Our Leadership
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Jim Corey
Managing Partner
Jim is a co-founder of Blue Ridge Partners and now serves as the firm’s Managing Partner. For 30 years he has assisted companies in North America, Europe and Asia accelerate profitable revenue growth. Jim has advised over 250 companies on revenue-related issues including growth strategy, pricing, sales and marketing management, customer segmentation and messaging.
Prior to founding Blue Ridge Partners, Jim was a partner at both McKinsey & Company and Accenture. He was the President of the Worldwide Professional Services Group at Unisys Corporation and the Managing Partner of AT&T Solutions, the professional services arm of AT&T. Jim served as Managing Partner of Potomac Partners and CEO of Luminant Worldwide.
Jim now lives in the Dallas area.
W. Bradford Wilsted
Senior Managing Director
bwilsted@blueridgepartners.com
Brad is a co-founder of Blue Ridge Partners and now leads the firm’s Healthcare Practice. Brad has nearly 20 years of experience helping healthcare clients accelerate profitable revenue growth. His expertise includes growth strategy development, sales and marketing effectiveness, referral source optimization, customer segmentation and pricing within healthcare, insurance, financial services and other industries.
Previously, Brad was a Principal at Luminant Worldwide and ran the strategic consulting practice as Senior Vice President of Client Services at XOR, Inc. He has also served as a Senior Manager at Braxton Associates strategic consulting group. Brad was a member of the Marketing Planning Group at Eli Lilly responsible for targeting the managed care sector. Brad earned his MBA at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Brad now resides near Denver with his family.
Michael Herman
Managing Director
Michael’s entire 20-year career has focused on developing and executing successful sales strategies. As a company executive and as a trusted business advisor, he has developed successful channel strategies, go to market models, improved sales process design and implementation, sales force performance measurement and management, enhanced sales organization and deployment, sales force motivation and incentive programs and sales personnel recruitment and retention processes. ,
Prior to joining Blue Ridge Partners, he founded and led a sales productivity management consultancy and earlier was a managing partner of Deloitte Consulting where he founded, led and managed the Sales Effectiveness practice both domestically and internationally. Michael began his professional career in sales and subsequently held sales management positions with several companies.
His experience spans several industries and includes global clients such as Apple, Boston Scientific, Oracle, MasterCard, Verizon, Wachovia, Sherwin Williams, CBS, Northwestern Mutual and Deutsche Bank.
He lives in the New York City area with his family.
Jerry Hughes
Managing Director
Jerry is a Managing Director at Blue Ridge Partners, where he has focused on helping a variety of business-to-business and consumer-oriented clients find new ways to accelerate profitable revenue growth. He has worked with companies in the financial services, health care, industrial, consumer goods and marketing services sectors.
With over 20 years of experience as a consultant and corporate executive, Jerry has led efforts to boost growth, sales and marketing effectiveness, and corporate value for clients ranging from private, middle market companies to Fortune 100 firms. He managed client relationships and engagements with consultancies Inforte Corp., Luminant Worldwide, and Braxton Associates. Jerry also led the Business Development and Product Management functions as an Executive Vice President at Rewards Network, a publicly traded loyalty and direct-marketing company.
Prior to his consulting career, Jerry held corporate lending and finance positions at UBS and Bank of Montreal. He holds an AB in government from Dartmouth College and an MBA in Finance and International Business from the University of Chicago.
Jerry lives in the Chicago area with his wife and four children.
Tory Ramaker
Managing Director
tramaker@blueridgepartners.com
Tory has spent 15 years in growth-focused operating, strategic, and financial services roles. He has significant expertise across healthcare sectors, having served as the Head of Baxter International’s Corporate Business Development group and the General Manager of Hospira Worldwide’s Client Services business unit.
Prior to his executive leadership roles, Tory was an Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company, where he worked on growth strategy, marketing strategy, and sales force effectiveness projects, among others. He began his career in Investment Banking and Principal Investing at Goldman, Sachs & Co., and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School.
Tory lives in the Chicago area with his wife and children.
Michael Smith
Michael has over 20 years of strategic sales and marketing experience working with Fortune 500 companies and mid-cap companies to accelerate their revenue growth. He has deep experience in Financial Services, Technology and other industries and developed award winning interactive strategies for companies such as Microsoft, Wyeth, LG, American Express, Amgen and eBay. His executive management experience includes serving as President of Digital Influence Group and strategic leadership roles at Publicis Modem and Visa International.
His extensive business consulting career included time with Mercer Management Consulting and leadership positions with McKinsey & Company, Potomac Partners and Luminant where he was associated with other leaders of Blue Ridge Partners. Michael received his MBA from Stanford University.
Michael lives in the Boston, Massachusetts area.
Kate Donaldson
Principal
kdonaldson@blueridgepartners.com
Kate has more than twenty years of experience as a senior business executive, investment professional and strategy consultant in a variety of industries including consumer packaged goods, technology, manufacturing and energy. Prior to joining Blue Ridge Partners, she was a Partner with the Beta Capital Group, a private investment company focused in the oil and gas, manufacturing, aerospace, and alternative energy sectors. She performed competitor, financial and operational due diligence for acquisition and investment targets, led the development of acquisition strategies for portfolio companies, and managed one of Beta’s secondary investment funds.
Kate also co-founded Velocity Ventures, Inc., a boutique management consulting firm that provided strategic and operational evaluations of potential investments for private equity firms, and strategy services for early stage companies. During her tenure at Velocity Ventures, Kate functioned as Vice President of Marketing and Strategy for Chorum Technologies, an optical component supplier to the telecom industry. Prior to Velocity Ventures, she was a Marketing Director with Bristol-Myers Squibb and a Senior Product Manager at Frito-Lay, Inc.
Kate holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Northwestern University, and a BA from the University of Texas at Austin. She and her family now reside in Dallas.
André Martinelli
Principal
amartinelli@blueridgepartners.com
André has spent his career pursuing growth through organic and inorganic means, including business development, new product development, sales force effectiveness, and customer targeting.
Prior to Blue Ridge Partners, André held a variety of roles in Baxter International’s Medication Delivery business unit. At Baxter, his roles included heading the drug delivery systems business, creating a business development and strategy function for the contract manufacturing business, and identifying and leading initiatives as part of the turnaround of Baxter’s Medication Delivery business unit. André also spent six years at McKinsey & Company, where he advised executive teams on a broad range of strategic and operational issues, primarily focused on business growth and transformation. He received his MBA and AB in Economics from Harvard.
André lives in Chicago with his wife and son.
Karen Malak Rocush
Principal
Karen is a principal at Blue Ridge Partners, where she primarily focuses on clients in our healthcare and technology verticals. Karen’s expertise includes strategy implementation, customer segmentation, targeting and messaging, strategic partnership development, and sales force effectiveness.
Karen has over 20 years of experience, and has worked in a variety of settings: consulting and industry, large company and start-up, public and private, domestic and international both as a consultant and corporate executive. Prior to joining Blue Ridge Partners, Karen worked as a general manager / product manager for Medline Industries, a privately-held $4B medical supplies manufacturer and distributor. Karen’s start-up experience includes working as the Vice President, Strategic Partnerships and CIO of Incisent Technology, a decision support tool for the automotive industry, and as the Vice President, Partnerships and Automotive Sales for TradeOut.com, an online exchange for excess inventory. Karen started her career with Accenture where she worked with Fortune 500 clients in the U.S. and Asia-Pacific for eleven years.
Karen earned her MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BS in electrical engineering from Bucknell University.
Karen lives in the Chicago area with her husband and their two children.