Marakon Hires Former Gap Exec and a New COO

(May 15, 2006) – New York — Francesca Schuler, a former Vice President of Global Brand Management at Gap, Inc., has joined Marakon Associates as a partner in the firm's San Francisco office. Lori Massad, chief talent officer and a partner based in New York, has been promoted to COO, assuming that responsibility from Managing Partner Brian Burwell. Massad will retain her title as CTO, overseeing global recruitment, retention and alumni. Schuler, a Marakon alumna who left the firm in 2000 to join Gap, will advise the firm's clients on growth, strategy and execution issues, particularly in the retail and consumer goods sectors. Marakon's publicly known clients (past and present) in those industries include Nordstrom, Gillette, Cadbury Schweppes and Diageo. Other clients include Boeing, BP, Cardinal Health, Barclays and Roche. Schuler first joined Marakon in 1996 as a summer consultant, returning as a full-time consultant in 1997. After being promoted to manager, she left Marakon and joined Gap, Inc. in April 2000 as a director in its Corporate Strategy Group. Schuler was soon promoted to Senior Director of Corporate Strategy and in June 2001, she was given leadership of the entire Gap Inc. Corporate Strategy organization. Her focus was on managing the strategy development process for the corporation, overseeing centralized customer and marketing effectiveness efforts and managing cross-brand initiatives. In 2002, she was promoted to VP of Global Brand Management for Gap brand. She left Gap in 2005 and worked as an independent consultant advising companies in the San Francisco area. Schuler holds a BA with Honors from Brown University and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to attending Wharton, she worked in a management role at E&J Gallo Winery and as a corporate finance associate at Glenthore Capital and Orca Capital. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for Patz & Hall, a Napa winery, and has served as an advisor to several retail companies in the Bay area. Lori Massad joined Marakon in February 2004 as Director of North American Human Resources. In August of that year, she took on the additional responsibility of North American Recruiting. She was promoted to chief talent officer in October 2004. Her consulting career began with an eight-year stint at the Boston Consulting Group, where she became a senior manager and oversaw aspects of the firm's global recruiting, training, and development strategies. She later was a founding member of two start-ups — Spencer Stuart Talent Network and a human resources outsourcing firm called EmployeeMatters. Immediately prior to Marakon, she was an independent consultant, advising venture capital and private equity firms and their portfolio companies on business strategy issues. She holds a BA in business administration from the University of Delaware and an MBA from Harvard Business School. In other news, the firm also added three new partners: Robert McKinnon and John Reynolds, senior managers in the firm's London office, and Pete Durette, a senior manager in the New York office. Robert McKinnon joined Marakon as a consultant in 1995. In 1997, he left to become a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers but returned to Marakon in 2000 as a manager in the London office. Since then, McKinnon has worked with clients to address organizational and leadership challenges in a wide range of industries, including pharmaceuticals, financial services, energy, beverages and confectionery. He has worked on some of Marakon's most challenging and innovative assignments, including developing a strategy for R&D at a major pharmaceutical company, and supporting a confectionery firm on their future consumer and business vision. In addition to his client work, McKinnon has co-authored several articles on the pharma industry. Recently, he took over as head of Marakon's Leadership & Organization practice. John Reynolds joined Marakon's London office as a consultant in 1998. Since then, Reynolds has been involved in client engagements in the mining, retail banking, insurance, telecom and consumer products industries. Most recently, he worked with the top team of a leading mining company on a broad organizational and cultural change program. In addition to his client work, Reynolds has co-authored articles on strategic pricing and capital management, and has been heavily involved in the redesign of the consultant development program. Currently, he is responsible for Marakon's Finance and Operations function in Europe. Pete Durette joined Marakon as an analyst in 1995. In 1999, he left to attend The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated as a Palmer Scholar. Since rejoining Marakon as a manager in 2001, Durette's client work has spanned a number of industries, most notably diversified industrials, aerospace, consumer products, energy and financial services. Recently, he has been advising the senior management of a major conglomerate on defining and addressing the most critical strategic and organizational issues associated with the company's transformation. In addition to his client work, Durette is Talent and Operations Leader of the New York office, recruiting leader at Wharton, and an active member of the East Coast business development team. In addition to his MBA from Wharton, he holds a BA in Economics cum laude from Duke University.