What began as a hobby reviewing beard care products on YouTube grew into a passion project, and eventually into Fable Beard Co.—launched by Megan ("The Princess") and her husband and co-founder, Collin Gray ("The Wizard"), out of a desire to create products that actually smelled great. The couple later expanded into Fable Beauty, blending the masculine and feminine sides of their storytelling-driven approach. Megan has since built Fable Beard Co. into a nationally recognized brand featured in Forbes, Inc. 500, The Tamron Hall Show and the AskMen Annual Grooming Awards.

Prior to joining the NBME, Dr. Katsufrakis’s positions included associate dean for student affairs and associate professor of clinical family medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, where he received several teaching and outstanding service awards for his work. He has also served as a clinical associate professor of family and community medicine, at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University.

Dr. Katsufrakis is licensed to practice medicine in Pennsylvania and is a diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine. He is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians and has served many organizations as a member, including the International AIDS Society, the American Academy of HIV Medicine, and the Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Student Affairs in many roles on committees and task forces.

Passionate about helping people reduce financial stress and live healthier financial lives, Etinosa brings over a decade of experience working across the U.S., Australia, Africa, and the U.K.

She has shaped financial wellbeing, engagement, and customer behavior strategies for global financial institutions, private businesses, and venture-backed startups.

Her work has been featured in MarketWatch, Morningstar, and other leading platforms, highlighting her focus on how behavior drives healthier financial outcomes.

Etinosa is the author of How to Talk to Your Parents About Money, a guide to navigating complex financial conversations.

What he brings to the table is a rare blend of private equity acumen, operational rigor, and commercial instinct. He builds strong leadership teams, installs KPI-driven cultures, and creates structures that scale with precision. From due diligence to exit readiness, he aligns strategy with execution, driving profitability, expanding markets, and reducing risk. He operates with urgency, accountability, and a relentless focus on value creation.

Over the years, Paul has scaled businesses from the ground up, launching new divisions, expanding across the U.S., Canada, and international markets, and building distributed workforces of 300+ technicians. He has driven 35% revenue CAGR and 110% EBITDA growth, transforming operational performance and positioning companies for successful exits. He has secured tier-1 OEM partnerships, negotiated MSAs, and led high-value projects exceeding $20M while building diversified, resilient customer portfolios. From sourcing more than 100 acquisition targets and supporting approximately $3B in transaction value to executing value creation plans targeting 4X returns, his experience spans the full investment lifecycle. He has improved margins, reduced the cost of poor quality, implemented Lean 6S practices, and built safety cultures, achieving 0 recordables, consistently delivering measurable, repeatable results. His previous experience across Johnson Controls, Siemens, and AWC has further sharpened his leadership approach, strengthening his ability to scale operations, build high-performing teams, and drive consistent enterprise-level impact.

What matters most to Paul is building businesses that endure and teams that win long after the strategy is set. He measures success not just by growth, but by the legacy of performance, discipline, and leadership he leaves behind.

As the voice of the business community, Laura advocates for pro-business policies at the local, state, and federal levels through a range of initiatives including hosting elected officials, convening roundtable policy discussions with community partners, and authoring sign-on letters and letters of support for members seeking government funding. She drives strategic efforts focused on economic growth, workforce development, and public policy engagement, while leading the Chamber's work to attract and retain member businesses through value-driven engagement and impactful networking opportunities.

Laura oversees the Chamber's $800,000+ budget, revenue streams, and day-to-day operations with a focus on long-term sustainability and organizational excellence. Under her leadership, the Chamber produces 50+ annual events spanning high-profile convenings, leadership programs, and economic initiatives that support business leaders and advance workforce development. Her impact is reflected in the numbers: from 2022 to 2023, event attendance grew 105% and new membership increased 106% — momentum that carried into 2024 with 150 new members welcomed to the organization.

Manion most recently served as a Manager for the Great Lakes Regional Office for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In this role, she cultivated legislative, political, media, and grassroots resources throughout Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania to further the chamber’s public policy goals.

She also helped lead the chamber’s efforts to strengthen its relationships with members of Congress through member businesses, associations, and local and state chambers of commerce across the region. Her policy portfolio at the U.S. Chamber focused on small business, workforce, and education.  

Prior to joining the U.S. Chamber, Manion was the Assistant Director of Government Affairs and Community Relations at Villanova University. She handled all local matters pertaining to the university, working closely with county and township officials and business associations and chambers, as well as the university’s neighbors. 

Manion hopes that she can take experience from the different roles in her career to strengthen her connections within the community and further the mission of the chamber.

“The pandemic showed the vital role that chambers of commerce play in their community,” she said. “We are a resource, rich with information and connections to benefit our member businesses. I look forward to working with the chamber’s board, volunteers, staff, and members to continue to grow and expand the organization. As a lifelong Chester County resident, it’s humbling and exciting to be tapped for this position.” 

Manion graduated from Franklin & Marshall College in 2013 with a degree in Government and holds an MPA from West Chester University.

In 2018, City & State PA presented her with its Above and Beyond Award, which recognizes 25 exceptional women from Pennsylvania for their accomplishments across various sectors, including politics, healthcare, education, and nonprofits.

Tank formerly led the multi-billion dollar Home Depot Installation Services and Home Depot Measurement Services businesses for The Home Depot (NYSE: HD), the world’s largest home improvement retailer with $132 billion in sales and 500,000 employees. During her tenure, Tank led the exit of four unprofitable lines of business and returned the remaining businesses to double-digit growth while strengthening the organization’s culture, talent bench and innovation pipeline.

Dedicated to the intersection of business and positive impact on society, Tank has repeatedly authored large-scale movements across enterprises like General Electric, HEINEKEN and The Home Depot including launching a quarter-of-a-billion-dollar commitment to veteran housing and a $50 million shop class program that is infusing 20,000 skilled tradespeople into the US economy.

Before joining The Home Depot, Tank was a Senior Vice President for HEINEKEN USA @StaceyTank Stacey.M.Tank@gmail.com (AMS: HEIA), the leading importer of upscale beers in the US. Tank reported to thenCEO Dolf van den Brink and as part of the company’s management team, navigated a difficult and successful turnaround period.

Previously, from 2002 to 2011, Tank worked at General Electric (NYSE: GE), where she held a variety of global finance, audit, communications and marketing roles across GE Healthcare, NBC Universal, GE Capital, GE Energy, GE Aviation and GE Corporate (including GE’s Communications Leadership Development Program and Corporate Audit Staff) in countries including Mexico, Brazil, Germany, the UK, France, Canada and the US.

Tank is the founder of Our Happy Place (OurHappy.org), a 501(c)3 non-profit serving children, educators and families navigating childhood mental wellness. She also sits on the board, audit and compliance committees for Blackstone-owned Interior Logic Group, the leading US installer of interior finishes for new home construction.

Tank previously sat on the boards of the Heineken Africa Foundation, American Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands, Woodruff Arts Center (nominating and governance chair), Serenbe Playhouse, Ad Council, Home Depot Foundation (former president), Homer Fund, Bright Pink (executive board), Academy for Systems Change (finance committee), Arthur W. Page Society (digital committee), Westchester Business Council, Beer Institute, Institute for Public Relations and Subrosa (sold in late 2017). She is the former vice chairwoman of the National Association of Beverage Importers and the former chairwoman of the Heineken Good Government Fund.

Tank is a 2020 World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (YGL), a 2019 Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a 2014 Academy for Systems Change Fellow.

She graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School and Whitman School of Management where she was recognized as a University Scholar, the university’s highest academic honor. Tank has been married for nearly 20 years and has three sons, two human and one canine.

Jeff's tenure as CEO at Crafts Technology includes forming an ESOP to purchase crafts from private ownership. Jeff's education includes an A.S. in manufacturing engineering technology and a Bachelor of Manufacturing Management from the University of Minnesota. He's now working on his master's degree.

Jeff is the father of two wonderful daughters, both of whom are now attending college. His hobbies include traveling, skiing, rollerblading, mountain biking, running, and he's a PADI-certified rescue diver.

Prior to FranBridge, Jon was the President of ShelfGenie, a national franchise system with 200 locations. Before he began his franchising career with ShelfGenie, Jon spent 15 years in the corporate world, most recently as the Vice President of Sales for Carter’s Inc., responsible for over $350M in annual sales. Jon began his career as a Consultant with Accenture, often working internationally on behalf of clients. Jon serves on the Board of the Entrepreneurs Organization and is active in supporting charitable organizations, including Growing Leaders and Hope International. Jon has BBA and MBA degrees from the University of Georgia and lives in Atlanta, where he and his wife, Jenny, have 3 children and are very active in the community.

Patrick went to Central Michigan University, graduating in 1993 with a BSBA in Industrial Engineering. While there, he met the love of his life Jenny in a business fraternity and the two have been married for the past 26 years. They have three children, Greyson (24), Aidan (22), and Isabella (13). They also have a silver lab named River and a tabby cat named Royal. They attend St. Peter Lutheran Church in Hemlock, Michigan. Patrick also enjoys attending a men’s Bible study group with a few co-workers and local business associates. Patrick also is a major sports fanatic thanks to his dad's influence and is a huge outdoorsman absolutely loving to fish, hunt, golf - especially with family and friends.

He is passionate about using his entrepreneurial mindset and experience to develop, grow, and cultivate strong customer relationships. He believes success comes down to three things: the people, the product, and the processes that keep communication and customer feedback flowing. He enjoys building long-term partnerships and working with customers on projects of any size.

For the next decade, I worked and managed the operations of the family business and segued into administrative roles; Procurement, Quoting, HR, Business Development, Sales, Marketing and PR. I literally learned the family business from the back door to the front door. After years of encouraging my father to create a business succession plan, we did, and in 2004 I became President and sole shareholder.

Running a small business is challenging as we wear a lot of hats in our day to day. I kept pushing through those roadblocks; recessions, employees, customers, vendors and more and in 2007 we had our most profitable year.

But as we all know the Great Recession came along – it hit us in the 4th quarter of 2008 – and we had to layoff 60% of our workforce. It was not pleasant and it was gut-wrenching to one by one tell my veteran employees, who I cared about there was no work for them. I vowed I would never let that happen again so made a decision to start working on the business rather than in it. I reached out to our long-term manufacturing association – the TMA and started learning about marketing and networking. It was out of my comfort zone but knew if I pushed myself the rewards would come and they did.

I was encouraged to join committees, peer groups and attend industry-specific networking events around Chicago. I met like-minded people that ironically all shared the same pains and stories of my decades in the business. I became friends with these peers and created a small, personal Board of Directors with them, people that I could trust and could ask anything. It was and still is one of the most rewarding experiences in my business career.

I found I had an innate ability and passion for marketing and suddenly found myself mingling with these professionals too. We would share our frustrations, successes and technologies with each other which helped me grow my personal and business brand – which I found out are together as one. As my networking evolved, I was asked to join the exclusive TMA Board of Directors and in my third year was voted by my peers to move into the executive chairs, culminating into Chairman, the highest Board level position. I was humbled and accepted.

Through this networking platform, I was presented with an opportunity to be interviewed on a local Chicago AM radio station and share my marketing savvy and wisdom with their audience about how I was using social media to brand my manufacturing company – nobody was doing it at that time. Also at my interview was Jason Zenger, the President of Zenger’s Industrial Supply.

My company was a premier vendor who was buying industrial cutting tools from his business for years. We had never met but knew of each other. Jason was there to add to the discussion about what he was doing differently as a third-generation business owner at his company.

We hit it off.

Shortly after our interview aired he called me to ask if I had heard of or listened to podcasts. I said yes, I knew of that media but was not actively listening. Jason said, “I think we have a deep knowledge of our industry, we are not competitors, are highly connected to the community, have a commanding presence and no one relevant in our industry was in that space.” Suddenly a light bulb in my head went off – that a-ha moment – I had felt that feeling when I started using social. I wanted to be the trailblazer and this seemed like a fairly low-risk proposition.

I agreed.

The only caveat was I would only do it if it was well structured, thought out and quality was the overwhelming key. We planned for a year doing research on the average American commute, joined online podcast communities to learn tips on what other successful podcasters were doing, hired professional voice talent and sound editors and at the onset of 2015 released our first show. It was immediately well-received and in two weeks we were on the iTunes New & Noteworthy List of Podcasts. A few major trade publications did some articles on us and of course, we used our social media savvy to target our audience. We were on our way.

What we didn’t realize is that although our mission was to equip and inspire manufacturing leaders, with the hope that we could garner some thought leadership and interest in our respective manufacturing companies, major brands that sold to our audience started to notice us and inquired about advertising on our show. We were excited but didn’t know how to react. This was strictly a grassroots project and neither of us knew much about this space. Of course, we accepted and the rest is history. We are new an income-producing, bona fide brand, that is known among our community and we have lucrative contracts with some of the largest players in our industry.

The next step.

We are definitely busy people, me running my manufacturing company, conducting interviews and shows with Jason and to retain the level of networking that helped me grow into what I am today. It’s not easy but as my father always used to tell me: “Jim, if it was easy, everybody would be doing it”. He couldn’t be more right.

Former Amazon Executive Responsible for the launching and scaling the merchant integration team and played a key role in launching and scaling the Amazon marketplace business, which is now over 50% of all units sold at Amazon.com. Also responsible for the enterprise services business with responsibilities for Toys R Us, Target.com, NBA.com and other great brands.

Media Analyst Sought after expert commentary regarding Amazon as interviewed by New York Times, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg, BBC, Geekwire and many others.

Author Author of Big Bet Leadership: Your Transformation Playbook for Winning in the Hyper Digital Era. Releases Feb 27, 2024. Author of Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader. Author of The Amazon Way on IoT: 10 Principles for Every Leader from the World’s Leading Internet of Things Strategies. Author of The Amazon Way: Amazon’s 14 Leadership Principles.

Assignments - Interim chief technology officer for the Gates Foundation - Innovation advisor to T-mobile - Interim CIO for a national retailer

Speaker Keynote speaker on innovation, leadership and digital transformation. John leads workshops on a wide variety of innovation, internet of things, digital strategy, and creating a culture of agility, trial and error, scaling and accountability. His goal is to give audiences tools they can immediately use to operate differently.

Advisor Rossman Partners helps it’s clients compete and win in the digital era. I work with my clients to both define strategy and create change for the organization. Bringing a broad range of expertise and trusted partners to the table, I first listen and understand, and then help create a customized approach for your situation.

David’s focus is helping executives and organizations bridge the gaps between people, processes, and technology—delivering software solutions that connect the office, site, and workforce. By addressing these disconnects, he enables companies to improve efficiency, reduce risk, and increase profitability in a rapidly changing industry.

Throughout his career, David has consistently delivered results—growing revenue, expanding customer bases, launching new products, and turning underperforming teams into top performers. He combines hands-on sales expertise with strategic leadership to align teams around growth, accountability, and operational excellence.

David leads with four core values: focus on what can be controlled, help others succeed, build a meaningful legacy, and remain intentionally curious. These principles guide how he builds teams, partnerships, and solutions that create long-term impact for both customers and the industry.

Matt has also been very active in his community by serving on his local school board, he is a licensed official for both football and basketball, and serves on the Chippewa Valley Technical College Machine Tool Advisory board. Matt Guse also was part of the startup of Cardinal Manufacturing at the Eleva-Strum school by donating equipment. He continues to donate his time and expertise to this great educational opportunity on a regular basis. He is keenly interested in developing new talent and ideas for the manufacturing industry and created two patents for cutting tools that he himself developed. Matt is also an author, and you can find his book MRS Machining: A Manufacturing Story on Amazon.

My purpose in business is to help marketers and companies to get the most out of their digital marketing strategies, tactics, and investments. Despite all of the distractions, constant change in our industry, and competitive forces in the digital marketplace, I can count hundreds of specific examples of success and ROI and the realization of return on investment in subject matter that sometimes doesn’t feel possible.

I’m an industry speaker, best-selling author, contributor to top publications, conference founder, board member, and guest weekly on podcasts about digital strategy, digital marketing, the START Planning process, and how to build a Digital Marketing Success Plan™

All of those things are connected back to my purpose and drive to help people and teams reach their goals and full potential in digital marketing.

Through speaking, coaching, and the work of my digital agency, I have the privilege of working with some great people in finding their paths to success.

Skills:

- Digital Strategy

- Digital Marketing

- Speaking

- Book Writing

- Podcasts

- Lead Generation

- ROI Strategy Planning

- Website Strategy

- Website Creation

- SEO

- Search Marketing

- Article Writing

Digital Marketing Success Plan™ website: https://thedmsp.com

Connect with me at corey@thedmsp.com

Prior to joining AFIRE in 2018, he served as CEO of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers (NAREIM), and before that, he led strategy and marketing for Fortune 500 and other innovative mid-market companies.

As a recognized thought leader, Gunnar is a regular speaker, panelist, and spokesperson for the global real estate and investing community, focused on institutional investing, urbanism, sustainability, and future trends.

Second, I wanted to solve some of the legacy industry challenges, such as blast cabinet legs that crumbled at the mere bump of a fork-lift and energy inefficient equipment. I wanted Titan blast equipment to meet the rigorous demands of companies blasting on a daily or even 24/7 basis – while providing unmatched performance benefits.

The Titan team has achieved all this and more. Today, the Titan name is synonymous with rugged, high performance blast equipment that’s custom engineered to solve tough application challenges. 

What’s in our future? Like you, we’re navigating supply chain challenges and rising costs.  We’re redesigning our media reclaim system, and want to take another look at our dust collector. We’ve begun our move into more complex application challenges in the nuclear, aerospace, and energy industries. And, we want to expand our team.

But one thing will never change: You deal with us. No reps, no middlemen, no waiting weeks for an RFQ. You get intelligent engineering, product advice, and friendly customer service that can’t be beat. That’s the Titan difference.

The Real Estate Roundtable represents the leadership of the nation’s top 150 privately owned and publicly-held real estate ownership, development, lending and management firms, as well as the elected leaders of the 18 major national real estate industry trade associations. Roundtable member portfolios contain over 12 billion square feet of office, retail and industrial properties valued at nearly $4 trillion; over 5 million apartment units; and in excess of 6 million hotel rooms. The 18 national trade associations participating with the Roundtable represent more than 3 million people directly employed in the real estate industry.

Mr. DeBoer also chairs the National Real Estate Organizations, a 17 member real estate trade association coalition focused on industry communication, advocacy and diversity efforts as well as the Real Estate Industry Information Sharing and Analysis Center (RE-ISAC), an organization dedicated to enhancing communication between the industry and federal policymakers on terrorism threats, building security, and major incident reporting. He is a founding member of the steering committee of the Coalition to Insure Against Terrorism (CIAT) and for several years he co-chaired the Advisory Board of the RAND Corporation’s Center for Terrorism Risk Management Policy. Mr. DeBoer previously served on the Advisory Board of Washington DC’s Smithsonian National Zoological Park and Conservation Biology Institute.

Mr. DeBoer has discussed real estate and economic policy issues numerous times in Congressional testimony as well as on FOX News, Bloomberg Television, MSNBC and CNBC; and his editorials have been published in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. In 2010, Globest.com named Mr. DeBoer a “top 10 Industry Newsmaker of the Decade”; in 2013 Commercial Property Executive named him one of the “30 most influential people in real estate”; in 2016 Real Estate Forum honored him as the “Voice of the Industry” and one of the nation’s top CRE bosses; in 2017 Washington Life Magazine included Mr. DeBoer in its “Power 100” list of Washington DC’s most influential unelected, non-governmental people; and since 2017, The Hill has placed Mr. DeBoer on its annual list of the top lobbyists in Washington DC, a list it called: “the players at the top of their game, known for their ability to successfully navigate the byzantine and competitive world of federal policymaking.” In 2024, in recognition of his positive influence on national public policy, Commercial Property Executive presented Mr. DeBoer with its Lifetime Achievement award.

Mr. DeBoer earned degrees from Washington and Lee University School of Law (JD) and Yankton College (BA).

Expertise

His leadership roles span complex, multi-faceted manufacturing and supply chain operations across industries such as aerospace and defense, railway, industrial and agricultural equipment, technology and process automation.

Bill Remy is both an accomplished business executive and leader who is frequently called upon for his credible voice, honesty, pragmatism and for his ability to leverage operational excellence and continuous improvement for long term profitable growth. He is highly competitive, has a bias for action and strongly believes that speed wins every time. Bill encourages his organization and his clients to accelerate their capabilities for driving change, increasing flexibility, and incorporating responsiveness into everything they do.

As former president of Thayer Aerospace, Bill doubled revenue in six years, expanded into Mexico, improved profitability and increased inventory turns. He integrated the supply chain into a web-based pull system, consolidated divisions and implemented an ERP system. Earlier in his career, Bill held progressively responsible roles in operations including Vice President of Continuous Improvement at Invensys, Vice President of Operations at Learjet/Bombardier, Production Manager Lockheed Arizona Missile Facility, and Materials Manager at Allied-Signal Aerospace.

Bill holds both a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in Industrial Engineering from Oklahoma State University. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Pancon Corporation and on the Oklahoma State University /deans Advisory Board for the College of Engineering. He has over 25 years of leadership experience in general management and manufacturing operations.

David is highly experienced in providing large-scale operational and digital improvement services to private and global real estate owner/operators and institutional investors. He has directed client teams in the execution of large business improvement projects, long-range digital capital plans, packaged technology selections, and solution implementations. David is also highly experienced in assisting management teams with strategy, development, and operating model transformations. Some of his clients include the most respected real estate organizations in the world, including Blackstone, GIC, J.P. Morgan, Greystar, Walmart, KIMCO, Hines Interests, Brookfield and Invitation Homes.

Prior to founding RealFoundations, David was a Partner of Ernst & Young’s real estate practice in Dallas. He also worked in the Transaction Advisory group of Kenneth Leventhal & Company.

David graduated from Baylor University with a BBA in Finance & Accounting.

For 26 years of those years (1988-2014), he owned and ran Massey Knakal Realty Services, which sold more than 3x the number of properties as the #2 firm in NYC from 2001-2014. Running the firm with a Servant Leadership management style, focusing on empowering everyone on the team, intensely training them, and building their self-esteem, led to this overwhelmingly dominant platform. The firm was sold to Cushman & Wakefield in 2014 for $100 million. 

The Massey Knakal Legacy is illustrated by the fact that today in the New York City investment sales market, there are 30 companies, or divisions of companies, that are either owned by, or run by, folks who learned the business at Massey Knakal.   

Bob is a prominent thought leader in the commercial real estate business, frequently writing about the market, lecturing on the market, and appearing on podcasts and national television shows on networks like Fox, CNBC and MSNBC.  He is also the Chairman & CEO of BK Real Estate Advisors.

Chris has been focused on strategy and implementation of technology transformation services in the Canadian market for almost 20 years. He is a senior professional with experience leading architecture, business delivery, development, functional and non-functional and infrastructure work streams. 

Chris’ engagement experience spans customer-facing online channels, business process management (BPM), content management, payments and paper-based item processing for financial services. He is a software engineer by training and is a published author on Performance and Availability for enterprise financial services platforms. He also speaks regularly on technology and innovation in financial services. Chris Ford is now the CEO and Managing Partner at Electric Mind. 

As an International Business Coach, experienced CEO Scaling Up Practitioner, and Professor of the Scaling Up Masters Business Course, he has learned firsthand what it takes to overcome many business challenges. Herb is pursuing his passion of working with leaders of growth companies to achieve more freedom by helping them create industry leading strategies, a culture of accountability, flawless execution along with a healthy cash flow within their organizations.

Herb was formerly CEO of Sullivan and Cogliano Designers, a 53-year privately held family owned, Technology Staffing and Workforce Solutions firm and in 1993, he also founded the Sullivan and Cogliano education business.

Sullivan and Cogliano joined a select group of companies that have appeared on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company list multiple times. The Inc. 5000 is ranked according to percentage revenue growth over a four-year period. This achievement puts us in a unique position, especially if you consider that over 27 million businesses are registered in the USA.

His firm was a Multiyear recipient of Boston and South Florida Business Journal Best Places to Work Award. This honor recognizes Sullivan and Cogliano achievements for changing the business landscape, in creating a positive work environment that attracts and retains employees through a combination of employee satisfaction, working conditions and company culture.

Herb Cogliano serves on the Carroll School of Management Board of Advisors at Boston College. He has served as a Board of Director of the American Staffing Association. He is past president of the Massachusetts Association of Staffing Services, and previously served on the boards of Employment Resources, Inc. and Junior Achievement.

He received his BSBA from Boston College in 1987 and his MBA from University of Massachusetts (International Honor Society Beta Gamma Sigma) in 2016.

In addition to Brad’s current position as Dover Saddlery CEO, he spent time as Chief Digital Officer at Performance Sports Group via Boston’s B2C Partners, President, Consumer Direct, and President, Fundraising as well as Chief Marketing Officer for Yankee Candle, part of Newell Brands. Prior to joining Yankee Candle, Brad was CEO of The Golf Warehouse for Redcats USA and spent over 10 years with The Orvis Company, managing catalog, and product development and most recently VP of Global E-Commerce. Brad was also Director of E-Commerce Merchandising for Wilson's Leather, spent time at L.L. Bean, has engineered two start-ups, and for ten years ran a family-owned group of luggage and gift stores.

Dover Saddlery® brand riding apparel, equestrian wear, bridles, saddles and other tack is developed by riders, for riders. Leveraging nearly a half-century of equestrian expertise and world-wide contacts in the equestrian industry, product development teams at Dover Saddlery are able to offer just the right choices for you and your horse. Whether you compete at the international level, your local circuit, lesson weekly or simply enjoy leisurely rides, you can count on the Dover Saddlery brand for a full selection of products to outfit your horse and yourself in complete comfort and classic style. Every item is 100% satisfaction guaranteed.

During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, RADCO expanded into hospitality, acquiring twelve hotels. The company manages its owned multifamily assets and offers a thriving third-party management service. For seven consecutive years, RADCO has been named one of the "Best Places to Work in Multifamily," based on anonymous feedback from its employees. RADCO is known for its people-first culture, valuing team member feedback and continuously striving for improvement.

Norman has a long history of service and philanthropy, largely focused on the importance of public education. He served as Vice Chair and then Chairman of the Kennesaw State University (KSU) Foundation Board of Trustees for five years. In recognition of his significant contributions, KSU named the Norman J. Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Norman and his wife, Lindy Radow, are dedicated supporters of education and social equity, which is exemplified through the creation of The Radow Institute for Social Equity (RISE) at KSU. Their commitment extends to the Lindy Radow Scholarship, the Paul & Beverly Radow Lecture Series on Jewish Life, and “The Bev,” a dedicated social gathering and study area in the Social Sciences building lobby. Norman remains involved with New York Law School where he serves on the board and the Radow Lecture Hall is named in honor of his dedication and service to the school.

In addition to his work in real estate, Norman is a dynamic speaker and respected industry expert. He shares his insights on real estate and life in his long-running and popular blog, “Coffee with Norm.” Norman holds a Juris Doctor from New York Law School (1981) and a Bachelor of Arts from SUNY Plattsburgh. Norman was awarded an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters by the Georgia Board of Regents in December 2023.

Today, America’s Thrift Stores (ATS) is America’s premier thrift retailer in the Southeast, with 24 stores on track to deliver over $80 million in revenue and $10 million of sustaining EBIDTA in 2021 at a 66% gross margin and $12 million EBITDA run rate.  In the last 24 months, during the pandemic, ATS has added 7 new stores to its base of 17. Prior to the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, ATS’s business was already incredibly healthy, growing total topline sales for 12 straight quarters and same-store sales for 11 straight quarters.  Reopening in June 2020, ATS emerged equally strong, with 4 back-to-back quarters of comp store sales growth, including a historic Q1 where both comp-store sales and Total Sales hit record-breaking levels. Sustaining EBITDA is expected to be over $14 million in 2022 and will more than double over the next 5 years as the company continues to grow comp store sales, opens 3-5 new stores annually, and enters the rapidly accelerating online thrift space. 

Prior to joining America’s Thrift Stores, Ken was a mentor, advisor, and coach to small and mid-size company CEOs as an Operating Partner with Alpine Investors LLC stretching across industries from Online Education to Online Retail Lighting & Design to Retail Furniture to Used Cars to Retail Thrift.  In this role, he coached CEOs and their leadership teams on helping them build and drive their growth strategies and sales & marketing execution. He also stepped into interim leadership roles and helped with sourcing and due diligence on potential new acquisition candidates. 

Ken Sobaski has been a visionary, strategic President & CEO with a history of significantly accelerating growth and inspiring teamwork on businesses across multiple different industries: consumer food, online e-commerce, recreational products, and giftware. He has over 30 years of experience at blue chip marketing-driven companies like Kraft, General Mills, Pillsbury, Polaris, and Capella Education Company, where he grew brands like Orville Redenbacher, Green Giant, Wheaties, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, and Polaris. 

Ken’s distinction is his ability to lead his teams to achieve significant levels of growth not reached before. Here are a few examples:

• At Pillsbury, he took a $600mm refrigerated baked goods business that was flat or declining for 5 years and added $120mm in revenue in year 1, and built a pipeline of new products that grew $270mm of incremental revenue over 3 years
• At Green Giant he successfully launched Create-a-Meal, a $150mm new frozen vegetable meal starter business, achieving record shares in frozen vegetables, moving to #1 position in the category in 12 months
• On Orville Redenbacher, he reversed 49-months of declines with 12 months of double-digit volume gains.
• At Polaris, he grew revenue +34% in just over 3 years by focusing/improving marketing execution and upgrading the dealer network
• At Capella Education Company (an online consumer education company) he took growth from +15% per year to +25% per year, adding $120mm in revenue in under 3 years

Ken has served on the boards of The Minnesota Diabetes Association, The Twin Cities United Way, and The Council on Aging – Orange County. 

Ken holds a BA in Economics & Urban Studies from St. Olaf College and an MBA in Marketing & Strategy from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University 

Since becoming CEO in 2020, Tim led Boomers Parks from bankruptcy to profitability within a year, amidst a global pandemic. Initially operating at a $10 million loss, he revamped the customer experience and introduced new revenue streams, resulting in a 180% revenue increase in 2021 and continued growth through today.

Tim began his 35+ year career at Walt Disney World and has worked with over 150 entertainment, restaurant, and food & beverage brands at more than 10,000 locations in senior roles. He is also a Board Director at Coney Park & Happy City, part of The Carlyle Group ($426B AUM), which operates 100+ family entertainment centers in Latin America.

Tim's expertise includes top brands like Disney, Darden Restaurants, Jimmy John’s, Applebee’s, and Sonny’s. He has managed over 35 transactions involving 1,200+ locations, negotiating deals from $11 million to $350 million+.

He is a member of IAAPA, CAPA, FAA, AAMA, NRA, CRA, WWA, ICSC, and IFA, and is a licensed commercial real estate broker in Florida. Tim holds a BS/BA in Accounting from the University of Central Florida and an MBA in Finance from Orlando College.

Connect with Tim at Tim@BoomersParks.com and on LinkedIn at TimMurphyCEO.

As CEO of Accelerance, Andy helps companies find the talent they need to scale high performing, globally distributed software engineering and product development teams. 

Andy and Accelerance travel the world, assessing and certifying development partners with a proprietary matching system, so clients can connect with confidence to the top 1% of outsourcing partners worldwide. The Accelerance team also helps clients optimize their outsourcing partner relationships through mutual understanding, communication, and effective management. 

Previously, Andy founded the groundbreaking nearshore software development services company, Isthmus Costa Rica. He began his global software services career as a Division Manager at Cognizant Technology Solutions during its formative years. 

Currently living in Kenwood, California, Andy has visited more than 60 countries. He holds an MBA in International Business, Finance, and Marketing from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern. 

