WHO WE ARE

Steven Cristol is the founder and Managing Partner of Strategic Harmony® Partners and has advised some of the world’s most innovative companies on business and marketing strategy, product strategy, and integrating the disciplines of brand management and product development. He created the Strategic Harmony® method and decision model for optimizing product development investments and the original software supporting its use, and holds a patent for the first system to align and integrate product and brand strategy. His current work includes advancing processes to systematically integrate sustainability into product development decisions as a catalyst for sustainable innovation and building more resilient companies in an environmentally challenged world.

Since his earlier days in consumer packaged goods marketing, Steven has helped more than 50 companies – from global market leaders to rapid-growth early-stage innovators – build stronger brands and optimize product portfolios across diverse range of industries and technology sectors. He is a recognized thought leader on simplifying the customer experience and, as a Free Press and McGraw-Hill business author, his books have been published in 11 languages.

Steven previously served as the senior brand marketing executive at Pacific Bell, then a Fortune 35 company (now AT&T), and as chief marketing officer at Personics, a Silicon Valley venture-backed startup acquired by Time Warner. He began his career in the development finance division of Philips in The Netherlands, held account management positions on consumer goods accounts in leading Chicago and San Francisco advertising agencies (known today as DDB Worldwide and TBWA Worldwide), and was also a professional songwriter and music publisher in Los Angeles.

Janet Beach is a marketing strategist and market researcher with 25 years of experience launching new products, identifying new market opportunities, and creating strategies that successfully differentiate brands. She is known among clients for her extraordinary ability to quickly learn complex businesses  and infuse them with the voice of the customer to build competitive advantage and improve business results.

As Managing Partner of US Marketing Services, Janet’s deep experience in talking directly with customers and transforming their hopes and challenges into high-impact strategies for clients has cut a broad swath through the high-tech, financial services, healthcare, and consumer products sectors. Her work is also richly informed by client-side experience as senior marketing executive at Sprint and at the iconic Jeanswear division of Levi Strauss, as well as managing global consumer products advertising for Kraft General Foods and Johnson & Johnson at Young & Rubicam New York.

Janet has served on the boards of the American Marketing Association and Business Marketing Association, and served as volunteer Chairman and Executive Director of the Job Forum of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce for more than 20 years.

Lynn Upshaw is a strategic brand marketing consultant, author, speaker, corporate trainer and educator with 30+ years’ experience in strengthening the competitiveness of clients such as Bank of America, Bayer, Bio-Rad, BlackRock/iShares, Clorox, Intel, Kaiser Permanente, PayPal, Sony Entertainment, SunPower, Visa International and WellPoint. He has extensive consulting and training experience spanning consumer packaged goods, financial services, technology, media, publishing, and health care. Prior to launching his own consultancy in 1996, he served as Executive Vice President of Ketchum Advertising, Chief Operating Officer of Ketchum’s largest office, and co-founded Ketchum Interactive early in the Web’s evolution.

Lynn is the author of three highly-regarded brand marketing books – Building Brand Identity and The Masterbrand Mandate (both John Wiley & Sons), and Truth: New Rules for Marketing in a Skeptical World (AMACOM/American Management Association). He has also written numerous articles in publications such as The Journal of Brand Management (UK), The Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications, The Peking University Business Review (PRC), Advertising Age and Brandweek. He has been a sought-after speaker on four continents, and has created and facilitated dozens of strategic planning and brand building workshops.

Lynn is also a member of the MBA professional faculty at the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley. Recipient of the Earl F. Cheit award for teaching excellence, he has guided hundreds of graduate students through the intricacies of corporate and product/service marketing, and also serves as a faculty director and instructor at the UC-Berkeley Center for Executive Education.