Our People

Zenobia & Associates is a composite of experienced senior level business consulting professionals who came from both industry and diverse consulting backgrounds with combined experience, proven methods and advanced visioning and business techniques to assist you in your quest for consistent profitability. In addition, our alliances and previous experiences with other professional service firms assure a wide array of a delivery capabilities.

We provide services with highly dedicated & qualified Project Managers, Senior Functional and Technical consultants. Zenobia & Associates Consulting sees itself as an extension of your team. We focus on delivering affordable and appropriate solutions to insure an effective implementation. We have leveraged our extensive knowledge to create practice areas that deliver the expected ROI in a timely and efficient manner.

Zenobia & Associates Differentials

• The Advantages of using our multi-disciplined Practice Leaders and Associates consists of dedicated senior professionals, organized to meet the state-of-the-art business needs of its clients.
• Alliance Teams have the proven ability to assist clients who require a critical mix of business, management, functional and technical skills.
• Zenobia & Associates provide a high level consulting team with skills in key areas who provide an approach unique in its ability to define the Business processes, systems and technologies that will meet the overall business objectives.
• We offer skills and experiences which are not often available in a single company. They keep current in modern management philosophies and techniques, and maintain information on the most up-to-date computer application, and technology available coupled with their ability to identify "quick-hitter" items that provide immediate payback.
• Zenobia & Associates Consultants combines an independent, unbiased assessment of the client's business situation with fresh ideas about practical solutions to today's complex and changing business initiatives.

Our Professionals

      Frank M. Zenobia Jr.

PROFESSIONAL FOCUS

Frank M. Zenobia Jr. is President of Zenobia and Associates, inc. and has worked and delivered significant tangible business results with over 300 North American and International companies focused on World Class Enterprise - Wide Improvements. Through planning, implementation and integration of Total Business Solutions since 1987.
Before forming Zenobia & Associates Inc., Frank was Partner & Founder Of the Enterprise Services Group, responsible for World Class planning and implementation across several North American business sectors.
Prior to Arthur Young, Frank spent twenty-five years as an executive with three multi-billion dollar Corporations General Electric, Rockwell International, Dresser Industries managing over 2,500 people.
Frank defined and innovated major corporate and group strategic initiatives, varying from start-ups through complex plant and product launches across multi- functional, multi-plant, Enterprises Wide Implementations.
The result was significantly improved profits and exceptional customer response. 
 

HIGHLIGHTS

National Chairman for Computer Integrated Manufacturing
Founder of CAD/CAM Special Interest Group APICS National
Chairman of the first joint national venture between SME/APICS called SYNERGY ONE
President and member of the Board of Directors of American Production & Inventory Society (APICS)
Recipient of the prestigious Inter-professional Engineering Achievements Award presented by the Society of Manufacturing Engineering 
Frequent national speaker at APICS/AIIE/SME/IMMS?AMMS/IEEE/PMA
 

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

Frank has directed corporate operations, business units, support services, manufacturing, strategic planning, and consulting within several business sectors.
He has directed divisional materials, material handling, production, purchasing, logistics, manufacturing, engineering, and quality assurance operations within single and multi-plant environments, in light and heavy construction, and capital goods industries.
He engaged in producing commercial, consumer, and government products and has demonstrated his business/operation process and systems experience and expertise across a wide variety of business sectors - job shop, repetitive and continuous flow types of companies, ranging in sales from $50 million to $12 billion.
He has worked with private and public firms innovating business initiatives and delivering tangible results.   Without  sacrificing the bottom line.
 

Mack McKenna

Mr. McKenna is a highly accomplished Information Technology executive with extensive experience in IT planning, consulting and management.  His expertise includes strategic and tactical systems assessment and planning, organization and staff development, PMO and project management, IT governance and operations consulting.  Mr. McKenna has served as consulting CIO for several manufacturing and financial services companies and an elderly health care provider.  Mr. McKenna was CIO for Milwaukee Insurance Group, VP Data Center Services and Planning and Control for Armco Insurance Group and Senior Consultant with Deloitte Touche. Mr. McKenna began his career as in sales with IBM Corporation.

