About W. Douglas Wendt
As the founder of Wendt Partners, W. Douglas Wendt works closely with clients and partners to apply the firm's integrated leadership communication model. In addition, he is an accomplished public speaker and regularly contributes to the field as a teacher and advisor on leadership strategy.
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Background
W. Douglas Wendt is an accomplished executive who has sought to integrate business acumen with a passion for effective communication in order to drive change leadership. Doug's unique approach is made possible in part by his career background, in which he has developed the deep, cross-disciplinary expertise that is at the heart of the Wendt Partners strategic business model.
In education, government and nonprofit leadership, Doug led marketing efforts for a major education foundation and served as managing editor of a national educational magazine. He served on a core curriculum design team and is a recognized presenter on the topic of bridging the gap between education and workforce development through creative partnerships with the business community. In addition, he served as executive director of an integrated economic development and tourism marketing agency, leading it through a strategic restructuring effort that resulted in the launch of aggressive new programs, a significant growth in business outreach and financing impact, a five-fold increase in grant funding, and eight awards for communication excellence. He also brought his publishing expertise to bear by creating Cumberland Business, a comprehensive, award-winning business magazine.
Doug's expertise in the public and nonprofit sectors is complemented by his successful career in the private sector. Doug's private sector background traces its roots to his passion for communication. He applied his expertise in technical writing and training to applications as diverse as the development of safety and operational documentation for an East Coast airline, and the delivery of training programs for industrial process control teams. This led Doug into the field of technology marketing and business development, where he served in successive roles as a global product manager, director of product marketing, vice president of business development and then CEO of his own software consulting firm. Doug developed expertise in customer relationship management, industrial automation, enterprise resource planning and supply chain management, with a focus on Total Quality Management (TQM) and Integrated Process Management (IPM).
As a certified quality systems consultant and auditor, Doug assisted major corporations with their assessment, selection, training and implementation of enterprise quality systems across the aerospace, defense, automotive, electronics and medical device industries. Clients included Raytheon, L-3 Communications, Thomson-CSF, Lucent, United Technologies and Hitachi, as well as companies in the Boeing aerospace and defense supply chains. Doug also developed customized field training programs, which he deployed for U.S. and international sales and support teams, and he collaborated on key engagements with major consultancies including Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and Grant Thornton.
In addition, Doug has maintained a thriving consulting practice, working to develop and launch innovative products and technology solutions in the e-commerce, medical services, pharmacy automation and electric vehicle fields. He developed a national rollout strategy for the first retail partner of Lee Iacocca's Lido Motors, and created a unique professional development program focused on marketing and sales strategy for technology executives, which he piloted for Ben Franklin Technology Partners at Penn State University.
Doug founded Wendt Partners to capitalize on this cross-sector knowledge base and bring to the market his unique vision for the integration of business strategy, branding, organizational development and leadership communications. The firm, with offices in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., serves clients in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.
In addition to his business leadership, Doug has been an active and engaged community leader. He has led a number of citizen smart growth coalitions in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, served as a municipal planning commissioner, has been elected to a public school board, and has served on a variety of boards, both in a professional and personal capacity. These include board and committee positions with the Harrisburg Regional Chamber Education Committee, the Cumberland Perry Vocational Technical School, the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority, Cumberland PLAN, Junior Achievement of South Central Pennsylvania, and other organizations. Harrisburg Magazine recognized Doug as a Central Pennsylvania Mover & Shaper in 2006. In addition, Doug has been a regular panelist and participant on WITF (PBS) Smart Talk, discussing economic development, regional planning and transportation issues.
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