Brian has created or co-created seven successful companies in four different industries during his career. These companies were worth over half a billion dollars at their peak. He has also done multiple turnaround projects for companies from startups to Fortune 500, and helped those organizations drive billions of dollars in sales. His multifaceted background allows him to understand and teach agile processes and principles and articulate their implications from multiple perspectives, from the development team to the executive board.

Today, Brian Will owns a growing chain of restaurants in the Atlanta area and a residential and commercial Real Estate business in Georgia and Florida. He also serves on the city council in his hometown of Alpharetta, Georgia.

Tom began mentoring in early 1990 by helping the poor, the afflicted, and the abused. He reached out to gang members and those who seemed to have no hope with a message of hope and grace. He later began serving as an Associate Pastor in one of the largest Hispanic churches in the Chicago metropolitan area. He worked in the inner city bringing a message of restoration and hope. Tom also traveled to Latin and South America on several missions to help and bring hope to the hopeless.

Tom moved to South Florida and continued his mentoring and spiritual counseling through his work in recovery centers as well as mentoring those he coached in fitness centers. Six years ago, Tom joined Xcel Strategies Inc. as a Regional Director and expanded its operations to South Florida. In 2023, Tom incorporated Xcel as Florida Mentoring Network, DBA Xcel Mentoring Network (an affiliate of Xcel Strategies Inc.) and is now serving as the Executive Director. Tom has an extensive counseling education. He attended the Florida Theological Seminary and received a master’s degree in theology. Tom also hosted the radio program, Second Chance, which aired in 2012, delivering a message of hope to the hopeless, deliverance to the oppressed, and love to the rejected.

Key Messages: I believe that every kid should have the opportunity to pursue secondary education. It is my mission to educate youth on the multiple career path options and provide them with the opportunities and resources to obtain such.

About Centra: We Build Homes and Communities

We take pride in building the places where memories will be made

Centra Homes is one of the largest residential property developers in Minnesota.  We’ve built dozens of communities throughout the North Metro, giving thousands of people a beautiful place to call home.

We are focused on creating thriving communities that offer all the best amenities in prime locations. Enjoy a place to work and play in the house you’ve always wanted.

With a background that spans engineering, business, and law, I bring a multifaceted perspective to the table. I began my legal career as a patent attorney, where I honed my skills in protecting groundbreaking inventions and guiding companies through the intricacies of intellectual property law. Today, I combine that experience with a deep understanding of business strategy to lead a dynamic team of attorneys who operate cohesively and collaboratively as a FRACTIONAL LEGAL TEAM that integrate seamlessly with our clients’ operations. We effectively operate as a fully-staffed in-house legal team, although on a fractional budget, that scales with our clients' needs and circumstances.

My approach is simple: I build legal teams that function as an extension of your business. We’re not just advisors; we’re partners in your success, committed to delivering the legal support you need to innovate and grow. Whether it’s navigating the complexities of corporate governance, safeguarding your data privacy, identifying and protecting your IP, negotiating technology licenses, or helping you resolve disputes, we have the expertise to help you move forward with confidence.

At the core of our practice is a deep understanding of the unique challenges that startups and scaling companies face. We tailor our services to meet your specific needs, offering the flexibility and strategic insight that traditional law firms often can’t provide. Our goal is to empower you to focus on what you do best—building your business—while we handle the legal complexities.

Let’s connect if you’re looking for a legal partner who understands the demands of scaling a business and is ready to help you achieve your vision.

Jonas Bordo is the CEO and Co-Founder of Dwellsy, the free residential rental marketplace that makes it easy to find hard-to-find rentals. Prior to co-founding Dwellsy, Jonas was a senior executive at several leading real estate firms including Essex Property Trust and Bentall GreenOak and was with the Boston Consulting Group after graduating with his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.  Jonas has had the good fortune to build, re-build and lead amazing teams across the multifamily and commercial real estate operational and strategic spectrum, manage large P&Ls, deliver big profit increases, orchestrate the sale of several businesses, develop a strategic plan for one of the world’s leading symphony orchestras, implement a Toyota production system and create more than 40 brands. He is husband to Rosalind and father to Bailey, Zach and Thea, an avid hiker, a lifelong learner and a maker of things, sometimes out of wood.

About Dwellsy

Dwellsy is a comprehensive residential home rentals marketplace based on the radical concept that true, organic search in a free eco-system creates more value than the pay-to-play model embraced by all of the current rental listing services. Indeed, while barely more than a year old, Dwellsy has more residential rental listings than any of the major listing sites—as well as the most diverse set of listings—including both affordable and higher-end properties. Dwellsy’s entirely different approach to residential rental listings focuses on presenting houses and apartments based on features renters need and want — not based on how much landlords pay to show their listings. Dwellsy investors include Blackhorn Ventures, Anne Wojcicki, Stanford Professors, and a number of residential real estate industry insiders.

Jonas and the Dwellsy team have also recently launched their own podcast, Rent Matters, available wherever you listen to podcasts!

Cameron’s farm-raised work ethic, outside-the-box thinking, commitment to absolute transparency, and past professional experience have helped him to lead PEG to where it is today. A CPA by training with over eight years mastering the entitlement process in city management, Cameron brings a perspective that helps PEG offer compelling investment opportunities through innovative and cost-effective solutions to the complexities of real estate markets today. As one of the youngest finance directors in Utah’s city government history, Cameron structured the largest tax incentive project in the western United States at the time for the city of Lehi, Utah with Micron Technology, Inc. and continues to make headlines as PEG grows throughout the United States and Canada. 

With dozens of projects completed and many others under way, Cameron is proud of the market-leading position PEG has secured in its nearly 20 years of operation. Whether it is becoming the first developer ever to finish an AC Hotel by Marriott on time and under budget, building one of the only four-story branded hotel buildings in downtown Jackson Hole, developing a major student housing hub for Utah’s largest university, or breaking ground on the first Qualified Opportunity Zone projects in multiple states, Cameron Gunter rises to every challenge and finds great fulfillment in spurring economic growth for communities everywhere. 

Cameron received his BA in Business Administration from Idaho State University.

Under Greg's leadership, the firm has evolved from a humble two-person operation into a prominent legal entity in South Florida, now boasting over 120 dedicated team members. This growth trajectory is a testament to Ward's entrepreneurial spirit and his commitment to providing Spanish-speaking clients with unparalleled legal representation. Ward's legal prowess, backed by a juris doctorate from the University of Baltimore School of Law and over two decades of experience, has been instrumental in securing more than $250 million in compensation for clients in Miami/South Florida and New York. His strategic vision has propelled the Ward Law Group to achieve an impressive annual growth rate of over 40% in the last eight years, alongside securing 22 settlements of over $1 million each. A standout achievement includes a landmark settlement exceeding $100 million, marking one of the nation's largest of its kind. Greg's entrepreneurial journey is decorated with numerous accolades recognizing his innovative business practices and legal expertise. He has been honored by the National Trial Lawyers, the South Florida Legal Guide, Florida Trend Magazine, Super Lawyers, and Best Lawyers in America, among others. Beyond the courtroom, Ward is an influential voice in the entrepreneurial community, frequently sharing his insights on news programs, conferences, and podcasts nationwide. His discussions span a range of topics, from business growth strategies and systemization to personal development and faith-based entrepreneurship, showcasing his multifaceted approach to leadership and success in the legal sector.

From starting her career at Austin-based ad agency GSD&M working on Mastercard, Walmart, and Southwest Airlines to navigating the corporate communications complexities of mergers and buyouts in the telecom industry at SBCGlobal-Cingular-AT&T, Summer rapidly rose through the ranks and her analytical prowess became a hallmark of her career. This skillset, combined with her expertise in media buying and selling, positioned her as a standout in the early advertising landscape.

Charging into the digital realm, Summer played a pivotal role at AOL, contributing to the adoption of innovative Martech and pioneering programmatic advertising. That experience was a stepping stone to Summer’s tenure at HomeAway.com (later VRBO), where the company completed a successful IPO and delved into the world of venture capital, and her entrepreneurial flame was lit.

She moved back to Houston and soon became a regional client rep with New York-based Publicis ZenithOptimedia overseeing Gulf States Toyota, where she learned the intricacies of operating one of the world's largest privately held businesses under a major brand. Summer transitioned into an in-house leadership role where she was responsible for showing marketing effectiveness to the board, dealer council, and executive stakeholder groups.

In 2019, Summer founded Craig Group, a company rooted in data-first sales and marketing, leveraging her extensive wisdom and expertise built over the course of 20 years to create impactful results for clients.

Beyond building a large team across four states, Summer's most impressive personal accomplishments include summiting Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Rainier as a proud mom of three. Her out-of-the-office passions — ranging from mountain climbing and camping to competitive sports and giving time to causes she believes in — reveal an authentic commitment to pushing boundaries and pursuing hard goals.

For decision-makers at private equity-backed businesses and independent family-owned companies, Summer Craig is a valuable and dynamic partner, combining a wealth of experience with a relentless focus on delivering tangible value.

His current role includes prioritizing strategic initiatives and investments to expand the global distribution footprint of Deckers Brands, while also ensuring consumers have a seamless experience when engaging directly with each channel or brand. He focuses on long-term growth and Omni Channel strategies for the company’s five high-performing brands: UGG®, Teva®, Sanuk®, HOKA One One® and Koolaburra®.

Since 2012, Dave has served in various roles at Deckers Brands, including spearheading growth initiatives for the company’s brand portfolio as President of Brands and leading direct-to-consumer strategies as President of Direct-to-Consumer.

Dave is passionate about consumer-led insight and innovation as well as doing great in business and doing good for people and the planet. His passion for innovation as well as improvement led by consumer insight has resulted in gains in operating margin and revenue. Dave also remains committed to sustainability as well as making a positive societal impact and leading a strong company culture.

Under his leadership as President & CEO since 2016, Deckers Brands has received accolades for stellar financial performance and sustainability efforts. In 2019, Deckers was selected by Investor's Business Daily® as one of the 50 Best ESG Companies: A List of Today's Top Stocks For Environmental, Social and Governance Values. The company was also recognized by Footwear News as 2020 Company of the Year for its financial performance and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion as well as significant charitable giving for COVID-19 relief. 

In 2020, Dave was named a 2020 Businessperson of the Year by Fortune, ranking number 13 on their list of top executives.

Dave has over twenty years of experience in merchandising, concept development and leadership of global retail operations at some of the industry’s top brands. Prior to joining Deckers Brands, he held executive leadership roles at Converse, including four years as Vice President of Global Direct-to-Consumer where he successfully guided the expansion of the brand globally, and Timberland, where he led worldwide retail merchandising, marketing, visual and store design as well as the creation of a sustainable line of footwear and apparel.

