Tom Rothrock
Senior Director of Training, Development and Personnel Assessment
As an executive member of the SmartCore solutions team, Tom brings expertise in two critical areas: pre-hire and coaching behavioral assessment and curriculum content development of customized sales and sales management training programs. He also serves as the Director of Curriculum Development and Delivery with SmartCore’s sister company, Interactive Resource Group in Denver, Colorado.
Tom has 12 years of experience in the pre-hire and coaching behavioral assessment environment. Using the Profile XT assessment, he has analyzed the Profile results of over 2,000 pre-hire candidates as well as current employees for a wide range for Fortune 500 companies engaged in publishing, software, medical equipment manufacturing, bio-tech, finance and contract research activities. He has developed over 500 behavioral and skill based benchmarks which his clients have successfully utilized to recruit, measure and retain top performing personnel. In pursuing those activities, Tom maintains a steadfast adherence to customizing each step of the assessment process to his clients’ environment, culture and need. Tom also performs extensive “post-assessment” consulting activities, assuring the adaptation and implementation of assessment outcomes.
Tom’s strengths in training content development emphasize clients’ collaboration. As Director of Curriculum Development and Delivery with Interactive Resource Group for 12 years, Tom has specialized in developing training content directly applicable to the client's environment and needs by completing extensive surveys and interviews toward providing a "roadmap" for the clients' training program outcomes. By doing so, clients have benefited from specific, validated and customized content which assures participant "buy-in" and avoids the expense and time associated with adapting "canned" content. Additionally, Tom has designed and executed training outcome follow-up measures, to confirm that training objectives are both measured and enacted.
Steven Ganster
Asia Business Strategy & Execution
Steve Ganster is Managing Director of Technomic Asia, based in Shanghai, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tompkins International. He has over 28 years in international market strategy and operational consulting, primarily in Asia. He has assisted over 200 multinational firms in their assessment of opportunities in Asia and their resultant business strategy development. Mr. Ganster has broad industry experience including automotive, building materials, FMCG, chemicals, healthcare, packaging, retail, distribution and many other industrial and commercial sectors. From bases in Singapore and Shanghai, he has worked in China and supervised Technomic’s office in Shanghai for over 18 years. Mr. Ganster’s expertise is focused on helping companies develop growth initiatives to profitably expand their operations through local business development and sourcing, either through organic strategies or acquisitions/alliances. He specializes in providing total solutions support to assist senior executives at SMEs to address opportunities and threats emerging from Asia. He is author of the recently published book, "The China Ready Company" which provides a well-developed process to assist SME management to practically address the China market. Steve is a frequent speaker on China related topics. He has appeared on CNBC and other media and publishes numerous articles on China business covering acquisition, strategy and supply chain issues.
Prior to joining Technomic in 1978, he worked for Sullair Corporation, a division of Sundstrand, in international marketing and sales. Mr. Ganster has an MBA from the Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management in Arizona.
Stephen Parker
Chief Technology Officer / Business Strategist / M&A
Stephen is a senior executive with extensive domestic and international success in leading divisions of Fortune 100 and start-up companies. These experiences include notable brands from IBM, SBS, and global high tech start-ups. Over the past 20 years he has significant global experience as a chief executive in the technology, GreenTech, Manufacturing Solutions, Software, Cloud solutions, and business to business technology products. Currently Stephen is the CTO of Smartcore Solutions, CEO of KPI Advisers, Board Member for a biotech construction company, and the, CTO of a Disney spin-off Ideas Orlando.
Stephen utilizes a "hands-on" style to capital efficient transformation. He is renowned as a capital efficient restructuring expert. He holds patents in lean enabling technologies and has worked with a number of large corporations implementing world class efficiency improvement programs including, Danaher, IBM, NTT, Tokai Rika, Bharti, AT&T, Singapore Tel, MCI, BT, Hong Kong Tel, Lear Corporation, Telstra, Verizon, Bell Canada, Time Warner Telecom, China Unicom, Saudi Telephone, New Zealand Tel, Case New Holland, DJ Orthopedic, Pentair, and the Russian Ministry of Communications to name a few. With an under graduate focus in Technology Management, Stephen has accomplished executive Management certification at the University of Virginia–Darden School and the Harvard School of Business. He has been a frequent guest speaker at numerous global conferences on technology market management and "The Impact of the Financial Market Meltdown".
During his former Board Directorship for development stage company, Hydrogen Engine, the company sourced all ground operations hydrogen engines for the "all green" Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Additional stewardships by Stephen include Board Director for a manufacturing company and a member of the advisory board for east and west coast venture capital funds. The parents of two sons and a daughter, he and his wife Lynda reside in Raleigh NC.
Steve Freeman
Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing Consultant
A Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Steve is a highly skilled consulting professional with a degree in Electrical Engineering from Tuskegee University and over 20 years of experience in the application of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Continuous Improvement Process, Toyota Production System and Theory of Constraints. Steve has worked with several Fortune 500 companies as well as small to medium sized businesses in the implementation and use of Lean and Six Sigma strategies. Steve also serves as President and CEO of The Lean Group an Atlanta, GA based consultancy that focuses on Lean and Six Sigma evaluation and implementation services.
Steve’s experience includes Beverage, Automotive Assembly, Component Manufacturing as well as public transit and public works. His unique skill set also extends to the application and use of ERP, MES and SCADA level technologies as well as Bar Coding and RFID.
Areas of Focus:
- Manufacturing Operations
- Warehousing & Inventory Management
- Maintenance
- Public Transit
- Public Works
- Business Technology
Ron Harman
Chief Technology Officer/Software Development
Ron has 25 years experience partnering with C-suite executives in both the Fortune 500 and entrepreneurial space to conceptualize, develop, and deliver software solutions. Prior to becoming an executive consultant, he served as Chief Technology Officer for MDeverywhere, a venture back healthcare software company, where he pioneered the use of PDAs in healthcare as a point-of-care data capture devices and counted over 7,000 medical professionals submitting $3 Billion per year in medical charges. Recent industries served include healthcare, legal, and education.
Ron brings extensive experience in start-up and early stage companies offering experience in the following areas:
- Leading Edge Software Development
- Staff Recruitment & Team Building
- Life Cycle Project Management
- Budgeting & Cost Control
- Strategic Analysis
- .Net and Open Source Technologies
- Technology Architecture & Integration
- Overseas and US Based Teams
Ron attended the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he obtained a BS in Computer Science.
