We are an experienced team.
As your business strategy services partner, Connor Bates provides go-to-market planning, business development, research, coaching, and program development services designed to get things done while creating a foundation for growth. Each member of our team has more than 20 years of real-world experience as executives, researchers, consultants, and marketers in leading business technology firms.
Since 1987, we have applied that combination of talent to help clients like you work through key inflection points in their growth. We specialize in working with companies that bring complex solutions to emerging markets. We excel in environments where paradigms are shifting and you need to act quickly to take advantage of new or expanding opportunities. Clients cite our talent for rapid situational analysis and our ability to bring clarity and focus to all levels of management as instrumental to their success.
Take a look at our team, then contact us to learn more about how we can help you go to market, own the market, or grow new markets for your products and services.
Linda Brackett
Founder & President
Lead strategist, planner and coach
As a market strategist, planner, and coach, Linda has provided management consulting, proprietary research, and process improvement services to business technology firms in manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, high-tech, and Internet technologies for more than 20 years. During that time, Linda has helped executives position their companies for larger, more strategic opportunities, resulting in major funding and significant new business. She also has facilitated the successful design and execution of critical business development programs, helping clients achieve market leadership.
Linda founded Connor Bates in 1987, after transforming the market position of a technology startup with global aspirations. While there, Linda was responsible for all corporate and product marketing, positioning, sales support, and public relations, as well as directly assisting in the launch of the company’s distribution channels in Western Europe during a period of 400% growth. Linda built a strong foundation in the practical aspects of business technology by working in a variety of strategic planning, marketing, sales support, and applications engineering roles.
Linda graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and continued her graduate studies in international politics and economics at l’Institut de Sciences Politiques, Paris, France. She has been actively involved on the Boards of manufacturing, healthcare, and software industry associations. Linda enjoys an eclectic mix of hobbies including running, art, sailing, and travel with her husband Frank.
Cynthia Kirshner
Strategic planning and channel development
A passionate customer and channel advocate, Cynthia Kirshner has over 25 years of experience in marketing and customer service for global technology companies. An expert business strategist, researcher, and process improvement implementer, she specializes in helping her clients become customer-focused and channel-efficient.
Cynthia has a proven track record of revenue growth and improved customer and channel loyalty. She has helped global clients enter new markets, realign their channel strategy, launch and position products, and design and execute satisfaction and loyalty programs that led to increased revenues and market share. Prior to establishing her consultancy, Cynthia culminated her corporate career as marketing director at Sun Microsystems where she successfully built a new department with a $6 million budget and a 40-person team. Under her leadership, this high-performance team brought to market over 20 new service offerings resulting in more than 20% annual revenue growth.
Cynthia earned an MBA from The Wharton School, an MA in international studies from the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in computing science from Texas A&M University, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude.
Robert Pene
Operations, profit, and process improvement
Bob Pene has spent the last 36 years building, fixing, and re-engineering companies – both large and small – teaching CEOs to build their companies. He has been responsible for restoring profitability and increasing sales at dozens of brand-name firms as well as entrepreneurial companies in a variety of industries. Since establishing his turn-around consultancy in 1991, he has worked with over 100 clients, turning around six prominent Northwest firms, in addition to owning and selling his own distribution business.
Bob began his business-building career at Procter and Gamble. From there, he was recruited by Johnson’s Wax where he grew or rebuilt six brands. He later served as director of marketing for Kimberly Clark Corporation, where he rebuilt the tampon and liner divisions. As general manager/vice president of marketing for Western Publishing Company, a division of Mattel, Bob built the Whitman/Little Golden Book businesses. Bob culminated his corporate career as vice president of marketing, sales, and business development for Frito Lay International.
Bob earned a bachelor of science in business administration from the University of Idaho and an MBA from the University of Utah. Following graduate school, Bob spent four years in the Air Force, rising to Captain and working on the F-15 program.
William Wilbert
Strategic marketing communications
Bill Wilbert has been delivering marketing and public relations results for over 20 years. He has a proven track record creating successful advertising, public relations, corporate communications, direct marketing, and analyst relations programs for a variety of industries, including high-tech, telecommunications, utilities, financial services, and manufacturing.
Both as a corporate executive and a consultant, Bill has built results-driven marketing communications departments. He has successfully marketed complex software such as ERP, CRM, supply chain management, and contract management solutions. Bill also has been instrumental in developing and executing channel marketing, sales support, and co-op marketing programs for a number of global business technology corporations.
Bill has bachelor and master of arts degrees in English from Washington State University. He is a prolific freelance journalist who has written for a variety of nationally distributed newspapers and magazines.
David Claus
Strategic marketing communications
For more than 17 years, David Claus has delivered strategic marketing communications support to companies in the software, medical research, and electronics industries. David has significant experience in branding and corporate messaging. His PR work has helped mid-size to global companies find their voice and secure substantial publicity in support of key marketing initiatives.
With his writing, David has helped profit-oriented and non-profit corporations move their audiences to action with concise language that makes complex business and scientific concepts easy to understand. His work has been published in several trade and consumer publications. He is an experienced project manager, editor, and proofreader for corporate marketing materials such as white papers, websites, newsletters, video scripts, press releases, case histories, corporate brochures, and annual reports.
David is an alumnus of Excelsior College in Albany, New York, where he received a bachelors degree in marketing.
Career opportunities
We welcome inquiries for partnership or employment from entrepreneurial individuals who:
- Have proven experience and a track record of results in business development, strategic planning, channel development, or finance
- Know the healthcare, healthcare IT, manufacturing, manufacturing IT, or telecomm industries
- Want to consult with and coach people to continuously improve their capacity for growth and results
"Connor Bates has a tremendous amount of strategic and tactical market knowledge and business planning capabilities. They were clearer, crisper, and quicker than other consultants I’ve worked with."
CEO, Corporate performance solutions client