Mr. McKenna facilitated the development of a strategic and a tactical IT plan for a $350 million snack food manufacturer and distributor.  He was a key member of a team that reengineered the product sales and service processes for a financial services company, improving all measures of customer service.  He assisted in establishing a PMO organization for a $3B temporary staffing company, implemented a PMO reporting process for a retail banking / mortgage company and assisted in establishing governance processes for a $50M manufacturing company.

Mr. McKenna received his BS in Industrial Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He has served on the MIS advisory boards for several universities.

Peter Stockhausen

Peter Stockhausen is one of the founders of Silver Bullet Consultants, LLC, a consulting organization comprised of former Chief Information Officers.  In 2005, Peter completed 8 years as CIO with a global staffing company, after leading the Information Technology organizations for a startup telecom and for a metro daily newspaper.  He also serves on the board of directors of the HR-XML Consortium.  With over 30 years in all roles of IT, including chairing a multi-company software-development joint venture, Peter was recognized by CIO Magazine in 2003-2004 as one of the 100 top CIOs and featured his IT organization in a cover story.  He has built IT organizations from scratch, and assimilated the IT functions and systems of a number of acquisitions.  He project managed the merger of two metropolitan newspapers and launched the electronic publications line of business for that entity. 

Peter earned a Bachelor's degree from Marquette University and a Master’s degree from Stevens Institute of Technology.  He also completed the Harvard University Advanced Management Program for Ameritech, and the Duke University Executive Management Program in Telecommunications.  Among his professional activities, Peter is a former President of the Wisconsin chapter of the Society for Information Management, and a former Chair of a Marquette University School of Business Advisory Board.  He has delivered numerous industry presentations and participated on CIO panels in various public forums.

Jack O Riley

Jack O Riley is Vice President of Business Development at Zenobia and Associates he is an Accomplished executive with startup, turnaround, redirection,

and restructuring experience in both professional services and manufacturing.  Entrepreneurial spirit and decision making along with the high energy, focus, ]

and drive to get it done.  Creator of high performance, ethical leadership teams committed to the organization and its customers.  An unwavering ]

commitment to service quality and quality processes.  A balance of sophisticated business and entrepreneurial experience.  Intuitive and resolute.  ]

Technologically savvy.  A creator of shareholder value. Optimistic and ambitious.

 Jack’s Twenty-five years of progressive hands-on general management and operations management experience with responsibilities as Board Member,

President, Executive Vice President, Vice President, Operations Manager, Plant Manager, Design & Manufacturing Engineering Manager, Director of

Manufacturing, and Manager Of Industrial, Manufacturing, and Tool Engineering.

 As President & Board Chairman Jack ran a $70MM, 600 employee, information technology services company (2001-3) focused on project management, outsourcing, education and training and supplemental staffing.  Customers included State Farm Insurance, Caterpillar Tractor Company Frito-Lay, Kemper Insurance, Southwest Airlines, Illinois Power Company, Motorola, Company Companies Insurance, American Family Insurance, and Northwestern University

·         Created brand management process and leveraged brand.

·         Employed open book management techniques.

·         Changed financial reporting systems to be SEC compliant for an IPO.

·         Formalized the business planning, strategic planning, and succession planning processes and presented each to the board annually.

·         Secured multi million dollar bank financing to retire major shareholder’s stock.

·         Obtained multi million dollar bank operating line to fund growth.

·         Restructured the board of directors to prepare the company for continued growth.

·         Maintained employee turnover at half the industry average.

As Executive Vice President – Manufacturing & Engineering

$250M, 2,500 employee, Tier 1, Tier 2, and aftermarket automotive components supplier of seat adjusters, parking brakes, transmission selectors, and door, hood, and trunk / deck hinges.  Customers included General Motors, Daimler-Chrysler, Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Volkswagen, Lear Seating, Johnson Controls (JCI), Isuzu, Honda, and Mitsubishi responsibilities for the design, development, testing, launch, quality, and manufacture of all products in a multi-plant, high volume, metalworking environment.

·         Increased plant capacity in both new and existing plants by over 80% in three years.

