Gunilla Luthra – President & Managing Partner

Gunilla has 20 years+ of marketing research, project management and financial analysis experience at companies such as Microsoft, Ericsson, Gambro group, and Boliden. Prior to founding Vega Consulting in 2003, she was a Research Manager at Microsoft focusing primarily on customer satisfaction and loyalty research. Gunilla was part of the Global Relationship Study (GRS) team, which runs one of the most extensive tracking studies conducted at Microsoft, touching 50,000+ customers and partners each wave. Before joining Microsoft she worked at Ericsson’s headquarters in Stockholm as a financial controller for their PRC, Hong Kong, and Macau operations, including frequent travelling to the region to oversee internal systems and processes. Gunilla has an MBA from SDA Bocconi in Milan, Italy, and received a B.A. in Business Administration and Marketing from the University of Lund, Sweden. She lives in Bellevue, WA with her husband and three children. In her spare time she enjoys reading, golfing, skiing, and sailing.

Vidur Luthra – Managing Partner

Vidur has nearly 18 years of marketing, strategy, product management and management consulting experience at companies such as Microsoft, Accenture and the TATA group. Before Vega Consulting, he was Director of Product Management and Marketing for Windows Live Suite and Live.com. Prior to which, he led the MSN.com Go to Market efforts for MSN.com home page and all its channels including shopping, travel and music. Prior to that, Vidur developed long term product and business strategies and investments to grow the Windows client revenues in the fast growing BRIC (Brazil-Russia-India-China) countries as Director of Emerging Markets. Before that, Vidur was responsible for enterprise marketing and partner marketing for the Pocket PC, Handheld PC and the Windows Mobile Smartphone. At Accenture Consulting, Vidur lead teams for strategy, systems implementation, supply chain management and re-engineering. Vidur is also co-owner of Resultrix, a leading provider of digital marketing services including SEM, SEO and website analytics. Vidurs education includes: B.S. in Engineering – Computer Science, BITS Pilani University; Masters in Economics, BITS Pilani University; MBA, Cornell University. Vidur lives in Bellevue, WA with his wife, three children and a dog. In his spare time, he likes to golf, workout, play with his kids and watch movies.

John Pope – Principal

John has more than 20 years of product management, marketing, strategy, and consulting experience in the banking, software, and online services industries at companies such as Fleet National Bank, Microsoft, and Expedia, as well as two start-ups. John has created and promoted successful new services in the online travel, media, and software markets and has extensive experience with online product management, marketing and business models. Before joining Vega in 2008, John was the VP of Marketing at TripHub Inc., a travel start up. There, he led business and product strategy, marketing execution, and business development. Prior to that, John led the business and product planning efforts for MSN’s content strategy helping capture $1BN in annual display advertising revenue. In prior roles, John held lead product management and marketing positions for My MSN, .Net Services, and Microsoft Passport. John was an early member of the Expedia business team where he co-developed and grew the vacation, cruise, and adventure travel businesses. John received his B.A in Psychology, from Bowdoin College. He lives in Kirkland, WA with his wife and two children. When he isn’t working, John enjoys spending time with his family, boating, photography, and skiing.

Steve Hoke – Principal

Steve has more than 30 years of vendor management, outsourcing, strategy, project management and consulting experience in the aerospace, software, and customer service industries at companies such as Boeing, Microsoft and Hyper Quality (a startup). He has extensive international business experience in Europe and Asia and lived and worked in Sydney Australia for a year. Most recently Steve established a successful consulting company, The Develin Group. Develin provided outsourcing strategy, vendor management, project and program management services. Develin merged with Vega in July of 2010. In prior roles, Steve held management positions in domestic and International operations at Boeing and Microsoft. He was the Operations VP for Hyper Quality, a startup that offered call center quality assurance services.

Steve received his B.A in Economics, from The University of Washington. He lives in Kirkland, WA with his wife and two children. When he isn’t working, Steve enjoys spending time with his family, playing and building guitars and cooking.

Mary Meucci – Principal

Mary brings Vega Consulting over 20 years of knowledge of the technology industry. Her experience ranges from the sales and marketing of education programs to the development of content management systems. Her projects include working with educators worldwide on education reform, as well as creating large, content-based marketing websites for educators and software developers, and devising marketing, communications and branding campaigns.

Most recently, Mary has worked as the program manager for the Microsoft Innovative Schools Program. Prior to Meucci & Company, Mary was vice president of marketing with RainCity Technology Group. Previously, as a Microsoft employee, Mary’s roles included Web producer, marketing manager and business development manager. Mary holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in marketing from Gonzaga University.

Mark Chestnut – Principal

Mark brings 20+ years of experience in sales, marketing, business development, product management and consulting with companies such as Microsoft, HP and HCL Technologies. Prior to joining Vega, Mark was AVP, Engineering and R&D Services, for HCL Technologies, a global IT services company with over 85,000 employees, where he managed the overall relationship with Microsoft. Before HCL , he was Senior VP of Sales for Laplink Software, where he led worldwide sales and business development and drove a 3x increase in revenue over a 4 year period.

Mark previously held a number of leadership positions with Microsoft, including 4 years as General Manager of worldwide business development and marketing for Microsoft’s OEM channel, and 3 years as General Manager, Communications Sector, where he led sales and business development for Microsoft’s network service provider channel. He previously served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Northwest Nexus, which was acquired by Winstar Communications in 1998 after becoming the largest independent Internet Service Provider in the Pacific Northwest. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Pinnacle Publishing, a leading provider of software tools and information products for software developers.

Christopher Knox – Principal

Christopher Knox is an accomplished business maverick with over 16 years of diverse experience in sales, recruiting and business development.  Christopher has handled a broad range of business clients by building highly functioning teams in several industries including project management, marketing, sales pricing and licensing, and financing.  With his keen problem solving abilities, he has accomplished business goals for major companies like Daewoo Motor America, K-Mart, and Microsoft.

Prior to Vega, Christopher founded Holler Tree Consulting, an IT start-up and successfully grew it to over 2 million annual revenue and employing over 30 individuals focusing in numerous areas in a number of large corporations.  He has also worked professionally in several Fortune 500 companies, technology startups, and in the Arts.

He is a prolific songwriter and performing artist achieving international airplay with Starbucks Hear Music, BBC Canada, and XM Radio.  He graduated with Honors in Business Administration Degree from University of Plymouth in Southwest England, UK.