About me

John Stratton Lobdell MBA

Owner and Manager of DSMC.

I look forward to continuing my career supporting businesses who are outgrowing their current management structure and systems. I work with small to medium businesses looking to formalize structure, plan for strategic growth and enhance team cohesion. I am open to advising and coaching individual teams within larger organizations as well with a particular focus in the utility demand side management industry.

My work as a communicator and leader has positively impacted team performance and customer satisfaction for over 20 years. I am most proud of and excited by the mentoring role I have played for the teams I worked on and the people I worked with.

With Brinker International, I managed 75+ full time employees and managers with full responsibility for a multi-million dollar P&L while consistently increasing sales year over year. I staffed and trained the teams for three new restaurant openings in NC.

During my time at All American Heating and Air, the company more than tripled in size and revenue, growing into one of the premium residential HVAC contractors in the Raleigh, NC area. This experience also set me up to qualify for an NC Mechanical license.

In 2012, my family took an opportunity to move to the Wilmington, NC area.

I dove back into the corporate world and spent 6 years with Honeywell Smart Energy (formerly Smart Grid Solutions) implementing Duke Energy Progress, Duke Energy Florida and Duke Energy Carolinas Residential Energy Efficiency Programs. During that time, I met with, supported and coached many business owners in the HVAC industry in particular. I had the privilege of introducing new sales techniques, management practices and technical approaches to residential sales and service in Eastern North Carolina. Later during my tenure with Honeywell I took over management of multiple remote teams across NC, SC and FL who were working in the field installing energy efficiency measures for low income customers.

I moved into a larger role in 2019, again managing multiple remote teams in the Energy Efficiency industry covering Commercial & Industrial as well as Residential. These high performing teams each had their own management structure and goals based on the needs of each utility client. I also managed matrix employees across marketing, IT and customer care.

Along the way I have picked up side hustles and projects. There were late nights and weekends back in the service industry bouncing at the Sand Bar Saloon on Topsail Island and managing the bar on Sundays. Jumping back into the higher education system and getting my MBA in the evenings and weekends. I also spent a few years starting up and operating a small oyster farm, navigating the minefield of standing up an LLC, licensing for commercial fishing and harvesting, marketing, and driving an old work boat. I also got the SHRM SCP certification for fun but once I found out what kind of people run the organization, I cancelled…

Since 2022 I have spent most of my time helping design and implement EE programs focused on low income communities in the southeastern US in partnership with EZ Green Home as my primary client in the industry. DSM Consulting is a member of the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance. I have also worked with clients from the financial and health care industry. Brazilian Jiujitsu has also taken up a good bit of my time at Crest. Give me a call if I can help you with your business.

Chat with me

Schedule a 30 minute call with me to see if working with DSMC can help your business.