Consensus Point will be showcased as one of ten of the most innovative companies currently transforming the information industry at the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) ”Information Industry Summit 2013: Breakthrough” event in New York. Consensus Point was chosen by SIIA judges to present in their “2013 Previews Competition” and will be the only software company with a prediction market platform.   SIIA is the principal trade association for software and digital content industries.

Linda Rebrovick, Consensus Point CEO, will present on January 30. “We are pleased to be recognized by the SIIA as one of the most innovative companies in the software and digital content industries in 2013.  Our proven techniques to efficiently aggregate reliable predictions from a community, combined with innovative new market research approaches, are the key to our success.” states Linda.

Consensus Point strives to transform and improve the predictive information landscape for decision makers. The ever increasing complexity of today’s markets creates a demand for simple and accurate indicators as to where consumer demands will be on the horizon. The company’s significant experience and expertise using prediction markets to extract corporate information has been equally successful in its application to consumer market research and digital content.

Our very own CEO, Linda Rebrovick recently spoke at a monthly “Women’s Entrepreneur Coffee” held at the Nashville-based Entrepreneur Center.  This informative series was created to discuss the formation and launch of high-growth women-led businesses.  Linda focused on her career:  From Intrapreneur to Entrepreneur.  She shared her business experience and valuable business resources to a group of over 30 of Nashville’s women entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Linda specifically spoke about Golden Seeds and Springboard, two exceptional global organizations providing support to women worldwide as well as to our own Consensus Point. Golden Seeds, an investment firm, maintains a dedication to delivering above market returns through the empowerment of women entrepreneurs and the people who invest in them.  Its angel network consisting of 250 men and women is the fourth largest in the US and was the third most active in terms of deals done in 2011.  Linda works closely with Golden Seeds and is honored to have Golden Seeds member, Sandra Kresch, as a member of our Board.  Golden Seeds has provided significant business expertise and a unique network.

Springboard is a company which helps women “build big businesses starting small.”  Linda recently completed one of their popular programs, a bootcamp for start-up and early stage businesses.  Over 500 women-led companies have gone through Springboard’s accelerator programs.  These women have raised more than $5.6 billion in financing, have created tens of thousands of new jobs, and generate billions of dollars in annually in revenues.  More than 80% of Springboard companies are still in business, including 10 IPOs and many that are now the technology engines of publicly traded companies.

With Forbes choosing Nashville as the eighth best city for growth in the US and the fifth most affordable city, the EC has been busier than ever.  These coffees are only one of the great resources they provide.  For information on the next coffee, go to http://entrepreneurcenter.com.

Consensus Point would like to thank all of our customers, partners, and friends for a wonderful 2011, and we are already predicting that 2012 will bring even more exciting opportunities.

2011 has been an amazing year for us at Consensus Point. We were excited to expand our team, including the addition of three outstanding managers and VPs, Lead Software Architect, Jason Vowell from Apple, VP of Development Brian Evans from FanLab and Ashton Brand Group, and Marketing Manager, Hayley Hovious from E.J. Gallo Winery. And we launched a sports public market, Football Futures, with Gannett and the Tennessean. This public facing market successfully predicted the Heisman Trophy winner days before it was announced and has successfully provided a new way for Tennessean readers to engage with the paper.

Additionally, Consensus Point won numerous awards in 2011. Of notable recognition was being named to the Nashville Post “Tech Top 25!” Our CEO Linda Rebrovick was also recognized as a Nashville Business Journal “Technology Power Leader”, one of Nashville’s most powerful women by the Nashville Post, and as a YWCA Woman of Achievement, and still found the time to do numerous interviews, including an interview on board governance with Corporate Board Member.

And our clients continue to do amazing work with prediction markets as well. We are proud to highlight the work of Logica, a leading global, UK- based consulting firm, for the 2011 results of LogicaFuturescope. This public market generated some valuable and insightful insights about the future of Cloud Computing for their clients and consultants! Please let us know if you are interested in the latest LogicaFutureScope Cloud Computing predictions.

