About Chanute Consulting Group

Chanute Consulting Group was founded in 2012 to provide clients with solutions for achieving their growth goals through Strategies, Business Models, and Products that create meaningful differentiation in the marketplace, driving business results.

CCG has worked with clients in North America and Asia ranging from startups to multi-billion dollar corporations. Client industries include: Aerospace, Consumer Products, Drones, Education, Insurance & Financial Services, Lighting, Manufacturing, and Mobility Solutions.

CCG Projects Have Included:

Facilitating Corporate Strategic Planning
Creating pop-up innovation teams to design, develop, and prototype new product concepts without requiring resources from the client
Development of strategies for adopting new technologies to achieve competitive advantages

Strategic financial modeling to drive decision making and selection of appropriate business models
Assessment of organizational structures in the context of strategic goals, to align structure and strategy
Interim executive roles to augment leadership teams during times of transformation

Eric Bartsch

Announcing the first formation electric flight team at AirVenture 2013

Eric and Erik Lindbergh at his first electric-powered flight

Supporting the Embry-Riddle electric aviation program

Eric Bartsch is President and Founder of Chanute Consulting Group. After earning a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado, and an MS from the University of Illinois, Eric started his career at Procter & Gamble in innovative product development. He built the Design for Manufacturing Center at Procter & Gamble as well as the electromechanical device team responsible for a portfolio of new product launches.

After his experience at Procter & Gamble, Eric spent ten years in executive-level roles inside Newell Rubbermaid and Horizon Hobby. During this time, he built the product development team at the Calphalon division of Newell Rubbermaid, delivering a series of award-winning products to the gourmet kitchenwares market. At Horizon Hobby, he held roles encompassing both Product Development and General Management, leading this division through a period of significant sales growth during a global economic recession. Eric also joined Generation Brands, one of his consulting clients, as EVP of Product, managing Product Management and Product Development across six leading brands in the lighting market. The teams Eric has led have launched billions of dollars of innovative new products into a wide variety of consumer markets.

Within the aerospace market, Eric has been involved in the emergence of electric propulsion technologies, as they have significantly impacted both the drone and manned flight sectors including:

Partnering with Erik Lindbergh as co-founder and COO of Powering Imagination, an organization focused on advocacy for quiet, clean electric flight
Working with multiple drone programs on efficient VTOL electric platforms for imaging and transportation
Developing business models for commercializing drones in the insurance industry to accelerate response time and reduce cost for imaging

Leading the product development team at Horizon Hobby responsible for creating and manufacturing millions of small-scale electric aircraft and helicopters
Acting as interim General Manager for one of the leading manned electric flight programs and fielding the first ever formation electric flight team at the Airventure 2013 show

Gaining personal experience as a pilot of one of the early electric-powered manned aircraft
Co-chairing the 2015 Electric Flight Symposium at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, WA

Eric is also a commercially licensed pilot, and he lives in Wilmette, IL with his family. In addition to forming CCG, he is working with entrepreneurs and students to build the next generation of innovation leaders. He holds nineteen patents with many more issued to the teams he has led.

Our Namesake

Wright Flyer

Octave Chanute Glider

Eric Bartsch and
Wright Model B

Octave Chanute (1832 – 1910) started his career in engineering, applying his innovative approaches to the railroad industry. Later in his career, he took on an interest in the growing field of aviation and he was one of the leading voices in the development of manned flight. Chanute collaborated with and supported aviation pioneers including: Voisin, Bleriot, Dumont, and the Wright brothers. In many ways, he was the consultant behind the scenes, who enabled the pioneers of aviation to be successful. Octave Chanute is also the namesake of the now decommissioned Chanute Air Force Base located north of Champaign, IL.