CECON Leadership, Organization and History
As a pioneer and founder of the Subject Matter Expert (SME) Industry, CECON – now a part of Expert-Nation.com Global Expert Network – was"a Platform Company before the Internet invented Platform Companies, working in the Gig Economy before the Gig Economy existed!"
MEET THE CECON MANAGEMENT TEAM
Samuel L. Waltz, CEO & Managing Director
A Vietnam-era Veteran of US Army CounterIntelligence, Sam Waltz holds BS and MS degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with Ph.D. coursework (no degree) in Public Affairs / Public Policy at the University of Delaware, both universities where he taught as an adjunct faculty. He is a Strategic Business Counselor, Trusted Adviser & Advocate™, serving as a Director on Business Boards and as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) witness. He’s a thought-leading Futurist, Entrepreneur, Investor, and Director of private companies.
An early-retired DuPont Company business executive who worked for its Corporate General Counsel across a broad array of its business and commercial issues, including technology commercialization, business planning, branding and marketing, M&A, and public affairs, Waltz today is the founding principal of SamWaltz.com Strategic Capital & Business Counsel, also part of the Expert-Nation.com Global Expert Network. He joined the Board of CECON in 2012 before acquiring the Company in 2019.
Waltz is active in faith-based and civic affairs, including his church, Rotary International and much more, and he formerly served as the elected global and national president of his external affairs / government affairs industry’s professional society, akin to an MD who might head the AMA or an Attorney who might head the ABA. He is credentialled as a Fellow of his professional society, which has honored him with its highest professional honors. He works nationally and globally, and he is credentialed by ValueBuilder® to help prepare closely held companies for exit via a liquidity event. See LinkedIn
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Andrea Beck, Operations Leader & Team Coordinator
With 15 years’ experience with the firm, Andrea coordinates Subject Matter Expert (SME) processes and systems, coordinating the organization’s workflows both internally and with its clients. She also helps lead its Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) recruitment and onboarding.
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Tracy Moore, Controller
With 25 years of background as a corporate controller, finance leader, Tracy coordinates both business and project financials, as well as ARs and APs.
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Gregory Wells, Ph.D. Project Manager
Ph.D. Organic Chemistry, The Ohio State University. Greg has more than 30 years of experience in pharmaceutical research and drug discovery with Merck, DuPont, and Cephalon. He has 14 drug discovery patents and more than 30 peer-reviewed publications. Greg’s focus is working directly with the company’s life sciences, bio and regulatory affairs clients.
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Joel Shertok, Ph.D. Project Manager
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, Princeton University. Joel has more than 40 years of experience in chemical processing, specializing in process/product development, scale-up, and commercialization. His background includes work in regulatory considerations, intellectual property issues, and grant applications. Joel’s focus is working directly with the company’s industrial, science and engineering clients.
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Jeffrey P Kopko, Project Manager
A George Mason University graduate, Jeffrey leads and supports project management with the firm’s business and marketing clients, marketing planning and implementation. He manages new business leads for projects in the marketing and website development/design area.
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Matthew Loughery, Marketing & Project Management
A University of Delaware graduate, Matthew leads and supports project management, marketing planning and implementation. He manages new business leads for projects in the marketing and website development/design area.
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History of CECON.com LLC, Founded 1985, Wilmington, DE
As a pioneer and founder of the Subject Matter Expert (SME) Industry, CECON – now a part of Expert-Nation.com Global Expert Network – was "a Platform Company before the Internet invented Platform Companies, working in the Gig Economy before the Gig Economy existed!"
CECON.com LLC was founded in 1985 as The CECON Group Inc. by six early retired DuPont Co. scientists and engineers. They were joined as shareholders over the next few years by another dozen early retirees from DuPont, as DuPont downsized from about 180,000 employees worldwide in the 1980s to about 25,000 today. Even today, the Company is headquartered walking distance from DuPont Co. headquarters in Greenville, Wilmington, DE USA.
The original roots of CECON were in DuPont’s competencies in science, chemistry, polymers, chemical engineering, materials technology, and related fabricated products, including healthcare and medical products, as well as in environmental and regulatory affairs components of the business.
As part of Expert-Nation.com Global Expert Network, the company operates on an Arbitrage Business Model, adding value by assisting a client to define its Scope of Work to achieve its business, organizational, science and technology, and product objectives, and then sourcing the expertise via its Proprietary Network of highly trained and experienced Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). If the expertise needed is not immediately found, many times it can be located within hours via the company's proprietary network.
As in any Arbitrage Model, the company invests in its assets to build a searchable database of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), from whom it buys time at “wholesale” which it sells to its clients at “retail.” Prospective clients can enter search terms, from general to specific, near the top of the home page to screen prospective SMEs via their “cloaked” profiles.
Founders immediately found a huge demand in the 1980s and 1990s for their technical expertise and experience.
Today, the Company has some 1,500 Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) across all 50 USA states and 20 countries, representing a vast array of world-class business, scientific and engineering experts in many disciplines that serve global clients in all areas of science, technology, and business & industry. Prospective Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) can self-identify to the Company via this website.
As part of Expert-Nation.com Global Expert Network, its parent has planned growth underway to some 5,000 Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), broadly and comprehensively embracing almost any area from technology and science to business. That global quality leading expertise of CECON extends as well into Research, Strategy, Business Planning, Marketing, and Reputation Management / Public Affairs Advocacy.
The assets of The CECON Group were acquired in 2014-15 by Becht.com Engineering Inc., a global company with 12 offices in the USA and Canada, extending the reach of the 2nd generation CECON into a broader array of market segments experts. In a second sale early in 2019, the CECON assets were acquired from Becht.com by heirs of one of the original founding families who continue to operate the 3rd generation incarnation of CECON as a part of Expert-Nation.com Global Expert Network in the same professional manner as it has since 1985.