Management Team

John Evans
John Evans is a Managing Partner with Denali Group. His focus areas are with the Denali Consulting and Denali Intelligence service lines. In 2006, John led the start-up of Denali Intelligence, which offers subscription-based, category-focused market intelligence designed specifically for sourcing professionals.

John has consulted in the supply chain and strategic procurement space since 1989, beginning with A.T. Kearney, and co-founded Denali Consulting in 1996. He has consulted with more than 100 Fortune 500 companies, leading more than 50 strategic sourcing programs across direct and indirect categories.

John has a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

John Evans named a 2009 Pros to Know by Supply & Demand Chain Executive
John Evans named a 2011 Pros to Know by Supply & Demand Chain Executive

Don Dougherty
Don Dougherty is a Managing Partner with Denali Group. His focus areas are with the Denali Consulting and Denali Recruiting & Staffing service lines. Don has more than 19 years of supply chain management consulting experience and eight years of industry experience, including senior positions with Co-Development International, Sabre Decision Technologies, and McDonnell Douglas.

Don has extensive experience managing, facilitating, and participating in consulting engagements relating to strategic sourcing, supply chain management, and logistics optimization. He has consulted with numerous Fortune 500 companies in North America and Europe in a variety of industries, including energy, aerospace, manufacturing, and financial institutions. Don has a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering from Ohio State and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Don Dougherty named a 2009 Pros to Know by Supply & Demand Chain Executive
Don Dougherty named a 2012 Pros to Know by Supply & Demand Chain Executive

Conrad Snover
Conrad Snover is a Partner with Denali Group and has more than 13 years of strategic consulting experience focused on supply chain management. He has deep experience in launching and managing programs focused on strategy design, category management, strategic sourcing, supplier development, and organizational sustainability.

Conrad’s consulting experience includes time spent at management consulting firm A.T. Kearney before joining Denali Group. He has consulted to numerous Fortune 1000 companies in North America in a variety of industries, including oil & gas, utilities, high tech, banking and insurance. He is a frequently requested presenter at supply chain conferences such as USMA, UPMG, and SIG. Conrad holds a business degree from the University of Washington.

Conrad Snover named a 2011 Pros to Know by Supply & Demand Chain Executive

Alpar Kamber
Alpar Kamber is a Managing Partner with Denali Group and the Founder and Practice Lead of Denali Sourcing Services, a next generation sourcing services provider that enables procurement organizations to influence more spend and execute more effectively and efficiently. Prior to joining Denali, Alpar held management positions at Ariba, FreeMarkets, Diamond Technology Partners and E&Y.

Alpar leads Denali Group clients in building scalable sourcing programs and operationalize their procurement function that drive consistency, repeatable outcomes, and bottom line value across the organization. Alpar’s expertise is in organizational design, change management, and global program execution.
Alpar holds an MBA from Tepper Business School of Carnegie Mellon University.

Alpar Kamber named a 2011 Pros to Know by Supply & Demand Chain Executive

Read more about Alpar Kamber in the HfS Research interview Meet the sultan of strategic sourcing.

Peter Nero
Peter Nero is Senior Vice President of Denali Sourcing Services, a premier sourcing services provider. After graduating from Tepper Business School at Carnegie Mellon University, Peter worked as an independent consultant facilitating a Fortune 100 company’s North American on-line procurement and reverse auction program. He then joined the consulting firm Booz Allen, and during his six-year tenure successfully managed strategy development, large-scale organizational transformation, process reengineering and organization performance management for Fortune 500 organizations in manufacturing, energy, and entertainment, as well as federal government entities.

Peter’s key role at Denali Sourcing Services is enabling clients to leverage on-demand sourcing services to improve their sourcing execution capabilities, thus increasing addressed spend and driving additional cost savings to the bottom line. Peter’s expertise is in strategy, organizational design, change management, and program management execution.

Alan C. Veeck, Ph.D.
Alan Veeck is Vice President at Denali Sourcing Services, a Denali Group division focused on providing on-demand sourcing execution services to the Global 1000. He is focused on developing collaborative relationships with Procurement executives to improve their organizations’ effectiveness, efficiency, and reach.

Before joining Denali Souring Sources, Alan was a Partner with Meakem Becker Venture Capital, a traditional venture capital firm focused on making significant investments in early-stage startup companies. Prior to Meakem Becker, Alan spent seven years at Ariba (formerly FreeMarkets), working with many of the company’s largest customers from multiple industries, and managing Ariba’s acquisition integration activities. Earlier in his career, Alan was an associate at McKinsey & Co where he worked extensively within the Purchasing and Supply Management practice and served a range of Global 1000clients in the healthcare and diversified manufacturing industries.

Alan holds a bachelors degree in chemistry from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. He lives with his wife and four children in Sewickley, PA.

