executive team
We have assembled a multicultural team of experienced executives,consultants, engineers, M.B.A’s, lawyers, designers, researchers and project managers with world class education and training, and extensive business experience with leading corporations and selected entrepreneurs in United States, Latin America and Asia. We are passionate about solving our client’s growth challenges.
Chicago, IL - United States
David A. Bernal
Managing Partner, Co-Founder
David is a Business Strategist and Entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience in growth strategy, marketing, sales, new products and ventures with multinationals and leading organizations in the US, Latin America and Asia. He has been both an internal and external consultant. Formerly, a Strategy Consultant for Booz Allen & Hamilton, he has been an advisor for companies such as: United Airlines, Clorox, Goodyear, Eastman, BBVA, BanColombia, and British Steel and many others. He has successfully conceived, developed, launched new products and businesses and solved complex growth strategy problems at corporate and SBU levels.
Mr. Bernal has been recently appointed Adjunct Professor of International Management at Northwestern University. He has been Adjunct Professor of Management at the School of Business Administration at Loyola University, Guest Lecturer in Innovation at the School of Communication at Northwestern University in Chicago, IL and Professor of Marketing at the Javeriana University in Bogota.
David holds an M.B.A. in Management Strategy, Marketing and Technology from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (Colfuturo Scholar), a Masters in Finance and a Masters in Marketing from Universidad de los Andes. He also has a B.S. in Industrial Engineering with Honors from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia and is an alumnus of CCL – Leadership Development Program in Singapore, Asia.
Most recently David was selected as expert judge for a national business contest “What works for business” where he judged and evaluated innovative business strategies to growth in uncertain times. He is a native speaker of Spanish, fluent in English, and has working knowledge of Portuguese.
Shangai, China
Steven A. Altman
Principal
Steve Altman brings to B.E.R. nearly ten years of experience consulting to major corporations in the United States and around the world. He began his career at Booz Allen Hamilton (now Booz & Company), where his client engagements ranged from early opportunity assessment and strategy development to organizational performance improvement for ongoing operations. He has worked across a broad variety of industries including airlines, health care (devices and pharmaceuticals), information technology, jewelry, automotive, and industrial materials.
Steve began focusing on issues related to international strategy and emerging markets in 2005. Steve’s recent client projects have involved market analysis in India and China, expansion strategy from India to Latin America, and assessment of options for a Russian investment fund related to their U.S. assets.
In addition to Steve’s work with clients, he is active in ongoing academic projects with Professor Pankaj Ghemawat of Harvard and IESE business schools related to international business strategy.
Steve holds an MBA with distinction from the Harvard Business School, an MPA from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a B.S. in Economics summa cum laude from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He is fluent in English and Spanish and currently learning Mandarin Chinese.
New Delhi, India
Sandeep Achantani
Principal
Sandeep Achantani has extensive practical experience developing and managing business operations in India. As founding Managing Partner of Asian (Hygienic) Food Industries Pvt Ltd, he built the company’s distribution network across North India (including rural markets) and grew its revenues to Rs. 18 crores ($4.4 million). He began his career at Hindustan Lever Limited (Unilever), India’s largest fast moving consumer goods company, in the company’s management training program. Sandeep’s project experience includes the establishment of a network of cinema exhibitors across the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, and J&K for digital distribution of movies, the development of a network of 200 outlets across Punjab for Lottus Online Lotteries, an Apollo Group venture, and research on the Indian auto components market on behalf of a Japanese supplier.
Sandeep holds an MBA (PGDM) from the Indian Institute of Management in Kolkata (IIM-C) where he was the top ranked marketing graduate. He also holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi. He is fluent in English, Hindi, Punjabi, and Sindhi and has basic conversational ability in Marathi and Bengali.
Bogotá, Colombia
Maria C. Bernal
Partner, Co-Founder
Maria Cristina is an experienced lawyer with more than 25 years of experience in commercial law, contracts, acquisition of technology services and intellectual property.
Over her long career, Maria Cristina spent more than 12 years at Telecom (Colombia’s leading telecommunication company) in multiple legal related positions (counsel, law director, law consultant) and administration. Previously, she worked for the office of the President of Colombia for the government modernization initiative program and for the office of the Attorney General as counsel.
Over the last 3 years, Maria Cristina has been instrumental in the creation and development of B.E.R. operations in Colombia were she has been in charge of managing and operating the Bogotá office. She has also been Professor of Law at I.T.E.C. (Technology Institute for Communications and Electronics) in Bogotá, Colombia.
She holds a Graduate Degree in Commercial Law from Universidad Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Senora del Rosario, a Graduate Degree in Telecommunications law from Universidad Externado de Colombia, and a B.S. in Law and Political Sciences from Universidad Santo Tomas de Aquino in Bogotá, Colombia.
