Santiago Solutions Group, Experts, Multicultural business and marketing growth strategy consulting

Carlos Santiago, Chief Strategist

Carlos Santiago, President & Chief Strategist of Santiago Solutions Group, is a nationally-recognized business strategist. He is known for his innovative branding, segmentation and ROI analytics. Carlos founded Santiago Solutions Group in 2000, developing proprietary econometric methodologies for analysis of the multicultural segments. Over the last 10 years, he has guided strategic growth, corporate, branding, engagement and social marketing strategies for organizations such as AARP, Campbell’s, Chivas Regal, GMAC Mortgage, HerbaLife, Health Net, HP, Humana, Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé, New York State AIDS Institute, Principal Financial, Sheetrock-USG, Target, Terra.com, Wells Fargo and WalMart.

Before branching out on his own, Carlos led Bell Atlantic-Verizon’s diversity marketing for 8 years, a business unit with $3 Billion in annual revenue. He oversaw P&L, brand strategy, retail channels, Direct Response promotions, and ROI with a $70M budget. Carlos is a sought-after speaker on topics related to Hispanic consumer trends and preferences, in-culture marketing and communications, and growth in diversity markets. Carlos holds an MBA with concentration in Business Strategy & Marketing from Washington University.

Derene Allen, Principal

Derene Allen, Principal, brings strategic and tactical expertise in Latin America, Caribbean and US Hispanic markets. Derene specializes in creating new corporate metricing systems for multicultural initiatives, including quantifying the efficiency and ROI of clients’ investment in the Hispanic market. She employs these customized systems to link the highest growth strategies with a corporation’s internal ability to deliver. Derene’s background includes Financial and Internet services experience, as well as Database Management and Loyalty Programs. Clients have included J&J, Nestlé, P&G, Dannon, Target, Walmart, Cigna, Kodak, Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma and Cemix.

Derene has recently returned to SSG after a two year sabbatical managing a Social Enterprise, whose beneficiary population was low income Latinas, where she refined her skills on generating and measuring social impact. Derene is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of San Francisco, a pro bono consultant for Juma Ventures, a California based nonprofit whose mission is to break the cycle of poverty by having underserved youth complete college, and a board member of ANewAmerica, a nonprofit whose program offers tools for new American entrepreneurs including microbusiness incubation, asset building, and social responsibility.

Derene earned her MBA in International Marketing from Thunderbird.

Pedro Santiago, Director – Econometrics

Pedro Santiago, Director – Econometrics, has developed econometric, feasibility and market studies for pharmacies, supermarkets, shopping centers, hotels, associations, hospitals, nursing homes and medical facilities over the last 20 years. With SSG, Pedro has directed customer demand, opportunity sizing and optimization econometric models for growth, acquisition (direct response) and retention strategies for clients such as AARP, J&J and Humana among others.

Pedro holds a Masters in Economics from ISU and a Masters in Healthcare Administration from USC.

Dr. J.C. Alvarez, Ed. D., Director

Dr. J. C. Alvarez, Ed. D., Director, brings years of experience from diverse arenas including government, education and the private sector. As the first Latina wholesaler for Anheuser-Busch, she led Bud’s franchise turnaround in Chicago through intense retail sales and overseeing over 1000 in-market special events and consumer activations annually. She serves as SSG’s sales force management and training expert as well as lead sociologist directing large-scale qualitative research projects and field assessments.

She graduated in Sociology from Princeton, holds a Masters in Personnel Administration from Columbia and a Doctorate of Education from Northern Illinois University.

Steve Moya, Senior Advisor

Steve Moya, Senior Strategist at Santiago Solutions Group, has decades of high level expertise in strategy, marketing, segmentation and public relations/communications, having assisted businesses and non-profits with growth strategy and marketing, as well as leading organizations to advance innovation. In addition, Moya also advises SSG’s Social Impact Sector assisting numerous non-profits in the development of strategy and organizational models to advance growth in the new economy.

Prior to joining SSG, Steve was Senior-Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer of Humana responsible for marketing, corporate communications, government relations and corporate strategy development. Before joining Humana he was Vice-President of Strategic Planning and Communications for Austin-based LatinWorks Marketing and a principal with Growth Strategies Consulting, a macro-market planning company that used trend analysis to build business strategy. Earlier in his career he founded Moya, Villanueva & Associates, a public relations firm that provided communication strategy in the areas of corporate and Hispanic communications, marketing and public affairs. Recognized as a business leader in the Hispanic community, he built one of the largest and most respected ethnic public relations firms in the country which was sold to Manning, Selvage and Lee, an international communications company where he served as a Senior-Vice President.

Bessie Ramirez, Principal

Bessie Ramírez, Principal, is an experienced professional in multicultural strategy development, brand management and marketing communications. Bessie began her marketing career in brand and category management at Nestlé. Aside from having full P&L responsibility, she specialized on new product development and seasonal executions for the impulse-driven chocolate and confections category. In 2001 she chose to focus on the Hispanic market and has since worked for various agencies including Casanova Pendril Publicidad, leading account teams for clients such as The Home Depot, Ferrero Rocher, Wells Fargo and Foster Farms. Since 2003 Bessie has been with SSG, playing an instrumental role in the development and implementation of growth strategies for companies like J&J, Freddie Mac, Telscape, Money Mart, Swiss Colony Companies and Health Net.

She holds an MBA with concentrations in Marketing and Finance from the Kennan Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina.

Steven Petroff, Principal

Steven Petroff, Principal, is a senior integrated marketing & communications professional with expertise in branding, strategic planning and target segmentation.

Steve’s experience includes having managed annual planning and daily agency operations for three divisions of Health Net of California, the 4th largest medical insurance provider in CA, where he led a state-wide initiative reaching out to the Hispanic population and building brand presence in local communities. Steve has also developed and executed strategic communications plans for Children’s Hospital Central California, for construction materials firm US Gypsum, and with spirits company Pernod Ricard USA, he developed a long-term corporate social responsibility strategy for Chivas Regal brand and guides annual planning of integrated communications in key US Hispanic markets.

Steve has a Masters in Hispanic Literature and Linguistics from Georgetown University.

Robert Berra, Senior Consultant

Over 20 years of senior communication/marketing program experience serving consumer, healthcare, technology and financial services industry leaders. Bob was a founding partner of FischerHealth, the nation’s leading independent healthcare communication firm. He successfully managed the sale and transition of the firm to Omnicom/Porter Novelli and led the FischerHealth/Porter Novelli brand. Bob’s experience also includes serving on the Board of Directors and leading the sales and marketing divisions of Vital Data Technology, LLC., as well as management positions with the international public relations firm, Manning, Selvage & Lee and as Director of Corporate Communication for Health Net (one of the nation’s largest health care plans).