A native of New Hampshire, Dave graduated Cum Laude from Northeastern University with a bachelor’s degree in marketing. Now residing in Santa Barbara, Calif., he enjoys spending time outdoors with his wife and two sons.

In addition to his general management roles, Peter has initiated, organized, negotiated, and completed numerous equity, debt, and M&A transactions with angel, institutional and strategic investors, and lenders. He has managed functional areas including product development and engineering, sales, service, finance and administration, and external relationships with investors, contract manufacturers, investment bankers, banks, attorneys, and auditors.

Peter has served on the boards of Friends of the Urban Forest, the San Francisco Day School, and multiple companies. He is a dual citizen of the United States and Germany.

He holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and a M.B.A. from The Wharton School.

He worked in Radiation Therapy hospitals until 1997, when he went to work as a customer service specialist for ADAC, which was soon acquired by Philips Medical System in 2000. He worked as a senior service manager, traveling the world and working with distributors, sales staff and customers all over the globe.  In 2007 Marc went to CIVCO and became the vice president of Marketing, developing software and hardware systems for radiation therapy.

When RaySearch Laboratories released a new software platform in 2011, he was asked to start up the Americas organization to provide sales, support and training.  RaySearch Americas grew from three people to fifty people over the next few years, and has built a successful organization with offices in New York City and Santa Clara California.

Marc has an MBA from the New York Institute of Technology, and an MS in Cybersecurity from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

About AvePoint A five-time winner of the Microsoft Partner of the Year award, AvePoint offers the only full suite of SaaS solutions to migrate, manage and protect data in Microsoft 365. More than 8 million cloud users rely on our solutions to make organizations more productive, compliant and secure.

Our SaaS solutions are also available to managed service providers, so they can better support and manage their small and mid-sized business customers. Our multi-tenant solutions are available from over a dozen distributors in more than 100 cloud marketplaces worldwide.

In 2001, our founders were busy preparing to bring our first product to market — a backup solution for Microsoft’s email service, Exchange. Shortly after, their focus quickly turned to providing a backup solution for a new Microsoft product that offered site-based collaboration: SharePoint 2001.

Today, our full suite of data management solutions for Microsoft 365 is hosted across 13 global datacenters for unmatched scalability, and to support data sovereignty requirements. Our cloud platform is certified against leading security accreditations and boasts one of the largest SaaS userbases in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.

We have pushed the boundaries of enterprise digital collaboration with first-to-market technologies for two decades. More than half of our workforce – including our senior leadership team – are technologists.

Jeff is currently the CEO of Boardroom Styling Lounge, an upscale men’s grooming franchise that spans 46 locations across 8 states. Previously Jeff was the CEO of Empower Aesthetics (a rapid growth medspa platform backed by Shore Capital), which scaled 3x through M&A and de novo growth, COO of Excel Fitness (a Planet Fitness franchisee which grew from 17 to 92 locations) and Chief of Staff of Alamo Drafthouse. Jeff is a proud US Army veteran. About Boardroom Styling Lounge: 

We’ve created a connected space in a relaxing environment where you can grab a beer, sit back and let our expert stylists help you express your personal style or create an entire new one that goes beyond your expectations.

Style can be transformative and it isn’t reserved for a select few, it’s available to every single one of us, every single day. And we believe that everyone who walks through our doors should leave feeling as great as they look. That's why we are proud to offer The Boardroom Experience across 8 states and over 45 locations and counting. 

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Hackett was President of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), an international humanitarian agency supported by the U.S. Catholic community, from 1993 to 2012. As President, Mr. Hackett led 5,000 CRS employees in over 100 countries. He joined CRS in 1972, starting his career in Sierra Leone. Mr. Hackett also held CRS assignments overseas in the Philippines and Kenya. As regional director for Africa, he led CRS’s response to the Ethiopian famine (1984-1985) and supervised CRS’s operations during the crisis in Somalia in the early 1990s. It was under his leadership that CRS responded to recovery efforts such as those following the Rwanda genocide, the Bosnian and Kosovo emergencies, the Asian tsunami, and the Haiti earthquake. Equally notable was CRS’s work during his tenure as President on behalf of people living with HIV/AIDS. After a 40-year career with CRS, Mr. Hackett joined the University of Notre Dame’s Institution for Global Development in 2012 where he served as an advisor. Prior to joining CRS, Mr. Hackett served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana.

Mr. Hackett served on the Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (2004-2010), a U.S. foreign aid agency dedicated to fighting global poverty. He was also a member of the Global Poverty Task Force led by the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. From 1996-2004, Mr. Hackett was Vice President of Caritas Internationalis, the confederation of Catholic humanitarian organizations. He has also served as a Member of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum – the Vatican body that coordinates the Church’s charitable work – and on the Boards of the Africa Society and Jesuit Refugee Services.

Mr. Hackett holds many distinguished honors. In 2004, he was named a Knight Commander of the Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great, one of the highest papal honors. He holds 16 honorary doctorate degrees from various U.S. universities and was the 2012 recipient of the Laetare Award from the University of Notre Dame, the oldest and most prestigious award for American Catholics. Mr. Hackett has received recognition for his humanitarian work from foreign governments, including the National Order from the Republic of Benin (2008) and the National Medal of Honor from Sierra Leone (1998).

Mr. Hackett, originally of West Roxbury, Massachusetts, earned his undergraduate degree from Boston College.

✔️ Leadership and Strategy

✔️ Change Adoption

✔️ Process Improvement

✔️ Organization Design

In my book, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, the process of flawless execution is being emphasized and highlighted which requires a deeply held purpose, efficient business processes, and enhanced talents, energy and maturity of people.

𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐦 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 help CEOs determine the critical issues blocking flawless execution bringing their senior executive team to new standards of performance just by using The Living Organization Model for success.

Before it began, I worked as a turnaround agent in the systems engineering, administration and sales organizations and was labeled as a 15-year veteran of Hewlett Packard. Later on, I became the head of Administrative Operations for the Western Sales Region, and was highly acclaimed for taking a failing $1.2 billion operation and setting new standards of productivity and customer service.

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘂𝘀?

🔹 We mainly focus on identifying new opportunities for accelerated growth.

🔹 We develop a sound executable roadmap that produces short term results with long term growth.

🔹 We provide execution improvement road-mapping that can define the areas that block flawless execution.

🔹 We assist executive teams with process improvement, organization redesign, and change adoption to ensure successful implementation of the strategic initiatives.

𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬:

📍 Chairman of the Governance and Nominating Committee of the Board for National Technical Systems, a NASDAQ traded company

📍 Chairman of the Board of Directors for Web Wise Kids, a non-profit agency educating youth on the safe and appropriate use of the Internet

𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:

💻 : www.quantumleaders.com

Before being named President in 1990, Mr. Strome served as the company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for two years.  Before being appointed COO, he was Executive Vice President and President of the company’s video and home computer software division.  In 1985, he pioneered the home video “sell-through” business to the mass marketplace.  The home entertainment industry recognized Mr. Strome for this accomplishment by electing him to the Video Hall of Fame.

From 1974 to 1978, Mr. Strome was employed as a Regional Manager of Labor Relations for Fruehauf Corporation.  He began his career with Kmart Corporation in 1968, holding positions of increasing responsibility until 1974.

Mr. Strome was elected to serve on the Board of Directors of AmerUs, a NYSE-listed life insurance and annuity company with over $26 billion in assets, from 2003 through 2007, when the company was sold.  He served as Vice Chair of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee and a member of the AmerUs Compensation Committee.

After retiring, Mr. Strome was appointed Executive in Residence at the Mike Ilitch School of Business at Wayne State University. In that position, he worked with the Career Planning and Placement Office perusing additional firms to recruit at the business school. He also mentored students to help them achieve their career goals. Mr. Strome also consulted for a small growing internet distribution company seeking to grow its online business.

Mr. Strome was and remains an active board member for several tax-exempt organizations. Currently, he a board member and serves as treasurer as well as chair of the finance and audit committee for the Federation of Greater Naples. Mr. Strome also serves as past chair on the board of the Holocaust Museum of Naples.  Previously, he served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Detroit Public Television and remains an emeritus board member.  He also served as the former Chairman, and is an emeritus board member of the Board of Visitors of Wayne State University’s Ilitch School of Business Administration. He is also an emeritus board member of the Wayne State University Foundation. Mr. Strome served as a Vice Chair of the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion (formerly the NCCJ) and was a board member of the Child Abuse and Neglect Council of Oakland County.

Mr. Strome earned his Masters of Business Administration from Wayne State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hillsdale College.

He is the first non-founder serving as President & CEO and is focused on excellent client experiences: providing outstanding dining programs with the highest level of customer service and integrity. Jim is committed to upholding a company culture of family while coaching employees to leverage their unique strengths to reach their highest potential.

Jim Eickhoff received his B.A. in English and Secondary Education from Hope College in Holland, Michigan.  Jim and his wife, Lynn, reside in Holland, Michigan.

Since becoming CEO in 2020, Tim led Boomers Parks from bankruptcy to profitability within a year, amidst a global pandemic. Initially operating at a $10 million loss, he revamped the customer experience and introduced new revenue streams, resulting in a 180% revenue increase in 2021 and continued growth through today.

Tim began his 35+ year career at Walt Disney World and has worked with over 150 entertainment, restaurant, and food & beverage brands at more than 10,000 locations in senior roles. He is also a Board Director at Coney Park & Happy City, part of The Carlyle Group ($426B AUM), which operates 100+ family entertainment centers in Latin America.

Tim's expertise includes top brands like Disney, Darden Restaurants, Jimmy John’s, Applebee’s, and Sonny’s. He has managed over 35 transactions involving 1,200+ locations, negotiating deals from $11 million to $350 million+.

He is a member of IAAPA, CAPA, FAA, AAMA, NRA, CRA, WWA, ICSC, and IFA, and is a licensed commercial real estate broker in Florida. Tim holds a BS/BA in Accounting from the University of Central Florida and an MBA in Finance from Orlando College.

Connect with Tim at Tim@BoomersParks.com and on LinkedIn at TimMurphyCEO.

Prior to this role John was Chief Operating Officer of ENGIE Services North American, overseeing operations in energy services, construction, and facilities management, as well as M&A and managing the integration of the acquisitions.

John started his career with Siemens Energy moving to Mitsubishi International and he was also General Manager of Worley’s North American Power Engineering business.

John has a wealth of knowledge regarding the Americas energy markets; he is passionate about health & safety, diversity and inclusion and is committed to working to decarbonize the energy sector as part of driving the energy transition. In addition, he has an MBA and a B.S. Mechanical Engineering degree.

John is married and in his spare time likes to travel and spend time with friends and his two rescue dogs.