·         Site selection, design and build of a plant in Mexico to service United States automotive assembly plants located there.

·         Reconfigured five domestic plants (what plants and processes produce which products) to improve quality, flexibility, profitability and on-time delivery.

·         Employed Kaizen, lean, six sigma, and Toyota production concepts

·         Lead the replacement of outdated materials management (ERP) system.

·         Successfully integrated product development and design process with the manufacturing process

Education:             Bachelors of Science Industrial Engineering (BSIE) – Millikin University; Graduate Courses in Business and Accounting – Illinois State University

Professional           Mergers & Acquisitions, IPOs, SEC and the Press, Open Book Management,

Development:          National Center For Employee Ownership, Motorola Six Sigma, Juran On Quality, Wilson Learning Social Styles, Dana World Class Manufacturing, Lean Manufacturing, Just In Time For America, Deming Quality Process, Cellular Manufacturing, Achieve International (Service Quality, Working, Facilitating Successful Meetings, Group Action), Stanford University Advanced Management Program, Labor Contract Negotiation Training, Worker’s Compensation Classes, Managing Engineering, DuPont Safety Programs, Energy Management

Civic Involvement:    United Way (Board & Finance Committee); American Red Cross (Board); New American Theater

                                (Board); Presbyterian Church (Elder and Deacon, Worship Committee Chair, Fund Raising Chair);  

                                 Methodist Church (Board Chair, Missions Chair); Rotary/One Chicago; Chicago Athletic

                                 Association.

Steve Wilt

Steve Wilt is a Senior Associate and has worked with Zenobia and Associates for the last 7 years .Steve Wilt is the founder of Innovus, Incorporated. Conceived eleven years ago and incorporated in 2001, the mission of Innovus is to transform companies through the infusion of innovative thinking and business governance. The approach and unique experience created by Innovus has been developed and proven successful in the smallest entrepreneurial companies to the largest Fortune 500 corporations

 Mr. Wilt is recognized as a thought-leader in business innovation. He has developed, applied and authored Functional Thinkingsm as a pioneering method and catalyst to innovative enterprise-wide business change and the creation of sustainable competitive advantage. Prior to Innovus, Mr. Wilt has held leadership positions at both Fujitsu Consulting and RCG information Technology as the Senior Vice President responsible for developing their USbased Management Consulting capabilities. Additionally, he was a Partner with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC Consulting) responsible for developing and growing their Manufacturing and Supply-Chain practice. Mr. Wilt received his undergraduate degree in industrial engineering from Northern Michigan University and a Masters in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Benedictine University.

Joseph Trytek

As Director of Global Engineering Services, Joe has twenty years of proven experience as a strategic business partner in an international industrial manufacturing company. His motivational management style, and record of building and retaining highly-effective sales, marketing and engineering teams, has allowed him to excel at identifying and delivering opportunities for accelerated growth.

P&L Management

Strategic and Market Planning

Business Development

Joint Venture Management

Start-up and Turn-around Experience 

Acquisition Integration 

New Product Development and Commercialization

Intellectual Property Management 

Global Marketing - Sales and Engineering Management Budgeting and Expense Control

Paul J. Osmun

As a Zenobia & Associates, Senior Manager, Paul reviews and assesses business needs, goals and objectives of clients, evaluating their current business systems and practices.  He has developed short and long-term solutions, facilitated change, focusing on reducing steps, cycle time and costs while improving business processes. Paul has also evaluated clients software needs, led the vendor selection processes, developed detailed implementation plans and managed the software implementations, as well as developed training materials, classes and led training sessions and education classes for clients.

Paul brings with him twenty-five years of experience in the manufacturing and distribution industry working in multinational, industrial and consumer products organizations.  He has been involved in both the business side of the organization working in numerous management positions as well as the systems side with the implementation and upgrading of ERP systems.  He has an extensive background in supply chain management, forecasting, warehousing and distribution, manufacturing and customer relations in addition to his project management skills.  Paul earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas and an MBA from the University of Houston.  He has been certified CPIM and has been active in APICS as a past board member and officer with local chapters in Houston and Chicago.  He has also been active in education as an advisory board member and an instructor at Houston Community College.

