Chicago/Midwest Chapter Announces New President

The Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP) announced that it has elected Sherman L. Whitfield as president of its Chicago/Midwest chapter for a two-year term. Whitfield is an Alliance Manager with Eli Lilly and Company, based in Indianapolis.  

In 1997 Whitfield joined Lilly in the United Kingdom where he was the procurement/supplier relationship management expert for the company’s sites in the UK. Before joining Lilly, Whitfield worked in management roles for more than 20 years in the U.S. automotive industry. 

Whitfield is recognized as an expert in alliance and collaboration management. He is a frequent speaker on this subject to industry groups and on university campuses. Whitfield graduated from the University of Arkansas with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and later received a master's degree in business management. He earned a Certificate of Achievement in Alliance Management (CA-AM) from ASAP, one of the first 20 individuals to receive such a certification.

In his role as chapter president of ASAP, he succeeds Ms. Debbie Clasen of Cisco. Under her leadership, the Chicago/Midwest chapter received ASAP’s chapter of the year award in 2008.

“The ability to collaborate externally is a vital skill requirement for the future success of any business. It is no longer optional,” said Whitfield. “We want to provide a dynamic forum for alliance professionals across industries to learn from each other to capture the value in collaborative partnerships."

The ASAP Chicago/Midwest chapter program for 2008-2009 will focus on providing members with access to alliance best practices and a series of live market-specific programs as well as webinars and newsletters. The 300-member Midwest Chapter covers Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Ohio.  

Events are typically held in the evening, starting with hors d'ouvres and networking followed by a speaker and /or a panel discussion. This year the program venue will alternate between Chicago, Chicago suburbs, and Indianapolis locations.   The next event, , “Interactive Panel Discussion on Multiple Approaches to Alliance Measurement and Metrics The Importance of Alliance Metrics,” will be held in September .For more details, or to register to attend, please visit the ASAP web site at http://www.strategic-alliances.org/chapter/chicago.

Whitfield’s board of directors for the Chicago/Midwest chapter includes:

President Emeritus:  Debbie Clasen, Cisco
Sponsorship Co-Chairs:  Marco Floreani and Phil Deemer, Abbott
Programs Co-Chairs:  Jill Martin, Insight and Steven Walker, Lilly
Marketing Co-Chairs:  Tanya Catalano, Gartner and Dennis Skigen, Fitbug
Membership Chair:  Michael Thornton, SAP
Secretary:  David Pilgrim, Oracle, Ian McKenna,  Clovelly Consulting Services, LLC
Treasurer:  Patrick Tabor

Marketing and Programs Committee members include Anthony Mace, IBM; Bill Davidson, AllianceAnalytics, Inc.; Derek Small, Luson Bioventures,LLC; Tom Boucher, Panduit; Shawn Stahmer,Third I Solutions; Barbra Sheridan, Accenture; Matt Barnes, Cisco; Randy Robertson, Cisco, Kurt O’Conner, Delphi; and Jason Deck, Cisco

About ASAP

The Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP), headquartered in Massachusetts, is the leading global professional association dedicated to alliance formation and practice. ASAP provides a forum to exchange alliance best practices, resources and opportunities as well as products that enable members to harness alliances as growth engines to drive corporate performance. ASAP membership includes executives and professionals from Fortune 1000 as well as small and medium-sized enterprises throughout the world. To find out more information please visit its website -- www.strategic-alliances.org