WBENC certified Women's Business Enterprises (WBE)
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At Sutton Enterprises, we believe that a rigid hierarchy is counter-productive to our goals and our ability to serve you. Our team is an assemblage of highly talented people with extremely diverse work experience. We maintain a fluid, flexible structure that allows for collaboration on all projects and unique, out-of-the-box thinking. Our goal is to use our collaboration to provide our clients with the most robust assembly of knowledge available.
Tricia Sutton, President
Tricia Sutton is an innovator. After years of experience in project and program management in other companies, she broke away to start Sutton Enterprises Inc. Since taking the helm of Sutton Enterprises in 2002, she has been able to instigate strategic change in other businesses looking to improve their practices and performance.
Tricia works relentlessly to be on the cutting edge of knowledge and technology in her field. She uses her extensive experience in project management to effectively coordinate a dynamic team and a diverse group of clients. She and her team strive to create new value for organizations and their customers by innovating and streamlining business practices.
Above all else, Tricia believes in integrity in the workplace. She stresses open and candid communication among her team and astute business practices as she continues to grow Sutton Enterprises to take on new challenges.
Credentials: MSc, MBA, PMP®, Lean Bronze Certificate
Recognitions:
- 2010 Professional of the Year in New Product Development - The Global Directory of Who's Who
- 2009 Influential Women in Business by The Business Ledger
- 2009 Lifetime Member - The Global Directory of Who's Who
- 1999 Women of Achievement Award from YWCA of Lake County, Professional category
- 1999 LUCI Award (Leading Us in Commerce and Industry) Women in Business Award in Manufacturing/Corporate.
Steve Sutton
Steve’s cross functional manufacturing experience helps strengthen Sutton Enterprises' Lean/Agile process team by offering hands on, real world manufacturing experience. He draws on 30 years of plant engineering experience, which includes preventive and predictive maintenance, equipment upgrades and rebuilds. Steve has lead both continuous improvement and lean manufacturing initiatives. He has managed numerous projects in the US and overseas, including the relocation of equipment during a complex plant relocation in Suzhou, China.
Credentials: Six Sigma Green Belt
Kim Billings
Kim has 25 years of executive and administrative support in various industries, from sales and marketing organizations to Business Development. Kim has held positions ranging from Sales Assistant to VP of Operations. Kim’s areas of expertise include: customer service, client and vendor relations and operations management. Her work with executive level professionals has afforded her the opportunity to embrace the value of time, the need for organizational skills and the execution of efficient processes.
For the Sutton Team, Kim ties the group together and keeps an eye on all initiatives, prioritizing weekly assignments, managing contact lists, tracking customer relationships, developing and executing email and print communications, and maintaining the website. She supports our lean and agile methods by facilitating stand up meetings and huddles, as well as managing our rolling plan and virtual obeya. Kim also spearheads deployment of the Sutton marketing strategy and supports business development.
When in doubt, check with Kim and she can make sure you get what you need!
Credentials: International Association of Virtual Assistants
Lance J. Welter
Lance is a highly motivated professional who understands the importance of business relationships. He has extensive experience working with and serving both non-profit and for-profit organizations, establishing credentialing and certification programs, scoping and overseeing implementation of psychometrically valid tests for different industries and professional specialties. Lance has successfully developed these types of communication networks, both internal and external, across corporate, government, environmental, non-profit, and high tech arenas – from environmental engineering to high tech and agile software development - with proven results of increased revenue, market share and customer satisfaction.
As a member of the Sutton team, Lance’s role is to match our team with the needs of our clients. He works as the key account manager and is often a key liaison among the many different stakeholders in a project. Lance ensures that communication is not limited to between the sales department and client, but also with the product development group and operations, so that requirements are delivered and not just promised. To understand more about what Sutton Enterprises can offer you, contact Lance.
Credentials: MA
Gretchen Goodrich
Gretchen keeps development teams humming. As Sutton’s IT project manager, she sets the tone for successful projects with open, proactive communication and accountability. Her experience in technology, entrepreneurship, finance and the performing arts reduces risk for clients while ensuring their vision is realized on time. She relishes launching new products, whether it’s for a national association or a technology start-up. One of those cutting-edge companies, the mobile social media platform A Space Apart, is her own. Her experience as a former company controller gives her insight into organizations’ resources and financial workings. For Sutton clients, this means they have an advocate who truly understands their concerns. Gretchen is a graduate of the University of Texas and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa National Liberal Arts Honor Society. She has found that her love of acting and improv comes in just as handy managing IT projects as it does on stage.
