The Winfield team

Jim Northrop, Founder 1947-2024

In 2010, Jim Northrop founded Winfield Consulting to provide consulting services and counsel to direct to consumer, social selling, and business-to-business enterprises.

From day one, Jim led Winfield Consulting with a passion for helping people and achieving results for our clients. Jim's approach was to collaborate with management to define and articulate new directions and then work with the team to develop, sell and implement these directions within the enterprise on an urgent basis.

Our only reason for being is to achieve results for our clients. We follow our founders’ guiding principles to this day.

John Frederick, President

John transitioned to the role of President and owner in 2022 and continues Jim’s vision and legacy for the business. He offers a unique background with extensive senior level experience in both sales and financial roles. He has served in interim Senior-management and fractional Executive roles with our clients in CEO, CSO, CFO, and COO positions as well as providing general management advise and expertise on issues relevant to the client.

John enjoyed a successful career in the restaurant industry, direct to consumer, and business-to-business situations working in Corporate Finance, Business Analysis, Inventory Management, Product Marketing, and spent 20 years leading Sales organizations. His broad spectrum of experience helps to equip Winfield to add value and assist our clients in achieving bottom-line results.
Following six years with Darden Restaurants in Accounting and Information Technology, John joined Tupperware Brands in 1988 with significant accomplishments improving product-line profitability, business performance analysis, inventory reduction, strategic partnerships and as VP of Sales.
John held the position of VP of Sales for Immunotec, a Canadian nutritional direct to consumer company. He played a key role in the company's U.S., Mexico, and Caribbean market expansion, leading the sales organization and adapting the sales process to each market. His accomplishments in refining the sales process, developing sales leadership and a customized go-to-market message led to increased market penetration and bottom-line sales results.
John earned his MBA from the Crummer Graduate School at Rollins College, and a BA in Finance from the University of Central Florida. An accomplished presenter and creative thinker, John believes strongly in collaboration toward achieving results utilizing quantitative business performance analysis with a strong and compelling sales message to achieve results for all stakeholders.

Erin Bender, Consultant

Erin Bender brings a diverse foundation in consulting, technology and direct sales gained from top companies to deliver contemporary and innovative solutions that drive outcomes.
Erin's 25-year career in direct selling spans start-ups to billion-dollar global companies in both party-plan and multi-level business models. She began her career designing business systems with top-tier advisory firms. Her holistic problem-solving approach led her to working across several functional areas throughout her career. She has held leadership positions in Sales, and Marketing and has a passion for marrying digital technology, insights and consumer/sales force behaviors to deliver the value proposition and relationships that today's consumer demands in a way that fuels the direct-selling model.
After establishing a broad foundation in business consulting/advisory with Ernst & Young and Grant Thornton, Erin began her direct-selling career with BeautiControl, a Tupperware portfolio company that manufactures beauty products distributed internationally through a direct sales/party-plan model. Throughout her ten-year career with BeautiControl, Erin held a number of roles leading key Sales, Marketing and Digital teams to create consumer/field strategies that turned around declining sales going from $80M to $350+M in four years.
From 2011 to 2014, Erin held strategy positions at Thirty-One, a $750M+ direct-selling company offering organization solutions in the U.S. and Canada. She helped develop a three-year sales growth strategy based on new acquisition, market penetration and field development. She was also asked by the CEO to develop new brand/sales channels for two new business initiatives: an in-home fashion boutique concept, and a hybrid party/direct-to-consumer personal care line. For each initiative, Erin drove evolution of product offerings; conducted research/testing/refinement of the consumer value proposition; developed go-to-market sales strategies, implementation plans and associated sales P&L plans; led digital/mobile strategy initiatives; developed marketing and training collateral to support efforts from branding to field support and consumer engagement; and seeded launch with initial field/leaders.
Most recently, Erin was Vice President of Global Sales for South Hill Designs, a high-growth, early-stage direct selling company offering personalized jewelry in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Dominican Republic, and Mexico.

Chelsea Pickering, Consultant

Chelsea Pickering is a Certified Public Accountant with comprehensive experience in business analytics, direct sales compensation plan strategy, and technology product management. Her career began with Deloitte’s advisory practice in Austin, Texas, specializing in internal audit and internal control risk assessment. She transitioned from public accounting to industry when she joined the home office of a rapidly-growing direct sales jewelry and accessories company. There she led in multiple functions, ranging from accounting and finance to technology and operations.
Chelsea is skilled at providing strategic recommendations to executive leadership for direct sales compensation plan changes and other qualification-based award frameworks. She has extensive practice building dynamic, multivariable models to forecast cost and performance scenarios. She has also contributed significant enhancements to commission audits, inventory management, and key performance metric reporting. Additionally, she has assisted multiple entities with creating and implementing a technology roadmap planning process.
Chelsea holds an MS in Management Information Systems and a BA in Accounting and Business Honors from Texas A&M University, where she graduated summa cum laude. She and her husband currently reside in Washington, D.C., with their three young children.

Jim Brady, Consultant

Jim Brady supports clients in supply chain, operations and general management. He is a direct selling veteran with experience in a broad range of direct selling companies from mature global enterprises to pure start-ups. A proven global executive, Jim has successfully led operations in countries around the world—Europe, China, Australia and Mexico; he has also lived and worked in the United Kingdom and Italy.
With a track record of leading companies through difficult change, Jim has repositioned brands, improved profitably and solved significant service issues. He brings a strong operational background in Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Fulfillment, Quality Improvement and Facilities. Jim has led fast-paced, complex business changes—numerous operational and facility transitions, start-ups and enterprise restructurings.
Jim began his direct selling career with Avon Products, gaining a solid foundation and experience in fulfillment, warehouse operations, in-bound and out-bound logistics, customer care, information technology and Human Resources. Successful performance led to increased responsibility leading operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Mexico and Australia. In the 90s, he led Avon's major infrastructure changes in Kansas City, Atlanta, New York, Italy and Spain.
In 1995, Jim was hired by PartyLite Gifts to create a global supply chain capable of handling the company's significant growth. Under Jim's leadership, a strong global team was hired which created the infrastructure for PartyLite to profitably grow to $800 million in global revenues.
In the last 10 years, Jim has launched two new companies, transitioned a wholesale distributer to direct selling model and created a direct selling channel within an existing $600 million travel business.
Jim earned a BA in Mathematics from Marist College and did graduate study in Organizational Behavior at Iona College. He was a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, serving as a Salvage and Rescue Diving Officer.

Petros Hatjopoulos, Tech Consultant

Petros Hatjopoulos is a seasoned professional with deep expertise in technology and strategic marketing. With a career marked by innovative approaches to revenue scaling, he has a track record of leveraging digital solutions to drive customer engagement and business growth across various industries. Known for his adaptability and forward-thinking, Petros has successfully led marketing initiatives for startups and large enterprises, focusing on delivering data-driven insights that enhance customer experiences and maximize ROI.
In the technology domain, he brings hands-on experience in implementing cutting-edge tools and platforms, optimizing marketing operations, and enhancing product visibility. His leadership style combines technical acumen with a collaborative approach, enabling teams to achieve strategic goals while staying agile in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. Passionate about connecting technology with impactful marketing strategies, Petros continues to drive value and innovation for clients, helping them navigate and succeed in competitive markets.