Our Globalization Partners

Quadral Group, Ltd.

Quadral is a leading international consulting firm in the development and implementation of global strategy. It has offices in North America and Europe as well as representative offices in Asia and Latin America. Quadral’s strategies, combined with hands-on implementation, have resulted in faster market entry, lower operational costs, streamlined supply chain logistics and improved customer service for clients with automotive, electronics, plastics, industrial and retail products. Companies utilizing Quadral’s globalization strategies and attending its seminars on Globalization have increased their sales and profitability, including some, who have doubled their sales. Twenty of the BW “Top 100 Global Companies” use these strategies. Clients include a number of leading privately held companies as well as the following publicly traded companies: Cooper Industries, Texas Instruments and Roadway Express.

Frederick M. Shepperd, LL.B.

Mr. Shepperd is the originator and Managing Partner of Quadral Group and Globalization Advisor for Merkel & Associates. He has managed and facilitated the concept of globalization for well over a decade for many large and mid-sized companies. Prior to his employment at Quadral, Mr. Shepperd served for five years as Vice President of Finance for Becker Pumps, Corp. a U.S. subsidiary of its German parent company. Mr. Shepperd was responsible for the financial, legal, and administrative areas of the company, the development of sales subsidiaries, logistics, establishment of production in the U.S. and was responsible for the operation of Aerzen USA Corp, a U.S. joint venture between Becker and another German company. He also was employed by Touche Ross & Co. (Deloitte &Touche) in their tax department upon graduation from law school. At Touche, Mr. Shepperd focused on international tax and business planning issues for foreign and domestically-owned clients.

Mr. Shepperd is a member of the Ohio Bar, the Corporate and International Sections of the Ohio State Bar Association and serves on the board of a number of international companies. He is a guest speaker and regularly chairs programs on international business and globalization issues in Germany, the UK, Slovenia, Denmark, and North America. Mr. Shepperd is also an Adjunct Professor in Global Business and on the advisory board of the Global Business Institute at the University of Akron.

Our Technology Partners

First Principals, Inc. (FPI) is a full-service technology transfer company in formal partnership with Merkel & Associates. FPI serves large and small corporations, universities, and government laboratories possessing technical innovations at various stages of commercial development. Through European marketing affiliates and alliances with several patent law firms, FPI provides a comprehensive matrix of technology services on a global basis. These include, but are not limited to, Patent Licensing, Intellectual Property Management, Competitor Assessment, Technology Due Diligence, Technology and Patent Strategy Development, Strategic Alliance and Capital Sourcing. Collectively, FPI’s staff has assessed more than 3000 technologies in more than 200 technical fields. FPI shares offices with Merkel & Associates and provides us with in-depth company research capabilities covering all industries and technology-related expertise seldom found in middle-market investment banking firms.

First Principals, Inc. was founded in early 1998 by former executives of Competitive Technologies of Ohio, a subsidiary of Competitive Technologies, Inc. (AMEX: CTT) of Fairfield, CT. Its staff has extensive experience in assessing, packaging, and marketing technologies from large corporate portfolios. These capabilities have been adapted to the needs of smaller clients. In partnership with FPI, Merkel & Associates is able to provide a superior fit between buyer and seller, licensor and licensee or equity source and recipient. The net result is higher proceeds for seller clients, more confident acquisitions for buyer clients, improved development strategies, enhanced licensing revenues and greater access to outside investment.

Dr. Stephen P. Weeks is the President of First Principals, Inc. and Technology Advisor for Merkel & Associates. He is an experienced technical and business development director with over 20 years of domestic and international assignments. Steve previously served as a research scientist and team leader at AT&T-Bell Labs (now Lucent Technologies), Business Coordinator for British Petroleum’s ventures and technology transfer operations in London, UK, and Manager of BP’s US Shared Technologies Division. At both AT&T and BP, he worked closely with company patent attorneys in forming patent strategies and in portfolio management. At BP Steve was a member of the company’s international patents committee. More recently, he was Corporate Senior Vice President at Competitive Technologies, Inc., and President of their Intercorporate Licensing subsidiary. As part of his client relationship with IBM, Steve worked closely with IBM’s patent staff in making decisions regarding portfolio management and licensing strategies. Other clients include Bell Atlantic, Matsushita, Chrysler, Corning, and Welch Allyn.

Under Steve’s direction, First Principals has expanded its licensing services to include Intellectual Property Management, Competitor Assessment, Technology Due Diligence, Technology and Patent Strategy Development, and Investment & Alliance Sourcing.

Steve holds a BS in Physics from the University of Delaware, an MS in Physics from William and Mary, and a Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Licensing Executives Society, the Technology Transfer Society, the American Physical Society, and several local Cleveland Organizations.

Michael F. Allan is Vice President – Technology Assessment at First Principals, Inc. Mike was the former Manager of Eveready Battery Company’s Technical Information Center. He has in-depth knowledge and experience in business analysis research, database searching, and intelligence analysis through a wide variety of technical, product and patent assignments. At Competitive Technologies, Inc., he was Director of Information Resources. He earned his BS in Chemistry and an MS in Information Sciences, from the University of Buffalo. Mike is a member of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals, the National Association of Patent Practitioners, and the Patent Information Users’ Group.

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