Meet the Career Consultant Team

Darren has over 30 years of senior executive experience in the Advisory space.

A former Big Four managing partner, he served as the regional CEO for the Boston major market. In that role, he was responsible for the strategic growth of the firm’s three business lines across Audit, Advisory, and Tax.

Darren successfully led his market’s double-digit growth through a focus on innovation and teamwork to craft transformational solutions for an array of complex global business issues for some of the world’s biggest companies.

Darren is a highly experienced business leader, and board, audit, and risk committee member. He leverages his senior executive experience advising on business strategy, sales and marketing, people development and team building, financial reporting, internal controls, and corporate compliance.

Darren holds an MBA from Baruch College, CUNY. He’s also completed various executive education programs at the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, the Said Business School, Oxford, and the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.

Allyson Holbrook currently serves as the Global Vice President of Marketing at Engageware. She is a results-driven marketing leader with over 20 years of experience and a proven track record in driving revenue growth. Her expertise lies in developing and executing global marketing strategies, leading cross-functional teams, and delivering impactful campaigns. Allyson has extensive B2B marketing leadership experience and a demonstrated ability to scale marketing organizations and drive innovation. Prior to joining Engageware, she held multiple Marketing leadership roles across large enterprise organizations as well as early and mid-stage start-ups, including Fidelity, Beamery, Scout Exchange, Reebok, and others. She holds an MBA and a BS in Finance from Bentley College.

John’s background includes data, technology, operations, and product management career experiences. Over 25+ years, John made significant leadership contributions at State Street Corporation. John held the positions of Senior Vice President & Deputy Chief Data Officer, Head of Enterprise Data Management, Business Unit Chief Information Officer, and Head of Operations. State Street is an S&P 500 company with 40,000 employees serving clients in 100+ countries.

Earlier in his career, John worked as a senior product manager for a venture capital-backed start-up company focused on providing multi-channel customer interaction management solutions to e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retail companies.

John currently works at MAPFRE USA as Head of Data Operations. MAPFRE the #1 auto and home insurer in Massachusetts and the 19^th largest private passenger auto insurer in the United States. MAPFRE USA is part of the MAPFRE Group – a global insurance organization doing business in over 100 countries across five continents with over 36,000 employees serving over 30 million customers.

John currently serves as a Board of Director for the Wall Street Technology Association and was named to Data IQ’s “Top 100 Most Influential People in Data” for 2023. John holds an undergraduate degree in Economics from Tufts University and an MBA from Boston University Questrom School of Business.

John has worked outside of the US – living with his family in the United Kingdom for several years. His work travels have taken him to many countries and cultures including Canada, Ireland, England, Scotland, Guernsey, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, Greece, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Japan, and all throughout the US. John currently lives just outside of Boston and is married with three children. He enjoys travel, sports, theater, and is a dog lover.

Fun Fact: John is BU Questrom graduate, his wife is a Boston College graduate, his oldest son is a Northeastern University student and two of his sisters are Harvard University graduates. There is never agreement in the family on who will win the annual Men’s and Women’s Beanpot tournament.

Specialties and Interests – Ask Me About

Career tracks in Data, Technology, and Operations roles; Working in the Financial Services and Insurance industries; Working in large organizations and in start-up ventures; Working for publicly listed companies and privately held companies; Living/working in another country.

Dave has an extensive background in strategic leadership and business development, with a focus on the food and retail industry. With a career spanning over two decades, he made significant contributions at Topco Associates, a $16 billion cooperative. During his tenure, he held the position of Senior Vice President for Topco Business Strategy & Pharmacy, where he also led as the Indirect Division Leader.

Before joining Topco, Dave’s career led him to Ahold (Global Food Retailer), where he assumed the role of Vice President for Strategic Sourcing in the Not-For-Resale sector, overseeing $4+ billion in expenditures. His supply chain process approach extended to implementing a standardized global operating model and pioneering the application of online reverse auction technology. In addition to his roles at Topco and Ahold, Dave also held a leadership position in ICG Commerce, an internet startup specializing in B2B supply chain solutions, and senior roles within Accenture’s Strategic Services division.

Dave holds an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School with a focus on Operations and Finance.

Marilyn was a Senior Banking Executive with 35+ years of financial services experience specifically in Commercial Banking. She has served as both a Commercial Lender and a Senior Credit Officer and was responsible for developing loan portfolios, approving loans, developing lending policies, overseeing loan underwriting teams, and maintaining credit quality in mid-size Boston-area commercial banks.

Prior to her career in banking, Marilyn worked on Capitol Hill and for an environmental consulting firm after a stint at the EPA. She lives in Brookline with her husband, Ed, their German shepherd, Stevie, and cat, Milo, and has a daughter who works at McKinsey in the pharmaceutical sector out of the St. Louis office and a son who is getting a joint MBA and MS in Sustainability at Yale. Marilyn loves to travel, read, enjoys sports and music, and she and her husband are black belts in Shotokan karate.

Education: BS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, an MA in Environmental Planning and Economic Development from American University, and an MBA from Boston University

Richard has 40-plus years of experience as a Large Corporate Banking Relationship Manager for Fortune 500 companies nationwide. He worked with the Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, and their Finance/Treasury staff of those companies across numerous industries. His clients included both Investment Grade and non-Investment Grade corporations fulfilling their financial objectives across a wide array of products. He was primarily focused on their Corporate Finance and Capital Markets needs.

During his career, Richard worked at 8 US Headquartered Banks and Merchant Banking subsidiaries in Chicago, London, and Los Angeles. He was employed by JP Morgan, Key Banc Capital Markets, Huntington Capital Markets, and predecessor banks that comprise Bank of America and Wells Fargo today.

Two notable career highlights:

-Closed the first interest rate derivative done by any US Investor Owned Utility company (Detroit Edison)

-Closed the first leveraged recapitalization done by any US Investor Owned Utility company (IPALCO Enterprises)

He was elected to the Merchant Bank Board of Directors at 2 of the aforementioned banks, based in London, England where Richard lived and worked for 3 years.

Richard received his BA degree in Economics from Boston University and MBA degree in Finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Fun fact: Traveled to approximately 70 countries in the following 4 Regions and 15 subcontinents

-Americas (North America, South America, Central America, Caribbean)

-Europe (Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, Western Europe)

-Asia (Central & South Asia, Northeastern Asia, Southeastern Asia, Australia and Oceania)

-Middle East/Africa (Middle East, Northern Africa, Southern Africa)

Ian has over 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry, focused primarily the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries.

Most recently, Ian has been working as an independent consultant helping to assist biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies with a broad range of issues, including corporate governance, Board of Director management, program and portfolio management, manufacturing, and product development. He is currently working with several start-up clients to help launch their companies.

Prior to embarking on a consulting career, Ian spent over 18 years at Momenta Pharmaceuticals, culminating in the role of Chief Operating Officer following Momenta’s acquisition by Johnson and Johnson. Over that span, he held a variety of leadership roles, including product development, program and alliance management, and manufacturing, and was the Program Leader for several of the Company’s key assets. He led the development and commercialization of two approved products and several other products that are currently in the regulatory approval process. Ian’s experience covers several different therapeutic areas, including cardiology, neurology, oncology, and autoimmune disease.

Of interest, Ian fell into his pharmaceutical and biotechnology career completely by accident and has made it part of his mission to educate and inform students about non-scientific roles that are available within the industry. He lives west of Boston with his wife Rachel and is the father of three adult children and one mini-Goldendoodle. In his spare time, he enjoys skiing (including a recent heli-skiing trip to Greenland), cycling, and water sports.

Ian holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Tufts University. He obtained an MBA from Boston University and was a ’93 graduate of the Health Care Management (now Health Sector Management) program. He is also a graduate of the Center for Creative Leadership’s “Leadership at the Peak” Program.