Industry: Pharmaceuticals

Stephen Blunck

Senior Consultant, Maven Associates

VP, Serent Capital

Associate, Advent International

Senior Associate Consultant, Bain & Company

MBA, Stanford Graduate School of Business

BS, Brigham Young University

Representative Projects

  • Developed and implemented procurement and cost reduction initiatives for multi-billion-dollar public retailer
  • Designed organizational growth strategy and decision-making framework for charter school network expanding across regions
  • Led the merger of two human capital management enterprises to consolidate market share and drive growth synergies
  • Created strategy to accelerate company growth for data center company
  • Implemented value creation initiatives for at-risk healthcare entity, including leadership build-out, growth strategy, and new geography expansion
  • Supported ed-tech company with merger integration, financial operations, capital structure, and tracking against key performance indicators
  • Negotiated with lenders to obtain ~$600M in financing to facilitate company recapitalization
  • Led due diligence workstreams for multiple potential private equity transactions, with combined enterprise value of ~$6B

Expertise

Industries

  • Business Services
  • Healthcare
  • Financial Services
  • Retail
  • Education
  • Technology & Software
  • Human Capital Management
  • Pharmaceuticals

Project Types

  • Growth Strategy
  • M&A Strategy
  • Finance
  • Profit Improvement
  • Organizational Design
  • Due Diligence

Representative Clients

Companies

  • JCPenney
  • Uplift Education
  • TalentWave
  • Professional Health
  • Care Network
  • KEV School Solutions
  • Data Center Co.
  • ATI Physical Therapy
  • InVentiv

PE Firms

  • Serent Capital
  • Advent International

Independent Consultant, Estee Lauder Companies and Macy’s

Director, What If Innovation

Principal, Bain & Company

Consultant, Bridgespan Group

MBA, Stanford Graduate School of Business

BA, Public Policy, Brown University

Representative Projects

  • Led development of a full potential growth strategy for ~$700M PE owned consumer products company to drive increased profitability 
  • Created global supply chain strategy for multi-branded clothing retailer 
  • Developed growth and channel strategy for a growing media business
  • Generated consumer insights for consumer health business in the pain category
  • Developed an innovation roadmap for <$100M PE-owned consumer products company to drive category expansion
  • Designed new salesforce strategy for a major pharmaceuticals company 
  • Created full potential growth strategy for the US division of a global HR services business 
  • Led implementation of a digitally-oriented customer loyalty strategy for retailer
  • Drove transformation program focused on organization, process, and technology for multi-branded beauty company 
  • Built an omnichannel growth strategy for department store chain 
  • Managed a successful post-merger integration effort within the research and advisory industry

Expertise

Industries

  • Advertising & Media
  • Consumer Products
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Retail
  • Technology

Project Types

  • Growth Strategy
  • Innovation
  • Transformation
  • Process Improvement
  • Organizational Design
  • Customer Loyalty

Representative Clients

Companies

  • Yankee Candle
  • ThinkThin 
  • Estee Lauder
  • Sanofi
  • HP
  • Warner Music Group
  • Macy’s
  • Liz Claiborne
  • Pfizer
  • Sirius Radio (pre XM merger)
  • Manhattan Mini Storage
  • Adecco Group

PE Firms

  • TSG Consumer
  • Madison Dearborn Partners
  • Worked in Bain’s Private Equity Group early in career

  • FounFounder, Practiko, LLC
  • Managing Director, WM Partners 
  • Co-founder, PadInMotion
  • Principal, Bain & Company
  • MBA, Harvard Business School
  • MSc, Economics, LSE
  • BA, Economics, ITESM

Representative Projects

  • Co-led the creation of a ~$300M fund focused on nutritional supplements. Sold to Clorox for ~$700M. Rolled up five nutritional supplement players, doubling revenue and increasing EBITDA 10x within three years. 
  • Created a customer focused growth strategy for a major pharma company focused on customer driven growth doubling stock value within 12 months
  • Co-founder of PadInMotion, providing tablet technology for patients at hospitals, achieving exponential growth in first five years
  • Developed detailed growth strategy (brand-pack) to reactivate growth for a beverage company in a mature market to reach >8% CAG
  • Redesigned organization of major retailer in Mexico to double LATAM business in 5 years with lower costs
  • Redesigned new commercial model to boost efficient growth for a major pharma company
  • Developed multiple R&D and growth strategies for a variety of mid and large pharma customers across different therapeutic areas such as oral contraceptives, cardiovascular, and ophthalmology
  • Conducted due diligence and created an expansion strategy for a network of radiotherapy centers

