Clarity Team

Clarity's team is a key reason to choose us for your most critical questions. We are not your average consulting firm:

We are seasoned operating professionals, each with 10-20 years of operating experience in roles spanning marketing, sales, R&D and general management. We have successfully launched new products, services and businesses at HP, Sun, IBM, Apple, Siemens and ROLM and at startups such as Phase 2 Automation and DaVinci Graphics. We have already experienced and solved many of our clients' problems first hand.
We are also seasoned consultants, each with over a decade of consulting experience across a broad range of clients. We offer the breadth and depth of a larger firm while retaining the flexibility and responsiveness of individual practitioners.

The result is that the Clarity team is able to:

Bring together the optimal approach for you, be it a single advisor or an extended team;
Give you the benefit of our findings much more quickly than many larger management consulting firms;
Deliver a recommendation to you which is rigorous and realistic;
Help you identify, assess, plan, and implement what you need to be successful.

Bios

Rick Warp

Rick Warp is a founding partner and CEO of Clarity Corporation. Since 1993, he has advised a broad range of major technology companies and startups on market strategies and growth issues. Rick also provides empowerment training for clients seeking to incorporate the theories and practice of market focus into their business planning cycles.

Rick’s advice is informed by over 20 years of operating experience in technology companies, in roles ranging from design engineer and product manager to CEO. He was a founder and CEO of DaVinci Graphics, a color graphics startup, and Phase 2 Automation, a cleanroom automation equipment manufacturer. As Senior VP/GM of Leasametric Instruments, Rick engineered and led the successful turnaround of a $50 million electronic rental/leasing operation. Rick served as Director of Marketing and Business Development at Sun Microsystems. Rick began his career at Hewlett Packard, where he spent nine years in R&D and product management positions, managing products from initial idea through end of life.

Rick holds three patents. His education includes BS, MS and MBA degrees from Stanford University.
Rick's Blog

"Clarity has repeatedly challenged our executive team with critical insights. Their concise, actionable recommendations have led to a re-focusing of our strategy and resources to re-align our value proposition with the needs of our changing markets."

- Diane McGarry
Former CMO
Xerox Corporation

Lynn O'Leary Pieron

Lynn O'Leary Pieron joined the Clarity team in 1998 as a founding partner, after consulting on a freelance basis since 1994. Her expertise focuses on addressing clients’ business-to-business growth issues, particularly within the IT and telecom industries.

Lynn’s operating experience includes a dozen years in sales, marketing, operations and developer support positions within the computer, telecommunications and software industries. At Apple Computer, Lynn served as Manager, Worldwide Business Solutions Evangelism and launched an industry-leading line of business as Group Marketing Manager for the Collaboration Products Group. She held various management positions in marketing and sales at ROLM Communications, where she devised the marketing strategy that enabled the successful transition from IBM-era to Siemens-era product platforms. Lynn began her technology career in major account sales at IBM. She discovered her passion for business working in manufacturing and QA within the French aeronautics industry.

Lynn serves as a Director of H Enterprises International, Inc., a private holding company with global operations spanning the materials handling, distribution and toy manufacturing industries.

Lynn is a graduate of Swarthmore College and holds an MBA from Stanford University. She is fluent in French.

"We did some of our best work ever with Lynn. Out of a sea of complexity she articulated a clear strategy - one that our field could finally understand and execute."

- Ismail Pishori
  WW Director Marketing
  Financial Services Industry Segment
  Hewlett Packard Company

Barb Bishop

Barb Bishop is a senior associate of Clarity Corporation and has provided consulting services since 1995. She has integrated a strong technology services marketing and planning background with change management approaches to provide advice that is market-focused, based in reality, and provides the key ingredients for successful integrated planning.

Barb's prior career spans 20 years at Hewlett Packard, in roles ranging from product marketing manager to internal change management consultant. She was a leader in developing supplies distribution channels at HP; led the development of HP's first systems integration strategy project; and did business planning for the maintenance, professional services, and education businesses.

Barb's education includes a BA in economics and an MBA from Stanford University. HP management coursework included Rummler-Brache; Hammer's Reengineering; Change Management; Process of Management; Building Market-Focused Organizations.

Joani Mitchell

Joani Mitchell joined the Clarity team in 2000 as a Research Associate. Joani's career spans more than 20 years with high technology companies, including Agilent Technologies, Hewlett Packard, Tandem Computers, and AT&T. She has held a full range of Marketing Research positions including Market Information Manager, Market Research Consultant, Market Analyst, Business Process Analyst, and Research Associate. Most recently, Joani served as Business Intelligence Manager at Agilent Technologies. Her areas of Marketing Research expertise include: quantitative and qualitative market research studies; complex analyses and strategic consulting for companies in a broad variety of industries and markets; competitor, financial and business analyses as well as industry market models to drive resource allocation.

Joani is a graduate of Brandeis University and holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business, at UC Berkeley.

Peggy Allen Lizaur

Peggy Allen Lizaur has run a successful market research firm since 1995. She specializes in research to support new product development and positioning. Many of her projects involve innovative products in emerging markets. Her clients range from leading technology companies, such as Sun Microsystems, Microsoft Corporation and Apple Computer, to start-up ventures. She has in-depth experience in a range of qualitative and quantitative research techniques, including on-line research. Prior to co-founding Crossfield Marketing in 1990, Peggy was a marketing manager at Atari, Human Engineered Software, and Hewlett-Packard Corporation where she was involved in developing next generation workstations, channel distribution programs, and new lines of consumer software.

Peggy lives in the hills overlooking Silicon Valley with her husband and two daughters. She enjoys hiking, skiing and travel. Her consulting practice includes pro bono work for causes she believes in.

Peggy has a BA from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Stanford University. She honed her market research and facilitation skills at RIVA and the Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI). She is the co-chair of the San Francisco Chapter of the Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA).