People

Ms. Burgess offers over 20 years experience in information systems, project management and organization development. Throughout this time she has been responsible for strategic systems planning, software project management and managing complex technical and organizational evolution. Her background includes all phases of systems planning, design, development, implementation and operation in large and small, startup and mature, industrial, government and non-profit, local, national and international concerns.

Ms. Burgess' skills are best applied toward fostering cooperation across boundaries, developing planning and execution capability within technical organizations and other challenges that demand communicating issues of both organizational and technical complexity in an environment of dynamic change. She serves as a skilled and savvy partner to clients in the following key areas:

Ms. Burgess holds an M.S. in Systems Management with a double major in Organization Development and Information Technology as well as other degrees in Business Administration, Computer Science and Systems and Mathematics. She is committed to aligning with the client's agenda and developing the capability of client staff such that the benefits of the investment in consulting stays solidly present in the organization long after the consultant steps away. As one of her clients has said, "I always get my money's worth by 2 PM of the first day."




Consultants Mr. Ronald J. Raumer Mr. Robert J. Abrams Mr. Thomas W. Allen Ms. Yvonne M. Burgess Mr. William D. Gage Mr. Roger L. Graham Mr. Kenneth R. Hanna Ms. Olivia S. Herriford Mr. James L. McCann Mr. Philip J. Oberhausen Mr. Paul Osborn Mr. Derrick Palmer Mr. Myron A. Pecora Mr. Kenneth G. Rau Mr. Victor M. Rocine Mr. Claus D. Schafhalter Mr. R. Timothy Stein	Raumer & Associates is a network of highly qualified consultants. Our engagement teams are comprised of experienced consultants who are specialists in their field. Since we are an alliance-based organization and have consultants with a wide range of experience, we are able to form teams of consultants with the right skills and expertise to meet the unique needs of each engagement. Our key consultants are: Mr. Ronald J. Raumer Ronald J. Raumer has more than 20 years of management consulting and IT leadership experience. His clients range from emerging companies to global corporations and include government institutions and not-for-profits. He has practiced and consulted in more than twenty countries throughout America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Mr. Raumer’s consulting practice, Raumer & Associates, is focused on helping top IT executives solve their most difficult and pressing problems. These range from providing assistance in combining IT organizations after a merger or acquisition to developing an IT strategy to align IT with a new business direction. And they include selecting ERP systems and technology vendor partners, making outsourcing or off-shoring decisions, restructuring the IT organization, improving business processes and implementing IT governance and architectural standards. His areas of expertise are: IT Strategic Planning and Execution - assisting organizations in aligning their information technology capabilities with their business direction. This consists of setting IT strategic direction and defining the technology architecture, business processes, organizational structure, staffing, governance and roadmap of projects necessary to successfully execute the strategy and close the gap between current and future IT capabilities. Mr. Raumer uses a process consulting orientation to guide clients through strategy development with extensive use of workshops. He emphasizes client participation throughout the project to promote organizational learning and build consensus and momentum toward strategy execution. Experience Highlights: Mr. Raumer has developed more than twenty high-impact IT strategic plans. Clients include the worlds largest petroleum company, the worlds largest semiconductor manufacturer, a large financial institution, a major Hong Kong based international airline, a mid-sized rental company, a wireless equipment manufacturer, an energy research organization, several local governments and state agencies, an oil and gas joint venture and a not-for-profit organization. Change Management and Organizational Development - assisting companies in improving the organizational performance and effectiveness of their IT function. This specialty includes performing assessments of the IT function, redesigning organizational roles and responsibilities, re-engineering IT internal business processes and developing IT governance principles and architectural standards. It also includes identifying outsourcing or off-shoring strategies and opportunities, evaluating and selecting vendors, defining the processes and technology necessary for deployment and implementing solutions. Experience Highlights: Mr. Raumer assisted a large Dallas-based financial credit corporation completely reorganize its’ IT department. In addition, he redesigned