Derek Johnson is currently the Chief Executive Officer at Aurora WDC, a consulting and software agency started in 1995 and specializing in helping category leaders establish practices around strategic, market, and competitive intelligence. He joined the firm in 2003 as Director of Research, moving into the Chief Operating Officer role in 2007 and CEO since 2010.

Helping companies of all sizes understand how to most effectively staff intelligence functions, including Knowledge Management roles, is something he gets involved in regularly. Additionally, Aurora conducts organizational design and HR benchmarking work for large-cap client organizations, seeking to understand how companies must consistently address the reskilling requirements in this time of gen AI across many industries.

Derek holds an MBA from University of Wisconsin - Madison, a BBA in Finance and Economics from UW-Eau Claire, is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), and an active leader in the Council of Competitive Intelligence Fellows.

He is co-author of the book “The Missionary and The Mercenary: Right Questions, Better Future”, and will be happy to make copies of this book available for anyone attending the session.