CFI Group - Claes Fornell International

Dr. Claes Fornell is the Donald C. Cook Professor of Business at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and the Director of the National Quality Research Center (NQRC) at the University of Michigan. He has been on the faculty of Northwestern University and Duke University. Born and raised in Sweden, he received a Doctor of Economics in 1976 from the University of Lund, Sweden. As a doctoral student, he was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1987 he was also a visiting professor at INSEAD, France and at the Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden.

Dr. Fornell was recently acclaimed as one of the top most influential scholars in marketing science based on research commissioned by the largest professional society in the world for operations research, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).

Fornell is one of the world’s leading experts on Customer Satisfaction Measurement and Customer Asset Management. He is responsible for the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a national indicator of the U.S. economy. He developed a patented system that makes it possible for a firm to identify those specific aspects of quality that have the largest impact on customer satisfaction and economic returns. Professor Fornell is the founder and chairman of CFI Group.

Fornell has written more than 80 published articles and several books. He has served on the editorial board of all the major academic journals in the field. He frequently appears on radio, television and in the press as a commentator on business and economics.

As the CEO of CFI Group, Sheri manages offices across 4 continents from its world headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Sheri joined CFI Group in 2000, where she integrated Customer Satisfaction Metrics into client organizations at strategic and tactical levels. She soon became the director of U.S. Government and financial client projects. In 2006, CFI Group appointed Sheri to Partner. In 2008, she was chosen by the international board of directors to be the new CEO and worldwide managing partner. Sheri is also on board of directors of Foresee Results.

Sheri’s 22 years of experience began at the University of Michigan, where she graduated at the top of her class. She completed her MBA, with Honors, at the University of Chicago. Over the next 11 years, Sheri worked for Kraft Foods, Quaker Oats, and eventually became the head of the Kolcraft Enterprises Marketing department as Director of market analysis, new product research, package development, and advertising.

Joining CFI Group in 1996 as a senior consultant, Philip Doriot now manages CFI Group’s Private Sector Consulting Practices.  For a variety of clients across major industry sectors, he and CFI Group’s consultants are responsible for the development and use of strategic measurement systems to suggest strategic options and tactical actions for clients.

In addition to overseeing CFI’s private sector consulting, Philip is also responsible for CFI Group’s Research and Development (R&D) function.  In this role he directs senior quantitative specialists engaged in the development of new quantitative methods and applications to better reflect constituent viewpoints and reflect the customer experience.  Many of these efforts have resulted in patent applications, papers and presentations at industry and professional conferences. 

Mr. Doriot is a regular speaker at industry and professional conferences and is often sought out for his ability to supply the voice of the customer in popular press outlets. He has advanced degrees in both Social Experimental Psychology and Organizational Psychology.  

Mr. Friberg has been responsible for CFI Group operation in Spain since 1994. He has 12 years' experience as consultant to large Spanish and international corporations. The consulting assignments of CFI Spain include clients in the telecommunications, banking, transportation and utility industries.

Before joining CFI Group, Mr. Friberg worked with international marketing of branded consumer products, which involved market research and marketing strategy. He held this position for 10 years after graduating from the Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden.

Mr. Friberg has an in-depth knowledge of all elements of CFI Group consulting programs. He speaks Swedish, English, Spanish, French and Italian.

Simone Pizzoglio is Managing Director of CFI
Milan. Mr. Pizzoglio has been with CFI Group
since 2003.

Prior to CFI Group, Mr. Pizzoglio worked in marketing consultancy for BMW and FIAT with specific focus on customer satisfaction, retail and distribution networks. He was formerly assistant professor of marketing at the University of Lugano, Institute for Corporate Communication, and occasionally teaches marketing for executive courses at the UPA Master Cà Foscari, SDA Bocconi and Università Cattolica di Milano.

Mr. Pizzoglio has a Master of Science in Communication Management from the University of Lugano (Switzerland), plus degrees in Political Sciences from the University of Milano and Business Administration from the University of Torino. He also attended the University of Memphis in the United States and the University of Lyon in France on an Erasmus Scholarship.

Mr. Tang is the Managing Director of CFI Consulting (Shanghai) Limited. In his prior experience, Mr. Tang was the Chairman and Co-CEO of AASTOCKS International Limited, a leading financial information provider in Hong Kong and China. He was the founder and the President of Westport Financial LLC and its subsidiary Tradetrek.com Inc, an internet financial services company in the USA. Before founding Westport Financial, Mr. Tang was the Head of Emerging Markets/Asia Trading at Banco Pactual, the largest investment bank in Brazil. He has also worked in the areas of asset management and equity research for Banco Pactual. Mr. Tang was a senior project manager at the Electronics Division of Ford Motor Company in the USA. Besides being in charge of operation/engineering management, his responsibilities at Ford also included strategic acquisitions, high-tech project finance, and joint venture negotiations.

Mr. Tang holds a MBA from the University of Michigan Business School, and a BS in Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China. Mr. Tang is a registered investment advisor of the Hong Kong SFC.

Before joining CFI Group in 2008, Niclas served as Managing Director of SHL Nordic, where he was P&L responsible for SHL Group’s operations in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. He was also an active member of the European Management Team.

At SHL, Niclas initiated a series of strategic and operational initiatives that significantly improved the company’s performance and market presence. By consistently partnering with clients in order to optimize their ROI, revenue was doubled across a span of four years. Niclas’s consulting experience covers both organizational development and talent management projects within the telecommunication, steel, chemical, bank, construction, automotive, retail, recruitment and staffing industries.

Niclas has advanced degrees in Economics and Business from the Stockholm School of Economics and in Psychology from the University of Stockholm. In addition, he has board member experience as well as an entrepreneurial track record. He has founded his own consulting company and has had advisory roles in several start-ups. 

Dr. Barcellos is the managing partner of CFI Latin America.  Consulting activities throughout his career include participation in projects supported by international organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank for municipal, state and federal governments and institutions. He has consulted to clients including IAB, NEC do Brasil, RANDON, FIESC-SENAI, and FIESC-SESI, among others.

Dr. Barcellos is a professor in the Graduate Program in Management at the University of Caxias do Sul, in Caxias do Sul, RS, and in the Graduate Program in Production Engineering at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, in Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, where he teaches courses in Quality in Business Management, Strategic Thinking Formation, Strategic Sceneries and Competitiveness, Strategic Planning, and Business Marketing.

With his participation in international conferences and seminars in various countries, Mr. Barcellos has published articles, book chapters, and a book distributed in Brazil and abroad. He has broad professional experience encompassing private industry and the government sector, and is a member of the American Society for Quality and the Brazilian Society for the Ecological Economy.

Dr. Barcellos holds a Ph.D. in Engineering (Quality Systems) from Marquette University, in Milwaukee, WI (USA), as well as a MBA and a BS degree in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.