Cloverleaf Leadership

John Edelmann and Jonathan Finer have been business partners for over 11 years to drive success for their clients and to continually define and develop the discipline of innovation. While they come from distinct professional backgrounds—John's experience is in the traditional marketing and agency realm, Jonathan from the world of brand strategy and product development—they share a passion for innovation and delivering incomparable client experiences.

John A. Edelmann, Co-Founder, Principal

John's 25-year work experience is rooted deep in the marketing and communication world having started his career in the agency business on the west coast and then migrated back to his hometown of Chicago where he operated an 80-person strategic marketing agency for 14 years. John was then hired to run the consulting arm of the largest independent brand marketing and design consultancy in the country, where his experience included developing the firm's consulting practice, creating several proprietary innovation processes and tools as well as helping the company's clients develop and execute brand and business strategies including strategic brand research, customer segmentation and creating a branded customer experience.

With his desire to find the perfect approach to innovation, John co-founded Cloverleaf Innovation, with the notion of creating a firm that focuses exclusively on innovating and renovating new brands, products and services. With a strong belief that through collaboration comes better innovation, he helped bring together a team of researchers, trend experts, strategists, industrial designers, graphic designers and marketers who partner to drive revolutionary new concepts for the retail, consumer, industrial and commercial sectors.

John and his wife, Julia, whom he has known since kindergarten, live in Wilmette, Illinois. They have three children: Caroline (23), Alexander (21) and Madi (18). When not working or spending time with his family, John is an enthusiastic triathlete, mountain biker, snowmobiler and offroader. He is a member of the  Chicago Land Rover Club, a Red Cross volunteer and a member of the organization's H.O.P.E. program, which taps 4WD owners for emergency rescue operations.

John received a B.S. in advertising from the University of Arizona and has completed graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin. John is an active member of Young Presidents' Organization (www.ypo.org) where he has been a member since 1997.

Jonathan Finer, Co-founder, Principal

A definitive example of the "trans-disciplinary" model, Jonathan has both excelled in, and transcended, many disciplines throughout his 25-year career: writer, product designer, graphic designer, brand strategist, consumer researcher and facilitator. His experience has touched the many aspects of the broad innovation process, and he continues to leverage that expertise in all facets of Cloverleaf engagements. Despite his diversity of talents, a strategic and creative exploration of brands and innovation has been a constant throughout Jonathan's career.

Prior to Cloverleaf, Jonathan was a co-founder of the consulting practice at the largest independent brand marketing and design consultancy in the country, and a Principal at Continuum in Boston, MA. In these roles he conceived and developed several proprietary research and innovation methodologies, and led project major brand creation, revitalization and innovation initiatives for some of the largest, most recognized brands in the world including: Con Agra, Jim Beam, Sara Lee, Kimberly-Clark, Kraft, McDonald's and SJ Johnson.

Jonathan and his wife Linda live in Evanston, Illinois with their daughter Eden (12) and son Henry (8). Beyond work and family, Jonathan—a self-avowed "indoorsman"—enjoys spending time with his duel passions of baseball and pop culture (music, literature, film). He has turned this latter interest into a creative outlet, writing two screenplays in the action-thriller genre. Ignoring the old adage "write about what you know," his latest effort details a story of "cops, prison, the military and a government conspiracy."

Jonathan received a BA in Journalism from Boston University and has completed studies in Marketing at Bentley University. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Cyrus E. Dallin Art Museum in Arlington, MA, as well as the Board of Trustees for the Waldorf School in Chicago, Illinois.

The Cloverleaf and Our Logo

Shamrocks have been considered by the Irish as good-luck symbols since the earliest times, and this superstition has persisted in modern times among people of many nationalities. What does each of the leaves on a four-leaf clover represent? According to the Irish, one leaf is for faith, the second for hope, the third for love and the fourth for luck.

For us, the four-leaf clover takes on a different meaning, reflecting the four phases in our innovation process, our proprietary LEAF™ process. The Intersections represent the on-going insights that we garner from consumers and end-users throughout our process, critical to the success of any innovation engagement.