organizational roles and responsibilities in conjunction with most of the IT strategy projects described above. Mr. Raumer also assisted several companies in identifying outsourcing and/or off-shoring opportunities and in evaluating and selecting outsourcing/off-shoring solutions. Examples include assisting an International airline in the decision to outsource their IT operations and data center, assisting a high-technology company evaluate the IT functions to determine which areas to outsource and assisting a rental company in choosing an offshore ERP partner.. Technology, Software Package and Vendor Selection and Deployment - assisting companies in defining their information technology requirements, and in selecting technology, software and/or vendors and then deploying the technology solution. Experience Highlights: Mr. Raumer has developed RFP’s and selected technology solutions, often including vendor partners, for numerous companies. Clients include a high-technology medical equipment manufacturer, a rental company, a wireless equipment manufacturer, an Internet consulting firm, a large publisher of PC entertainment software, a local government and a not-for-profit. Software packages he has selected include SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Great Plans, RentalResults, JD Edwards and many others. Project Management - providing project management assistance to important projects, providing turnaround assistance to troubled projects, and serving as interim CIO. Experience Highlights: Served as project manager for numerous ERP implementations often including business process improvement and other projects. Served as interim CIO for a mid-sized company in the bay area. Previous positions held by Mr. Raumer include CIO for a high-technology manufacturer, R&D Director for an ERP software company, Consulting Director for a fast-growing Internet consulting firm and Applications Manager, based in the U.S. and later five years in Europe, for a Fortune 50 multi-national petroleum company. Mr. Raumer has prior consulting experience with Deloitte & Touche, KPMG and The Gartner Group in assisting clients across a wide variety of industries. Mr. Raumer is an experienced instructor and facilitator who has conducted technology seminars and workshops for client and consultant staffs. He holds a Bachelors degree from San Francisco State University and an MBA from the University of San Francisco. He is a member of the Association of Strategic Planners. Click here for a more detailed resume. Mr. Robert J. Abrams Bob Abrams has over 20 years of experience as a management consultant in the use of information and information technology to improve Clients’ management effectiveness and operational efficiency. Mr. Abrams is currently the managing partner of Abrams & Associates, an alliance-based consultancy focused on middle-market clients in the Bay area. He formerly headed up KPMG’s West Coast IT Strategic Planning Practice, was a Principal in Nolan, Norton & Co., and has also served as IT Director for CellularOne. Mr. Abrams has significant experience in serving non-profits, government entities, and commercial organizations ranging from start-ups to Fortune 10 multi-nationals and representing a broad array of industries. Mr. Abrams is an innovative and effective consultant and change agent. He brings well-developed planning, project management and client relations skills to the management of his engagements, and demonstrates exceptional solution development, conflict resolution and negotiation skills in his work. His specialties include Strategic and Tactical Planning, Operations Improvement, Education and Training, and Rebuilding/Turnaround Programs. Click here for a detailed resume. Mr. Thomas W. Allen Tom Allen has 25 years of experience in management consulting to companies and non-profit organizations in financial management and the use of information to improve management and operations. He is Managing Partner of IT Management Advisors, Inc. (ITMA), an alliance-based management consulting firm focused on middle market clients in the Bay Area. He founded ITMA in 1989 because he believed that medium-sized companies and large non-profits needed an alternative to the traditional "Big 5" model of consulting. During the past 10 years, he has provided financial management and information technology planning services to professional service firms and manufacturing, telecommunications, financial services, and other companies and non-profit organizations. ITMA focuses on the strategic use of information technology to achieve business objectives, with a special emphasis on the role of the user in the decision-making process. He specializes in "direction-setting" projects that include strategic systems planning, system requirements definition, business process improvement, software evaluation and selection, project planning, recovery of runaway projects, and the like. From 1998-2000, Mr. Allen extended an initial consulting assignment to serve full time as Chief Financial Officer of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP, a $450 million national