As a CEO for 13 years, Reali has gained experience driving strategies to build shareholder value. He has worked with and led initiatives with medical societies, patient advocacy groups, governmental agencies, public and private insurance companies, investor relations, capital funding, strategic planning, and quality and lean production. He has led companies through sales processes to new ownership and into public markets through  IPO.  

Reali started his career at two large multi-national companies, Biomet and Stryker where he held positions of increasing responsibility. Ken then gained general management experience at Smith & Nephew starting in 2006 prior to taking on his first CEO role in 2010  at TranS1 driving a turnaround strategy. Reali then led Clinical Innovations, a women’s healthcare company through successful exit after five years while doubling the business size and value. In 2020 he led Bioventus through an IPO while increasing the size of the business by 80% through strategic M&A.  

Reali serves on the board of directors of a broad group of companies in MedTech from orthopedics to women’s healthcare. Reali also donates his time serving on the board of directors of AdvaMed, the National Italian American Foundation, and Valparaiso University  College of Business. Ken lives in Walla Walla, Washington with his wife Kristin where they started a vineyard several years ago.

As MANG keeps growing, we’re not only planting mangrove forests throughout Florida, we're also planting internationally in an effort to affect positive change in countries and coastlines affected by deforestation and pollution across the globe. As the CEO of MANG Gear, Kyle Rossin is leading the way with his mission to preserve and restore coastal ecosystems around the world. MANG started its Buy One. Plant One. initiative by growing mangroves in Florida in 2015 and has continued to cultivate a culture for restoration one mangrove at a time. Through education, restoration, and apparel, MANG is committed to preserving mother nature for the next generation, so that we all can enjoy our natural resources.

Joshua is also an Export Champion for the Department for International Trade and the Northern Powerhouse in the UK, where he advises and support companies on how to leverage international trade opportunities and expand their markets. His expertise in business growth, corporate strategy, and M&A preparation has been recognized by multiple awards, including the Stevie Award, the Business Insider 40 Under 40, and the European CEO of the Year Awards. He is always looking for new challenges and ways to make a positive impact in the world through innovation and enterprise.

He has over 30 years of experience in the food and beverage business, beginning with full service restaurant and cafe work while he studied Philosophy at the University of Michigan.  His knowledge of the business comes from working on the job.

Jeff spent 12 years with Peet’s Coffee & Tea in the San Francisco Bay Area where he played every role they would allow him, from serving coffee, managing a store, running a district, building an operations services department and creating wholesale programs.

After time with Dean & Deluca and Starbucks—both great learning opportunities—he joined Jamba Juice where he led operations services for over 800 domestic and international locations.  In 2015, Jamba sold most of their corporate units to franchisees.  Jeff led operations for Vitaligent—Jamba’s largest franchisee with shops in Northern California and Washington—and eventually became CEO of the 96-unit restaurant group.

In 2022, Vitaligent was successfully acquired by an even larger restaurant group called Sizzling Platter.  After supporting the transition, Jeff joined Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen as CEO.  Wise Sons operates six delis in San Francisco and Oakland, in addition to a scratch bakery, commissary and wholesale business.  

Following the recent college graduation of their daughter, Jeff and his wife of 30 years moved to the Sonoma Valley where they serve multiple non-profit organizations.  

Mr. Ferre was CEO at Alvinesa Natural Ingredients through 2023 based in Madrid. Prior to Alvinesa he was the CEO of Nasdaq-listed AgroFresh Solutions, the global leader of post-harvest solutions to extend the shelf life of fresh fruits and vegetables. Other positions include Chief Operating Officer at PureCircle, the leading producer, innovator and marketer of high-purity stevia ingredients, Vice President, Sales & Marketing SPLENDA® Sucralose at Tate & Lyle; as well as ovarious B2C positions at Wise Foods, Chupa Chups and Warner Lambert. 

In 2023 he launched Launch CIBUSNET®, a selective network of multi-discipline professionals across the global food industry providing identification of potential investor/partners, new technology advisory, go-to-market strategy, due diligence, and board/advisory roles. Through Cibusnet he has assisted a number of companies in the ready-to-eat meals, ingredients and precision fermentation industries. Since October, he is the interim CEO of HTBA USA, a leading manufacturer of flavonoids used in the food and beverage industry. 

Mr. Ferre holds a BBA-MBA degree from Esade Business School and completed the PMD program at IESE Business School both based in Barcelona, Spain as well as a number of leadership programs at MIT, Drexler and IMD business schools. 

Prior to TriCity Cardiology, Florentin served as the President and CEO of Ahart Healthcare Solutions International in Dubai UAE and Houston Texas for eight years. During his tenure, he forged strategic partnerships with notable institutions such as Inova, Children's National, and SEHA. 

Under Florentin’s leadership, AHART grew to over 500 employees where he was instrumental in holding various global interim executive leadership roles for 60 different specialties with mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity, and financial growth.  These experiences were innovative, leveraging Lean techniques, artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, and patient and employee satisfaction to enhance safety, quality, and cost.

Florentin also held various executive leadership roles with Willamette Group, Group Health, Providence Medical Group, and Meritus Healthcare before his move to AHART. His illustrious career began at Community Tissue Services, one of the Nation’s Premier Organ and Tissue Banks. 

Florentin has many accolades including:

Health Professional of the Year Award, Washington State Volunteers Society

3 Time Who’s Who In Healthcare Executive

Distinguished Leadership Award, Medford Oregon Community Executives 

AHART Executive Award for outstanding leadership in business and education partnerships. 

COO of the Year Providence

CEO of the Year AHART

Diamond Executive Award for Service Excellence, Dubai Healthcare 

3 Time Lean Six Sigma Innovation Award

Florentin’s leadership philosophy emphasizes transparency, rounding for authenticity, kindness, and collaboration. He firmly believes that prioritizing team members’ overall happiness and satisfaction leads to positive outcomes for both the team and patients.

In summary, Gregg R. Florentin exemplifies excellence and enjoys sharing his vision as an invited speaker at numerous national and international conferences in the past 8 years sharing his knowledge on innovative healthcare to improving the patient experience, employee engagement, and the future of healthcare.

A former Army Officer, Munger’s commitment to service shines through his philanthropic work and innovative solutions in community development. His collaboration with the Salvation Army and Goodwill in a small town within American City has showcased an innovative approach to addressing homelessness, demonstrating the impactful change that results from combining compassion with action. This initiative, with Munger at the helm, has become a testament to the power of collaborative community efforts in making a tangible difference in people’s lives.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffbell801/

Cheryl Bachelder served as CEO of Popeyes® Louisiana Kitchen, Inc., a NASDAQ traded company with over 2,600 restaurants in 26 countries, from 2007 to 2017. The story of Popeyes success is chronicled in her book, Dare to Serve: How to drive superior results by serving others. During her tenure, Popeyes’ stock price grew from $11 to $61, at which time the board sold the company to Restaurant Brands International Inc. for $1.8 billion dollars or $79 per share in March, 2017.

Cheryl’s earlier career included brand leadership roles at Yum Brands, Domino’s Pizza, RJR Nabisco, The Gillette Company and Procter & Gamble.  

Cheryl serves as a director on the boards of Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (PIR), US Foods Holding Corp. (USFD), and Chick-Fil-A, Inc. She sits on the advisory board of Procter & Gamble’s franchising venture, Tide Dry Cleaners. She is a board member of CEO Forum, an organization that encourages and develops leadership capability in CEOs and senior executives.

Cheryl holds a Bachelor’s and Masters of Business Administration degree from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. She is married 38 years to Chris Bachelder and they have three grown daughters, two terrific son-in-laws, and four handsome grandsons. Cheryl and Chris reside in Atlanta, Georgia and attend Buckhead Church. They are avid learners, fans of the classical education movement, and can always be found reading a good book!

Website: Serving Performs at www.cherylbachelder.com

Former CEO, Popeyes® Louisiana Kitchen, Inc.

Director at Pier 1 Imports, Inc.

Director at US Foods Holding Corp.

Director at Chick-Fil-A, Inc.

Author, Dare to Serve: How to drive superior results by serving others

From a small town in Missouri to Stanford business school and 3-time CEO, Kevin Akeroyd is not the proverbial polished CEO. A man who is not afraid to go off message and proclaims, be “overt, loud and challenging” to get things done. A CEO who declares it his mission to “keep business leaders out of jail” by helping companies traverse the complex and sometimes dangerous waters of compliance. A leader who puts his money where his mouth is and approaches diversity not with PR platitudes but by personally funding an annual college fund for underprivileged youth.​

​With countless mergers and acquisitions under his belt and having worked for small venture-backed endeavors to being a division head for industry heavyweights like Oracle and Salesforce, Kevin is a builder who works to understand where companies are stagnating, where to innovate and find their break-through potential and ultimately how to move from point solution to platform. ​

Kevin built the enterprise stack for the Chief Communications Officer at Cision, the Chief Human Resource Officer at Magnit and now is working at Sovos to deliver the global compliance system of record for the Chief Financial Officer. The Sovos Compliance Cloud is the first and only platform to bring together tax compliance and regulatory reporting into a single view for business. At Sovos he is building a new category, a new line of business for compliance, and taking the industry on a journey to conquer the complexities and challenges of compliance.​

​Kevin’s leadership philosophy is that it’s not enough to be brilliant. Transparency and communication are paramount and it’s the job of the CEO to look around corners and see what’s coming. Bad CEOs let things happen and good CEOs make things happen and at the end of the day, everything is your fault. Kevin brings this level of accountability to his customers, partners and employees. His mission at Sovos is to evolve compliance from its current state of being a painful requirement for business to being a force for growth in every company, in every industry and in every country.

As an International Business Coach, experienced CEO Scaling Up Practitioner, and Professor of the Scaling Up Masters Business Course, he has learned firsthand what it takes to overcome many business challenges. Herb is pursuing his passion of working with leaders of growth companies to achieve more freedom by helping them create industry leading strategies, a culture of accountability, flawless execution along with a healthy cash flow within their organizations.

Herb was formerly CEO of Sullivan and Cogliano Designers, a 53-year privately held family owned, Technology Staffing and Workforce Solutions firm and in 1993, he also founded the Sullivan and Cogliano education business.

Sullivan and Cogliano joined a select group of companies that have appeared on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company list multiple times. The Inc. 5000 is ranked according to percentage revenue growth over a four-year period. This achievement puts us in a unique position, especially if you consider that over 27 million businesses are registered in the USA.

His firm was a Multiyear recipient of Boston and South Florida Business Journal Best Places to Work Award. This honor recognizes Sullivan and Cogliano achievements for changing the business landscape, in creating a positive work environment that attracts and retains employees through a combination of employee satisfaction, working conditions and company culture.

