Carolyn Holden
CEO
Carolyn leads Holden Advisors and focuses her efforts on client management, growth, and commitment to the firm’s core values. With a proven record in strategic planning, business development and growth, Carolyn… Read More
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Carolyn Holden
CEO
Carolyn leads Holden Advisors and focuses her efforts on client management, growth, and commitment to the firm’s core values. With a proven record in strategic planning, business development and growth, Carolyn works to foster thought-leadership throughout the firm, to guide our clients in fast changing markets and competitive landscapes.
As CEO, she oversees the goals and investment needed to drive thought-leadership and mastery in advising customers on more effective pricing and sales performance. Under her leadership, Holden Advisors has published 2 books, Pricing with Confidence and the ground-breaking Negotiating with Backbone, along with thought-provoking publications on gaining an outside-in view of customers, Backbone selling, and pricing for profits.
As an entrepreneurial leader, Carolyn drives the positioning of the firm, client relationships, and contracting, as well as resource planning and operations. She draws on 20 years of sales and marketing management experience. A veteran in selling professional services, her background includes venture-backed high technology start-ups as well as Fortune 500 organizations.
Reed Holden
D.B.A., Founder & Coach
Dr. Reed K. Holden, Founder of Holden Advisors, is a world-class pricing expert who helps clients build go-to-market strategies to drive price leadership, selling backbone and profitable growth. Dr. Holden… Read More
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Reed Holden
D.B.A., Founder & Coach
Dr. Reed K. Holden, Founder of Holden Advisors, is a world-class pricing expert who helps clients build go-to-market strategies to drive price leadership, selling backbone and profitable growth. Dr. Holden specializes in helping sales organizations avoid the Procurement Buzz SawSM by implementing value strategies to recognize and counter margin reducing buying tactics. He is an enthusiastic and persuasive advocate for demonstrating customer value and price leadership with companies that need to adapt in highly competitive markets.
In 2012, Dr. Holden published Negotiating with Backbone: Eight Strategies to Defend your Price and Value, and in 2008, he published with co-author Mark Burton Pricing with Confidence: Ten Ways to Stop Leaving Money on the Table, a top selling pricing book for the executives. He also co-wrote The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing 2nd and 3rd editions during his tenure as CEO of Strategic Pricing Group (Monitor|Deloitte).
A dynamic and engaging presenter with over 20 years of experience, Dr. Holden is a regular speaker and keynote for executive and sales events for Fortune 1000 companies. He is engaged to facilitate negotiation, pricing and customer value workshops and coaches sales people and senior executives in companies that strive for price leadership.
Brian Doyle
President
Brian is President at Holden Advisors. In his role, Brian improves his client’s revenue and profitability through the building of cross-functional, strategic relationships and then leads his team to deliver… Read More
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Brian Doyle
President
Brian is President at Holden Advisors. In his role, Brian improves his client’s revenue and profitability through the building of cross-functional, strategic relationships and then leads his team to deliver results and drive positive change across client organizations. Under Brian’s leadership, his clients and business units have earned an extra $2B in new business, doubled their market share and reduced commercial expenses by 20%.
Brian received a BS in Physics from the US Air Force Academy and an MS in Engineering Systems Management from St. Mary’s University. Brian is also certified in Six Sigma, Design for Six Sigma and General Electric’s Train the Trainer Courses.
Aaron Fransen
Vice President
As Vice President at Holden Advisors, Aaron is responsible for ensuring that his clients have the knowledge, information, and tools necessary to deliver their products and services with maximum value… Read More
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Aaron Fransen
Vice President
As Vice President at Holden Advisors, Aaron is responsible for ensuring that his clients have the knowledge, information, and tools necessary to deliver their products and services with maximum value while creating a positive customer experience. Prior to joining Holden Advisors, Aaron helped Fortune 500 companies across a variety of industries improve their customer experience and bottom line through analytics, consultation, and SaaS enterprise solutions, often resulting in up to 20X ROI for their programs.
Aaron holds a Master of Marketing Research degree from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing at the University of Northern Iowa. Aaron is a Certified Customer Experience Professional and guest lecturer.
