David Ball, President

 David began his career as an Industrial Engineer with Frito-Lay, where he was engaged in commodity price analysis and productivity improvement initiatives.

After a brief return to graduate school, David joined Neiman-Marcus in the Executive Development Program. After a six month rotation through every department in the company, he rapidly progressed through the ranks of Assistant Buyer, Department Manager, Buyer, Manager of Merchandise Systems Development, Director of Merchandise Information, and Director, Divisional Merchandise Manager. He led the company’s development of a far-reaching ERP system to support NM’s extraordinary growth rate, including its integration with the Company’s first National Distribution Center. He developed the industry’s first digital merchandise planning system, and was an early adaptor of econometric techniques and scoring models to data-based marketing and customer segmentation.

As Corporate Vice President, Marketing, Strategic Planning, and Direct Response at Marshall Field’s, David applied quantitative and qualitative market research to study closely the Company’s customers and competitors, aligning the Executive Committee in a winning competitive strategy that saw Field’s return on net asset performance double in four years, while achieving high rates of sales growth. In his additional operating responsibility for direct response, the division significantly outperformed the company in growth of both revenue and return.

When Marshall Field’s was sold to Dayton-Hudson Corp., David started a highly successful consulting firm specializing in the strategic use of information, and later, in facilitating private equity transactions. In 1996, McKinsey and Co. asked David to join them to develop a new practice in technology-enabled strategy, from which McKinsey launched their renowned global Business Technology Offices.   He chose to return to private practice in 1997.