Herb serves on the Carroll School of Management Board of Advisors at Boston College. He has served as a Board of Director of the American Staffing Association. He is past president of the Massachusetts Association of Staffing Services, and previously served on the boards of Employment Resources, Inc. and Junior Achievement.

He received his BSBA from Boston College in 1987 and his MBA from University of Massachusetts (International Honor Society Beta Gamma Sigma) in 2016.

Prior to joining Bonney, Jeremy worked as an entrepreneur in South Africa’s rapidly evolving telecoms industry. Jeremy moved to the US with his family 5 years ago in search of better opportunities and adventure. At Bonney, Jeremy Macdonald is focused on constantly improving company culture, hiring and developing talent and pursuing sustainable growth.

So far, they have invested millions of dollars in seven businesses, including Southwest Steel Fabrication, the longest-operating steel fabricator in the Kansas City region, involved in projects like fencing around the White House and work on bridges and dams nationwide. To make these purchases, Four Pillars has worked with well known capital providers including Capital for Business (nearly $1 billion in portfolio company revenue) and Peninsula Capital ($2 billion in assets under management).

Nick has 15+ years of experience as a private equity investor and is highly regarded in the PE community for his ability to find and invest in businesses that last far into the future. Over at Four Pillars, most of Nick's activities revolve around fundraising as well as deal origination and execution. He also runs a popular YouTube channel with over 250K+ views, where he regularly shares knowledge about the ins and outs of private equity investments with his growing audience of over 1,700 subscribers.

Todd is primarily responsible for working with key stakeholders to establish and maintain a culture that reflects the mission, values and overall strategic "world class" vision for the organization.

Through being an active C12 Group member, Todd Stewart continues to learn how Gulf Winds International is here to serve a greater purpose and holds strongly to the biblical servant leadership model that empowers team members to grow personally, professionally and spiritually. He is passionate about how the gospel of Christ can restore hope in local and global communities. In 2017, this led Todd to found More Than The Move Foundation which exists to aid life-changing non-profits such as International Cooperating Ministries, Steiger International and Ground Wire via corporate generosity, corporate volunteerism and corporate advocacy.

Gulf Winds International, Inc. is a second-generation family-owned business that was founded in April 1996 near Port Houston. With a mission to glorify God by providing world-class logistics services through continual investment in people, clients, community and the world Gulf Winds continues to have a clear direction and a broad horizon.

Two things that separate Gulf Winds from other logistics companies is its authentic core values and common sense business strategy.

Driven by Values

Gulf Winds is driven by values and those values are intentionally and continually instilled in every employee in the company.

Mr. Clancy is also the managing member of Smoothie King Midwest, a developer and operator of 30 Smoothie King units in NY, OH, KY, IN, and AL. 

As the managing member of Cornerstone Properties, Mr. Clancy has developed a retail real estate portfolio valued in excess of $100 million with an additional $50 million currently under development. 

Mr. Clancy serves in a board capacity for multiple non-profit organizations and charities that assist in spreading The Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Mr. Clancy, his wife Regina, and their three children are active members of Christ Fellowship church.

Mr. Clancy was born and raised in Massapequa NY. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from the State University of New York’s Business School at Plattsburgh.

doTERRA sources, tests, manufactures, and distributes pure essential oils and natural wellness products to over nine million Wellness Advocates and customers. Our products are shipped to 86 countries and counting.

Through industry-leading, responsible sourcing practices—Co-Impact Sourcing®—doTERRA maintains the highest levels of quality, purity, and sustainability in partnerships with local growers around the globe. The doTERRA Healing Hands Foundation®, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, offers resources and tools to sourcing communities and charitable organizations, raising self-reliance, increasing access to healthcare, promoting education, advancing sanitation, and fighting against human trafficking. With our social impact mission to triple our impact by 2030, doTERRA is helping the world heal—one drop, one person, one community at a time.

To offer everyone the best personal essential oil education and experiences around the world, doTERRA uses the power of people via our modernized direct selling model. This approach allows distributors to work with customers, which allows people to learn about and experience essential oils from somebody they know and trust. This model also creates the opportunity for individuals and families to achieve their dreams of self-reliance.

Over three million Wellness Advocates now use and sell doTERRA products around the world.

the Top 10 Leadership Coaches and by LeadersHum as one of the Biggest Voices in Leadership in 2023. 

Before becoming the founder and Chief Inspiration Officer of Inspired Purpose Partners, Tony was a finance and strategy executive with experience working with some of the world's leading life sciences companies. Along his journey, he also managed small businesses and ran a financial consulting company. 

Tony hosts The Virtual Campfire podcast and is the author of "Climbing the Right Mountain: Navigating the Journey to An Inspired Life" and the co-author of "Secrets of Next-Level Entrepreneurs." He has been featured in many publications, including Fast Company, Forbes, Life Science Leader, and CEO Today.

He is the co-founder of Own It Coaching, a multiple seven-figure coaching company that applies this health and performance philosophy to clients ranging from NHL stars, to Fortune 500 executives, to entrepreneurs looking to take that next step and level up.

He’s also the creator of the Own It App, which provides simple data collection, meaningful insights, and personalized plans to help users OWN their habits and improve recovery, health, and performance.

Justin has spoken at dozens of events, including the TEDx stage. He’s the host of the Sports Science and Recovery Podcast and The Own It Show.

Additionally, Justin is the author of three books (Amazon bestsellers), including Intent: A Practical Approach to Applied Sports Science for Athletic Development and Own It. 

Whether in his coaching, writing, or speaking, Justin is well-regarded for his ability to take complex scientific topics and distill them into practical, applicable action steps. He has a rare combination of the ability to understand the science of sports performance, sleep, and recovery on a deep level, while being able to translate and distill the complex topics into a form others can actually use.

Horses were my initial foray into the world of business, instilling the foundational lesson of non-verbal communication and cooperation.

The lessons learned from equine entrepreneurship naturally extended to my landscaping business in middle school, which flourished for some time before I sold it to focus on a rapidly expanding new venture.

The success of these ventures in my younger years was a practical application of what would later become the Growth FlyWheel principles™.

By 21, I became part of a revolutionary retail concept in partnership with Purina — America's Country Store. My role there segued into a pivotal alliance with Nextel Communications, where the applications of my unique methodologies pushed me to become the top distributor in the Carolinas within just eighteen months.

It was through observing the friction customers experienced with billing that I spotted another opportunity — a service to rectify billing inaccuracies, saving my clients millions and securing a substantial competitive edge.

My success at Nextel Communications propelled me into the software domain with the inception of SeedSpark, a venture dedicated to equipping clients with strategic advantages.

Today, SeedSpark stands as my primary venture, fostering partnerships and providing services that embody the very principles of my successful entrepreneurial blueprint.

At the core of my SeedSpark Growth FlyWheel™ approach exist three frameworks:

🔵 Remove the FILM™: A strategy that peels back layers of inefficiency to reveal a clear path to improvement.

🔵 Just Add A Zero™: An audacious goal-setting tactic that propels businesses toward ambitious growth.

🔵 100X Collaborations™: Leveraging partnerships to amplify impact and reach exponential success.

This triad of principles has proven transformative as I collaborate with industry leaders to identify and capitalize on growth opportunities, overcome barriers, and create formidable competitive advantages.

With a vision that goes beyond conventional business wisdom, I am humbled to be a catalyst for change, growth, and innovation in the entrepreneurial world.

Before starting his entrepreneurial journey, Satyam served as Managing Director of Product Design at Citrix in San Francisco, where he played a crucial role in growing the product design team from four members to over 100+ practitioners. Satyam was instrumental in building PayPal’s Global Design Center in India while leading a design team in Silicon Valley.

He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School’s famed General Management Program, studied Design Thinking at Stanford University, and holds a master’s degree in Human Factors from Wright State University.

While at Harvard, Satyam realized that most businesses aren’t leveraging the full power of UX as an engine for strategic growth. Companies either don’t have the in-house design expertise or relegate design to a support role — even when hiring external UX agencies.

Satyam resolved to change that. Through UXReactor, Satyam is demonstrating that UX can and should drive enterprise-wide innovation and business outcomes. UXReactor has enabled clients to generate multiple billions in additional value from user-centered innovation.

Satyam has also advanced the UX discipline by developing the PragmaticUX framework: a consistent, replicable, measurable, and scalable approach to innovation. UXReactor relies on this proven framework to lead user experience and product innovation for multiple Fortune 500 Companies.

He lives in Pleasanton, California with his wife and children. Together with his brother and business partner, Prasad, Satyam leads UXReactor’s global service operations, headquartered outside San Fransisco in Pleasanton.

As the founder at Wishes, he and his team have focused on the biggest problems in the charitable giving space today by making donations for social impact instant, fully transparent, tax-deductible, and rewarding, in addition to delivering funds to recipients 10X faster than any competitor in the market. At Wishes, they are passionate about redefining the charitable giving experience and creating a more connected future for all humanity.

Prior to Wishes, Chase Harmer spent seven years as the founder at ProfitPay, which was acquired by the travel platform OnRiva. As a non-tech founder, ProfitPay was the single greatest challenge of his career and he learned more meaningful lessons in those seven years than the combined 27 previously. ProfitPay was a massive product, with many moving parts, hundreds of employees, and partners which had us moving 100 mph at all times. The end product delivered an all-in-one platform that included payments, a proprietary gateway, and card issuing tech with integrated fraud prevention which made payments centralized, easy, and more secure for online stores and marketplaces.

Chase has spent nearly three decades in payments and has built products and infrastructure on both the acquiring and issuing sides. Chase brings a diverse and rare perspective from his time in the trenches, producing positive outcomes for connected partners and internal stakeholders.

Angela hails from the vibrant land of Colombia, South America, and embarked on a courageous journey to the United States at a tender age of 15, all while still in High School. Her path led her to North Palm Beach, Florida, where she serendipitously crossed paths with her wonderful husband, Ray, with whom she has shared 28 blessed years. Together, they are proud parents to their 19-year-old son, Ashton, a passionate basketball enthusiast, die-hard Heat fan, and a young soul filled with entrepreneurial zeal.

Angela's story of abortion turned her pain into her purpose.  Her experience with abortion became the catalyst for her life's purpose—to be a beacon of hope and support for single mothers who exhibit bravery and courage she once struggled to find during her own journey. Her heart aches for these brave souls, and for the past 12 years, Angela has tirelessly served single mothers in various capacities and through different organizations. Stepping into the world of non-profits, she obeyed her calling and founded "Hearts for Moms" in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she currently serves as the dedicated CEO. Angela's passion lies in shedding light on the everyday challenges that single mothers and their children face.