law firm headquartered in San Francisco. During this period, Mr. Allen initiated and successfully completed a Firm-wide project to replace the Firm’s general ledger, accounts payable, and billing and collections systems. As CFO, Mr. Allen was responsible for all accounting, financial planning and budgeting, renegotiation of long term and working capital credit facilities, equipment leasing, partnership accounting, and billing and collections, supervising a staff of 60 accounting personnel in San Francisco and 40 in Brobeck’s 8 other offices. Mr. Allen has consulted for Lucasfilm, Ltd., Octel Corporation, Charles Schwab & Co., CellularOne, Homestake Mining, Amdahl Corporation, AirTouch, Bio-Rad Laboratories, VLSI Technology, National Semiconductor, Failure Analysis Associates, Raynet Corporation and several other clients. Mr. Allen served for two years as a Naval officer in the Vietnam War. He holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He is a CPA. Click here for a detailed resume. Ms. Yvonne M. Burgess Ms. Burgess offers over 20 years experience in information systems, project management and organization development. Throughout this time she has been responsible for strategic systems planning, software project management and managing complex technical and organizational evolution. Her background includes all phases of systems planning, design, development, implementation and operation in large and small, startup and mature, industrial, government and non-profit, local, national and international concerns. Ms. Burgess' skills are best applied toward fostering cooperation across boundaries, developing planning and execution capability within technical organizations and other challenges that demand communicating issues of both organizational and technical complexity in an environment of dynamic change. She serves as a skilled and savvy partner to clients in the following key areas: Project Mentoring - project success framework and startup, project health check, turnaround, vendor management, motivating completion and delivery, technical team development, mentoring project managers, etc. Facilitation - team formation and goal targeting, requirements gathering, crucial stakeholder meetings, product definition, process design, reality checkpoints, inter-enterprise cooperation, etc. Strategic Thinking - executive management and board level kick-starts, policy formation, risk advisory, product evolution trajectory, Executive or Tactical level Thought Partner, etc. Co-Navigational Planning - strategic systems planning, IT reorganization planning, multi-level/multi-enterprise and complex inter-planning, etc. Expert Advisory - Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) of project docs, vendor submittals or other consultants' work products; RFP package pre-review; IT or PM process evaluation and design; Program Management Office (PMO) implementation; model management methodology; modeling theory, tools and techniques; System Development Lifecycle (SDLC) best practices, etc. Ms. Burgess holds an M.S. in Systems Management with a double major in Organization Development and Information Technology as well as other degrees in Business Administration, Computer Science and Systems and Mathematics. She is committed to aligning with the client's agenda and developing the capability of client staff such that the benefits of the investment in consulting stays solidly present in the organization long after the consultant steps away. As one of her clients has said, "I always get my money's worth by 2 PM of the first day." Click here for a detailed resume. Mr. Willam D. Gage Bill Gage, founder of Savitar Consulting, Inc., is a Senior Business Practices and Information Management Professional with strong capabilities in financial and operations management. Mr. Gage has over twenty-five years of business systems and high level consulting experience, with emphasis in technology, transportation, and consumer goods. He is particularly skilled in bridging business needs with systems solutions by understanding strategic objectives and existing environments, and in developing enhanced solutions for operations and financial management systems and processes. Recently, he has been leading a major initiative to set the direction for and then implement e-Business capabilities for a Bay Areas client. Click here for a detailed resume. Mr. Roger L. Graham Mr. Roger L. Graham is a Program/Senior Project Manager who assists capital-intensive companies realize meaningful, ROI-based, Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), Supply Chain Management (SCM), and e-Commerce business process improvements. With more than 18 years of Information Technology leadership, Mr. Graham has organized and led successful, profitable, custom and commercial deployments of EAM/SCM industry best practices and accompanying technologies. Mr. Graham’s expertise includes: Project Authorization: Assists organizations identify high-return, EAM/SCM/eCommerce opportunities, create a comprehensive Statement of Work, and determine the Business Case and Return On Investment. Process Improvement: Lead corporate and field based feasibility, requirement, and process improvement sessions by applying an in-depth knowledge of Work Maintenance, Warehouse Management, Inventory and Materials Management, Procurement, Order Fulfillment, and Accounts Payable best practices. Technology Selection: Assist with RFP/RFI proposals, Vendor evaluation, and technology recommendation. Project Management: Establish specific goals, accurate budgets, critical milestones, and essential tasks and deliverables. Lead business managers, subject matter experts, designers, architects, engineers, quality assurance, training, and change management teams through custom development or commercial, package implementation. Mr. Graham has performed EAM, SCM, and eCommerce consulting for clients including Chevron Texaco, British Petroleum-Exploration, Alaska Pipeline, Basin Electric, Southern California Gas, Oxy Chemical, and Duke Power. Click here for a detailed resume. Mr. Kenneth R. Hanna Ken Hanna has more than 30 years of experience in management consulting and in managing the IT function. His experience spans around the world and includes a variety of industries including telecommunications, retailing, distribution, manufacturing and public sector entities. His career also includes all facets of IT activities from programmer, to consultant to CIO. Throughout his career he has always emphasized the efficient use of information and technology to enhance business profitability and growth. His underlying philosophy is to assure information is available when and where needed to successfully execute operating activities and achieve business goals. To accomplish this he has innovatively, but prudently, applied information technology and facilitated communications between executives, operating managers and technical staff. His consulting practice is focused on strategic IT planning, IT organization assessment and development and large project management. Mr. Hanna has prior consulting experience with KPMG (Peat Marwick) and J. Diebold & Associates. After establishing the global IT strategy for an international cellular operator, he was CIO in Belgium and Poland for their start up and subsequent successful business operation. Click here for a detailed resume Ms. Olivia S. Herriford Olivia Herriford, principal of Herriford Consulting, and her associates have been providing planning assistance and interim leadership to business, government, and community organizations since 1996. Services include Strategic Planning Group Facilitation Requirements Definition and Project Planning Interim Leadership Leadership Development We have earned a reputation for enabling effective teamwork in successful technology and customer-facing organizations. Our accomplishments substantiate and exemplify our mission to support any organization wishing to leverage people, information, and value-based practices to achieve the goals of its various stakeholders. Herriford Consulting is based in Walnut Creek, California and assists clients throughout the Western U.S. She is active in many local organizations including: Director and Treasurer, Children’s Discovery Museum Board - San Jose, Ca Director, Bayview Hunters Point YMCA Board– San Francisco, CA Recording Secretary, Black Data Processing Associates, Bay Area Chapter – Oakland, CA Member, National Black MBA Association – San Francisco, Click here for a detailed resume. Mr. James L. McCann Jim McCann is founder of Discovery Systems Consultants. Discovery System Consultants are seasoned professionals who assist Executives and Business Leaders to develop strategic thinking and pragmatic implementation plans to more effectively accomplishing their goals and objectives. Their specialty is Empowered Planning that involves the organization in developing effective Strategic, Technology, and Operational objectives and solving organizational problems. Discovery Systems Consultants help their clients plan and implement solutions right the first time. They have developed planning methodologies based on principles of group dynamics and empowerment which address all dimensions of the organization. These services range from meeting facilitation to a fully documented project plan and are designed to develop organizational consensus and individual commitment in the process. Services include: Facilitation Strategic Planning Technology Planning Roles and Responsibilities Definition Mr. McCann has over 25 years experience in the computer industry with technology experience ranging from host-centric mainframes to client/server networks. He has managed large and small organizations that were users of technology as well as providers of marketing and technical support of high technology products. His industry experience includes state and local government, higher education, health services, process control and aerospace manufacturing. Mr. Philip J. Oberhausen Phil Oberhausen is a Business System Professional whose strength is leading project teams in the development and implementation of customized processes and technology solutions providing business benefit to the enterprise and