Horst Greb
Evonik Industries
Horst Greb is the Director of Strategic Pricing for the business unit Health & Nutrition of Evonik. Evonik Industries is an industrial group from Germany which operates in three business areas: Chemicals, Energy and Real Estate. Evonik is a global leader in specialty chemicals, an expert in power generation from hard coal and renewable energies, and one of the largest private residential real estate companies in Germany.

 

Horst has been with Evonik-Degussa (the chemical part of the company) since 1990 and his recent focus was on implementing value selling in a global sales force, on systematic global pricing and on price development estimations using supply/demand models.

 

Prior to his current assignment he had been working for Evonik in general management, marketing, sales and process engineering. Horst has an MA form SUNY Buffalo and a diploma and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Würzburg.

 

He enjoys being a member of the Professional Pricing Society and achieved his CPP designation Fall 2009.

Jeffrey Heiss
Quantum Consulting Solutions
Jeffrey Heiss is currently Managing Principal & CEO of Quantum Consulting Solutions. Quantum is a management consulting firm he founded in 2008 with the primary mission of providing leadership and expert counsel to consumer package good (CPG) manufacturers and retailers in the areas of pricing, market research and competitive intelligence. Quantum also works with clients interested in pricing practice improvement to match them with solution providers and with investment firms interested in the pricing solution business. Quantum takes its name from quantum mechanics. At Quantum Consulting it reflects both a unique consultive approach as well as a specific research methodology involving the fusion of data from various sources to gain valuable insights.

 

Previous to founding Quantum Jeffrey was employed by Rite Aid Corporation as Senior Director of Pricing. This included strategy development and execution for all merchandise categories including pharmaceuticals as well as the supporting functions of market and competitive research. His background includes positions in finance, operational analysis and information technology. He received his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Pittsburgh and is a Certified Computer Professional (CCP), Geographic Information Systems Professional (GISP) and an affiliate of the Institute of Management Accounting.

 

Jeffrey’s affiliation with the Professional Pricing Society dates back to the 1990’s when he completed the “Certified Pricer” workshops. He was also a presenter at the 2000 Spring Conference. Jeffrey achieved his CPP designation from the Professional Pricing Society Fall 2009.

Andrew Kintz (Andy)
LORD Corporation
Andrew Kintz (Andy) is currently the New Technology Market Manager for LORD Corporation. In this role he leads a team that supports Global Marketing and Business Development to better understand technology trends and their impact on LORD. The knowledge gained from the CPP certification helps Andy to identify licensing and acquisition opportunities, and to discover and validate value propositions of target growth markets for LORD.

 

Andy has over 20 years of broad based industrial experience in job functions ranging from research and development to operations management. He worked globally on LORD Corporation’s adhesive business for rubber-to-metal adhesives and structural adhesive. He spent several years as the Americas Market Manger for LORD’s automotive aftermarket products. His work on Magnetic Rheological (MR) fluids led to the use of MR devices in production vehicles in the automotive industry. As LORD’s Automotive Commercial Business Manager, he gained experience pricing for direct sales and distribution based businesses. Prior to LORD Corporation, Andy worked for Reichhold Chemicals and Mead Imaging.

 

Andy holds numerous international and United States patents. He has more than 10 patents for his work relating to Polymer Chemistry and Magnetic Rheological Fluids. His Alma Mater is Bowling Green State University where he earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry.

 

He achieved his CPP designation from the Professional Pricing Society Fall 2009.

Lee Scherr
Covidien
Lee Scherr is Global Pricing Director for the Respiratory & Monitoring Solutions Division of Covidien, a global healthcare products leader, and is based in Boulder, Colorado. He is primarily responsible for driving the margin enhancement initiatives, resulting in incremental margin from price, volume, mix, and cost improvements. In addition, he is focused on creating pricing awareness and discipline throughout the organization and collaborates cross-functionally on establishing pricing strategies for new products.

 

Lee has held a variety of roles within the Technology and Healthcare industries including positions in Manufacturing Operations, Financial Analysis, Brand Marketing, Pricing Management, and Sales Operations. Prior to joining Covidien, he held Price Management roles for McKesson Corp. and Dell Inc. Lee earned an MBA from The Ohio State University (Corporate Finance emphasis) in Columbus, Ohio and a BS in Business (Finance major) from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

 

He achieved his CPP designation from the Professional Pricing Society Fall 2009.

