Leadership
Bill Topel, President
Bill has been in the Consulting Services industry for over 20 years. He has successfully held positions as VP of Corporate Development, VP of Sales, VP of Channel Management and has had Operational & P/L responsibility for technical practices with over 100 consultants.
Bill brings hands on management style to all the positions he has held and accelerates working with direct reports. His background and experience enables him to mentor directors and managers accomplishing the tasks at hand, while implementing best practices and standards. He acts with a no nonsense style that is refreshingly clear and straight forward. His non political style enables business decisions to be made quickly with unclouded vision. He has managed teams of people comprised of internal and external personnel, built and launched new service lines that compliment existing business directions, and integrated channel strategies.
Bill has a full understanding of the process required to engage channel partners, internal and external sales, marketing functions and delivery teams. His hands on approach with customers provide instant creditability in the solutions and products being positioned. His diverse technical and business background enables him to fully understand Return On Investment models and leverage all available intellectual property to successfully sell and deliver.
Bill has built strong relationships with several Software companies specifically Microsoft's regional leadership. He is regarded as a person that fully understands the complex Internal and External Microsoft Eco-System. Additionally, he is fully briefed on several Microsoft strategic Product, Marketing and Business Initiatives.
His over 20 years of IT Services experience has provided him a vast knowledge of technology and business trends which in turn has given him all the experience required to identify and capitalize on future business changes and challenges.
Bill joined SPR, Inc. in January 2007 as the president of MPS Partners.
Chris Kabat, Vice President - Connected Business
Chris Kabat is the Vice President of Connected Business Systems. In this position he is responsible for overseeing solutions based on Enterprise Integration, Trading Partner Integration, and Service Oriented Architecture. Through the use of Microsoft Technologies, such as Microsoft BizTalk Server, the CBS service line provides fast and proven patterns for Service Oriented Architecture and Integration Solutions.
We believe an Intelligent Business is driven by Connected Business Systems. However, It's not enough to just "connect" systems, it must be done in a way that provides an organization the greatest business agility and flexiblity. Our approach allows us to use proven architectural patterns and guidance, based on Service Oriented Architecture concepts, to gain that business agility in a fast and efficient manner.
Chris serves as a Microsoft Virtual Technology specialist for the Microsoft BizTalk Server product. Not only is this a prestigious distinction within the Microsoft partner community, but it provides MPS Partners a distinct advantage by giving us a direct channel to the Microsoft product group in Redmond, WA.
Prior to joining MPS Partners, Chris was a Senior Manager in the Service Oriented Architecture group at WHITTMANHART, a Chicago based firm. Prior to that, he served as a Product Development Manager at a software company providing financial & student management systems for educational institutions.
Chris joined SPR, Inc. in January 2007 as the Director of MPS Partners.
Don Mishory, Vice President - Intelligent Business
Don is the Vice President of Intelligent Business for MPS Partners, LLC. In this position he is responsible for overseeing the Business Intelligence and Human Collaboration & Workflow Practices within MPS Partners. Don's teams deliver solutions based on Microsoft technology that help foster collaboration and provide insight to end users.
Don's Intelligent Business Line of Business believes in using commercial software as the primary driver for solving client business problems. The group also believes in augmenting that commercial software with custom solutions that provide unique, distinct competitive advantage for a client. Under Don's direction, the Intelligent Business teams have built deployed solutions based on Microsoft's Business Intelligence, Collaboration and .Net toolsets into healthcare, manufacturing, distribution and professional services organization.
In addition to leading the Intelligent Business Line of Business for MPS Partners, Don participates in setting MPS Partners marketing and alliance strategies.
Prior to joining MPS Partners, Don was the Director of Service Oriented Architecture at WHITTMANHART, a Chicago based firm and prior to that, the Director of Emerging Solutions for Scheyer-Austin, Ltd.
Don joined SPR, Inc. in January 2007 as the vice president of MPS Partners.
Kathie Topel, Vice President - Management Consulting
Kathie Topel is the Vice President of Management Consulting for MPS Partners, LLC. In this position she is responsible for overseeing the Business Alignment Model, Delivery Functions and Governance Standards. Kathie's teams ensure high quality delivery, maximized customer service, strategy execution and ongoing governance for final solutions.
A founding partner in 1988 of Scheyer-Austin, Ltd a former 15 year Midwest based System Integration firm. Kathie served as the Chief Executive Officer responsible for building and implementing corporate organizational change to provide financial balance, strategic growth and company-wide motivation.
She leveraged her leadership and change management skills to develop a business management model titled POWERSHIP®. The model is outlined in detail in her book by the same title as the model. POWERSHIP® focuses on strategic execution and how everyone from the receptionist to the CEO has a role in the implementation of the strategic plan. The POWERSHIP® model creates the focus for the company that blends together Sales, Marketing, Financial, Leadership and Employee growth. The POWERSHIP® model provides a roadmap of indicators and sets the direction that leads companies toward the achievement of their mission and vision.
Kathie's past experience has utilized her Supply Chain knowledge, De Paul University Operations Degree and her APICS (American Production and Control Society) certification to build a supply chain focus into the leading business practice for her previous company. During her Practice leader tenor she implemented numerous solutions that helped Kraft Foods, Oscar Meyer, and Entenmanns Bakery achieve maximum Supply Chain operational efficiency. As technology initiatives began dotting the landscape she also quickly mastered (Electronic Data Interchange) EDI and Business Intelligence solutions and leveraged their strength.
In addition to Supply Chain focus, she built the Project Management group from a disparate group of standards into a focused team of leaders leveraging and building on best practices and adjusting to industry change. The Project Management group sets its standards to deliver streamlined efficiency and cost effectiveness while leveraging the appropriate technology.
As a leader and speaker she has managed and presented on a variety of topics surrounding Employee Growth, Leadership, and Motivation.
Kathie joined SPR Companies in January 2007 as the vice president of Management Consulting for MPS Partners.
Naresh D Koka, Vice President - Industry Group
As Vice President of the Industry Group, Naresh Koka is responsible for overseeing solutions that integrate Microsoft and SAP environments using technologies based on Microsoft Office Business Applications, Duet and SAP Enterprise Services. He is an expert in SAP Interoperability, recognized for his ability to help customers rapidly benefit from their SAP investment by enabling a better user experience and driving employee acceptance of the company’s SAP implementation.
A thought leader in the business process space, Naresh has helped set the direction for companies he has worked for and influenced people to follow that direction. He has over 15 years of experience in the Consulting Services industry where Naresh held diverse positions ranging from development lead and architect to manager and director. In his leadership roles, Naresh managed client-facing consulting activities including the execution of a wide variety of business solution implementations. He also successfully managed multiple client relationships and played an instrumental role in driving increased customer satisfaction and new business development opportunities at existing customers.
Prior to joining MPS Partners in 2007, Naresh was a Senior Manager in the Service Oriented Architecture group at Chicago-based WHITTMANHART. There he led several successful enterprise SAP integration projects for WHITTMANHART clients. Previously, he served as a Manager at Scheyer-Austin, Ltd. where Naresh helped customers benefit from integrated solutions bringing business data from back-end systems like Mainframe and AS/400 to the masses.