Sterling Rice Group

Buddy is a 20+ year veteran of Sterling-Rice Group and has deep expertise across all of our interconnected practice areas, including strategic planning, brand positioning, new product development, market segmentation, research, advertising, design, and digital.

Buddy has a unique ability to get to the heart of a company's problem and make things happen. And he has for clients such as Children's Hospital Colorado, Aspen Snowmass, Frontier Airlines, and Almond Board of California. His leadership of SRG's strategic marketing initiatives for the almond industry helped make it the poster child for success in the world of U.S. agribusiness.

Dan has spent close to two decades in various capacities with a focus on business development, retail, channel marketing and channel development, and branding and brand strategy.

Prior to joining SRG, Dan spent six years as a Senior Strategy Associate at a small brand consulting and communications firm called Greenhouse Partners. While there, Dan lead the majority of new business development efforts, as well as worked across a number of client brands, including Coca-Cola North America, Molson Coors, Celestial Seasonings, First Data, Adventure Collection, SpectraLink/Polycom, Charter Communications, Intrawest/Playground, Quintess, and others.

Jennifer has gained a depth and breadth of experience in design and branding across three continents. She began her career in Hong Kong with internationally renowned designer Henry Steiner. After five years in Hong Kong, Jennifer moved to London and worked with another design "guru," Michael Peters, at Identica.

In 1999, Jennifer returned to the US and joined Landor Associates in San Francisco , part of the WPP group ss a senior brand strategist. Jennifer directed branding programs for a wide range of international clients including Accenture, FedEx, HP, Coors, Pan Pacific Hotels, the US Olympic Committee, and the NCAA. In 2005 Jennifer joined SRG where she now inspires and leads the brand design and identity initiatives for several clients.

For over 35 years, Rick has been working in the area of brand strategy and innovation. It was his very diverse marketing experience with sophisticated, consumer packaged goods firms , coupled with his very entrepreneurial experience that shaped the beginnings of Sterling-Rice Group.

Rick and Michael Rice formed the Sterling-Rice Group in 1984, here in Boulder. Their initial premise was that both large and small firms would be interested in the pair's experience in both sophisticated and entrepreneurial marketing environments. Twenty-two years later Sterling-Rice Group has become one of the country's leading integrated brand development firms recognized for the fusion of strategy and creativity.

Mike has extensive, global new product and business development experience. Prior to joining Sterling-Rice Group, he worked for the H. J. Heinz Company as general manager of marketing for the Heinz Frozen Food Division. Mike was responsible for the research, strategy development, and launch of the Boston Market line of frozen meals, which is the biggest new product launch in the history of Heinz.

Prior to that, Mike directed both trade marketing and business development at Heinz. He also completed a five-year assignment for Heinz in the UK where he directed business strategy development and new product initiatives across Europe. This work resulted in numerous pan-European product launches and significant incremental business for Heinz.

Susan has almost 25 years of experience planning and buying media. Being from Detroit, it seems only appropriate that she learned the ins and outs of media at BBDO while working on the Dodge Car and Truck account. Since then, she has found stimulating opportunities in retail businesses, B2B, and brand advertising.

Susan has been planning and buying media in the Denver market for 21 years with agencies such as McCann-Erickson and Barnhart. She has been with Sterling-Rice Group for 11 years directing media research, media buying, and planning for clients including the Almond Board of California, The Children's Hospital, Werther's Original, and Cascadian Farm.

Joan is a thirteen-year veteran of Sterling-Rice Group. She has over 25 years of experience in finance and accounting, including a CPA license from the State of Colorado and an MBA from University of Colorado, Boulder. Joan also has a master's in anthropology from the University of Denver.

Joan leads the budgeting and strategic planning for Sterling-Rice Group and is responsible for the office, accounting, finance, human resource, and technology functions of the company. With her team of twelve professionals, they promote the well-being of all the people of SRG and keep the business systems and infrastructure operating at peak efficiency.

Sheila began her career at TBWA Chiat Day in St. Louis where she worked on Ralston Purina and Boatman’s Bank. She then moved to Chicago to join Euro RSCG Tatham, where she worked on several consumer packaged goods brands for Procter & Gamble and Nestle. She then moved to DDB where she held leadership positions on the Sara Lee/Playtex business and on the Unilever/Degree brand. There she led the team that created award-winning communications programs for Degree that shot the brand into the top three in the category.

Sheila joined Sterling-Rice Group in 2003 and spearheads our client work in the natural/organic space.

John's passion for strategy runs throughout his 30 years of business experience-half of which has been as a consultant and half in senior executive marketing roles. His business development efforts include significant joint venture, licensing, and acquisition work.

At SRG, John runs the research, strategy, and innovation practice, leading engagements across a full range of global blue-chip clients, as well as more entrepreneurial businesses and private equity-backed brands. He has deep experience in nutrition and natural, organic, and functional food and beverage brands. He is a frequent speaker at forums including the Grocery Manufacturers' Association, Natural Products Expo, Healthy Foods Europe, Nutracon, and others.