Expertise

Industries

  • Chemicals
  • Consumer Products
  • Education
  • Financial Services
  • Health & Wellness
  • Healthcare Services
  • Industrials
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Retail

Project Types

  • Growth Strategy
  • M&A Strategy
  • Post-merger Integration
  • Organizational Design
  • Marketing
  • Profit Improvement
  • Due Diligence
  • Strategy Implementation

Representative Clients

Companies

  • 3 of the top 5 pharma companies
  • National chain of pharmacies
  • Mid size pharma
  • Network of radiotherapy centers
  • Leading mass retailer
  • Global beverage company
  • Leading multinational food player
  • Global beer company
  • Leading international green house operator

PE Firms

  • Top tier PE firms
  • Mid size PE firm
  • Founding member of WM Partners focused on health and wellness
  • International producer of specialty chemicals

  • VP Strategy, MeadWestvaco
  • Principal, Marakon Associates
  • Director Strategy, Xerox
  • Associate Principal, McKinsey
  • MBA, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
  • BA, Economics, Harvard

Representative Projects

  • Developed a new adjacent market growth strategy for a $3B branded consumer products company
  • Led strategic diligence for a branded consumer products company acquiring a $60MM Canada-based supplier
  • Evaluated multiple potential new platform acquisition opportunities for a $20B global industrial conglomerate
  • Led team developing a new product market entry strategy for the Food SBU of a $6B global packaging company
  • Drove annual strategic planning process and re-defined the business model of a $3B global vision care provider
  • Co-led the commercial due diligence for a successful $2.4B hospital supplies company acquisition
  • Built a PMO capability and led high-value strategic projects to transform a $1.3B PE-backed consumer products client
  • Developed a break-out strategy for a life sciences client to shape a new market and grow revenue 6x over 5 years
  • Co-led the development of a new international sales and distribution approach for a life sciences client

Expertise

Industries

  • Aerospace/Defense
  • Consumer Products
  • Entertainment
  • Industrials
  • Materials
  • Packaging
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Technology

Project Types

  • Strategy
  • Corporate Development
  • New Market Entry
  • Profit Improvement
  • Program Management
  • Team Building

Representative Clients

Companies

  • Mead Johnson
  • US Pharmacopeia
  • Pfizer
  • Live Nation
  • Scotts
  • Timken
  • Textron
  • Dow Chemical
  • Allergan
  • Alcon
  • Danaher

PE Firms

  • Charlesbank
  • TPG
  • Clayton Dubilier

  • Director, Mattel (Sales & marketing for Target account)
  • Case Team Leader / Consultant / Senior Associate Consultant / Associate Consultant, Bain & Company
  • MBA, Kellogg School of Management @ Northwestern University
  • BEng, Management Science & Engineering, Stanford University

Representative Projects

  • At Mattel, built a comprehensive view of Mattel’s retail performance annually at Target. Advised Sr Execs at Target on best promotional retail strategy in-store and online to promote products from ~15 Mattel brands.
  • For a Fortune 50 drugstore retailer, acted as Engagement Manager for a market landscape/competitive deep-dive project specifically focused on improving profitability overall through increased loyalty in pharmacy
  • For a US-based Fortune 100 retailer built a competitive landscape of the Beauty space and evaluated ~40 companies for inorganic acquisition.
  • For ~$10B Beauty company, developed a comprehensive view of the Luxury & Prestige cosmetics market landscape including consumer-driven market segmentation, and opportunity identification in 8 market segments based on primary and secondary research
  • Medical Devices: For a Fortune 500 leader in Medical Devices, created pricing strategy for Marketing department of $1B division through primary and secondary research
  • Arts & Crafts: Revised procurement strategy for SVP of Procurement overseeing $300M budget and 50+ vendors, resulting in $14M savings
  • Private equity: Performed diligence on 9 different acquisition targets (mostly consumer-facing organizations) through 1,000+ customer and expert cold-calls.

Expertise

Industries

  • Agriculture
  • Arts & Crafts
  • Beauty
  • Beverages
  • Fashion
  • Gardening
  • Medical Devices
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Retail
  • Telecom
  • Toys
  • Vision Services

Project Types

  • Growth Strategy
  • Consumer Strategy
  • Marketing
  • Profit Improvement
  • Pricing Strategy
  • Due Diligence

Representative Clients

Companies

  • Target (customer)
  • Nestle
  • Mars
  • Kohl’s
  • Walgreens
  • Motorola
  • Medtronic
  • Express Scripts
  • Shiseido
  • Vera Bradley
  • Wilton
  • Burpee

PE Firms

  • Anchor Partners
  • Ares Management