Julie Manning
For Julie, nothing says it better than the old Chinese proverb:
Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
Julie is an energetic facilitator, coach and project leader who believes in teaching her clients to fish for themselves. With over eighteen years of experience in Sales Management, Employee Development, Quality and Marketing, she brings an extensive background in project management and process improvement to the table. She has mastered the delicate art of corporate training and approaches knowledge sharing with both patience and verve. She uses her tremendous talents to facilitate and manage complex projects.
As a project manager, Julie puts teamwork first, valuing the contributions and skills of each individual she works with. She seeks to make an impact with each of her clients by facilitating the implementation of strategic change. She considers it a privilege to be able to re-energize firms by improving business operation and increasing efficiency. As part of the Sutton team, Julie has been able to use her skills and knowledge to bring value many organizations.
Credentials: MM, PMP®
Maria T. Metz
Maria has the uncanny ability to crystallize a vision around where an organization needs to go. During her 14 years with Motorola, Maria acquired extensive experience in strategic planning and R&D on both domestic and global fronts. She has driven the introduction of new product lines, entry into new markets and growth in existing categories.
An enthusiastic collaborator, Maria excels at building bridges across communities to foster strategy, broad thinking and execution. As part of the Sutton team, she leads best-in-class market insights programs. Maria designs, manages and facilitates Voice of the Customer (VOC) research and other initiatives for Sutton clients. Her specialty is extracting complete and insightful knowledge of a particular business environment or customer sect. From this research she is able to extrapolate new and underserved niches and develop interesting and innovative ways to fill them. By developing a clear picture of where an organization should be investing its resources, Maria provides an invaluable service to her clients.
Recognitions:- 2009 Influential Women in Business by The Business Ledger
Credentials: MS
Leigh M. Stewart
Leigh has nearly 30 years of experience in Marketing and New Product Development in the healthcare industry. Her passion is for understanding customers’ needs and translating those into successful product pipelines and portfolios. Her expertise in strategic planning, marketing, and product launches has resulted in profitable growth for Fortune 500 companies as well as start-up ventures.
On the Sutton team, Leigh explores new facets of new product development, tackling diverse and interesting challenges. She fills the vital role of translating customer knowledge into a product definition that identifies the specific, critical attributes the product must have. She finds the collaborative work environment and the ability to bring new, important products to fruition extremely fulfilling.
Credentials: MBA, PMP®
Noel Burkman
As one of the technology experts on the Sutton Team, Noel’s talent is distilling his extensive technical knowledge into language even the most non-technical person can grasp.
Noel Burkman has deep experience in technology, business and strategic planning. His eclectic background offers him a combination of experiences and insight few others have. He was a key player in the development and marketing of Follet’s eCommerce application, ranked in the top 75 revenue generating sites in the world with annual sales of over $300 million.
As a thought leader, Noel was tapped by the American Press Institute (API) to work with and advise top media companies like the Washington Post, Hurst Media and E.W. Scripps Company. In his role as Director of Digital Transformation he worked with these and many other media companies to develop new strategies and products for recapturing revenue and audiences. His approach addressed not only the product vision, but the tactical execution plans—addressing everything from organizational structure to capital investment, and most importantly metrics.
Noel is also a seasoned entrepreneur, starting his first company in 1996. He has been involved in over 10 startups and has worn just about every hat including: founder, CEO, CIO, grunt and advisor. He has raised millions of dollars in angel and venture funding and continues to oversee the operations of his most recent start up and 2009 Chicago Innovation Awards finalist, CoinThatPhrase.com.
Noel sits on the board of directors for the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra (ESO) as the V.P. of Marketing and Audience Development. It was critical that the symphony become less dependent on small numbers of large donations and focus on small donations from larger populations. He was brought in to help the ESO connect to a younger demographic and connect to supporters in new ways.
Recognitions:- 2009 Chicago Innovation Awards finalist for CoinThatPhrase.com