Brad leads the Sterling-Rice Group research and media competency. He has built the team that conducts several dozen ad hoc quantitative studies each year. He is responsible for the company's proprietary research tools and analytical capabilities as well as oversight of the media team.

Brad began his career in market research at Leo Burnett. His research specialties included target market segmentation and optimizing new products from conceptualization to in-market testing for clients, including Kellogg's, McDonald's, Procter & Gamble, Miller Brewing, Philip Morris, Black & Decker, and Heinz Pet Foods.

Ed's training and business career began at Leo Burnett Advertising Agency in Chicago. He joined Bayer Bess Vanderwarker Advertising Agency in 1987 as vice president of strategic planning where he continued to work for some of the best brands in the world. In 1994, Ed joined Boston Chicken as vice president of concept and helped grow it into the world's largest home-meal-replacement restaurant.

Ed joined in 1997 as a senior consultant at Sterling-Rice Group. He has led the development of new products for GTE, positioning architecture for HP, TCI, and GTE, and need-state segmentation for General Mills and Globus & Cosmos.

Jeff is a design specialist with a diverse background. He created advertising campaigns for Amoco, American Dairy Association, and LaSalle Banks while working at DMB&B Chicago. Next, he moved to Frankel, where he defined and managed large-scale design systems, POS programs and websites for Frito-Lay, United States Postal Service, ESPN, and Visa. Since joining SRG in 2001, Jeff has propelled SRG's design work to new heights. Large identity programs, packaging design initiatives, interactive campaigns, and complex collateral systems have been developed for brands like Guinness, Pepsi, Starbucks, Yogi Tea, Waterpik, the Almond Board of California, and The Children's Hospital. He's also created similar brand-defining work in technology and medical industries for Arrow ECS, MBT, and LMA.

Eileen's experience, knowledge of the field, and honed organizational skills means she is an expert at finding ways to produce projects within budget and on schedule. And she loves working with the creative staff, art directors, and designers to push the limit of today's production technology.

Eileen started working with Sterling-Rice Group in 1995, and today her responsibilities include direct supervision of the production group, managing supplier relationships, sourcing new technology and materials, and managing the print production for some of SRG largest clients. Eileen graduated with both her master's and bachelor's of science degrees from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

Cindy has deep experience in both strategy and innovation. She began her career in marketing at J. Walter Thompson, Chicago in account management where she lead agency efforts across multiple product categories for major clients including Uncle Ben's, Kraft, and Oscar Mayer. She subsequently worked for Kraft in brand management, doing strategy, innovation and business development in the Grocery Products and Cheese divisions. Since joining SRG more than five years ago Cindy has lead projects for major blue chip clients in the areas of strategy, innovation, brand development, brand experience design, and portfolio strategy.

Upon completing his MBA at the University of Chicago, Tim launched into his marketing career at Euro RSCG Tatham . Two years later Tim moved to the client side where he has managed and led new product development with such big name brands including Pizza Hut and Sealy Posturepedic.

Before joining SRG, Tim served as senior vice president at KeyCorp, a regional financial services company, where he built and managed several groups specializing in such disciplines as marketing research, direct marketing, ecommerce strategy, and new product development.

Al began his career in the financial services industry with Travelers Insurance Company, where he was a financial analyst. After earning his MBA from Carnegie Mellon, he launched his marketing career at H. J. Heinz. Over 12 years, Al led many Heinz businesses and drove record market share on the flagship ketchup brand.

Al was then recruited to Visa USA as senior vice president for consumer credit products, where fhe helped grow both market share, member satisfaction, and profitability. He then joined Centura Health, Colorado's largest hospital and health services provider as senior vice president for strategic planning, marketing, and communications. Al joined SRG in 2007 and leads relationships with clients in food, financial services, and healthcare.

Doug is a strategy, marketing, and technology executive and has worked with some of the most successful companies across a range of industries, including CPG, healthcare, industrial products, and technology. After receiving his MBA from Northwestern's J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Doug moved into strategy consulting with PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he successfully created and implemented strategies for leading brands, including General Mills, Cadbury Schweppes, Diageo, United Technologies, and General Motors. Doug then served as the vice president of strategic planning and business development at Yamanouchi Consumer Inc. An entrepreneur at heart, he spent five years managing and building a thriving digital marketing agency, Mango Media. Before joining SRG he co-founded a successful technology start-up that launched various performance management software products. His agency experience includes digital strategy, social media, mobile, search, and web application design and development.

Steve has spent 15 years working for and with many Fortune 500 companies including Coca-Cola, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, MillerCoors, Kraft, Unilever, Abbott Labs, DaVita, Snap-on Tools, and more. Since joining SRG in 2006, he has led engagements in the areas of strategy, consumer insights, and innovation in the CPG, automotive, and healthcare industries. Prior to that he worked in marketing for Johnson & Johnson, identifying new markets and introducing new products. He started his career with the Integer Group, an Omnicom agency, focusing on shopper marketing, which included the creation of advertising, packaging, point of sale, and promotions for clients in the CPG industry. He holds an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.