Rachel Braun Scherl

Growth strategy consultant, marketing expert and sought-after public speaker Rachel Braun Scherl has become a trusted authority on leadership and entrepreneurship. In her 20+ years as a consultant and entrepreneur, Rachel has achieved countless gains for her clients as well as her own business, from engineering product re-positioning to regain market dominance, to providing the strategy that has secured strong customer bases for numerous startups. As co-owner and principal of SPARK Solutions for Growth, a consulting firm advising businesses on strategic growth and partnerships, product development and marketing, Rachel has built an international client base that includes multiple divisions of Johnson & Johnson, Allergan, Pfizer, Merck, Bayer and Deloitte. Her firm’s client retention rate is more than 90 percent, and clients typically retain SPARK as they move to other companies and roles.

Rachel launched SPARK with business partner Mary Wallace Jaensch as a division of their consulting firm The Jannick Group in 1998, and drove its growth for 10 years before launching her next venture. In 2008 she partnered with healthcare investment firm Quaker BioVentures to create Semprae Laboratories. As President, Rachel and her team built a company that developed and marketed sexual health and wellness products for women – literally creating a new category in the process. Semprae attracted significant media attention and industry interest, and was sold to Innovus Pharmaceuticals in 2013. Rachel then returned her attention to SPARK, re-launching the company with her longtime business partner.

Prior to launching The Jannick Group and SPARK, Rachel was a principal at the Demeter Group, where she contributed to doubling revenues in the first year of her tenure. Previously, Rachel was a principal at Marketing Corporation of America, where she served as lead consultant and project manager for Johnson & Johnson’s global OTC, pharmaceutical and consumer products, and managed strategic engagements for world-class brands including American Express and Disney. Rachel began her career with Johnson & Johnson, joining a team responsible for managing the company’s flagship TYLENOL^TM brand as part of its McNeil consumer division.

As an accomplished speaker, Rachel is often featured at leadership and entrepreneurship events at colleges, universities and conferences, including Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Duke University, The Fuqua School at Duke University, Yale School of Management, Barnard College, the S.H.E. Summit and Entrepreneurship Week. The noted entrepreneur and motivator has appeared on ABC’s Nightline, CBS News and MSNBC, and been interviewed for major platforms such as The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Forbes, AOL, The Huffington Post and CNN. Rachel writes a monthly blog for The Huffington Post, and has also written for INC. and contributed a chapter to Linda Ellis Eastman’s book The Power of Transformation: Reinventing Your Life, an anthology of insights from business leaders.

Rachel earned an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 1992 after graduating Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Duke University with a B.A. in Psychology and Human Development. She currently serves on the Duke New York Women’s Executive Board as well as the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Rachel serves on the board of Formula XO, Inc., a manufacturer and marketer of beauty products. She is an alumnus of the Wexner Heritage Program, a learning and leadership development program for volunteer leaders in North America.

In 2015, Rachel was recognized as one of Best Fifty Women in Business by NJBiz. In addition, she is the recipient of SmartCEO’s BRAVA Awards honoring top female CEOS.