Nice to meet you.

Bill Fromm

Co-Founder, Senior Consultant

A nationally-known expert in strategic planning and customer service, Bill co-founded SMG and created the marketing firm Barkley Evergreen & Partners. Bill’s client roster represents retail, fast food, business-to-business, franchise operations, telecommunications products and automotive aftermarket. Bill was named Inc. Magazine’s Regional Entrepreneur of the Year in 1995. He is the author of two books on customer service, "The Ten Commandments of Business and How To Break Them" and "The Real Heroes of Business and Not a CEO Among Them," co-authored with Leonard Schlesinger. Bill has appeared on both the Today Show and the Oprah Winfrey Show and was featured on a segment produced by CBS’ 48 Hours on customer service. He is a graduate of Northwestern University.

Chris Egan

Chief Operating Officer

Chris is responsible for SMG's client facing organizations, and he is a thought leader in SMG's strategy, new business development, and marketing efforts.

Prior to joining SMG, Chris was a Principal at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). As a core member of BCG's Consumer practice, Chris primarily advised consumer retail, restaurant, and packaged goods companies and pursued functional areas of focus including strategy, service models, customer experience, consumer insight, and pricing across numerous retail formats. Prior to BCG, Chris was a Senior Brand Strategist at Intel. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.

Mary Widmer

Chief Strategic Officer

Mary is responsible for resource planning, forecasting and all financial aspects of the company. She also directs SMG's strategic Human Resource initiatives and leads the company's administrative team. Prior to joining SMG as Chief Strategic Officer, Mary was a partner in a CPA firm where she provided management, tax and accounting consulting to a variety of businesses including SMG. Mary earned her accounting degree from the University of Missouri - Columbia.

Joe Cardador

Chief Research Officer

As Chief Research Officer, Joe ensures that the research methodology and statistical analyses provided by SMG adhere to the highest professional standards. He earned both his Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and his MBA from Colorado State University. In addition to 10 years of research and consulting work, Joe has taught courses on testing and measurement, organizational behavior, and industrial psychology. Joe is a member of several professional organizations including the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the American Marketing Association, and the American Association for Public Opinion Research.

Dennis Ehrich

Chief Information Officer

Dennis Ehrich leads the Information Technology team, including all programming, infrastructure, and development activities. His 20 years of Information Technology experience span the disciplines of operations, project management, application development and process improvement initiatives. Prior to his current position, Dennis worked at Accenture in the financial services consulting practice and as Director of Information Technology at H&R Block. Dennis holds a BS in Economics from Denison University and an MBA from the University of Missouri - Kansas City.

Ken White

Senior Vice President, Client Services

Ken focuses on SMG’s restaurant clients and expanding our product portfolio. His strong background in innovation, consulting, and technology helps define SMG’s industry-leading technology platform and enhances our clients’ customer experience programs. Ken has more than 18 years of experience leading large business transformations for Fortune 500 companies. Prior to SMG, Ken worked at H&R Block in various product development, technology, and operational leadership roles. Ken earned his Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State University.

Joe Sciara

Senior Vice President,
Marketing and Brand Research

As SVP of Marketing and Brand Research, Joe works to grow and nurture our client community and leads SMG’s brand measurement efforts. Joe has more than 20 years’ experience building brands for some of the country’s biggest companies including Coca-Cola, Sprint, 24 Hour Fitness and many more. Prior to joining SMG, Joe headed the retail account group at Barkley advertising in Kansas City. In 2003 he was named by Ingram’s Magazine as one of the top 40 business professionals under 40 years old in the Kansas City area. He holds an MBA from the University of Missouri–Kansas City Bloch School of Business.

Jack Mackey

Vice President and Chief Evangelist

Jack is passionate about helping companies energize their people to create loyalty-inspiring customer experiences. He teaches performance improvement strategies nationwide and is legendary for instilling a spirit of “creative discontent” in his audiences. He’s also the author of regular columns in both Multi-Unit Franchisee and Franchise Update Magazine on connecting with customers and earning customer loyalty.

Jack has consulted with organizations such as MasterCard, the American Culinary Federation, and the International Customer Service Association. He is a founding member of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA) and Past President of the American Society for Training and Development in Kansas City.

Cindy Wetmore

Vice President, Customer Measurement

As a former SMG client for many years, Cindy has deep experience in performance improvement programs and customer satisfaction initiatives. She joined SMG following 20 years with Hallmark Cards where she managed the customer satisfaction measurement program for the nationwide network of Gold Crown stores. Cindy's career as a retail executive included three years with Hallmark International-UK, where she started a performance improvement network for independent card shop owners in England, Ireland and Scotland. Cindy holds an MBA from the University of Kansas and is co-author of "The Brass Tacks Manager."

Jeremy Michael

Managing Director

Based on the outskirts of London, Jeremy is responsible for the development of SMG in the UK. Jeremy spent several years working in the service industry in France, Spain and Maryland USA before joining the global research agency TNS in London. Over an eight-year period he was responsible for over 75 customer research projects that included working on brands such as Harrods, Pret a Manger and Mitchells & Butlers. Since 2006, Jeremy has been working on both customer satisfaction and mystery shopping programmes, he was heavily involved with a range of over 90 retail and hospitality clients, including HMV, Holiday Inn, Sony and Subway. Jeremy graduated with an Honours degree in French and Spanish in 1992 and a Masters degree in Tourism and Hospitality Management in 1997.