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Experience and Expertise
The Beaird Group consultants on average have 15 years of business experience. Clients can leverage our team’s expertise to complete business-critical projects that cross-departmental or functional lines. Our objective is simple: to integrate seamlessly within your organization, offering highly flexible support to meet the demands of any given project.
Meet several of our team members:
Deb Beaird - President and Owner
Sue Brookes
Laura Coulter
Joanne Hannigan
Deb Kamykowski
Gail Kelleher
Peg Meagher
Cathy Miller
Paula Pisarcik
Barbara Silverman
Deborah Wiley Beaird
President and Owner
Deb’s 25-plus year career has included management, entrepreneurial, technical sales and service experience. She is currently President of the Beaird Group. The company was established in 1994 and has grown to a 50 plus person firm with annual revenues exceeding $2,000,000. The Beaird Group provides flexible, on-going managerial and professional support within the framework of our clients’ resources and environment. The Beaird Group provided our clients with support in a variety of areas: finance, human resources, and sales and marketing. Deb is active in her community and has held a variety of volunteer positions for several charitable organizations. She holds a degree in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences from Northwestern University. (top of page)
Sue Brookes
Sue has worked with the Beaird Group since the start of the business. As part of the key management team, she helped define and grow the Beaird Group into a viable consulting firm. Sue has managed and staffed many customer projects encompassing process improvements and planning development. With one particular project, Sue took ownership of a large, internal project after the client went through a merger. This merger left the client with multiple processes and information systems that did not interact. Sue took the lead, established a process, eliminated a $21.5 million intercompany variance and reduced the overhead needed to manage the company-wide payment process. Due to Sue’s dedication and excellent process work, she and her team continue to manage this project 8 years later in addition to providing financial staff assistance to the Senior Finance Director of Fortune 500 company. Sue has excellent process improvement, analytical and financial skills. She works with clients to solve problems in the most cost-effective manner. She holds a Bachelors of Administration in Accounting and a Masters of Business Administration in Finance. (top of page)
Laura Coulter
Laura has worked with the Beaird team since April 1998. Over the past several years, she has managed a number of projects in Human Resources, Finance and Sales Support for public and private organizations of all sizes. Laura’s accomplishments include: 1)management of a team that developed, implemented, and documented a new accounts payable process for a small firm; 2) creation and administration of a call center “mystery shop” program for a medium-sized financial institution; 3) recruiting support for a mid-sized financial institution during a peak period which stemmed from the implementation of a centralized staffing program; 4)development of 250 job descriptions for a mid-sized financial institution within a 5-month time frame as part of a team; 5) interim accounting support for a local college; 6)interim accounting support for a grocery store chain; 7) conducted on-line research of financial statistics, and made preliminary phone contact to over 200 potential organizations, for a large financial management and advisory company. Laura holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Business. (top of page)
Joanne Hannigan
Joanne is a seasoned Business Systems Analyst with over 25 years of IT experience. She has supported a number of projects in the Information Technology, Process Management and Sales and Marketing areas. Her strength is her ability to interface well with the business user. Her projects include: 1) designing, testing and implementing a Microsoft Access data base for a mid-size financial institution; 2) developing processes and procedures including system requirements for textbook distribution in a 20,000 pupil school district and developing a school kit tracking and inventory system in Access for a supplier of pupil school supplies kits; 3)converting reports that were previously generated from an in-house software program to a relational database for a small manufacturing company. Joanne holds a Bachelors of Arts in Math. (top of page)
Deborah Kamykowski
Deb is an experienced human resource professional with 20 plus years expertise in entry level recruiting, interviewing and training. She has had extensive exposure to marketing, advertising and retail environments. Deb has worked with the Beaird Group since May 1997 and has worked on a wide range of projects including: 1) providing recruiting support during a peak period which stemmed from the implementation of a centralized staffing program, 2) Key Project Manager for the development and on-going administration of a monthly mystery shop program for a financial institution, 3) team leader managing the development of 250 job descriptions for a mid-sized financial institution within a 9-month time frame and 4) having full responsibility for the recruiting effort of a national accounts department of a major environmental services firm for nearly 3 years. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Business. (top of page)
Gail Kelleher
Gail has worked with the Beaird Group since the start of the business. As part of the key management team, she helped define and grow the Beaird Group into a viable consulting firm. Gail has managed and staffed many customer projects over the years. With one particular client, she has managed a variety of national account start-up projects which involved gathering and synthesizing information to develop a database and system that will provide improved service and efficient billing for the company. Specific activities included: 1) coordinated efforts of internal product manager and client in start up of a nationwide equipment program, 2) developed and implemented a project plan to create an international tracking system, which allowed individual plants to report data to headquarters, 3) responsible for the set up of large third party billing accounts and training of third party billing coordinator, 4) worked with systems to coordinate the transfer of all National Account service, billing, standards and provider databases’ to a new system which involved monitoring large amounts of data from over 300 National and Regional accounts along with researching any exceptions. Gail has extensive experience with managing individuals as well as groups of consultants. (top of page)
Peg Meagher
Peg is a marketing professional with fifteen years of experience in a unique blend of national marketing, sales support development, and communications positions. Her strengths include strong communication and project management skills. Peg was responsible for managing communications for the national accounts department for a Fortune 200 company for five years. She has worked with the Beaird Group since 2001 and is responsible for all marketing-related activities which include supporting the business development strategy, developing business proposals, maintaining the company’s web site, manager/collaborator of all printed materials, and writing internal and external communications. Additionally, she has worked on a number of client assignments, including: 1) providing “on-demand” presentation and proposal support for a large Chicago-based construction firm 2) conducting marketing research for several clients, 3) developed an automated sales presentation for a construction industry client and 4) documenting a 30-day study of a client's procurement. Peg is currently working with one of Beaird’s newer clients, a Chicago-based civil engineering firm, assisting with internal communications/processes and RFQ/RFP development. (top of page)
Cathy Miller
Cathy has worked with the Beaird team since 2000. Cathy is currently managing Beaird Group's initiative to grow the consulting practice. Cathy brings "big 4" consulting experience to projects and programs that she manages for several industries, including Public Sector (with a focus on Education), Finance, and Insurance. Cathy works with clients to assess their business challenges and develops IT, operations, and corporate strategy solutions to those challenges. Cathy enjoys a hands-on approach where you can expect to see her personally involved in an engagement's success. Cathy holds a MBA from the University of Chicago. (top of page)
Paula Pisarcik
Paula joined the Beaird team in 1999. Paula’s projects include: Benefits administration and process improvement support for Corporate Human Resources, and the development and implementation of a service and commodity sales program for the National Accounts division of a Fortune 500 company. She is an experienced, results-oriented, problem solver with a good sense of organization and leadership – these qualities make Paula a highly effective team member and project leader. Paula is able to communicate clearly and concisely in a broad range of business applications. In addition to project management, Paula has provided clients’ with skilled analysis, and has a proven track record in managing data and electronic information. (top of page)
Barbara Silverman
Barbara is an accomplished manager with 25 years experience in sales and administration. She has worked for the Beaird Group since 1998 and has held a variety of management positions. Her projects include: 1) managing a team for the recycling program of a national waste hauler which involved customer service, reporting and strategic planning 2) implementing new services for a client's customers on an aggressive schedule managing the nationwide customer service program, 3) developing / implementing a collections program with a staff of four for one of Beaird's largest clients. Ms. Silverman has demonstrated skills in project management and staff development. Additional, Barbara has extensive volunteer commitment in the Naperville community. (top of page) |