We can truly say that 2011 has been memorable, and all of our predictions indicate that 2012 will be even better. Happy New Year!

Consensus Point is excited to announce Linda Rebrovick, our CEO and Chair, HealthStream Board Governance Committee, visited the NYSE as a guest on Corporate Board Member’s “This Week in the Boardroom“. TK Kerstetter, President, Corporate Board Member (CBM), a NYSE Euronext company, interviewed Linda on her perspectives of successful Board Governance. Other impressive and notable industry leaders who have also been guests on this premiere show with TK include Denise Morrison, President & CEO, Campbell Soup Co., Philip Lochner, Former SEC Commissioner & Current Director, and Duncan Niederauer, CEO, NYSE Euronext, among others.

Linda’s experience serving as a Director on several public boards, including HealthStream and Pinnacle Financial Partners, KPMG LLP, uniquely qualifies her to speak on this important topic. In the interview, Linda speaks briefly but passionately about her work at Consensus Point (which we love!) and discusses valuable ideas to identify qualified board candidates with diversity of thought and experience.

The diversity of board members is important—not just diversity of background and expertise—but also diversity of thought and experience that come from having a board that brings diversity of gender and race. There are many qualified candidates so the nominating committee must find and recommend the outstanding directors who meet the skills needs, bring diversity of thought, and fit within the board and company culture. For example, Linda specifically recommends the following organizations to provide qualified women candidates: Inter Organization Network (ION), Womens Busines Leaders in US Healthcare (WBL), and Women’s Corporate Directors (WCD).

At Consensus Point, we are very proud of Linda’s recent honors recognizing her efforts in our business, community and boards. Linda has been named to the Academy for Women of Achievement, YWCA; Most Powerful Women, the Nashville Post; and Power Leaders in Technology, Nashville Business Journal. And that’s just in 2011! Her track record of leadership, sound management, and good governance have doubtless added value to every board on which she’s served. We are fortunate to work with her every day to spread the word about prediction markets and are proud that her talents can now be shared with a larger audience.

Click here to watch Linda on “This Week in the Boardroom.”

Our very own Linda Rebrovick, CEO Consensus Point, recently joined John McGoldrick, Chair, Zimmer Holdings, Inc. Board of Directors, and TK Kerstetter, President, Corporate Board Member (CBM), an NYSE Euronext company, at the New York Stock Exchange for a Corporate Board Member panel. The panel focused on Board Governance and included a distinguished audience of Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) from companies, such as KPMG and Spencer Stuart. Panelists and audience members were even surprised by a pop-in visit from Duncan Niederauer, CEO of NYSE Euronext.

TK focused on interesting and timely questions to bring valuable board insight to the CMO audience and leveraged John and Linda’s many years of Board experience in Board Governance:

John McGoldrick:
John is the Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Zimmer Holdings, Inc. a healthcare company that specializes in medical appliances & equipment. He is also among the early developers of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative that has done a ton of good in Africa, and John still serves as a special advisor to that organization. Previously, he served as EVP and general counsel for the Bristol Myers Squibb Co.

Linda Rebrovick:
Linda serves on the Board and is the Chair of the Nominating and Governance committee of Healthstream, Inc., the leading provider of learning and research solutions for the healthcare industry. Linda previously held the position of Chief Marketing Officer, BearingPoint, Inc. and currently is the CEO for Consensus Point, Inc.

Panel questions on Board Governance included:

• How has the process of serving on a board changed over the last 5 years since Sarbanes Oxley has been in place, board roles are redefined, and the new era of shareholder activists and transparency in the boardroom.
• How are boards more involved today in major strategic, technological, and financial decisions?
• One of the developments over the last 5 years has also been the development of committees, where today a lot of the board work is done, and the need for specific skills and diversity of thought on boards. How do you, as Board Chair and Chair, Governance Committee, go about building the right board with the right skill sets?

