Board of Advisors


Robert W. Johns

A native of Chicago, Illinois, Bob recently retired from Nucor Corporation after nearly 20 years service with that company.  Prior to joining Nucor he was with Bethlehem Steel for almost 23 years.  His nearly 43 years in the steel industry included extensive experience in sales and marketing; strategic and financial planning; contracting out of mill operations; and, most recently, government affairs. 

Throughout his career in the industry he was involved with international sales, trade issues and industry-wide marketing and trade compliance issues.  He served on a variety of industry committees through the American Iron & Steel Institute, the Steel Service Center Institute and its successor, MSCI, the American Institute for Steel Construction and the Steel Manufacturers Association.  In addition, he served on the Department of Commerce ITAC 12, the North American Steel Trade Committee and other government related industry activities including numerous appearances before the International Trade Commission and congressional committees. 

Bob is currently active in trade issues as a Board member of the Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) and serves on several of that organizations key committees.  He and his wife, Margie, reside in Granite Falls, NC.  In “retirement” he is the principal of Romar Consulting, LLC and does selective consulting work in the areas of sales/marketing planning, corporate culture and public affairs – mainly trade related.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

D. Bruce Merrifield, Jr.

D. Bruce Merrifield, Jr. is the president of the Merrifield Consulting Group, Inc. He is a renowned consultant, speaker, author and advisor in the area of independent, physical-goods distributors. He has done work in over 100 different channels; done over 1000 speeches for over 100 trade associations and some of the world’s largest companies. He authored “Electronic Commerce for Distribution Channels” in 1999 for the National Association of Wholesale-Distributors (NAW) and has had over 100 articles published many of which can be referenced on his web site at www.merrifield.com.

He currently sits on a number of distribution company boards and is involved in two start-up companies both leveraging the use of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) technologies for applications within independent distributor channels. He is a graduate of Princeton University (BA in Biochemistry) and Harvard Business School (MBA).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Susan E. Hartman

Results-oriented leader with over 30 years of diversified experience in strategic planning, business management, organizational turnaround, mergers and acquisitions, operations and international business development. Strong focus on enterprise-wide integration, process optimization, partnering, workflow enhancements, product development, and strategic outsourcing to consistently deliver improved performance, productivity, efficiency, profitability and competitiveness.
Experienced with a broad range of organizations, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, from service firms to manufacturers, to address numerous business, organizational, process and technical issues. Expertise in business assessment, strategy development, benchmarking, modeling and simulation, business transformation, restructuring, transitional management, valuations and business model development.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gerry Wenzke

Gerry spent thirty years in the insurance business.  From 1996 to 2005, he was the managing partner and CEO of Hatch Leonard Naples.  During that time, Hatch Leonard Naples grew fivefold, becoming a statewide organization with 140 employees.  The company was listed in the Rochester 100 six times and recognized as one of the fastest growing insurance firms in the US.  

Upon the sale of Hatch Leonard Naples to First Niagara in 2005, Gerry became the CEO of First Niagara Risk Management, one of the largest insurance brokerages in the country.  In 2006 and 2007, the firm was nationally recognized as a “best practices” firm.

In 2008, Gerry retired from the insurance industry and formed Distinctive Strategies LLC, a consulting firm specializing in strategic growth planning.
Gerry has served on numerous industry and community service boards and currently is on the boards of the Epilepsy Foundation and Lakeside Health Systems, and serves on the Mayor’s REAL Commission.