Doug Hedlund, a senior management associate, brings more than 25 years of marketing and business development experience to SFI. During the course of his career, Doug has worked extensively with a broad range of clients, from multi-billion dollar blue-chip companies to start-ups. After graduate school, Doug really learned his skills while working with Fortune-500 clients for seven years in account management and marketing strategy development at Ogilvy & Mather in New York, and BBDO in Los Angeles.

His expertise includes bringing new products to market; developing effective business strategies and managing their successful implementation; writing business and marketing plans; recruiting, training and motivating managers and sales people to perform up to their full potential; managing P&L successfully; business turn-around leadership; and heavy B2B and B2C internet sales and e-marketing management.

For 15 years, Doug served as CEO and President of a product launch and marketing consulting company in Los Angeles, New-Venture, of which he was the founder. He also managed the turn-around process of Executive Expo, a small-business training trade show at the Moscone Center in SF and Javitz Center in New York. Here he served as the interim Vice President / General Manager, and had complete profit responsibility. Under his guidance, the company achieved a 110% increase in display-booth revenue compared to the previous year by revamping the sales staff, sales strategy, and attendee advertising programs.

Doug is currently writing a book on launching businesses called The Go/No-Go Decision: (Or How to be Reasonably Sure Your Business Will Fly--Before You Go Out on a Limb And Start Throwing Money Around) He attended the U.S. Air Force Academy for two years, earned his BA in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts, and holds an MBA in Marketing from Columbia University in New York.

Doug has taught a range of business planning and development classes at Santa Monica College, and has also served as a guest speaker on marketing strategy development at corporate conferences, UCLA Extension, and Columbia University and SBA workshops. Doug lives in Santa Monica, and has one (married) son.