Mark Friedman has over two decades of experience advising for profit companies and not-for-profits on managing change and improving performance. His consulting engagements have spanned financial services (banking and insurance), telecommunications, entertainment, healthcare, media/content, community service organizations, retail operations and manufacturing industries. This work has spanned product and service issues in consumer, not for profit, and industrial settings in the U.S. and Europe.

He founded Real Time Strategy where he focuses on time-critical business issues ranging from strategy development and executive alignment to performance management and operational improvement. His clients range from NYSE public global companies to small firms to not-for profit entities seeking to position their strategy or operations for strong growth or improved profitability.

Mr. Friedman has successfully completed the Blue Ocean Strategy qualification process administered by the Blue Ocean Strategy–Initiative Centre. He was also a member of the predecessor Value Innovation Network which served as an initial global pool of expertise to support the Blue Ocean Strategy body of business strategy work of W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne of INSEAD University to drive innovation into the strategy process. Friedman is also an expert practitioner of the Balanced Scorecard and, where appropriate, uses it as a tool for strategy development and implementation. Friedman was personally trained by David Norton, co-creator of the Balanced Scorecard and has personally worked with Dr. Norton. Friedman’s Balanced Scorecard based strategy development clients include Continental Tire, Corn Products International, Sprint Business and others. His experience has formed the basis of a broad expertise in Performance Management a topic on which he speaks and publishes.

In the not-for-profit area, he recently completed the development of a long-term strategic plan for the combined Jewish Community of the North Shore of Massachusetts composed of 23 towns, 15 agencies and 14 synagogues. The plan has been approved as the long term strategic plan for the Jewish Federation of the North Shore. Mark was also the lay leader of the successful combination of two leading Conservative congregations on the North Shore of Massachusetts. He now serves as the first congregational president of the combined entity.

Mr. Friedman was a founding member of the research and practice development group in Gemini Consulting where he built and chaired the global knowledge management practice (Focused on the integration of strategy, process, technology and content in strategy implementation.) He was a founder of Emergence Consulting and member of its Executive Committee. He served as its COO for 2 years. Emergence Consulting clients were globally recognized for excellence in the application of the Balanced Scorecard by Norton and Kaplan and the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative. These clients included, Winterthur Insurance (Zurich), Grupo Bal (Mexico); Dupont Engineering Polymers (US & Switzerland. He has dedicated considerable professional time and effort to the development of practice methodology and the training and development of executive clients and consulting professionals.

Mr. Friedman holds an MSIA from Carnegie Mellon University (now The Tepper School of Business) with High Distinction and a BA in Economics from the University of Virginia.

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