Tom founded the firm in 2005 and is the CEO of the company. Before MarketCues, Tom was the Founder and CEO of a market research and marketing firm in Chicago that he built successfully for 20 years and then sold to a national media corporation. His career spans four decades of day-in, day-out consulting for companies from startups to Fortune 500. Mr. Marin has provided strategic leadership services for a wide variety of industry-leading organizations, including Fuji Film USA, Rand McNally, CNA Insurance Companies, First of America Bank, The University of Texas at Austin, and Conagra Brands to name a few. A senior advisor and change-management consultant, he advises private, public, and nonprofit clients with high stakes strategies in a wide range of markets.

Tom is the architect of the company’s core product, SmartPlan360™ Platform, a web-based, strategic, organizational assessment and development platform that the company uses throughout its consulting engagements.

He is an accredited member of the national and international chapters of the Business Marketing Association, a past Marketing Chair of its Chicago Chapter, and a Certified Business Communicator. Tom holds a Bachelor’s in Education and Social Science from Northern Illinois University.

Ms. Phelps leads the sales and implementation of all of our products and services for the Professional Services Sector. She brings more than twenty years of experience in business development, strategy, scale-up and as a founding executive in investor-backed technology startup companies. During the past ten years she has developed extensive experience as a consultant providing training, workshops and facilitation services to companies seeking to grow to $50M+ in revenue. She was co-founder, Vice President, and Board Member of DigitalOwl, an enterprise software company that raised a total of $13.1M in Angel and Venture Capital. Ms. Phelps holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Pepperdine University, a Master’s degree in Management from University of Denver Daniels College of Business, and a Ph.D (ABD) from University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs.

Dr. O’Neal is a Senior Associate of MarketCues who implements all of our products and services serving many different types of clients. He is a tenured Professor of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems and has served as the Associate Vice President of Innovation and Commercialization at The University of Central Florida (UCF). He is the founder of the UCF Business Incubation Program (UCFBIP), Executive Director of the Florida Economic Gardening Institute (GrowFL), and the Executive Director of I-Corps at UCF, Florida’s first I-Corps site.

Dr. O’Neal’s international recognition as an expert in research, engineering, technology transfer, business incubation, and economic development has led to presentations and instructional engagements on five continents. He has presented or taught at 20 international conferences, 41 national conferences, and approximately 200 conferences.

Tom has raised over $80 million in local, state and federal funding to support entrepreneurship and innovation initiatives. His expertise has resulted in requests for consultations from government, academic and private industry leadership across international and national levels. He has been engaged by 23 international organizations and 15 national organizations.

As an advisor to MarketCues and clients, Dr. Barber brings over 25 years’ experience in strategic leadership in the corporate world, combined with Board service in non-profits and faith-based organizations. Barber served for 13 years with Meredith Corporation, an NYSE-listed media and marketing company, where he was Chief Analytics Officer. He had previously been Executive Vice President of Austin-based Conclusive Strategies, and worked in international corporate consulting with Monitor Company. He is also an adjunct professor in the MBA and MSL programs at LeTourneau University. Fred holds a doctorate in Strategic Leadership from Regent University. He has an MA from Georgetown University and a BA Magna Cum Laude from Cornell University.

Dr. Brian Miller serves as Research Director at MarketCues and works with a wide variety of clients. His background includes receiving a BS in physics from MIT and his Ph.D. in physics from Duke University. He has over a decade of experience consulting for both for-profit and non-profit businesses and for governmental projects. And, he provides a diverse range of organizations and churches with direction on strategic planning, organizational development, and outreach. In addition, Dr. Miller served as Academic Dean for a church-based Christian leadership development program. Dr. Miller also travels internationally lecturing on the intersection of science, faith, and society and on apologetics. Recently, he served as the technical consultant for the book God’s Not Dead, which shaped the movie of the same.

Stephen Messner is a Senior Advisor of MarketCues with over 30 years of experience serving successful entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and nonprofit directors. He has worked with the top executives of organizations to help them define their personal and corporate goals, develop and implement plans to achieve them, and improve their profitability and operations, with a particular focus on strategic planning, financial planning and operations management. Some of his most recent work includes serving as the corporate development and strategic planning director of a leading security company; as the COO/CFO of a software start-up; as the finance lead in the restructuring and turnaround of a $17 MM building products retailer; and as the CFO of a $15 MM government contractor. He holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree from Harvard University in Applied Mathematics and an MBA from the Harvard Business School along with a Master’s degree in Robotics from MIT.