Dr. Palmer leads the Technology & Communication Practice of SDG. He has experience in M&A and alliances, R&D strategy, capital-asset portfolio optimization, and business-unit and corporate strategy. In recent engagements, Dr. Palmer led efforts to develop an advanced-display-technology strategy for a leading high-tech firm, directed five teams in optimizing strategy for new-technology and new-application R&D projects, and helped a maker of components and semiconductors identify an acquisition target that could best meet their capability and capacity growth ambitions. Before joining SDG, Dr. Palmer worked for a software company analyzing the market for new Internet applications and performing competitive analysis. He holds a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of California at Santa Barbara and an AB in physics from Princeton University.