5/ Contributors

SageCircle strategists Dave Eckert and Carter Lusher have an unparalleled perspective on the “analyst game” because of their nearly four decades of experience with the analysts including as an end-user client, an award winning Gartner analyst, researcher of AR and the analysts, and as an AR executive and practitioner. Carter is on the left and Dave is on the right. Click on any picture to enlarge. 

Carter Lusher - A unique 360 degree view of the analysts  

Carter is a strategist and co-founder of SageCircle.  Carter brings to SageCircle’s clients unparalleled 18 year perspective on the “analyst game,” including three years as an end-user client, seven years as a top analyst, four years researching AR and the analysts and four years as an AR executive.  

Carter’s first experience with the IT analysts was as a three year end-user client of Gartner’s PC Service while a senior strategic technology analyst at CUNA Mutual Insurance.  It was during this time that Carter served on Gartner PC Service’s User Advisory Board.  This experience became the springboard for Carter joining Gartner.  During Carter’s seven-year tenure with the Gartner, he was one of the research firm’s most visible and well-respected analysts, twice winning “Analyst of the Year” awards, launching the top new research service and was in the charter class of Gartner Research Fellows.  After Gartner, Carter was a co-founder of the original SageCircle, then and now the leading AR research, training and advisory firm.  At SageCircle, he established a research methodology focusing on analyst relations, research users and the analysts themselves.  

Most recently Carter was the Director of Corporate AR at HP.  The time at HP rounded out his 360 degree view of the analysts by providing “real world” experience, both successes and failures, that help inform his perspective today. 

Carter is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin’s School of Business and is based in Palo Alto, California

Dave Eckert - An educator with practical AR experience 

Dave is a practical educator and co-founder of SageCircle.  Dave brings to SageCircle’s clients over 20 years of experience working with analysts.  As a research consumer for Westinghouse and Novell he obtained analysts insights, as an AR manger for Novell, Openwave, and HP he educated and influenced analysts, and as the trainer and content manager for the first SageCircle he provided clients with practical experience on how to best work with the IT analyst community.  His real-world insights provide AR teams a balance between lofty AR plans and the reality of budget and time constraints to result in an influencer program that generates results.

Dave has an M.Ed from Indiana University and has taught at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh.  He is currently based in Porland, Oregon.