its customers. Experienced integrator of supply chain transactions and information between business partners, providing competitive advantage while improving operating margins. Click here for a more detailed resume Mr. Paul Osborn Paul Osborn is President of The Osborn Group, a management consulting organization formed to assist clients in improving the effectiveness of their information technology asset. A major focus of the consulting practice involves working with CIOs and Executive Management to re-engineer the management processes within the IS organization. The Osborn Group’s services include: Strategic Planning IT Architecture Development IT Organization Development IT Management Process Improvement Paul Osborn has more than twenty-five years of professional information technology experience in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. As a practitioner Paul served as the senior IT executive for a large Silicon Valley high-technology company. As a consultant he has led successful IT management process re-engineering and strategic planning projects in diverse fields such as air transportation, medical technology, semiconductor equipment manufacturing, and oil production. Mr. Derrick Palmer Founder of InnovationPoint, Mr. Palmer is a seasoned business strategy and innovation consultant with broad experience with Fortune 1000 and international companies, small businesses, start-ups and dotcoms. With a focus on Strategic Innovation and Corporate Development, his particular areas of interest include New Product Innovation, Consumer Insight Research, New Business Development/Sales and Marketing Planning, and Digital Strategy & Implementation. His industry experience includes Professional Services, Travel, High Tech, Consumer Packaged Goods and Automotive. With over 20 years of line management and consulting experience, Derrick brings a wealth of traditional and non-traditional consulting approaches, which he blends to creatively solve business problems and develop a wide array of innovative growth strategies. He has been highly successful in leading cross-functional client teams 'from chaos to clarity', and brings exceptional skills in fostering collaboration across organizational lines, brokering business relationships and facilitating strategic alignment and decision-making. Prior to founding InnovationPoint, Derrick served as Vice President, e-Business Strategy with NOVO (now Semaphore Partners), an e-Business integrator, where he established and grew this new practice area, defined the organization's web development and service delivery methodologies, and guided clients in the development of digital strategies. Previously, he was Director and Client Partner with Cambridge Management Consulting, a division of Cambridge Technology Partners, where he focused on business process innovation and e-Business Strategy development. Earlier in his career, he was a Director with IdeaScope Associates, a global innovation management consulting firm, where he worked with cross-functional and multi-national teams to identify new revenue opportunities, develop innovative business strategies, create new lines of business and develop new products/services. Derrick holds a Masters degree in Marketing Management from Lancaster University, England, and a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics & Languages from the University of York, England. Mr. Myron A. Pecora Mr. Pecora is an experienced Information Technology (IT) executive with twenty years of experience with business management, e-commerce implementation, IT strategic planning, and application software design and deployment. In his most recent assignment, he was instrumental in the startup of a successful, revenue-generating, profitable dot.com startup. As Executive Vice President from 1998 through mid-2000 he was responsible for Technology/Infrastructure, Marketing & Sales, Human Resources and Finance. During this period he held varying titles, including acting as CIO and CFO. In earlier management consulting companies founded by Mr. Pecora, he managed and performed on projects to develop IT strategic plans, organization and staffing plans, and developed and implemented IT strategic plans. His best assets are his ability to launch companies, guide IT projects to successful completion on time and on budget, to recognize good ideas quickly, and to recruit and motivate quality people for his company or clients. Click here for a more detailed resume. Mr. Kenneth G. Rau Mr. Rau, founder of The Winchester Group, has over 20 years of experience as a consultant, practitioner and thought leader in the information technology field. Areas of expertise include information technology planning and strategy, performance measurement, risk assessment, organization design, and outsourcing. He has conducted engagements in these areas for such noteworthy firms as: AT&T, Ashland Oil, Amgen Pharmaceuticals, Boeing, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Digital Equipment Corporation, Fujitsu, Kaiser Permanente, Pacific Gas & Electric and Solectron. He has developed new technology product and