Debbie Simons
Becton Dickinson
Debbie Simons has been employed with Becton Dickinson for the past 18 years, occupying various roles and responsibilities within the Bioscience division in San Diego. Currently, Debbie is responsible for developing and implementing a national pricing strategy within her Division. Working within Marketing and cross-functionally with Sales, Finance, Operations, and Communications, she has successfully established a group that manages adherence to guidelines, maintains product knowledge and regularly monitors industry pricing practices; particularly for major competitors. This past year she has gained valuable understanding about economic conditions and financial implications and has continued to champion the value position of products against competition, competing alternatives, and internal product offering. Additional she continues to be a strong process improvement steward and has successfully developed and launched specific selling tools for competitive price management.

 

Debbie is also the Process Executive for the next generation of an upcoming SAP 6.0 implementation. Her thorough knowledge, affinity for process improvement, and project leadership skills made her a standout candidate for this role and she looks forward to enhancing and challenging the entire corporation to more actively engage in Pricing Strategies.

 

Debbie is very active and can often be found swimming up to 2.5 miles before work, either in a pool or in the ocean and loves many outdoor activities such as mountain biking, horseback riding, running, cycling - just about anything that involves being put into a challenging situation, which is probably why she enjoys pricing! She has found a wealth of knowledge and friends in PPS and is appreciative of many of her mentors through her career.

 

She achieved the Certified Pricing Professional designation from the Professional Pricing Society Fall 2009.

Paul Andrew Smith
IBM
Paul Andrew Smith is the Global and European lead of IBM’s Pricing Community, a global community of over 270 consultants and researchers with experience of delivering pricing projects to IBM’s consulting clients across a broad range of sectors and industries.

 

Paul has over 15 years experience working in an analytical environment, beginning as a Project Engineer for Carters Packaging, before moving to Ford Motor Company for 2 years. In 1999 he joined the Business Dynamics group in PwC’s consulting division as a management consultant, before moving across to IBM Global Business Services when they purchased PwC Consulting in 2002.

 

Paul initially developed strong analytical skills through the delivery of bespoke financial models, including: complex business case development, risk analysis, volumetrics and activity-based-costing. For the past seven years Paul has specialised in pricing, working across a range of B2B and B2C industries, and across all phases of pricing projects including; strategy development, requirements definition and process modelling, software recommendation and implementation, and benefits realisation. He has worked with a range of independent software vendors, as well as on the development of bespoke pricing solutions, leveraging IBM’s wider portfolio of services and software.

 

Paul lives in Warwickshire, England, and received a 1st class honours degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacture & Management from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.

 

He achieved the Certified Pricing Pricing Professional designation from the Professional Pricing Society Fall 2009.

Colleen Ward
Siemens Canada Ltd
Colleen Ward, CPP, has been employed with Siemens Canada Ltd for 6 years and has been a part of the Strategic Pricing Group for 3 years. In her current role, she is responsible for the integrity of rebates issued to distributors on the Automatic Ship and Credit program across Canada. In the 3 years that she has been with the Pricing Group, she has had the opportunity to work with Special Pricing Contracts, Distributor/Direct into stock levels and List Price Books.

 

Colleen enjoys spending time with her awesome husband, Jim and amazing granddaughter Hailee and also loves to read, design and sew. She achieved the Certified Pricing Professional designation from the Professional Pricing Society Fall 2009.

Mark Wharton
Hertz / Advantage
Mark Wharton, CPP, CPF, Regional Pricing Manager with Hertz / Advantage in Orlando, Florida. Prior to his current position, Mark held a Sr. Pricing Analyst position within The Carlyle Group, Oriental Trading Company, No. 45 of Internet Retailer Top 500.

 

Mark also held positions with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. at the home office in Bentonville, AR. Positions included Media Buyer for the East-Central Region, and Pricing Analyst within the ISD Department. Mark earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing from University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.

 

He is an inventor and owner of 2 U.S., utility patents, and 4 international design patents. Mark achieved the Certified Professional Forecaster designation from the Institute of Business Forecasting Fall 2005.

 

He achieved the Certified Pricing Professional designation from the Professional Pricing Society Fall 2009.