Our Team
Winterberry Group's team of executive consultants represents a range of diverse educational and professional backgrounds. All have significant strategic management or direct marketing-industry experience and bring a combination of unique perspectives to help maximize their impact on our client engagements.
Bruce A. Biegel, Senior Managing Director
As Winterberry Group's senior managing director, Bruce Biegel leads the firm's consulting practice and establishes its strategic and operational agenda. A seasoned executive with more than two decades of hands-on experience in building businesses from the ground up, his diverse responsibilities have included strategic and business planning, financing, global multichannel marketing, technology development and support, legal coordination and financial management. At Winterberry Group, Mr. Biegel has led more than 60 engagements over the past four years, serving a wide range of marketers, service providers and technology developers ranging in size from $10 million to more than $10 billion in annual revenue. Among others, these include extensive assignments for arvato Services (the global marketing services division of Bertelsmann AG), Capital One Financial Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co.
Chairman and founder of the Direct Marketing Association's Marketing Technology Council, Mr. Biegel is a frequent, in-demand speaker at major marketing industry conferences and symposia. Recent speaking engagement include major events of the DMA (including its Annual, Catalog, DM Days and Leaders conferences) as well as events tailored to the direct mail, print production and agency services segments of the industry.
Prior to joining Winterberry Group in 2002, Mr. Biegel served as a director and CFO of IMXI, owner of ThinkDirectMarketing, where he was president, chief operating officer and co-founder. Earlier, Mr. Biegel served as a consultant to leading Web services integrator iXL Holdings as part of its iXL Ventures group. He previously served as director and executive vice president, sales and marketing, at VideoFax Systems, a marketing technology company focused on place-based media. He began his career at Kidder Peabody as manager of international telecommunications.
Mr. Biegel received a B.A. in history and international relations from the University of Pennsylvania with corresponding coursework at the Wharton School in management and marketing.
Christopher French, Senior Managing Director
Christopher French leads Winterberry Group's acquisition strategy and private equity firm transaction support practice. A seasoned professional with more than two decades of experience in strategic planning, M&A advisory services, product management and marketing, he also has significant expertise advising marketing technology and services firms that support the life science industry. At Winterberry Group, Mr. French has led more than 25 engagements over the past two years, including significant assignments for leading financial investors (including American Capital Strategies, Apax Partners and The Carlyle Group) as well as service and technology firms (including Allscripts, Health Market Science and MediMedia USA).
Prior to joining Winterberry Group, Mr. French served as chief executive officer of Cadient Group, a leading strategic interactive marketing agency for life science companies. Previously, he served in a number of capacities—including senior vice president of global solutions marketing and corporate development, as well as general counsel—at Dendrite International, a provider of software, information and service solutions to the global life sciences industry. Prior to joining Dendrite, Mr. French was a merger and acquisition associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, a leading global law firm.
Mr. French is a graduate of Fordham University School of Law and received a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Epiphany School Foundation in New York.
Jonathan C. Margulies, Director
With a background in marketing and strategic communications for both the commercial and not-for-profit markets, Jonathan Margulies brings multiple perspectives to his research, consulting and project management role at Winterberry Group. Since joining the firm in early 2004, he has participated in over 40 engagements for a wide variety of clients across the marketing landscape, including intensive assignments for Fortune 500 companies in the financial services, graphic arts technology and integrated communication sectors.
A member of the Direct Marketing Association's Financial Services Council, Mr. Margulies leads Winterberry Group's team of analysts and manages primary and secondary research efforts connected to the firm's publishing initiatives. He has contributed extensively to Winterberry Group's popular series of industry white papers (as well as its Value Driver Briefing newsletter); his writing has likewise been published or cited by nearly all major marketing-industry trade publications, including B2B, DM News, Direct and Multichannel Merchant.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Margulies served as communications director for the Sergeants Benevolent Association, a 10,000-member organization of New York City police sergeants. Earlier, he held positions in marketing and public relations at British Airways, Burson-Marsteller, Hill & Knowlton and the New York Mets baseball club. Mr. Margulies received a B.S. in economics, with a concentration in management, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Dana Kanze, Director
Dana Kanze leads research and analysis efforts for a wide variety of Winterberry Group's engagements, including those catering to clients in the marketing services, multichannel marketing and private equity sectors. Since joining the firm, those efforts have been applied to rigorous assignments in the building and hospitality, beauty and personal care, life science, financial services, retail and other vertical markets.
Ms. Kanze's extensive experience was honed during a five-year career in Citigroup's Corporate & Investment Bank and Smith Barney Equity Research divisions. Immediately prior to joining Winterberry Group, she served as an assistant vice president in Global Transaction Services M&A, where she participated in principal transactions on behalf of Citigroup in the areas of fund and securities services and cash management. Concurrent to that assignment, she completed a rotation in London, pursuing strategic non-organic growth opportunities for cash management in the central Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Earlier, Ms. Kanze served in an associate role at Smith Barney U.S. Equity Research, where she contributed financial analyses as part of the capital formation process and assisted senior analysts on research initiations in the multi-industrials segment. She began her career as an analyst in the consumer group of the Corporate & Investment Bank, where she worked on debt and exchange offerings and sell-side M&A engagements for Fortune 500 retail and homebuilding clients.
Ms. Kanze, a NASD Series 7 securities certification holder, graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in economics and concentration in management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Fluent in Italian, she also earned a minor in Italian studies and completed extensive corporate finance studies at the Università di Bocconi in Milan.
Caroline Byrne, Director
In her management role at Winterberry Group, Caroline Byrne is active in providing research and strategic counsel to drive growth and solve profitability challenges for clients throughout the marketing services and marketing technology sectors. Since her arrival, she has completed numerous successful engagements—including industry assessment, transaction due diligence support, competitive landscape analysis and Opportunity Mapping strategic development assignments—drawing on her five years of management consulting experience. She is also active in leading primary research initiatives that contribute to Winterberry Group's white paper publications.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Byrne was a project manager in operations management consulting at Carpedia International Ltd., where she provided complex program execution assistance to clients in the financial services, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing and telecommunications industries. Well versed in both process analysis and lean manufacturing principles, she has also developed and facilitated a series of customized management training courses designed to educate and promote sustainable profit improvement. Her extensive experience also touches on primary and secondary research, process mapping, system gap analysis and organizational behavior assessment.
Ms. Byrne received a B.A. in honors business administration with a concentration in marketing strategy and finance from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.
Ayesha Kanji, Manager
Ayesha Kanji brings a diverse portfolio of experience—including management consulting, business research and writing expertise within the commercial, academic and not-for-profit sectors—to her role at Winterberry Group.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Kanji was an associate consultant with the Chartis Group, where she partnered with healthcare clients to develop their enterprise growth strategies through data-driven market and organizational evaluations. During her earlier tenure as a research associate at Harvard Business School, Ms. Kanji collaborated with business school faculty to research and author 10 business cases and teaching notes on leadership, organizational alignment and change, ethics, marketing and strategy. Her industry exposure includes financial services, information technology, education, healthcare, energy and consumer products.
Ms. Kanji earned her B.A. in biology from Wellesley College and M.S. in health policy and management from Harvard University.
Lana Feiman, Senior Analyst
Lana Feiman's experience in research and analysis—honed during a career as a technology analyst for a leading syndicated research firm—complement her role as a senior analyst at Winterberry Group. Here, she participates in research and consulting efforts for client engagements and supports business development efforts across all of the firm's addressable market segments.
Prior to joining the Winterberry Group, Ms. Feiman was an analyst in the Financial Services Group at Gartner, Inc., where she headed the research agenda for investment services core technology systems. At Gartner, she provided strategic analysis and guidance on investment services technologies, authored numerous research notes and analyzed trends and emerging market developments for both investment banking and asset management clients. Previously, she worked on the fixed income side as an investment specialist at General Electric Asset Management, where she was recognized with multiple awards and received Six Sigma certification.
Ms. Feiman holds a B.A. in economics from Brandeis University. She is fluent in Russian and proficient in French.
Michael Trudeau, Senior Analyst
As a senior analyst at Winterberry Group, Michael Trudeau is responsible for conducting industry research and generating client deliverables that assist Winterberry's clients create value. Mr. Trudeau also participates in the development of leading white papers and research materials that provide insight into current industry trends and best practices.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Trudeau was a senior strategy consultant for IBM Global Business Services. There, he focused on an organization's strategic point of view, encompassing near- and long-term approaches for business transformation. He assisted clients with business strategy development, process analysis and change management. Internally for IBM, Michael led recruiting efforts for his team while working with colleges and universities to ensure high visibility and find top candidates. He also taught new-hire training classes focused on consulting skills and continued mentoring relationships with them.
Mr. Trudeau holds a B.A. in supply chain management and marketing from the Michigan State University Honors College.
Rebecca Cooper, Analyst
As an analyst, Rebecca Cooper researches business and marketplace practices impacting the marketing industry and supports Winterberry Group's strategic consulting assignments. Her insight into research and analysis was bred through a career in the not-for-profit world, where she served as a program officer at the Revson Foundation. There, her portfolio of beneficiaries included organizations in the fields of New York City urban policy, biomedical research, education and Jewish life.
Ms. Cooper received a B.A. in history and Jewish studies from Barnard College.