Stay tuned for answers and more, coming in an exciting forum next week!

The Nashville Business Journal has just announced their Power Leaders in Technology, and we were honored that our CEO Linda Rebrovick was named to the group.

Here’s who the Power Leaders in Technology are:

Some are entrepreneurs, and others run large IT departments at major companies in town. Others are venture capitalists and financiers looking to back the next big idea. The common theme is that all are helping grow Nashville’s tech community.

Linda can’t help but be pleased and excited with the recognition she’s been receiving as a leader, but she wants to keep peoples’ focus on the future. With Consensus Point, you can know what’s coming. Just ask us.

2011 has been an exciting year for Consensus Point, and we are pleased to have received more wonderful news. Our CEO, Linda Rebrovick, has been chosen as one of seven inductees into the 2011 Academy for Women of Achievement. The Academy honors women who, through excellence and leadership in their chosen fields, serve as role models for other women. We at Consensus Point are extremely proud of Linda for having achieved so much in the traditionally male-dominated software industry.

Linda will be honored at the 20th annual Academy for Women of Achievement celebration and induction dinner, presented by YWCA of Nashville & Middle Tennessee and First Tennessee, to be held Tuesday, Oct. 25.

We were pleased to see Linda recently featured in a video interview series hosted by Dean Turney Stevens of the College of Business at Lipscomb University.

Dean Turney Stevens talks with Linda Rebrovick, CEO of Consensus Point, LLC, about prediction markets and how her new business helps clients harness the “wisdom of the crowds” to predict the future.

Mrs. Rebrovick is the Chief Executive Officer at Consensus Point and brings 32 years of executive experience and expertise leading information technology consulting, marketing and sales organizations. At Consensus Point, she is primarily responsible for providing the strategic direction for all business areas and for the overall success of the company.

Mrs. Rebrovick formerly served as VP, Dell Healthcare Sales, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer, BearingPoint, EVP and National Managing Partner, KPMG Consulting and Business Unit Executive, IBM.

She possesses a broad general management background including healthcare, manufacturing, retail and distribution industries. Mrs. Rebrovick’s success has led her to serve on a number of boards, including HealthStream, the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, Governor Philip Bredesen’s eHealth Advisory Council, and formerly Pinnacle Financial Partners Board and the KPMG LLP Board. Mrs. Rebrovick is a graduate of Leadership Nashville and former chair of the Nashville Technology Council Board.

She received her bachelor’s degree from the College of Business at Auburn University and was recognized as one of Auburn University’s top 400 women graduates in the past 100 years.

A few months ago, we posted on our Facebook page about our CEO Linda Rebrovick being honored by being named to CABLE’s 2010 Board Walk of Fame. We were pleasantly surprised to see Linda featured in comprehensive coverage [PDF] of the issue of women on corporate board’s in the July/August edition of Nashville Post.

Earlier this year, Nashville-based health care learning and research company HealthStream announced that Jim Daniell, one of its board members and one of the company’s earliest clients, would not stand for re-election to the board. At press time, HealthStream’s search to replace him was ongoing.

HealthStream has a female board director in Linda Rebrovick, a longtime IBM executive, KPMG partner and currently CEO of Consensus Point, an innovator in enterprise prediction market software serving the red-hot forecasting sector. Rebrovick’s connection to CABLE and other organizations positioned her well to help HealthStream’s board identify qualified female candidates—and she was only too happy to do so. With the new SEC regulations in place requiring that boards disclose efforts to nominate a diverse pool for open board seats, it was no doubt welcome information to the otherwise all male HealthStream board.

HealthStream CEO Bobby Frist expresses a strong desire to increase diversity on his board, in part by citing statistics that show a high correlation between board diversity and the performance of a company.

