Jay Gronlund is the president and founder (1990) of The Pathfinder Group. The core expertise of Gronlund is business development, mainly in strategic positioning and emotional branding for companies that want a fresh, outside perspective to revitalize their brand.
Jay’s experience and accomplishments have evolved over the past 40 years, from B2C to B2B, from domestic to international, from large corporations to small-medium companies. The first half of his career involved executive positions in the corporate world, mainly in new product development – consumer products, household products, beverages (wine), and then publishing. The second half has been in consulting, from helping companies enter new foreign markets, to revitalizing brands, to facilitating ideation sessions, to conducting workshops around the world. The common thread in all this experience is his expertise for connecting with customers and building their trust in a company or product brand, in the U.S. and in foreign markets.
Corporate Experience:
- Newsweek – VP, Director of Marketing
- Seagram – Sr. VP Marketing & New Business Development, Wine Division
- Church & Dwight (Arm & Hammer) – Group Manager, New Business Development
- Richardson-Vicks – Brand Management and New Product Development (NY and London)
Industry Experience – Consulting In: pharmaceutical, food & beverage, personal care, household, apparel, children’s products, computer technology & software, environmental software and services, garden supplies, special giftware, executive search, paints and furniture.
Foreign Market Experience: Asia (China, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia), Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile), and all of Europe (Western, Central and Eastern)
University Teaching Experience: “Positioning and Brand Development” course at NYU since 1999, classes for MBA program at UCONN and the Levin Institute of CUNY for their FastTrac Entrepreneurial Program
Publishing Experience: wide variety of articles on marketing, business development and cross cultural topics (see links to all under “Resources” section of website, plus books on “Branding – Practical Applications for the OTC Industry” and recently the “Basics of Branding” (BEP – publisher, August 2013)
Personal and Educational Experience: member of the American Marketing Association, The World Trade Club of New York, and the Yale Club of New York City. Jay has also lived and worked in foreign countries (UK and Sweden), and has traveled extensively throughout the world. He is passionate about sports (skiing, golf and tennis), jogging, and anything outdoors, including adventures like recently climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, the Jotunheimen Mountains in Norway, and para gliding in Europe. His education:
- Colby College – BA
- Tuck at Dartmouth – MBA
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