Principals
Jeffrey Shuman, PhD CSAP, combines a deep understanding of the economic forces driving business model change with an entrepreneur’s intuitive grasp of collaboration.
Shuman has co-founded and operated five companies in diverse industries. He has consulted for numerous others, including startups, Global 10 companies, and national economic development agencies. He’s been building networked business models and presiding over global collaborative supply networks and strategic alliances for many years. He knows what it takes to do business and grow relationships in an unfamiliar culture without understanding the language.
Shuman is one of the first to receive the designation of Certified Strategic Alliance Professional (CSAP) from the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP).
Shuman currently serves as co-chair of ASAP’s Collaborative Innovation Council and Academic Council. He is also actively involved on the teams that have developed the Certificate of Achievement – Alliance Management (CA-AM) certification and the CSAP (Certified Strategic Alliance Professional) certification launched by the Association in early 2009.
In addition to his work with The Rhythm of Business, Shuman is professor of management at Bentley University in Waltham, MA. The firm’s methodologies inform Shuman’s popular MBA courses on Managing Collaborative Relationships and Entrepreneurial Thinking. He was a member of the team that created the discipline of entrepreneurship at Babson College, now a mainstay of business education. Shuman has received numerous awards for the method of entrepreneurial development described in his landmark 1998 book, The Rhythm of Business.
Together with business partner Jan Twombly, Shuman has co-authored numerous books, articles, and white papers and regularly speaks at a variety of venues around the world on the ongoing transformation of traditional organization structures to dynamic collaborative networks.
Janice M. Twombly, CSAP has followed her vision to transform organizations into entrepreneurial collaborative networks. When she read Shuman’s book, The Rhythm of Business shortly before its 1998 publication, Twombly knew she had found someone who articulated how successful businesses are built in a way that anyone could understand. Seeing an opportunity, she gave up her partnership in a leading Boston CPA firm to set out on a journey to promote collaborative networks as an emerging way of organizing and conducting business in an increasingly connected and interdependent world.
As President of The Rhythm of Business Twombly has led the development of a comprehensive management methodology to design, implement, measure, and assess the effectiveness of collaborative networks, including strategic alliances, public-private partnerships and cross-business unit research teams. Engagements include intervening in troubled situations, coaching good collaborations to become great collaborations. She works with management to develop organization-wide collaborative capability as well as the systems to manage a network of networks, often in conjunction with an organization’s strategic alliance professionals.
Twombly holds the Certified Strategic Alliance Professional (CSAP) designation from the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals. She serves on the Executive Committee of the Association’s Board of Directors and is Chairperson of the Marketing Committee. She serves on the Global Summit Planning Committee and is a member of the 2009 Biopharm Council Summit Planning Committee.
Twombly has held several leadership positions – including partner and human resources director in a leading Boston CPA firm and president of a business conference and publishing company. She has formed and operated collaborative networks to advance the use of microcredit and basic education to help women out of poverty and was a delegate to the global Microcredit Summit. She has board level experience in both commercial and not-for-profit businesses. She currently serves on the Finance Commission within her local government.
Together with business partner Jeffrey Shuman, PhD, Twombly has co-authored numerous books, articles, and white papers and regularly speaks at a variety of venues around the world on the ongoing transformation of traditional organization structures to dynamic collaborative networks.