“We subscribe to that notion as a full board and as individual board members,” Frist says. “The candidate pool we’ve recently created exhibits a diversity of experience and background and thought.”

Frist says there have been “huge advances” in recent times in bringing qualified diverse candidates to the light, in no small part because of organizations like CABLE, ION and others that have ramped up efforts to organize resources in such a way that board searches can achieve greater diversity.

In part due to HealthStream’s success in its current search, Frist scoffs at the notion that there are not enough qualified diverse candidates to sit on boards.

“For me, that perspective also has a lot to do with what companies mean by being quali- fied, because you can be a student of business in many ways. You don’t have to have been involved in a big company. That, to me, doesn’t make you the best-qualified candidate. So there may be some problem in the way people are defining their qualifications that would open up the definition to more candidates if they thought of it slightly differently.”

While Frist agrees that the gears have moved “very slowly” in regard to corporate board diversification, he believes the overlay of increased SEC disclosure requirements, greater awareness and more education will result in a more rapid pace of change in the next three to five years than in the last few.

“With any major push like this, education comes first,” Frist says. “Change will follow.” That’s no guarantee that HealthStream will choose a diverse candidate in its current search. Nor should there be. “The key is to have a good and diverse candidate pool, and I’m confident we have achieved that,” Frist says. “But the number one priority is selecting the most qualified candidate from the broadest qualified pool. Think of it in those two ways, and I’m confident we’ll get the right person.”

There’s also a brief interview with Linda:

What can women do to improve the situation?

Women can make it known that they are interested. Much of it is just putting yourself in the candidate pool. Second, be sure that you have a development plan. Sit on a nonprofit board. A private company board. Work your way up. Attend a corporate board member event. Get a mentor, someone on a corporate board, to guide you through the type of development you need to become more prepared. Try to get in a position in your company where you are managing a P&L, because financial expertise is really important.

What can companies do?

Companies need to decide that diversity is a qualification that is a priority in their searches and then they need to tap into CABLE or ION [or other outlets] and identify candidates. Clearly, they’ll be very impressed if they take the initiative, make it a commitment and go find these resources.

Thanks to Nashville Post for covering this issue, and thanks to Linda for being a great leader!

We’ve been reading Harvard Business Review blogger and MIT Center for Digital Business researcher Andrew McAfee’s excellent book, Enterprise 2.0, which is full of valuable lessons for the enterprise, including that prediction markets are a very useful collaborative tool.

For instance, here’s an interesting discovery from the Google Prediction Markets, originally proposed internally in December 2004:

Analyses … revealed that at every point in time, even as much as ten weeks away from the closing date of the market, the most expensive outcome was the one most likely to actually occur. It seemed that GPM’s markets, in other words, could quickly and accurately distinguish among possible outcomes, identify the one most likely to occur, and attach a high price to that outcome.

This is exactly what our Foresight platform does on a regular basis for our customers.

Regular readers might remember a few months back when we cross-posted one of his posts from the Harvard Business Review blog. You might also recall when we posted a presentation that Linda Rebrovick (our CEO) gave in Chicago at the Prediction Markets Cluster conference in Chicago last November.

Linda noted the following best practice examples in her presentation:

• integrate into enterprise processes
• nurture executive sponsorship
• go big or go home
• make accessible to all
• customize to your business
• make it part of your value proposition

We were struck how similar these examples were to the Six Organizational Strategies identified by McAfee:

• Determine Desired Results
• Prepare for the Long Haul
• Communicate, Educate, and Evangelize
• Move into the Flow
• Measure Progress, not ROI
• Show That Enterprise 2.0 Is Valued

Coming back to the commentary on GPM, McAfee continues:

Google’s prediction markets shared with all markets a fundamental property: the ability to generate highly valuable information by bringing people together who have little or nothing in common.

Okay, we don’t actually know how different Linda and Andrew are, but we’re pleased that our executive leadership understood key lessons before an interested commentator went to press with his book. It’s almost… predictive.