April 12th Post-Dinner Speaker Louise O'Sullivan Bio

Louise O’Sullivan founded Prime Advantage in 1997, following a 22-year management career in industrial manufacturing. Prime Advantage is a manufacturer's buying consortium. Prior to Prime Advantage, she was president of Groen / A Dover Industries Company, a manufacturer of commercial food service and industrial processing equipment, a position she held for more than 12 years. A former elementary school teacher, she joined Groen in 1975 as a part-time writer in their advertising department. During the next 10 years she rose rapidly through the ranks, serving as Vice-President of Sales, Marketing and Engineering immediately before being appointed President in 1985.

O’Sullivan has a distinguished history as an industry leader. She is past President of NAFEM (the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers) - a national trade association with over 700 corporate Members, and past member of the Illinois Racing Board. Louise is the 2005 winner of NAFEM’s highest honor, the William W. Carpenter Award, Louise currently serves on the boards of Taylor Capital Holdings, the parent company of Cole Taylor Bank, and The Entrepreneurial Advisory Board for the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business. She was Vice President of the University of Chicago’s Executive Program Alumni Club, and a recipient of the “Pacesetter of the Year” award for Women in Marketing.

O’Sullivan and her career are referenced in General Managers in Action, 1992, by Harvard Professor Frank Aquilar. She is also noted in Managing Corporate Ethics, published in 1994 by Oxford University Press, and in Lessons in Leadership by Charles Bernstein, 1993. In 1987, Harvard Business School published a case study on O’Sullivan and her management challenges at Groen. The study is currently in use at U.S. universities.

She holds an MBA from the University of Chicago; an MA from Northeastern Illinois University; and a BA from the College of St. Teresa in Winona, MN.