Adele McLean
Vice President, Digital Strategy
Under Adele’s leadership, companies have experienced profit gains and improved performance results including: moving the profits of the largest division of a multi-national conglomerate from last place to first place;… Read More
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Adele McLean
Vice President, Digital Strategy
Under Adele’s leadership, companies have experienced profit gains and improved performance results including: moving the profits of the largest division of a multi-national conglomerate from last place to first place; continuous six quarter increases in profits of a $250m consumer products group; delivered 2% revenue lift in two years at $4B global manufacturing company by redesigning and implementing discount controls including channel programs and sales delegations; and developed and implemented revenue planning processes that provided 99% forecast accuracy in support of ’street’ reporting consistency. McLean was formerly Vice President Business Operations and Vice President of World Wide Sales Operations for Western Digital and held leadership positions in finance, operations and sales positions at IBM, Seagate Technologies, and Avaya. Adele received her B.S. in Business Administration and Master’s degree in Accounting from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Mike Cannestra
Vice President
At Holden Advisors, Mike is dedicated to helping clients improve their pricing practices with a focus on getting closer to the customer. Mike’s former role as WW Pricing Director in… Read More
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Mike Cannestra
Vice President
At Holden Advisors, Mike is dedicated to helping clients improve their pricing practices with a focus on getting closer to the customer. Mike’s former role as WW Pricing Director in high-tech hardware allowed him to partner with sales to determine the optimal commercial strategies to drive both top and bottom line performance. Over his career, Mike has worked in Business Development, Sales, Sales Operations, Finance and Accounting across various industries. Mike received a B.S in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Santa Clara University.
Patrick McCullough
Senior Director
Patrick is responsible for commercializing the firm’s vast array of intellectual property across a range of delivery models to best meet client needs. Prior to joining Holden Advisors, Patrick spent… Read More
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Patrick McCullough
Senior Director
Patrick is responsible for commercializing the firm’s vast array of intellectual property across a range of delivery models to best meet client needs. Prior to joining Holden Advisors, Patrick spent nearly 15 years in the medical device industry transforming go-to-market strategies in both an upstream and downstream capacity. Patrick specializes in driving the adoption of complex ideas and products by translating customer insights into tangible value. He has led cross-functional partnerships across marketing, product, R&D, and finance with extensive experience training and developing sales teams to achieve product growth expectations.
Patrick received a BS in Marketing from the Smeal College of Business at Penn State University and an MBA from the Columbia Business School.
Adnan Akbari
Director
Adnan Akbari, Director of Pricing at Holden Advisors, is responsible for helping clients grow by realizing the full potential of their offerings. Prior to joining Holden Advisors, he spent the… Read More
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Adnan Akbari
Director
Adnan Akbari, Director of Pricing at Holden Advisors, is responsible for helping clients grow by realizing the full potential of their offerings. Prior to joining Holden Advisors, he spent the last 12 years of his career focused on growth initiatives within Fortune 500 companies including building pricing organizations, service offering development and sales strategy. Adnan has extensive experience in energy management, technology and insurance while specializing in helping firms commercialize software-based offerings in a rapidly changing competitive environment.
Adnan holds an MBA from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University and a BS in Information Systems from DePaul University.
Jeff Kilman
Director
Jeff has been leading sales and marketing strategy for corporations before strategy was in vogue. He brings energy, expertise, and 25+ years of management experience to the table, including senior… Read More
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Jeff Kilman
Director
Jeff has been leading sales and marketing strategy for corporations before strategy was in vogue. He brings energy, expertise, and 25+ years of management experience to the table, including senior leadership roles at Pepsi North America, Procter & Gamble, and GE Healthcare. Jeff is a born leader, obsessed with revenue growth for his clients. Jeff recently was the CEO of one of the fastest growing marketing agencies in the Southeast.
Jeff is happiest in front of a whiteboard, generating ideas that are meaningful and transformative. He has led powerhouse teams of c-suite executives, creative professionals, account strategists, and analysts. Jeff would lay down in traffic for his family, his clients, and a vintage pristine pair of Jordans.
