Altimeter Group

About Lora Cecere, Partner

Lora Cecere is a Partner with Altimeter Group and the author of enterprise software blog “Supply Chain Shaman.” The blog focuses on the use of enterprise applications to drive supply chain excellence and builds on Lora’s popular blog “Connecting the Dots.”

As an enterprise strategist, Lora focuses on the changing face of enterprise technologies. Her research is designed for the early adopter seeking first mover advantage. Current research topics include the digital consumer, supply chain sensing, demand shaping and revenue management, demand-driven value networks, accelerating innovation through open design networks, the evolution of predictive analytics, emerging business intelligence solutions, and technologies to improve safe and secure product delivery.

For software vendors, Lora provides strategic guidance in go to market strategies; reviews and designs software licensing, pricing, support, and maintenance policies; delivers competitive assessments; evaluates software partner ecosystems; and actively researches the evolution of business processes like supply chain compliance, deduction management, order-to-cash effectiveness, supply chain metrics, and emerging supply chain processes.

Publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Fortune, Inc., Forbes, Information Week, ComputerWorld, Financial Times, Supply Management Review and Consumer Goods Technology frequently seek Lora’s point of view.

Experience

Lora is known as a supply chain visionary who understands software. She brings seven years of industry analyst expertise coupled with two decades of manufacturing, marketing, and software expertise. Her analyst experiences include roles at Gartner Group and most recently at AMR Research. Before serving as an industry analyst, Lora was a line-of-business user/buyer and a builder of enterprise solutions. Fifteen years ago, Lora shifted career paths (transferring from manufacturing line management to software product marketing) to be closer to the evolution of enterprise applications. At Manugistics, Lora served in a number of consulting, sales and marketing roles with a final position of Vice President of Sales Operations. Lora also served a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for Descartes Systems Group where she helped in positioning the company as an early on-demand solution for logistics.

Previously, Lora worked for 17 years in manufacturing operations, warehouse management and customer service, distribution planning, research & development, procurement and human resource roles for Procter & Gamble, Kraft/General Foods, Clorox, and Dreyers Grand Ice Cream. Her understanding of the business user perspective of technology coupled with her enterprise application experience allows her to quickly validate new concepts and debunk market hype. She is known for her hard-hitting, often contrarian views.

Education

Lora graduated from the University of Tennessee B.S. in chemical engineering and earned a MBA from the Wharton School of Business. She has also completed post graduate work in organizational development from Georgetown University. Lora is APICS CIRM and CPIM certified and is a past teacher of effective marketing concepts for software executives in the Pragmatic Marketing program.

Awards and Achievements

• AMR Research Most Valuable Analyst Award 2007 and 2008
• Most read analyst at AMR Research 2005-2009
• Pioneered research in Demand Signal Repositories (DSR) and Demand-driven Value Networks (DDVN)
• Elected as a board member of the Supply Chain Council, 2003-2008
• Selected as a member of the Consumer Goods Technology (CGT) Executive Board 2005-2010
• Research excellence awards, Gartner Group 2001
• Most valuable contributor to sales, Descartes 2003
• Most valuable team player award, Manugistics, 1998
• Chairman’s Award for Innovation, Kraft/General Foods, 1980

Personal

Lora lives in the mountains of West Virginia. She has a passion for gardening, textiles of all types (quilting, knitting,and weaving), photography and dancing. She finds time to play Scramble each week with her 85 year-old mother that still beats her. Her daughter is a teacher at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, and her husband (a self-professed hillbilly) is building a log cabin. Lora cannot wait to move into her new home.

Contact information:

Email: lora (at) altimetergroup (dot) com

Phone: 617-816-9385

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