Damon Ragusa, Founder & CEO
[19-year consultant, frequent lecturer, and pioneer of agent-based modeling applications for blue-chip marketers.]
Damon Ragusa founded ThinkVine in 1999 and has built it into a firm specializing in the integration of marketing science, information technology and data-driven initiatives to support strategic marketing, database marketing, and customer relationship management. Damon helps industry leaders improve their ability to measure and understand their customer’s behavior.
As an experienced applications developer, Mr. Ragusa has focused the past 12 years developing data and statistical analysis software as well as creating a variety of custom decision support tools for his clients. He has focused ThinkVine's research and development efforts on integrating complex, empirically-based analytic methods, such as neural networks, genetic algorithms, and agent-based models into tools for corporations.
Damon is a faculty mentor on the University of Georgia’s Principles of Marketing Research Program. He regularly lectures to corporations and industry associations on a variety of topics. He holds a degree in Business Administration with emphasis on quantitative studies and a minor degree in Psychology from Bowling Green State University.
Debra Patek, Vice President - Analytics Services
[More than 19 years in corporate marketing, consulting, and teaching, serving leading marketers across a wide range of industries.]
Debra Patek is responsible for ThinkVine's Analytics Services.
Ms. Patek brings more than nineteen years of corporate marketing, consulting and teaching experience, which she uses to assist clients in the identification and quantification of business opportunities. She has worked with companies in a number of industries, including telecommunications, retail, consumer package goods, professional services, media & advertising, manufacturing and high tech. She offers an integrated approach to marketing problems, balancing insights gained from research and analysis with a learned appreciation of real world constraints.
Prior to joining ThinkVine, Ms. Patek ran a marketing consulting company, where she provided analytic marketing and strategic pricing services. She has also held management and director level positions with marchFIRST, Inc. (an e-business consulting company) and the L.M. Berry Company (a division of BellSouth). Her emphasis in these positions was market research, strategic & operational pricing, sales effectiveness measurement, new business opportunity assessments, and economic modeling.
Ms. Patek has a B.A. and M.A. in Economics from the University of Cincinnati and has fulfilled the course requirements for a Ph.D. (with a specialization in Industrial Economics). She has taught a variety of undergraduate and MBA economics courses at the University of Cincinnati and Earlham College.
Ms. Patek is a frequent presenter with the Professional Pricing Society and leads the American Marketing Association's Marketing Research SIG. In addition, Debra is also a member of the INFORMS Marketing Science and the Decision Science Societies.
William Parker, Vice President - Software Engineering
[Top software developer; designer of market-leading programs for ABM simulations, cross-tabulation & statistical analysis, market research management, and survey implementation.]
Bill Parker develops software for agent-based modeling and other specialized computational techniques.
Prior to ThinkVine, Mr. Parker was Software Development Manager for The Analytical Group. During his 10 years there he designed and developed the firm's three major software projects, now leaders in their categories: WinCross, the most powerful crosstabulation/statistical package available; WinQuery, CATI/CAPI software that enables an advanced, networkable system for automating the creation of market research questionnaires, conducting interviews, and managing client studies; and QueryWeb, a software framework that enables self-administered questionnaires on the Internet. As the main developer of these programs, Mr. Parker wrote the code for advanced statistical routines, telephony, charts, Web (XML/XSL) output, on-line reporting, a data manipulation language, and much more. Prior to The Analytical Group, he provided technical support and programming at SDR Consulting for 5 years.
Mr. Parker holds a Bachelors degree in Marketing/Economics from Northern Illinois University with graduate work at DePaul University. He is currently pursuing a degree in Mathematics from Arizona State University.
D. Scott Frondorf - Product Strategy & Development
[20 years strategy, consulting, product and software development professional]
Scott manages the product strategy and development for ThinkVine's agent-based modeling simulations software system.
In his current role, he straddles the boundary between product and customer to deliver robust, simulation solutions.
Most recently, he was CEO of Nextscale, Inc, a company focused on the application of video game simulation technology to marketing and training challenges for companies such as Best Buy and P&G
As a results-oriented business leader with 20 years of experience, Scott has focused on applying innovative concepts and technologies to business challenges. Scott has a degree in Chemical Engineering and an MBA. He formed and directed a successful IT consulting company in the late 1980s. He also spent 10 years as Director of Corporate Knowledge Development and Strategic Planning for Sencorp, a privately held multi-national. After founding Nextscale five years ago, he has worked with a variety of corporate clients to investigate and implement innovative concepts and technologies.
