Diane M. Meister founded Meridian Associates Inc. in 1987, and has been President of the firm since then. During the course of a 25-year career in corporate strategy and marketing consulting, Diane has partnered with chief executive officers and business unit managers to define and refine the strategic direction of their organizations.

Prior to founding MAI, Diane spent over a decade managing relationships with a total of 16 Fortune 500 clients at Leo Burnett Company, and then Young & Rubicam Inc. She used these experiences as a benchmark in honing the proprietary processes now used by Meridian Associates in working with middle-market company CEOs and senior executives. Since founding Meridian, Diane has sold and either managed or participated in completion of 129 engagements for 26 middle-market client firms.

Diane holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Executive Program, at Northwestern University, and a Bachelor of Business from Western Illinois University. She is a founding member and past chair of the Kellogg Alumni Club Entrepreneurship Network, and was appointed to the Kellogg Alumni Club of Chicago’s Advisory Board in 1999. She is also a past board member of the Chicago chapter of the Strategic Leadership Forum, and has been a guest lecturer on strategic planning at Northwestern University.

In forming Meridian Associates, Diane assembled a team of experienced practitioners each with distinct industry backgrounds and functional area expertise. Our consultants each have, on average, 25 years’ experience in corporate growth disciplines. Members of our core Team include: