Adam Hartung Managing Partner Spark Partners

Adam Hartung began his career as an entrepreneur. While still an undergraduate he and some colleagues created a company that built the first general-purpose computing platform utilizing the 8080 microprocessor. A very early forerunner of the Macintosh, this company was very successful with publishers, and was sold during his senior year in college.

After completing his MBA at Harvard, Adam was a practicing consultant with The Boston Consulting Group. His experience crossed multiple industries, primarily helping companies build international expansion strategies, working as often in Europe as the U.S. His role had him involved in numerous M&A initiatives as his clients sought global growth.

Adam was recruited to PepsiCo's Pizza Hut Division where he led the initiative to start Pizza Hut Home Delivery. In this role he opened over 200 units in under 2 years and led the global expansion initiative. After this he created a new M&A department that grew the PepsiCo restaurant footprint over 20% in less than one year. In this position he also played a lead role in the Kentucky Fried Chicken acquisition.

Adam next moved to DuPont, where he joined as one of the youngest executives in company history. He reported 2 levels from the Chairman as he helped create a new business unit focused on the emerging high-tech world of Electronic Imaging. Using a mix of acquisitions and internal product development, the business grew to over $600million in just 2 years. Adam led the early R&D efforts, which eventually yielded over 140 patent applications. He also spearheaded a program for European and Asian expansion that created over 100 subsidiaries and distributors contributing almost 50% of revenues.

After DuPont, Adam took the role as head of Sales, Marketing and Strategy for AM International. This billion dollar printing equipment and supplies company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Adam led the effort to downsize and outsource operations, double the effectiveness of U.S. distribution and restructure the product line. In under 2 years the company was able to return to firm financial footing as cash flow went from negative to positive and margins doubled - while maintaining the top line.

Adam subsequently returned to consulting, helping start a new firm which was so successful it was acquired by Coopers & Lybrand, where Adam took the role of Principal opening the Western Region Consulting office in San Francisco. This successful practice led to many projects in Silicon Valley with high-profile technology companies.

In the mid-1990's he wrote a business plan for a new strategy consulting practice that would leverage emerging internet technologies, and joined Index, the strategy and management consulting arm of Computer Sciences Corporation. Building that practice to over $400M annual revenue, he remained a partner at CSC for nearly 8 years, where he led projects, Intellectual Capital development and several other programs for the firm. He now leads his own firm, Spark Partners focused on helping organizations reinvigorate growth, innovation and breakthrough performance.

Adam has proven businesses can create breakthrough performance with White Space regardless of size or age. He has been quoted in Investor's Business Daily, Chicago Tribune, Management Review, ComputerWorld, TheDeal.com, Yahoo! Business and CSC World. He is a regular contributor to xChange Magazine, CIO Index, and Insightory. He has done numerous radio interviews from coast to coast, and he has completed dozens of presentations to audiences globally in addition to being a regular speaker/contributor for the Young President's Organization (YPO) and Vistage International. His recently published book, Create Marketplace Disruption: How to Stay Ahead of the Competition (Financial Times Press, 2008), endorsed by Geoffrey Moore, helps leaders and managers create evergreen organizations which produce above-average returns. His book, articles and public speaking summarize not only his personal experiences, but utilizes hundreds of case studies from over 12 years of research into how companies and functional groups adapt to create, and sustain, success.