Product and Technology Mapping Tools for Planning and Portfolio Decision Making" with Richard Albright, in the PDMA ToolBook 2 (Wiley, 2005). Beebe is certified by the Product Development and Management Association as a New Product Development Professional (NPDP).

Gail Schlenger, Ph.D.

Gail Schlenger creates and delivers interactive workshops in human relations skills and team dynamics. In her workshops, she emphasizes communication skills, team building approaches, and successful negotiating tactics. Gail is utilizing her expertise in educational psychology as an academic advisor to Sequent Learning Networks. She is reviewing course content, instructional methodologies, and evaluative tools and techniques to make sure that each course establishes the appropriate goals and objectives, and that those goals and objectives are met.

Other Sequent Employees

Sequent Learning Networks and The Product Management Executive Board is staffed by a brilliant, capable, approachable group of people who share the passion for Product Management marketing, business development, research, operations, and our IT infrastructure.

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