Amphora Consulting is a boutique strategy consulting firm that engages with business to business (B2B) companies to help them attain their growth potential.

We are senior experienced management consultants and business executives with a passion for serving our clients.

• Ex-Booz Allen and other blue-chip consulting partners and staff
• Relevant strategy and organizational development experience gained from leadership positions in the new technology, automotive, aerospace, consumer durables, manufactured goods, energy, and chemicals industries
• Passion to deliver value (not just PowerPoint)

We are based in the United States with representation in all regions of the country. However most of our clients are global companies and much of our work is delivered in Europe and Asia or elsewhere.

We were founded in 2003. Our track record of success has spanned more than 75 clients including Fortune 500 companies, mid-size companies, startups and private equity-owned companies and some government entities.

Leadership

JEFF BENNETT

Jeff Bennett is the founder and Managing Partner of Amphora Consulting. Jeff and Darrin are co-authors of Grassroots Strategy, Cultivating B2B Growth from the Ground Up. Prior to founding the firm he was a Partner at Booz, Allen and Hamilton, specializing in strategy and organizational work, primarily industrial, automotive and building products. In 14 years with Booz, Allen, Jeff also led high-level strategic transformations in agricultural, media, consumer durable and packaged goods companies. He has also worked at Capital One as Vice President of Strategy and Analysis for the Direct Marketing Center.

Jeff is a pioneer and a recognized expert on understanding customer value and then using decision rights to develop and implement practical strategies to drive short-term results and long-term improvement. His articles on decision rights and organizational models have been published in Harvard Business Review, Strategy & Business and Leader to Leader.

Jeff has an MS in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon University and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois. When not traveling, he resides in Hilton Head, South Carolina

WILLIAM M. BRAUN

Bill Braun joined Amphora Consulting in 2021 as a partner.  Bill has 10+ years of strategy and operations consulting experience with Booz Allen & Hamilton, Gibb River Group and Amphora.  Prior to joining Amphora Consulting, he served in a number of leadership roles at Eaton Corporation, including: Director of Global Corporate Supply Chain, Director of Business Development, Business Unit Manager, and Plant Manager.  Prior to Eaton, Bill worked with Avery Dennison and TRW across operations, distribution and logistics, information technology and R&D.  In addition to his work with Amphora, Bill has co-founded a SaaS venture in endurance sports nutrition.

Bill is an expert in operations and supply chain strategy; his experience covers a wide range of industries including vehicle, office products, medical, consulting, aerospace, consumer goods, service, and endurance sports.  Companies served include Fortune 500 (and some Fortune 10), FTSE 250 as well as mid-market and PE holdings.  Some of Bill’s other key areas of experience include strategic planning, acquisitions/divestitures/JVs, new product development, program management, and information technology. 

Bill holds an Executive MBA as well as MS and BS degrees in Electrical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.   Outside of work, Bill enjoys a range of hobbies.  He is an avid cyclist and triathlete, fly-fisherman, and pianist (classically trained; now learning jazz improvisation).

LEE ANN SCHWOPE COCHRAN

Lee Ann Cochran is a partner with Amphora Consulting. Lee Ann is a well-versed professional with expertise across the aerospace, defense, start-up and non-profit industries. She received her BS in Materials Science & Engineering from The Ohio State University and has advanced her career with experience in research, process scaling, manufacturing, proposal development, commercialization, business development, sales, marketing, licensing and market strategy.

Ms. Cochran serves on the board for the Innovation Research Interchange (IRI), Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI) and is the President of the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) Board.

Lee Ann received the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) Presidents award in 2018. She was recognized as a 2017 Smart Business Progressive Woman in Cleveland and in 2016 was selected for the Outstanding Soroptimist Award for Columbus and Franklin County. She was also named as one of the 2014 Women You Should Know by Women for Economic and Leadership Development (WELD) and acknowledged by Battelle as a Women’s History Month Honoree for bringing forward ideas to drive change and shape the future. A passionate volunteer, Lee Ann spends her free time supporting causes which champion human rights and equality.

