The Leadership Team
Therese K. Fauerbach: President & CEO
Therese is a business leader with an extensive track record in international and domestic sales, marketing, consumer service, finance and external affairs. As President and Chief Executive Officer of The Northridge Group, Therese is involved in client relations, business development and strategic client engagements. . She has overseen the execution of diverse initiatives including the restructuring of a large national sales force; due diligence and project management for the relocation of a Fortune 1000 company's corporate headquarters and business operations assessments leading to gross margin enhancements of more than $150 million for half a dozen clients. She advises “C” level executives across the fortune 100 and has, on occasion, acted as an interim executive. Under her leadership, The Northridge Group has operated profitably each year since its inception. Therese holds a BA in accounting from St. Norbert College and an MBA from the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. She sits on the board of The Chicago Network and The Cradle, one of the foremost adoption agencies in the country.
Marriann Cole: Chief Operating Officer
Guiding the day-to-day operations at Northridge with a keen eye, sharp intellect, and depth of knowledge, Chief Operating Officer Marriann Cole ensures that quality-focused processes are in place to deliver consistently exceptional results for Northridge clients. Marriann leads project teams for prominent clients across both carrier and enterprise practices with a collaborative approach that results in outstanding benefits for all involved. She particularly enjoys projects that solve client problems. Clients remark that Marriann puts herself in their shoes and addresses each issue from a practical, pragmatic perspective--turning chaos into structure. An active member of the Executives' Club of Chicago, Marriann graduated from Clarke College with a BA in math and computer science. She holds an MBA from the Executive Telecommunications Program at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Rob Guglielmi: Chief Sales Officer
An experienced sales and marketing executive, Rob joined Northridge in 2010 with the goal of expanding our client base and sales expertise. Rob has built sales teams from the ground up with remarkable results. As Vice President of Sales and Customer Service at Westell Technologies, Rob grew revenue by 64% and drove shareholder value from $.96 to $12 in a four year period. Handpicked by SBC executives, Rob built the outsourcing relationship with IBM as Regional Vice President for Global Markets at SBC and grew revenue in his target market by $100M. Since joining Northridge, Rob has established warm relationships with senior executives at numerous Fortune 500 companies and given new energy and focus to our sales and marketing efforts. Rob holds BS in Business Management from Cardinal Stritch College and completed an International Management Program at Cambridge, England.
Melissa Copeland: Principal
Melissa has been instrumental in the growth of The Northridge Group, building and managing a focused practice area in communications strategy, RFP management and contact center solutions. With considerable experience in international business, Melissa has led projects for a number of global clients in a variety of industries including transportation, insurance and financial services. She has developed comparative cost models for $100M+ corporate spends and led initiatives to assess and redesign processes within and across organizations resulting in multi-million dollar cost savings. Clients particularly value Melissa’s ability to develop scorecards that measure the success of complex initiatives in easy to understand formats. Melissa holds a BA from Duke University and a Master of Management degree from the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University.
Leo Lanzillo: Principal
Leo is a member of the Northridge senior management team and provides executive level oversight and leadership for select client engagements. Leo has led projects with the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Department of the Treasury and the State of Illinois. He is also involved in demanding enterprise projects, working with leading healthcare providers and other Fortune 200 companies. With over 25 years of experience in the information technology marketplace, including senior management positions with both IBM’s and ATT’s Global Network Services business, Leo’s knowledge spans software development, project management, financial management, and executive operations management. Leo is instrumental in the development of unique client solutions and the tools to support them. He holds a BA in Computer Science from Harvard University and an MBA from The University of Chicago.