Director of Judging
President, Ferron & Associates
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Partner- Retired 2007
At PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) and J.D. Power & Associates, J's international consulting involvement spanned the entire manufacturing and distribution value network from production parts suppliers to vehicle assemblers including retail distributors, financial institutions and dealerships. He is an author, industry commentator, an attorney and an industry thought leader on processes for companies to accelerate collaboration and innovation in their products and services.
As a PwC automotive consulting leader, J led operational projects involving process improvement, business strategies, market entry, collaboration, distribution, innovation and customer relationship management. With top tier suppliers and retailers J has managed consulting teams at the enterprise level for strategic cost containment as well as enterprise performance improvement.
At PwC he co-authored the PwC study, The Second Automotive Century. regarding the coming radical changes in the automotive industry. He was one of the authors of, The Collaborative Imperative, published by PwC Consulting (later re-published by IBM) to document the business model changes for successful collaborative business relationships. J also contributed to two other books at PwC: Customer Relationship Management: A Strategic Imperative in the World of e-Business, about best practices in acquiring and retaining customers, and another book about the changes to the global economy because of the increasing use of the Internet, Metacapitalism.
J was Senior Partner at J. D. Power & Associates, and also Managing Director of their Tokyo joint-venture company. At Power he led initiatives to create and launch unique Power research services and build a consulting group. During this time he published and contributed to multiple consulting engagements regarding product design, customer satisfaction, dealership networks, customer loyalty, and warranty system improvements. He published The Revolution in Auto Retailing forecasting improvements in leaner vehicle distribution systems, new selling practices and improved automotive retailing processes. While with JDP&A J was a research associate working with MIT's International Motor Vehicle Program to the publication of the industry best selling, The Machine that Changed the World! (Republished 2007)
As National Automotive Dealers Association Vice President, J was responsible for the 400 member staff, including all association operations. He was a staff member of the then $2 billion fund, National Auto Dealers Retirement Trust (NADART). He worked on Capitol Hill and with the IRS and other agencies on tax and inventory issues representing the industry's 20,000 franchised car, truck and heavy truck dealers. While NADA Vice President J co-authored the book, Betting on the Franchise, which predicted the unbundling of the dealership facilities, public ownership of dealership chains, industry consolidation, and the narrowing retail margins.
He is Chairman of the Northwood University Executive Committee of their Board of Trustees overseeing the three campuses and expanding international curricula for undergraduate, graduate, and advanced degree program for the approximately 6000 full time equivalent students. He recently joined the board of directors for SCI a private "marketing connectivity" company working to increase value generation from life cycle relationship management in various retail distribution networks. J is a 1968 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy with a Bachelor of Science majoring in International Affairs.
He is a lawyer, with a Juris Doctor degree from George Washington University National Law Center earned in 1977;a member of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the Virginia Bar Associations and has been awarded and honorary Doctor of Laws from Northwood University.