Miles "Fritz" Fryar

Miles is the Director of Education and Training Services. He is a gifted teacher with an extensive background in Manufacturing, Operations, Materials, and Distribution. His industry accomplishments include...

Initiated and implemented "Focused Factory" concepts resulting in a $2.5 million profit over budget.

Conceived and developed overall division plan for "Company of the Future".

Created and implemented a customized J.I.T. program which reduced inventories from $17 million to $10 million, creating $7 million of positive cash flow the first year.

Increased inventory turns from 2.5 to 6 and service levels from 80% to 95% while reducing manufacturing workforce by 20% over a four-year timeframe.

Designed and oversaw construction of a 85, 000 sq. ft. Central Distribution Center and justified the investment in one year through labor, freight, and rented warehouse savings.

James Caliva

James is a Program Manager with expertise in Materials, Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering. He has thirty-five years experience in the manufacturing sector focusing on productivity improvements with a rigorous ROI mentality. He has heavy interface with Engineering on ECN Activity, New Product Release, related product structure and BOM activity with subsequent manufacturing/materials execution. He has also had heavy involvement with Quality as it pertains to process control and product quality. Successful programs implemented include: cost reduction/containment, quality and process improvements and team-oriented performance programs designed to sustain and improve profitability.

Leroy Zimdars

Leroy Zimdars is an Associate Director of Zenobia & Associates, Inc., a company that focuses on creative ways to help companies improve their supply management organizations and develop strategic supplier alliances with their key suppliers.

Leroy has over 27 years of purchasing experience in positions with Harley-Davidson Motor Company and Waukesha Engines, Division of Dresser Industries. He spent 19 years with Harley-Davidson Motor Company where he held positions as Power train Purchasing Director, Product Development Purchasing Director and Director of Supply Chain Management. Responsibilities included managing supply chain activities to positively impact quality, cost and timing of purchased products. 

While at Harley-Davidson he was a member of the Materials Leadership Group where he developed and implemented an enterprise wide materials strategy and participated in business planning activities with Harley’s major suppliers. He developed a corporate purchasing organization for development of new products incorporating early supplier involvement and active purchasing involvement in both product development and vehicle platform management. He established effective Tier One supplier relationships; driving out waste, promoting increased technology and competencies within the chains. He was directly responsible for $700 million in annual purchases.

Leroy was a founding member of the National Initiative of Supply Chain Integration (NISCI). He is a member of the National Association of Purchasing Management and lifetime CPM certified. 

He has conducted seminars on Integrated Supply Chain Management with APICS, Association of Strategic Alliance Partners and The Logistics Management Council in 2001.

Leroy holds a Bachelors of Science Degree in Business Administration from Cardinal Stritch University

Dave Bauman

 David J. Bauman

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

DAVE BAUMAN IS A SENIOR ASSOCIATE AT ZENOBIA & ASSOCIATES, INC. In the past seventeen years Dave has worked in a public, multinational company, which is the worlds leading producer of highly engineered mechanical seals used in pumps and compressors. The manufacturing operations were broad in scope from compounding materials to cutting sophisticated metals and on to automated assembly. This vertical integration continues through a distribution network of 40 branches . During this tenure Dave held five key Vice Presidential positions and had a foreign assignment as General Manager. Some key accomplishments were;