Priyadarshan Deshmukh
Darshan Deshmukh is Vice President of Global Operations for Denali Sourcing Services. Darshan’s role is to drive top-line and bottom-line improvements for clients, managing global service delivery and end-to-end operations.

Prior to joining Denali Group, Darshan served for nine years with IBM. He was responsible for $8.5B in spend transformation for global clients in his most recent role as Global Strategist for the Services Business’ Procure2Pay Process. Darshan worked across multiple supply chain disciplines to deliver cost reductions, drive E2E supply chain reengineering, design and develop globally integrated enterprises (GIEs), and develop organizational capabilities. Darshan has worked with global clients in telecom, software, financial services, and consumer packaged goods clients, and has worked in India, China, Hong Kong, the UK, and the U.S.

Darshan received his MBA from the Pennsylvania State University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Government College of Engineering, Pune. He is a regular speaker at industry conferences such as the Service Science, Management & Engineering Conference in Asia (SSME) and is a guest lecturer at Penn State, Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), and Indian Institute of Management (IIMs).

Darshan Deshmukh named 2012 Pros to Know by Supply & Demand Chain Executive

Sherri Barnes
Sherri Barnes, Director of Denali Intelligence, is a charter member of Denali Group’s intelligence service line and leads the market intelligence function, providing in-depth insight into key supply chains and commodities. Denali’s market intelligence is centered on strategic goods and services, including demand and supply updates, key cost drivers, pricing indices, current events, and trend analysis.

Sherri’s industry experience includes more than 20 years in the energy and utility sector where she held various finance, risk management, project development, and strategic planning roles for Pantellos, El Paso Corporation, the Williams Companies, and Anadarko Petroleum.

Sherri earned a BBA in Accounting from the University of Houston and MBA degrees in Marketing and International Business from the University of Saint Thomas. She is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Texas and serves on faculty for Lone Star College.

Emily O’Brien
Emily O’Brien is the Vice President for Business Development at Denali Group. Emily served as a consultant and engagement manager at Denali Group before taking on the Business Development role. She has worked in the supply chain and procurement space for nearly 15 years.

Early in her career Emily joined FreeMarkets, the company that pioneered the use of business-to-business reverse auctions for industrial procurement contracts. (Ariba ultimately acquired FreeMarkets.) Throughout her career, Emily has collaborated with global teams to implement strategic sourcing initiatives, eSourcing programs, and supply chain transformation efforts.

Emily serves as a voting member of the SmartGrid Interoperability Panel (SGIP), a partnership between the Department of Energy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology dedicated to identifying standards in the emerging Smart Grid. Emily has a Bachelor’s Degree in History from Georgetown and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Rob Austin
Rob Austin is a Director with Denali Group and has more than 16 years of experience in various consulting and business management roles across multiple industries. He has experience managing programs focused on strategic sourcing and procurement, spend analysis, procurement organization design and procurement transformation.

Before joining the Denali Group, Rob served as Vice President of Sales and Services for Apangea Learning Company. Prior to that role, Rob spent four years as an independent business strategy and supply chain consultant to Fortune 1000 organizations. Rob began his career in supply chain at FreeMarkets (now Ariba), where he held of the position of General Manager for the Consumer Goods and Services Vertical.

Rob holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Stanford University, and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Case Western Reserve University. He lives with his wife Heather and three children in Mt. Lebanon, PA.

Sheryl Johnson
Sheryl is the Director of Marketing for Denali Group and has more than 20 years of experience in various consulting, sales, and marketing roles across multiple industries. She has extensive experience in developing and executing on results-driven marketing strategies. In her role at Denali, Sheryl oversees all corporate marketing including events marketing and management, pipeline development, website strategy, social media engagement, branding, and public relations.

Before joining the Denali Group, Sheryl has consulted with several companies on marketing strategy and execution and developed marketing software tools that enable small business owners to implement marketing programs. Her experience includes sales and marketing of complex consulting solutions and she also teaches marketing at a local community college.

Sheryl holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the Pennsylvania State University, and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon University.

Todd Birnberg
Todd is the Director of Denali Group’s Recruiting & Staffing (DRS), a service line which focuses on the resource needs of procurement and supply chain organizations inside Fortune 1000 companies.

As part of Denali Group’s leadership team, Todd oversees the daily operations of DRS, and will guide its continued growth. He brings strong business development, recruiting and leadership skills to Denali with over 12 years inside the executive search business in a variety of industries, including, manufacturing, distribution, financial institutions, energy, aerospace and construction.

Prior to joining Denali Group, Todd served as Partner for eight years with The Bolton Group. He was instrumental growing their business and responsible for direct hire search across the Carolinas and nationally.

Todd holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from Georgia State University.