Alex D. Fu, Analyst
Alex Fu comes to Winterberry Group with experience in research and strategic analysis within the marketing services industry. He is responsible for conducting research and providing analysis in support of the firm's strategic consulting, business planning and market intelligence engagements.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Fu was a strategy analyst in the Corporate Strategy Group at Pitney Bowes, providing insight to the Company's executives and senior management. There, his work in emerging media helped establish a foundation for the development of corporate growth strategies and promoted the Company's thought leadership position within the industry. Additionally, his work in electronic bill presentment and payment was published by numerous postal industry constituencies, including the Universal Postal Union.
Mr. Fu received a B.A. in economics from Hamilton College. He is verbally fluent in Mandarin Chinese and proficient in Spanish.
Vicki Litvinov, Analyst
Vicki Litvinov brings hands-on marketing experience and honed research skills to her role as an analyst at Winterberry Group. Her prior experience on the sales and marketing team at Oxford University Press complements her research of the marketing industry across all sectors, as well as her business assessment and analysis work in support of Winterberry Group's strategic consulting engagements. Prior to her work at Oxford, she gained a broad understanding of the data and technology challenges facing the marketing industry through her work at GRT Corporation, an IT consulting firm specializing in data strategy and analytics.
Ms. Litvinov graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. and an M.A. in English. She is fluent in Russian and proficient in Spanish.
Michael Parnitzke, WG Associate
Michael Parnitzke has over 20 years of experience educating, leading and assisting executive-level and project teams achieve "best practice" quality, productivity and customer service through "lean" business process improvement and re-engineering. He is considered a leader in the fields of project management education and consulting, high performing team leadership facilitation, productivity improvement, strategic plan development and facilitation, process improvement training and specialized project management.
Mr. Parnitzke's area of expertise includes the planning, design and deployment of large-scale projects, particularly customer-facing service and handling operations. Here, he has lead "start-to-finish" projects (including the design of workflow touchpoint and transactional process maps) for some of the world's leading corporations, including United Technologies/Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, Pepsi-Cola Bottling Group, PepsiCo International, Hagemeyer North America and Client Logic.
Mr. Parnitzke, who develops and delivers process improvement training programs at colleges and universities around the nation, began his career as a senior project engineer at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft and later held a variety of project management roles at Pepsi-Cola (where he played a lead role in the design and deployment of the inside sales organization at the company's national customer service center). He received a B.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Florida and an M.B.A. in aviation from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Stephanie Im, Marketing Manager
Stephanie Im oversees marketing and communications efforts at Winterberry Group and its investment banking affiliate, Petsky Prunier LLC. She manages all promotional and public relations initiatives, including custom publications, media relations, Web site content, e-mail and direct mail marketing, as well as the firms' exclusive annual summit of marketing sector CEOs. Prior to joining the firm, she worked in advertising account management at Grey Worldwide, optimizing brand visibility and consumer reach through multichannel marketing initiatives for clients in the consumer healthcare field.
Ms. Im received a B.A. in education studies, with an emphasis on history and policy, from Brown University. Her work has been published in numerous literary journals; she has also contributed writing to the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Michael Petsky, Partner
With nearly 20 years of experience providing investment banking, strategic consulting and industry intelligence services to direct marketing and related companies, Michael Petsky is recognized as one of the foremost experts on industry trends and maximizing shareholder value. Mr. Petsky co-founded Winterberry Group and its investment banking affiliate, Petsky Prunier LLC, and has served in senior roles at Gruppo, Levey & Company (a boutique investment bank with a specialization in the catalog industry), Information Authorities, a competitive intelligence and industry research firm he founded, the Direct Marketing Association and Sequa Corporation, a Fortune 200 aerospace company.
Mr. Petsky holds a B.S. in marketing from the State University of New York and an M.B.A. in finance from Fordham University. He has been a guest lecturer at New York University's Direct Marketing Program, and has presented at numerous industry events including the DMA's Annual, Catalog and net.Marketing conferences as well as those of the American Telemarketing Association, Mailing & Fulfillment Services Association and Direct Marketing Club of New York.
John Prunier, Partner
A career investment banker, John Prunier has spent more than 15 years covering the information, media and marketing services industries. Before co-founding Petsky Prunier LLC in 1999, Mr. Prunier served as the head of the information and education group at Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a New York merchant bank specializing in the media and communications industry. Prior to joining VSS, Mr. Prunier served as an associate with Morgan, Hughes & Company, a Greenwich, Conn. investment firm. He began his career as a financial analyst at Merrill Lynch in the company's Los Angeles-based public finance group.
Mr. Prunier has been a featured speaker at several industry conferences, including annual meetings of the New England Mail Order Association, Electronic Retailing Association, American Medical Publishers Association, Directory & Database Publishers Association (U.K.) and the Professional/Scholarly Publishers Division of the Association of American Publishers. Mr. Prunier holds a B.A. from Colgate University and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.