• Successfully managed a foreign operation in a hyper-inflationary economy during a historic presidential election and the confiscation of sixty percent of all liquid assets, thus enabling the funding of a sister division during its time of stress.
• Reduced new product development cycle from 18 to 11 months.
• Lead the Total Quality Process changing the culture of the entire organization.
• Directed the reorganization of the Manufacturing division, significantly increasing its profitability.
• Justified, to the Board of Directors of the corporation, the implementation of a $25 million dollar information systems project to assure Year 2000 compliance, to improve control and increase competitiveness. Directed the implementation of the manufacturing modules of that system in North America
• Implemented new international design and engineering systems.
• Helped improve the profitability of Latin America Division by 60 percent and achieved a cash conversion rate of 110 percent resulting in being the only unit to exceed its financial targets. This was the result of restructuring and implementation of the same ERP system, as in North America, across all Latin American locations.
• Supported major customer alliances resulting in a growth in alliance business of 30 percent in a period of twelve months. Improved the control of the largest and most diversified inventory category in North America.
• Reduced the high volume inventory from $15 million to $10 million in twelve months while improving on time delivery performance from 50% to 95%, by restructuring the materials control group.
• Introduced the first new automotive water pump seal for the first time in thirty years.
• Improved high volume Quality by reducing the number of complaints by 75% in a two year period. Reduced the defects measured in parts per million by 50% in the same time period.
• Participated in the establishment of a new automotive water pump seal manufacturing facility in Ningbo China

EDUCATION
University of Illinois at Champaign B.S. Industrial Engineering
Stuart School of Business Illinois Institute of Technology M.B.A.
Numerous management and technical seminars

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Institute of Industrial Engineers, American Management Association, Association for Manufacturing Excellence, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Manufacturer Alliance for Productivity Improvement

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
Junior Achievement of Chicago Suburban and Chicago Area Board of Directors
Chief Regional and Finals Judge for the Annual Illinois Team Excellence Award
 

John Di Frances, PMC

As an Associate Director of Strategic Planning * Partnership, John Functions as an internal Legal counsel on Zenobia & Associates Partnerships and Alliances. He often assist in Strategic Planning Process. John has worked with clients located in the America's, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia.

John has a unique ability to develop creative multifaceted strategies to address the complex problems and opportunities faced by executive decision makers across a wide variety of strategic issues. He assists clients constructively resolve a wide array of problems ranging from complex market and competitive issues to critical organizational strategies. He has worked in the arena of complex federal government acquisition regulations.  

John's  practice has taken him from aircraft manufacturing plants to “black” weapons programs; small technology firms to large vehicle production facilities; the pharmaceutical industry, to high volume consumer product manufacturing facilities; as well as the information technology, banking, insurance and securities industries.

John served as Director - Project Development and Logistics and as a member of the senior leadership strategic planning committee of an independent petroleum company having sales of $400 million across forty states. His responsibilities included total corporate distribution and logistics, as well as the analysis and development of new business opportunities and the implementation of long-range market development and penetration planning. Before this, he was active in the commodities export industry with an overseas-based multinational company.

American Bar Association
National Contract Management Association
American Defense Preparedness Association
National Defense Industrial Association

Faculty Member, National Contract Management Association
Certified - Premier Expert Network
Honors Graduate - University of Wisconsin 1973
Business Administration/Economics

Jon Dahle

Jon Dahle is a Senior Associate at Zenobia & Associates. Additionally, Jon  is President and founder of Dahle & Associates, LLC. a Human Resource Management Company providing cost effective and results oriented Human Resource services focusing on partnerships to achieve strategic Human Resource goals. 

Jon has been successfully providing human resource management consulting services to a diverse client base since 1996. Clients include contractors, health care, manufacturing, retail, service, distributors, agriculture, recreation, transportation, county government and professional organizations.

Prior to providing consulting services, Jon’s gained 15 years of solid and broad based Human Resource Management Generalist experience within manufacturing environments.  This experience included being part of senior management, working within union/non-union environments, negotiating contracts, setting up satellite facilities, and working in small, medium and large companies within closely-held “family owned” corporations.

Jon has served as past president and director of the Jefferson Area Personnel Association, was an active advisor and mentor the Human Resource Degree Program and student participants at the University of Wisconsin -Whitewater, was co-founder of the Jefferson County Area Safety Network founded in 1994 and a former keynote speaker to the Wisconsin Student SHRM Chapter State convention.  Jon was also invited to be a section presenter at the Southern Wisconsin Chapter’s 14^th & 15^th Annual Conference on Employee Assistance in 2003 - 2004.

Jon achieved his SPHR “Senior Professional Human Resource” certification in 1996 and is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where he received his BS and MS degrees. 

For More Information about 

Zenobia & Associates Consulting Services

Contact Us