Team

Paul Deis, CEO –

Over a 25+ year career in consulting and senior executive leadership roles, Paul has accumulated a consistent high-performance record of accomplishment, in work with nearly 60 companies.  Highlights of his career include over 20 years in consulting roles, including Manager at Deloitte & Touche, approximately 7 years in association with PROACTION, working with other firms, as well as heading his own firms.  He served as VP Manufacturing at a medium sized firm, leading a 250 person team, where he was very successful leading the implementation of Lean management methods, long before they became widely known, and served in other line and executive management roles.

His expertise spans multiple areas, including global supply chain and material management, manufacturing, cost systems, lean methods, enterprise systems, US government regulated environments (FAR contracting and FDA).  For five years he ran a specialty ERP software firm, marketing a system he designed and managed the development of.  Customers included a division of Raytheon and others.  His high-energy, creative approach has generated success in a number of unusually challenging, unique assignments, such as crisis resolutions, turnarounds, and  recently, a remarkable large-scale project involving organization design planning, and recruitment of nearly 100 senior supply chain leadership professionals, for assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan for an $8 Billion/year global supply chain project.

View additional detail on Paul’s background (PDF).

George Miller – Founder

George Miller is the Founder of PROACTION, and ran the company until its acquisition by Paul Deis in 2005.  He is available for PROACTION assignments, and brings his in-depth experience, expertise and seasoned talent to bear on a wide variety of Best Practice or Focused Expertise projects.

To his work George brings multi-faceted, detailed experience in enterprise (ERP) and supply chain business systems, Lean Enterprise, Business Process Improvements, software selection, implementation project management, and Supply Chain Management/Materials Management.

Of particular note is George’s expertise in valuations of businesses.  He has completed numerous due diligence, assessments, and valuation projects for investors and private equity firms.

In addition to founding PROACTION, George also co-founded an ERP systems integration firm and was a key player (VP Marketing and VP Operations) in establishing the WDS Aerospace & Defense vertical market offering, where he was among the first to clearly define all of the key characteristics needed for ERP systems in the government arena.  Previously, he held progressively responsible management positions at Purolator Technologies, was an Operations Consultant at Booz, Allen & Hamilton, and held a number of material management positions in healthcare and industrial products companies.

Arn Lahde – Large-Scale Project Management, Executive Coaching

Arn is a senior business executive and manager with more than 30 years of experience, managing large-scale construction operations, administrative operations in support of strategic planning, procurement, and information technology.  Companies Arn has worked with include Parsons, Bechtel, and Walt Disney Imagineering, Imperial Irrigation District, Halliburton, and others.  He has led and managed a successful, on-schedule SAP implementation project, as well as dozens of other multi-million dollar projects and operations.  Early in his career, Arn worked as an engineer on the Alyeska Pipeline with Bechtel, has managed large construction projects in the Philippines, and had key roles in the design and construction of Walt Disney Resorts in Europe and Japan, as well as expansion of Disney resorts in the US.  Arn is a highly capable senior executive level consultant, has led strategic planning projects, recruited dozens of mid and senior level professionals for challenging positions, as well as worked in key roles in startup companies in consumer products, engineering services, and other fields.

Michael Lodato – Integrated Marketing & Sales Management Best Practices

Michael is an accomplished expert in virtually every facet of marketing and sales, with over 30 years experience as a company president, senior executive, Associate Professor at California Lutheran University, and as a consultant to dozens of companies around the globe.  His Best Practice focus is to regard marketing and sales as a set of processes to be integrated, managed and improved over time.  It is from this vantage point that Michael has become a prolific author of books, booklets and other educational materials.  He is the developer of Integrated Sales Management, Integrated Territory Management, Integrated Channel Management, and The MASTER Method of Selling.  His publications are available on the PROACTION web site and other sources.  Michael support clients in developing and implementing structured processes for sales management, strategic management, and product marketing management.  His uniquely effective processes have been implemented at companies in the US and Europe, and are available as Best Practices to PROACTION clients desiring to improve the performance of their marketing and sales teams.

Richard Bourke – Product Lifecycle Management and ERP Systems

Dick has an extensive consulting track record in all phases of manufacturing systems, planning, software evaluation and selection, education and implementation encompassing both commercial and aerospace and defense companies – ranging from Fortune 100 to small firms. With over 30 years experience as a consultant, he now focuses on the elements of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), including configurators, and ERP to achieve Mass Customization for configurable product companies. His book, Bill of Materials, written in 1975, was the first book on this subject published in the manufacturing community. The American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) cited it as a “classic” in the field. In the early 90s he was the first manufacturing consultant to recognize the value of PLM systems through a major series of articles in APICS - The Performance Advantage and numerous other publications. Prior to entering the consulting field, Dick held a wide range of staff and management responsibilities in industrial engineering, materials management and IT. He earned a BS in Chemistry and an MBA from UCLA and is certified as a CPIM certification from APICS.

Fred Neu – International and Domestic Inbound and Outbound Distribution Best Practices

Fred brings over 25 years of management and consulting experience to clients.  His in-depth knowledge of Best Practices in the area of distribution management have, over the years, resulted in over $37 Million in combined annual savings.  He has helped numerous companies develop distribution policies and practices to meet management’s customer service requirements while significantly reducing distribution-related expenses.  He has held VP level line management positions, as VP Distribution and VP Finance & Administration, and managed the Profit Improvement / Cost Reduction practice for what is now PricewaterhouseCoopers for 7 years.  Fred has brought his profit improvement & cost reduction expertise to bear in a long and varied list of large, medium, and small companies, such as heavy equipment manufacturing, pharmaceutical processing, durable medical equipment, footwear, apparel, retail, cosmetics, government agencies, universities, hospitals, and a TV home shopping network.  He is a Certified Management Consultant, and member of several leading professional associations.

Heidi Katz – Leadership & Team Building

As a member of the PROACTION Team, Heidi provides unique capabilities, which support the foundation of a Best Practices Culture – effective leadership and its corollary, collaboration and teamwork.  Heidi designs and delivers results-driven programs which leave an organization with focused leadership, powerful relationships both internally and externally, while optimizing the people factor.  Companies know that their single greatest competitive edge is their people. Heidi’s focus is on actionable leadership that ensures measurable delivery simultaneous to organizational well-being. She has published articles in Radio & Records, Management Today, and Total Leader; Heidi is an accredited, licensed Emotional Intelligence coach (by the Hay Group), a Certified Business Coach, and a dynamic speaker and motivator. She works with executives, managers, sales professionals, saves  the jobs of out-of-touch, but talented people.  She has raised sales as much as 57%; and assists in building a strengths-based organization.  Heidi can provide individual (confidential) assessment and work-place analysis, using a structured, proven methodology to give you an accurate measure of your organization’s leadership and communication effectiveness.  Clients have been Univision Radio, Adecco Staffing, Grand Prix Motors, Nissan, Circuit City, and Nestle.

Bill Hanover – Lean Management

Bill has worked specifically on Lean management projects for over 10 years, with a variety of companies, ranging from mid-sized to large manufacturing companies.  He has in-depth training on the Toyota Production System and successfully adapting its techniques in a wide variety of environments.  Bill has led the creation of manufacturing cells, setup reduction programs, one-piece flows, mistake-proofing, visual signaling systems, Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) programs, taught Theory of Constraints, operator certifications, Kaizen processes, and has set up internal education programs using train-the-trainer methods.  He is enthusiastic and passionate about this work and easily spreads this enthusiasm to his client’s work teams. Measurable results obtained in his projects have often been quite spectacular, such as $500K annual savings from improving just one operation.