Thomas J. Cissell

Tom's work history has prepared him well for his current mission of helping clients quantify, market, and sell the value of their solutions. His first job after college was with a company whose very existence depended upon a customer-value-based culture in a highly competitive market. Not only were the sales people adept at using value selling tactics, but an entire infrastructure was built around forecasting improvements in customer KPIs resulting from the application of a solution, documenting the actual results, and using results information in marketing and sales literature. Tom applied these customer value lessons as he progressed with the company into senior management roles in operations, marketing and even product development. Ultimately, the company, AccuRay Corporation was pruchased by Combustion Engineering ($3 billion in annual revenue) in 1987 which in turn was acquired by the mult-inational ABB ($30 billion in annual revenue) in 1989. This provided the opportunity to apply customer value creation principles while working for companies with various operating models and a wide range of company size.

Tom left ABB in 1999 and joined a consulting firm prior to founding The Cistek Group in 2003. Tom draws on every bit of his experience in sales, sales management, field service, training, engineering, project delivery, product marketing, and consulting to help Cistek clients create customer value in their sales, marketing, and pricing operarations.

A Master Blackbelt in process improvement, Tom was trained in Six Sigma by its architect, Dr. Mikel J. Harry and in process mapping and performance improvement by Alan Brache of The Rummler-Brache Group, renowned developers of business performance systems.

Tom has an engineering degree in Computer and Information Science from The Ohio State University, speaks frequently at events such as Microsoft's MGB, is the author of a number of articles, and the holder of multiple patents involving new product developments.

Amy M. Boland M.A.

A graduate of DePaul University and Loyola University Chicago Graduate School, Amy has served as the Director of Market Research with The Cistek Group since its inception in 2003. Specializing in survey research, Amy has worked to create reliable and innovative ways to obtain and synthesis information about best business practices that can be used in The Cistek Group Newsletter. If a client engagement requires research, Amy is available to assist Cistek consultants. Prior to joining Cistek, Amy gained experience conducting federally funded research.