Brad Smith, COO, Kennedy Information and EVP, Kennedy Consulting Research & Advisory

Brad Smith is responsible for all day-to-day activities at Kennedy Information. As COO, he provides support and direction to each of Kennedy's five business units. Mr. Smith advises Kennedy's Consulting business unit, including its flagship research operations and is Publisher of the group's monthly news services. In this capacity, Mr. Smith oversees the strategy of Kennedy's research efforts and custom projects, providing a unified perspective on the current and future state of the profession.

Mr. Smith is also publisher of Kennedy's Consulting Magazine, and directs the activities of Kennedy Information Advisors, providing strategic support and custom research to buyers and sellers of management and IT consulting services.

Mr. Smith is a frequent speaker on a variety of topics of interest across professional services markets and has been quoted in business publications around the world, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Crain's publications, Financial Times, and a variety of other news outlets.

Mr. Smith has ten years of experience as COO of a privately held leisure specialist firm and previously worked as a management consultant for Towers Perrin, and holds an M.B.A. from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA, and a B.A. in History from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. He is a member of the Board of Directors at Kennedy Information. In addition, he serves on several boards in banking and insurance.

Derek Smith, Senior Director of Research and HR Consulting and Services Lead

Derek Smith is Senior Director with Kennedy Consulting Research & Advisory. He is responsible for general management of Kennedy’s research studies and services. Mr. Smith also leads the development of Kennedy’s research on HR consulting and outsourcing services. He is the author or co-author of many Kennedy research publications, including Global Consulting Marketplace; HR Consulting Marketplace; HR Outsourcing & BPO Marketplace; Benefits Consulting Marketplace; and Talent Management Consulting Marketplace.

Prior to joining Kennedy, Mr. Smith led numerous custom and consortium projects in research and organizational development with Linkage, Inc. He conducted studies with Dr. Edward Lawler III on performance management, with Dr. Richard Beatty on defining HR’s evolving role in organizations and with Dr. Noel Tichy on the application of action learning to leadership development. His previous work assignments also include researching, developing and validating personnel selection tests, training and development tools, and evaluation processes for organizations, including Pillsbury and Square D.

Mr. Smith earned an M.A. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Middle Tennessee State University, and a B.A. in Psychology from Castleton State College (Vermont).

Paul Gronwall, Executive Editor

Paul Gronwall is Editor of Management Consultant International (MCI), Kennedy's monthly publication providing local intelligence on global management consulting. In this role, he maintains contact with leaders in consultancies around the world, keeping informed of their business activities and points of view concerning the consulting marketplace. He also serves as co-editor of Consultants News and as Kennedy's executive editor, overseeing the company's consulting periodicals.

Prior to joining Kennedy, Mr. Gronwall spent sixteen years in management consulting, working for both large and small consultancies involved in engagements in North America, Europe, and Latin America. Most recently, Mr. Gronwall was a Managing Consultant in IBM's Business Consulting Services where he provided internal strategic and operations consulting services to the parent company on a global basis. Business areas included Channel Management, HR, Learning, and Customer Information, where he worked with senior and mid level managers throughout the enterprise, focusing on organization and change management and process design.

Mr. Gronwall spent four years with SiGMA Consulting, which became part of Nextera Interactive, focusing on manufacturing operations and supply chain management. He began his consulting career in the Cruise and Maritime Operations and Transportation Practices of Temple Barker & Sloan, which later became Mercer Management Consulting. Prior to his consulting career, Mr. Gronwall held various management and engineering positions in the maritime sector, working primarily on projects in Europe and East Asia.

Mr. Gronwall holds an M.B.A. from California Lutheran University and a B.S. in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from Webb Institute in Glen Cove, New York.

Erick Burchfield, Director of Research

Mr. Burchfield is Director with Kennedy Consulting Research & Advisory. He leads research and analysis for Kennedy’s research studies and services. His published research includes: Operations Management Consulting Marketplace; Supply Chain Management Consulting Marketplace; Customer Strategy and Interaction Consulting Marketplace; and R&D Strategy and Product & Service Development Consulting Marketplace.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Burchfield was a Senior Consultant and served as Operations Manager of the Business Planning Solutions group at IHS Global Insight, where he lead a variety of strategic planning consulting projects in several industries, including energy, construction, consumer products, and manufacturing. Prior to joining IHS Global Insight, Erick was a Consultant to American Indian Tribal Nations at Taylor Policy Group and an Economic Consultant at Compass Lexecon (an FTI company), where he worked principally on energy and transportation projects, dedicating substantial time working to obtain regulatory approval for mergers and acquisitions such as the joint-acquisition of Conrail by CSX and Norfolk Southern (1997) and the FTC-challenged BP Amoco acquisition of ARCO (2000).

Mr. Burchfield holds a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters in Business Administration from the Anderson School at UCLA, where he concentrated on Finance and Marketing Statistics.