Simon-Kucher appoints three US Partners and seven others globally
Bonn, Germany–based strategy and marketing consultancy Simon-Kucher & Partners has made three new partner appointments in its US offices, boosting its US partner base to 29. Meanwhile, the firm appointed seven other partners across the rest of its global operations – bringing the global partner total to 114.
Adam Echter joins Simon-Kucher’s partnership after six years in the firm’s Mountain View, CA office. Echter has over 17 years of value-based sales experience, during which time he has helped design pricing and sales organizations on three continents and supported the implementation of enterprise pricing software for numerous Fortune 100 firms.
As a Senior Director at Simon-Kucher, Echter’s work has focused on sales excellence, value definition, business model transformation, and pricing. Prior to joining the firm, Echter was a Pricing Consultant at pricing B2B software firm Vendavo. Before that, he was a Turnaround & Restructuring Consultant at Diablo Management Group and a Pricing and Go-to-Market Manager at energy sector manufacturer Alstom Power (now GE). Echter started his career as a Sales Engineer at The Timken Company.
He holds an MBA from the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester, as well as a BS in mechanical engineering from SUNY at Buffalo. He is a regular speaker at the Professional Pricing Society and lectures at several universities on the topic of pricing.
New Partner Peter Harms, meanwhile, has been with Simon-Kucher for nearly 18 years. The Senior Director’s focus is on pricing, sales, and negotiation management in the automotive sector. Harms has helped firms like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Goodyear quantify and communicate their customer benefits, while helping clients increase and monetize their customers’ willingness to pay.
Currently based out of Boston, Harms has consulted for firms across Europe, North America, and Asia. He has supported auto suppliers and manufacturers, as well as machinery and heavy equipment manufacturers.
Harms has a degree in business engineering from the University of Karlsruhe (TH) in Germany. Aside from his consulting work, he is regular speaker at industry events on the topics of power pricing and sales and negotiation excellence.
The San Francisco office’s newest Partner is Eddie Hartman, an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Simon-Kucher for the past two years. Hartman specializes in high-growth revenue strategies and go-to-market planning, working with startups and large B2B firms in the SaaS industry. He also advises professional services firms on pricing strategy.
Hartman co-founded legal technology disruptor LegalZoom.com, Inc. in 2001. The successful online firm allows its customers to create a range of legal documents (wills, business formation documents, trademark applications, etc.) at a fraction of the cost most lawyers or firms would charge.
He has also been a lecturer at the Stanford University Law School over the past two years, and was previously a lecturer at the Yale School of Management and Yale Law School.
Hartman holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, as well a bachelor’s degree in computer science and mathematics from Yale University. He is also a licensed attorney in California, and holds a special certification in project management from CalTech.
Partner up
The Simon-Kucher partner appointments outside the US are: Nicolas Bence (Santiago de Chile), Hans Munz (Barcelona), Alix Nepveux (Paris), Andree Radloff (Zurich), Kornelia Reifenberg (Bonn), Dr. Benjamin Wellstein (Bonn), and Kazuto Yamashiro (Tokyo).
“The new Partners represent the competencies we look for in our leaders: commitment to our clients, people development, and a proven track record,” commented CEO Dr. Georg Tacke. “The election of these new Partners is a testament to the ongoing success of the company and our excellent growth rate of more than 20%.”
“Digital transformation remains a trending topic and is changing business models, pricing, and sales at a tremendous pace,” the CEO added. “We don’t just help our clients invest in digitalization, we also grow their business through these investments.”
Simon-Kucher now has over 1,200 employees in 38 offices worldwide, and a partner-staff ratio of approximately 1:10.
