Lara Abrams Communications

Lara is what Malcolm Gladwell (Author of “The Tipping Point”) would call a ‘connector’ — her real strength being her enthusiasm for, and strategic ability to open doors for others, serving as a bridge to new opportunities and growth.

Taking this strength, and turning it into a business practice in 2001, Lara today consults to both emerging and growth companies in a business development and strategy capacity. Her firm, Lara Abrams Communications, LLC, develops go-to-market/market development strategies as well as business development & lead generation programs for companies, also conducting competitive as well as market research, helping entrepreneurs to define and develop strategies for success. Typical activities include: assessing and critiquing business plans; advising on growth strategies, competitive positioning, pipeline issues, “C” and “V”-level prospecting as well as partnering approaches, including messaging strategies and tactics; and representing clients into new business opportunities.

The clients Lara Abrams Communications, LLC represents to prospective customers and partners cross industries – from clean tech to financial services, enterprise logistics software to consumer products, research as well as consulting services. It’s this depth of experience that enables Lara to assist her clients in successfully developing relationships with customers and partners, whether domestic or international in scope. She brings a highly sophisticated perspective and personalized approach to executive level business development.

More About Lara
Lara has a Master’s Degree in German from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies, German Studies and Political Science from Northwestern University. A DAAD-scholarship recipient, Lara began her professional career in Germany interning with Deutsche Bank in Freiburg, while at the same time studying business management (Betriebswirtschaftslehre) in German for a year as the first American recipient of the Madison-Freiburg Sister City Partnership Post Graduate Fellowship program. She was later hired by the Managing Director of the Frankfurt, Germany offices of Leo Burnett as a key bi-lingual American hire on Leo Burnett’s team of client services advisors to client Philip Morris International, for whom she managed a range of advertising activities. She was instrumental in the launch of a Philip Morris clothing line in Austria and France, coordinated agency activities with Leo Burnett Israel, Moscow, Turkey, Dubai, and Poland, and handled execution of advertising activities across a portfolio of Philip Morris brands, spending a large part of her time on Philip Morris EEC, Formula 1, and pan-EEMA advertising promotional activities.

Lara then joined the U.S. start team of one of the first ecommerce storefront technology providers, Jena, Germany headquartered Intershop Communications, where she spent two+ years focused on executing a successful pr launch and communications strategy for the company. Following her time with Intershop, Lara joined CommerceNet , an organization known for having led business development and fund-raising efforts to seed e-commerce pilot project and test bed activities for early-stage technology companies working on e-commerce standards development and internet technologies in the ’90s. She then went on to become one of the eCommerce industry’s first technology analysts to cover online marketplaces and e-procurement technology vendors, and her familiarity with internet technologies and business models in such areas as e-procurement, Master Data Management and item master management, enterprise logistics, spend management, supplier enablement, sourcing, content management and catalog hosting and management is unusual. Her technology clients while a Senior Analyst for Aberdeen Group included companies such as Perfect and Commerce One (now Perfect.com), Ariba, Rightworks (now i2) and Calico Commerce (acquired later by PeopleSoft). While at Aberdeen, she co-authored an Aberdeen Group report “Internet Incubators: A New Value Proposition for Entrepreneurs and Investors (April, 2002, Aberdeen Group) and advised hundreds of technology vendors and executives building Internet-driven business models. Lara’s been quoted in publications such as Popular Mechanics, InfoWorld, Information Week, Red Herring, Construction.com, Internetnews.com, Darwin Magazine, Line56, and appeared on PBS’ CEOWatch. She has assessed and critiqued business plans, and provided due diligence for top tier Silicon Valley vc’s. Her last venture as an ‘employee’ was with G-Log, where she was hired by the then Chairman, and served several roles. While at G-Log, she led lead generation activities for the firm’s worldwide 3PL sales organization, developed an analyst relations program for the firm, and spent time developing a strategic partnership for the firm.

An Oregonian at heart, Lara remains true to her roots by playing an active role in clean tech, advising clean tech client companies, promoting and reviewing clean tech markets and influencers via The Abrams Clean Tech Report, with an eye to advancing the ‘influencers’ and technologies shaping cleantech in the U.S. and globally. Lara’s coverage of clean tech runs the gamut from green packaging to water technologies to smart grid and alternative energy solution providers, from policy shifts, to clean tech events, to solar, wind, biofuel and nanotechnology vendors as well as the companies that deploy such technologies. Formerly a member of the Steering Committee for the MIT Club of Northern California’s Clean Tech & Renewable Energy Entrepreneurship Program Series, Lara is currently a volunteer with the Alumni Program of the Clean Tech Open, a contributing writer for GreenerWorldMedia when the opportunity arises, and a member of the 2009 Astia Clean Tech Advisory Committee. One thing most people don’t know about Lara is that she helped spearhead a volunteer effort to bring newspaper recycling to Northwestern University’s campus while an undergrad — an effort that ultimately led the University to establish a campus-wide recycling program.

Lara can be found spending as much as her ‘off time’ as possible outdoors with her family, often cheering on her husband in his street and ice hockey matches. An avid skier, she also paints in her spare time. She and her family reside in the San Francisco Bay Area.