JOHN NICHOLAS DEMOS

Nick Demos is a partner with Amphora Consulting. In addition to his work with Amphora, Nick leads his own boutique consulting group based in New York focused on the energy, environmental and pharmaceutical industries. Previously Nick was a Partner at Booz, Allen and Hamilton, specializing in strategy, marketing and technology commercialization (in both B-to-B and B-to-C markets) across a number of industries.

Nick has over 20 years of consulting experience in the United States, Europe and Latin America. His work focuses on strategy, marketing, pricing, channel issues, partnerships and alliances and technology commercialization. His clients have included engineering companies, energy companies, consumer products companies, agricultural companies, life sciences companies, venture capital investors and other related industries.

In addition to his client focused consulting work he has also published articles and studies including; “The New Strategy and Why it is New” (Strategy and Business, Fourth Quarter 2001) , “Understanding Private Sector Decision Making for Early Stage Technology Development” (a paper co-authored with Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and published by NIST in 2005) and “An Assessment of the Federal Trade Commission Conflict of Interest Study” (published in April, 2006). He holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University, an M.S. from L’Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales and an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business.

DARRIN W. FLEMING

Darrin W. Fleming is a partner with Amphora Consulting. In addition to his work with Amphora, Darrin is the President of ROI Selling. Darrin and Jeff are co-authors of Grassroots Strategy, Cultivating B2B Growth from the Ground Up. Darrin works with B2B companies to generate more leads, move a prospect towards a decision, and make their growth plans by highlighting the customer value delivered by their offerings. Darrin has worked with a variety of firms in technology and services to quantify the value of their solutions and build compelling business cases. His years of starting and managing consulting and professional services businesses at companies like Rockwell Automation allow him to bring a wide range of experiences and insights to his clients.

Darrin has developed proven approaches for analyzing the market, understanding customer needs, developing strategies, developing appropriate Go-To-Market plans for the offerings, and enabling an effective execution of the strategy. He travels around the world helping and training companies to improve their marketing performance. Darrin also has to his credit a book published through McGraw-Hill. Darrin attended the MBA program at the University of Oregon where he focused on Marketing and Organizational Development. He also has a BSEE in Control Systems Engineering from Michigan Technological University. He is based in Cleveland, Ohio.

MARK A. HOFFMAN

Mark Hoffman is a senior executive with expertise leading and advising public, private, family-owned, and PE-backed companies during periods of significant growth, turnaround, and transition. He has over 25 years of experience as a consultant and strategic advisor to business and financial services, consumer products, manufacturing, and technology companies. He excels at developing creative solutions to positively segment customers and grow revenue and impact EBITDA, operating margins, and productivity through strategic marketing, business development and process optimization initiatives.

Since 2001, Mark has been the CEO of Larson Packaging Company, a designer and manufacturer of custom industrial packaging for high-tech, medical device, and industrial companies. Concurrent to his role as CEO, Mark has led several consulting engagements for strategic business and marketing consulting firm Amphora Consulting. In addition, he serves “on faculty” for their Strategic Marketing for Growth Executive Education Programs. He has developed marketing, operations, and finance strategies to facilitate growth for global manufacturing, engineering, and professional services brands through acquisitions, product realignment, organizational design, and market segmentation.

Mark began consulting in 1991, and he spent nine years at Booz Allen & Hamilton (now Strategy&), leading global multimillion-dollar client engagements across numerous industry verticals. He was a Partner, and General Manager in their Lima, Peru office.

Mark earned his MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth Graduate School of Business and his BA in Economics from the University of California. He has worked in North and South America (lived in Colombia and Peru), Europe and Asia, and is fluent in Spanish.

Philosophy

We leverage what your organization already knows about underlying trade-offs, challenges, and constraints that your business faces. We believe it takes the right strategy supported by the right organizational model and incentive system to fully capitalize on a market opportunity. We help companies develop meaningful strategies that are firmly grounded in reality.

Probing questions and challenging thinking enable us to accurately assess opportunities through discovery of root causes and disciplined application of proven economic frameworks.

Efficient alignment of resources quickly creates value and enables successful execution, by linking opportunity assessments and strategic design to the underlying dynamics of the business.

We believe the knowledge transfer resulting from our education-consulting hybrid approach helps build organizations that continuously ask the right questions and seek better answers, allowing our clients to capture higher returns from strategic opportunities long after we are gone.