James E. Dion

Jim Dion, founder and president of Dionco Inc., Chicago is an internationally known consultant, keynote speaker, trainer, and author of the best-sellers   Retail Selling Ain’t Brain Surgery, It’s Twice As Hard and  Start and Run a Retail Business.

Jim consults, trains and speaks on retail technology, retail selling and service, retail  merchandising and operations, marketing and consumer trends.  

Jim's educational background - a BS, MS in Psychology at the Chicago State University and attended Illinois Institute of Technology where he worked on his Ph.D. (abd) in Industrial Psychology - combined  with 25 years of progressive retail  experience working at Sears, Levi Strauss and Gilmore Department Stores, make him one of the most sought after consultants and speakers in the US and overseas.

As a consultant, he has helped hundreds of retailers reposition their business. A PC expert and a Microsoft Developer, Jim has also conducted major retail system installs and numerous POS installs at retailers nationwide. He also studies and evaluates new retail POS, EDI, merchandising systems and relationship marketing software.

Jim's speaking and training practice include hundreds of workshops, seminars, and keynote speeches every year for some of the largest companies in the US and overseas. Companies like Microsoft, Maytag, Vestel (Turkey), IBM, Honey-Baked Ham Company, Harley-Davidson, Ritz-Carlton and more have all benefited from Jim's insights on retail selling, merchandising, technology, and consumer trends. Jim is also a frequent speaker for leading associations including, the National Retail Federation, the Association of Golf Merchandisers, Narta (Australia), National Shoe Retailers Association, National Sporting Goods Association and many more. He is a faculty member in the MBA program at Harley-Davidson University.

Jim has appeared on NBC, Fox News, and CNN Turkey.

He was also a judge for the Microsoft© Retail Developer Awards as well as for CIO Magazine Top 100