Winter 2017

Download PDF

Inside the Winter 2017 Issue:

Preparing for Tomorrow’s Customers Today
Growing companies that hope to be industry leaders must be among the first to solve a pressing problem for customers. With a torrid rate of change and a plethora of competitors, long-term success requires constant reinvention. Yet seeing the future is quite hard. Alliance members Joe Budelli of ABBYY USA, Bill Grosso of Scientific Revenue, Arwed Niestroj of Mercedes-Benz R&D North America, Barb Paldus of Finesse Solutions, Glen Shu of Bay View Funding and Antoine Villata of Planisware USA share their strategies for preparing to meet future market needs.

Alliance Community Activities
We were honored to welcome Cisco’s Executive Chairman, John Chambers, to our Alliance Regional meeting in September – a great opportunity to have a conversation with John, not only about his brilliant career and lessons learned at Cisco, but his vision for the exciting future ahead. In August, we welcomed Keynote Patti Sanchez, Chief Strategy Officer of Duarte, who shared her expertise as an extraordinary communicator leading transformative communications initiatives for brands including Cisco, Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard and Nike. We continued our “Alliance Voices” presentation series in August, showcasing business and life stories from Alliance members Jans Aasman, Peter Hill, Ian McLean and Paul White. In September, Alliance members Todd Johnson of Kollective Technology, Mihran Berejikian of Belami and Dennis Erokan of the Placemaking Group kicked off our Alliance Roundtable in Sacramento, and shared their insights about today's marketing challenge to optimally blend sales, marketing & the new digital media. And, on September 22nd, Alliance members and their guests came from throughout Northern California to enjoy a fun and memorable Alliance Fall Dinner at the City Club in San Francisco.

Nuggets From Behind Closed Doors
There are hundreds of years of experience inside every private Alliance meeting. While protecting the confidentiality of the member who challenged their private Alliance Group to “sit in their seat,” we’ve captured just a few of the insightful comments from a handful of members. Read how Xiaodong Yang of Apexigen and Craig Sardella of Guild Mortgage Company would address the challenges faced by two of their fellow Alliance members.

New Members
Check out our newest Alliance members, who run a wide range of companies in industries such as Internet of Things, Mobile Electronics, IT Services, Polymers, Solar Power, Construction, Cosmetic Procedures & Products, Real Estate Trading Platforms and Project Portfolio Management Software.

Upcoming Events
We've got some great events coming up, including Alliance Keynotes, Bill Coleman, CEO of Veritas, Kevin Surace, Founder & CEO of Appvance, Geoffrey Moore, Author of Crossing the Chasm and Zone to Win, Drayton Boylston, Founder & CEO of the Executive Coaching University, and Madhavan Ramanujam, author of Monetizing Innovation. In addition, our Alliance Roundtables will bring together leaders of Software and Family Business companies. We invite all Alliance members and their guests to join us for our 20th Anniversary Alliance Holiday Dinner on Thursday, December 1st, and our Alliance Spring Dinner on April 27th.

Also inside: Keep up-to-date with member news, upcoming Alliance events and keynote speakers, and much more. Download it now!