service offerings in these areas for KPMG, Deloitte & Touch and Nolan, Norton & Co. Most recently he was responsible for developing The CIO Dashboard service offering and methodology which combine such techniques as the balanced scorecard, IT modeling, performance management and the IT value proposition. Mr. Rau has served as a Director at KPMG Consulting and LLP, as Director of Consulting for Wang Laboratories, as a Senior Manager for the Strategic Systems Planning Practice of Deloitte & Touche, as a Senior Manager of Internal Systems Consulting for Digital Equipment Company, as Director with the Consulting firm of Nolan and Norton, and as Director of Information Systems at The Church & Dwight Company. Mr. Rau received an M.B.A. degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration and two B.S. degrees, one in chemistry and one in industrial administration from Iowa State University. Click here for a more detailed resume. Mr. Victor M. Rocine Victor Rocine, CMC, is the principal of Org.Builders – Partners in Change. Org.Builders are strategic change experts – supporting clients to build and enhance organizational capabilities, effectiveness and performance. As Partners in Change, Org.Builders works in partnership with their clients to facilitate the development and delivery of major change projects and initiatives. Org.Builders frequently partners with other consulting firms to achieve business results for their clients. Victor has over 20 years professional management consulting experience in organization, change and business strategy. He has consulted with over 200 private, public and non-profit sector clients, in the US, Canada, and UK on a wide range of strategic business and organizational effectiveness issues. Victor focuses on assisting clients develop and implement enterprise transformation strategies to address new market opportunities/threats, increase customer satisfaction, streamline business processes, adopt new enabling technologies, develop leadership talent and achieve organizational excellence. A highly skilled project manager, he has successfully led over 100 large, complex multi-disciplinary projects, including several global technology projects. Prior to founding Org.Builders – Partners in Change, he held senior positions with Coopers & Lybrand, Accenture and PricewaterhouseCoopers in strategic management and organizational change. Click here for a more detailed resume. Mr. Claus D. Schafhalter Mr. Claus D. Schafhalter is the founder of Sunogos, a management consulting firm. Mr. Schafhalter has more than 14 years management consulting experience serving global 100 companies, medium sized companies and startups. His areas of expertise are : Business Strategy : Assisting clients to define strategies and new business models for the new economy. This includes all aspects to create a successful business from IT requirements over business processes to organizational structures and implementation roadmaps. Business Operations : Designing business processes so they are efficient and effective. This includes defining requirements for supporting systems like IT or metrics and implement those systems to ensure results. Technology Selection and Implementation : Assisting clients in defining requirements, selecting technology solutions and implementing the selected system. Change Management and Organizational Development: Assisting companies in improving the performance of the organisation. This includes assessment of the internal roles, responsibilities and procedures, clarify responsibilities and organizational interfaces, and re-engineer organizational processes. Cost Reduction : Finding ways to increase productivity and lower costs through organizational efforts like business process reengineering and team based value analysis. Project Management : Serving as project manager for important transition projects, providing project management assistance to internal strategy, IT and change management projects. Mr. Schafhalter has prior consulting experience with e-Business Services Firm Groundswell, IMCS and Infora Management Consulting. Among his clients are Chevron, Philips Electronics, Daimler Chrysler and companies in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Africa. For further information go to www.sunogos.com Mr. R. Timothy Stein Mr. Tim Stein is the founder of Business Performance Associates (BPA). BPA provides consulting in the following areas: ISO: Establishing a quality system which meets ISO requirements so that product/service consistently meet customer requirements. Continuous Improvement: Making efficiency and effectiveness gains throughout the organization. Re-engineering: Redesigning and managing core business systems so they are faster, cost less, and are more facile. Product Strategy: Identifying market needs through customer dialogue, competitive analysis, and internal processes. Developing a marketing strategy and communications. Managing Change: Leading change efforts at the system, work team, and individual levels, so that people change how they do work and improvements deliver their promised business results.