A conversation with Dave Lesser of The Simon Group

He has an engineering degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon.

After college, he spent three years as a product engineer with AT&T before earning his MBA, and then spent another six years at the company in product management. He also worked 10 years as director of marketing with Enersys.

He has been with The Simon Group since 2000.

Outside of work he enjoys biking, hiking, reading, and watching and playing sports.

He lives with his wife in Exeter Township, Berks County.

LVB: What have been some of the most notable projects that The Simon Group has completed on a local level? Do you work solely in the region, or do you expand into other markets nationally and/or globally?

Dave Lesser: Most notably for local involvement, we’ve worked with Lehigh Valley Martial Arts on a variety of things, such as their website, various promotional campaigns and social media content. However, most of our business is global, with clients ranging from Germany to California. Our focus is more on industry than a specific region, since we’re primarily a business-to-business firm. Over the years, we’ve worked on projects with local companies, though, including Orbit Radiant Heating, Woodstream and PSG Controls.

LVB: How does The Simon Group directly stimulate the local economy? How does it get involved with the local community?

Lesser: We source our talent as local as we can, from freelance and contract services to employees and partners. We have a great talent pool to draw from right here in the Lehigh Valley.

LVB: Technology has had a significant impact on the way business is conducted in today’s world. What are some popular trends or tactics in regard to social media and other technological platforms that help companies generate business?

Lesser: There’s a continuing transition in how people communicate and receive information. It wasn’t so long ago we were talking about moving from print media to desktop computers, and desktops to laptops or tablets. Now smart phones do just about anything in the palm of your hand, and can serve as a primary communications device for everything. It’s a continuing challenge on finding the best way to reach a client’s target audience, especially for our business-to-business clients that still rely on communicating detailed information that does not translate well onto a small screen.

LVB: What is your guiding philosophy as a business leader?

Lesser: Treat customers like royalty and employees like family, and the profits will come – because if it isn’t fun, it is not worth doing.

LVB: If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be?

Lesser: Technology has taken the personalization out of our industry. I’d love to get that back – a handshake beats an email or text any day of the week.