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Frank Schell is a business management consultant specializing in corporate strategy. His established methodology reviews and assesses, for example, business definition and drivers, demand and the environment, competition, core competencies and limitations, operating and strategic initiatives, strategy definition and communication, and integration with a budget process to allocate resources.

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Frank is presently engaged on a clean energy initiative with international scope.  The project is now a private sector venture undertaken by Volta Energy Technologies, LLC, directed by former senior officials of Argonne National Laboratory, and focused on identifying or creating the best model to invest in and commercialize emerging energy storage technologies, including derivatives of Lithium ion and next generation chemistry.

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Volta’s corporate partners include Exelon Corporation, America’s leading energy provider; Albemarle Corporation, the nation’s leader in lithium chemistry; Equinor, Norway's energy company; and Hanon Systems of South Korea, an energy management firm.  Frank’s current advisory role with Volta includes the evaluation of international opportunities, assessment of potential partners, and corporate development. He also served as a consultant for Argonne National Laboratory on a Department of Energy funded project that explored how businesses and national laboratories could work together to de-risk technology.  Engaged in 2015, Frank was initially a consultant to Argonne, providing advice and guidance on the business and strategic needs of industry.   

 

Previously he was an Independent Senior Consultant for Charles River Associates in the strategy and enterprise risk management practices focused on financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies.  Consulting analytics included, for example, allocation of capital based upon core focus, risk, and economic return.

 

Most of his earlier career was in corporate and institutional banking. He was Senior Vice President of the First National Bank of Chicago and successors with global P & L responsibility.  Much of his strategic work involved developing and positioning the cross-border financing and international treasury capabilities of the Bank. One of his initial assignments was in corporate planning, working with a leading industry consulting firm on business performance, strategy development, and M & A analysis. He was the executive sponsor of various reengineering and technology projects to enhance business capabilities and reduce operating risk. In his last banking position, he was managing director of the PrivateBank, a unit of PrivateBancorp, Inc.

 

Frank was also Assistant Treasurer of Ford Aerospace & Communications Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Company and an aerospace/defense contractor. An officer of the firm, he was engaged in risk management and international project finance, and strengthening the role of corporate treasury to support the company’s objectives.

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