Driven by a commitment to excellence, Angela honed her leadership skills by attending Christ Fellowship's Leadership College. The mission of "Hearts for Moms" is to provide invaluable resources to enrich the lives of single mothers and their precious children. Their ultimate goal is to keep families united, heal brokenness, help rebuild futures, and restore lives.

In Angela's inspiring words, she encourages us all to LIVE OUT OUR FAITH, GIVE SINGLE MOMS HOPE AND SHOWER THEM WITH LOVE!  Together, we can make a difference in the lives of these remarkable women and their families.

With a lifetime of experience on the client side of the table, Brad knows what matters to brands and marketers most, which led him to create Heart & Soul. Beyond that, he also recognizes many of the modern pain points both agencies and brands face, and that all actionable solutions must have a heartbeat and a conscience to truly make a difference.

He’s now stepped out from established leadership roles in previous companies to infuse his entrepreneurial spirit into his clients, while helping challenger brands compete against legacy brands as well as market leaders.

A leading business executive across industries, Brad has a diverse track record of success leading some of the world’s most iconic brands like Tide, Dial, Olay, Pampers, Pantene, Arm & Hammer, Trojan, First Response, and Right Guard. He has run large, well-resourced companies, as well as entrepreneurial, smaller ones -- publicly traded, private, and private-equity backed.

Previously, he served in several client side leadership roles, including: CEO of Dogswell, a private-equity backed pet food company located in Los Angeles; Executive Chairman of Dymatize Nutrition, a private-equity backed sports nutrition business in Dallas; President of the Phoenix Suns; President and Chief Executive Officer of The Dial Corporation in Scottsdale, Arizona; President of Church & Dwight in Princeton, New Jersey; and more than 16 years at Procter & Gamble in a variety of leadership positions domestically and globally.

Brad Casper received his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Virginia Tech University, and was extended a fellowship by Thunderbird Graduate School of Management. He also attended executive education courses at Harvard Business School. Brad served as an advisor on the Pamplin School of Business at Virginia Tech for nearly a decade. He has also been involved in a significant number of community roles in Arizona, including Greater Phoenix Leadership (GPL) and the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC), as well as industry association boards (GMA, CHPA, CPC)

Brian has created or co-created seven successful companies in four different industries during his career. These companies were worth over half a billion dollars at their peak. He has also done multiple turnaround projects for companies from startups to Fortune 500, and helped those organizations drive billions of dollars in sales. His multifaceted background allows him to understand and teach agile processes and principles and articulate their implications from multiple perspectives, from the development team to the executive board.

Today, Brian owns a growing chain of restaurants in the Atlanta area and a residential and commercial Real Estate business in Georgia and Florida. He also serves on the city council in his hometown of Alpharetta, Georgia.

John brings nearly three decades of industry leadership in cloud services, software product management, marketing, partner sales, digital promotion, and brand development to his role as CEO of Acumatica. Before joining Acumatica, John served as president and CEO of Unify Square, a leading provider of operations and performance management software and cloud-managed services. He also spent 16 years at Microsoft in a variety of executive-level positions, including corporate vice president of Office and Office 365, where he spurred the digital transformation of Microsoft’s most successful cloud business; and vice president of the worldwide OEM division in marketing and sales, where he jointly oversaw the global distribution and reseller channels for Microsoft.

Mr. Spiegel brings more than 20 years of business development and operations experience within the healthcare industry. Prior to joining NorthStar, he served as Executive Vice President of Provider Growth at Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group. Before his time at Optum, Mr. Spiegel spent more than 15 years at The Advisory Board Company, where he served in a number of different capacities, primarily focusing on general management, new product launches, and go-to-market strategies. Upon joining Optum following its merger with The Advisory Board in 2017, Mr. Spiegel successfully integrated the two companies’ sales and renewal organizations and managed all sales and renewals of Optum products.

Mr. Spiegel earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University and his Masters in Business Administration from the Wharton School of Business. He has more than 20 years of business development and operations experience within the healthcare industry.

Prior to TTEC, Ms. Swanback lead Accenture Digital, building it into a global transformation powerhouse with more than $20 billion in annual revenue. As President of Product and Platform at Western Union (WU), she led the company’s digital transformation journey, evolved the business model to a customer-centric platform and doubled the WU digital business to $1 billion.

Shelly is currently a board member of Willis Towers Watson (NASDAQ:WTW). Ms. Swanback holds bachelor’s degrees in Finance and Computer Information Systems from Colorado State University.

Prior to his tenure at MetoKote, Jeff enjoyed a twenty-year career with PPG Industries, Inc., where he served in a variety of technical, commercial, and management roles with increasing responsibility in a number of the company’s coatings businesses, including Automotive OEM, Automotive Refinish, General Industrial, and Packaging Coatings.

Jeff is a native of Pittsburgh, PA, and has received a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Chemistry and an MBA, both with honors from the University of Pittsburgh.

He is a 2010 recipient of the prestigious Brewer Award from the Electrocoat Association, where he formerly served as Vice President and as a member of the Board of Directors.  He previously has served as President of the Shawnee Country Club, Chairman of the Governance Board of Lima Central Catholic High School, Vice Chair of the Lima/Allen County Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Trustees and Executive Committee of Tiffin University, and served on the Board of Directors for the Hunt Valve Company (Salem, OH).  He was recently elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ohio Manufacturers Association.

Jeff and his wife Cindy reside in Cincinnati.  Their oldest daughter, Ashley, graduated from the University of Dayton and is employed in the advertising field and lives in Cincinnati.  Their son, Austin, graduated from Ohio Dominican University, where he was a two-time academic All-American and captain of the men’s golf team, and is employed in the finance field in Cincinnati. Their youngest daughter is attending the University of Dayton where she is majoring in Business.  

He serves on the Board of Directors for the Solano Economic Development Corporation and Travis Credit Union Foundation and is on the Advisory Board for the Global Retail Marketing Association

Kevin holds a Master of Science in integrated marketing communications from Northwestern University and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida.

Leveraging experience in organizational change and business strategy, Micalyn positioned the company to disrupt a competitive and growing market by completely redefining the subsidiary’s organizational and financial focus, doubling staff and revenue in the short term. During her tenure with ELPRO, Micalyn has negotiated strategic selling partnerships to expand the company’s sales and service footprint in the US, and spearheaded numerous continuous improvement initiatives.

“Within ELPRO USA, I saw the opportunity to reshape the company from the ground up. The most fulfilling part of that journey was redefining our culture and aligning with profitability,” Micalyn said.

Micalyn also leads projects to engage employees in community fundraisers. She has a passion for fostering the growth of women in business leadership roles. Micalyn is a member of the Entrepreneurship Advisory Board at Marietta College where she received her B.S. in Biochemistry. Micalyn holds an MBA from New York Institute of Technology.

At a very young age, Tim Bessell was exposed to the infectious world of art by his mother. As A result, Tim gained an interest and appreciation for the sub-culture that would coincidentally influence and shape his future to come.

Tim began his professional surfboard shaping career when he began working at Sunset Surfboards. By the age of thirteen, Tim began shaping surfboards from the beautiful town known as La Jolla, California. He was one of the youngest surfboard shapers in the industry, but he was already making a name for himself as a surfer and as a shaper in and around his home break of Windansea Beach in La Jolla, California.

Three years later Tim moved to Hawaii to prove he has what it takes to be a shaper on the North Shore. He began shaping custom surfboards for Lightning Bolt, one of Hawaii's premier surfboard manufacturers known for the infamous lightning gun shape of the 70's ridden by legendary Gerry Lopez. In fact, Tim Bessell would later become one of the few shapers allowed to manufacture surfboards under the Lightning Bolt name.

After legitimizing himself as a shaper, Tim returned to San Diego, California to open Bessell Surfboards. By 1987, Bessell Surfboards had grown into one of the largest surfboard manufacturers in Southern California. Tim also made a name for himself as an artist, with exhibitions as far away as Japan.

Tim branched off into the world of apparel when he started his own clothing line in 1992. He designed every item himself, and his unique touch of style was an instant hit. Tim even helped design styles for other clothing companies such as Hurley, T&C Hawaii, and Billabong.

In 1997 Tim decided to focus once again on surfboards when he returned to the shaping room to reinvent Bessell Surfboards. He built primarily custom-shaped boards for surfers who demanded more than the typical cookie-cutter shapes typically offer. Tim's willingness to work individually with each customer has helped build a reputation few surfboard shapers can match.

To date, Tim has produced over 46,000 surfboards. His boards have graced the covers of Surfer Magazine, Surfing Magazine, Beach Culture, and countless other surfing magazines. Many world-class surfers have ridden Bessell Surfboards including Peter King, Luke Egan, Jon Roseman, Glen Winton, Brad Gerlach, Vetea David, Ricky Irons, David MacAulay, Saxon Boucher, Debbie Melville Beacham, Ryder Mackey, Chris O'Rourke, Billy Choe, Simon Law, Juston Postin, David Eggers, Davie Miller, Richard Kenvin and more.

Bessell Surfboards are currently sold throughout the world with distributors in Japan, South America, and Europe. If you're lucky enough to visit Tavarua Island, you'll notice Tim's trademark guns are standard equipment on the island. Wherever you end up, chances are there is someone riding a Bessell.

Currently, Tim and his team at Bessell surfboards are starting many new exciting projects. These projects include Watershed Productions, a new film production company that is focusing on cutting-edge surf films. Most notably Tim Bessell has teamed up with the Warhol Foundation to reconnect the much-forgotten love that Andy Warhol had for surfing and the surfing counter-culture. “How I Met Andy”, is a short film that tells the story of how Tim met Andy Warhol and why his artistic inspiration never left him and how eventually this became the "Bessell Warhol Project.” In this project, Tim has created an extensive collection of surfboards with licensed Warhol art imposed on his signature surfboard shapes. This has created an international buzz once again and many of these boards can be found in art galleries and collector homes all over the world.

With the love for shaping boards Tim gained when he was thirteen combined with the experience, inspiration, and reputation he has gained along the way, Bessell Surfboards remains one of the top custom surfboard manufacturers in the world.

Founded in 2008, Signature Analytics brings the expertise and benefits of large company financial and accounting tools and processes to small and medium-sized businesses and larger non-profit organizations. Since that time under Kruger’s leadership, Signature Analytics was recognized as an Inc. 5000 company for FIVE straight years for growth and as a “Best Place to Work”. Signature Analytics still has a headquarters in Southern CA while delivering exceptional service to clients across the US.

Before founding Signature Analytics, Kruger spent 10 years in public accounting, finishing as a Senior Audit Manager at Deloitte. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Arizona. With Kruger’s expertise and Signature Analytics’ commitment to delivering reliable financial insights, businesses and nonprofits can make smart decisions based on real numbers.

He works with board-level leaders to help them and their successors develop and initiate strategies that benefit and sustain the entire organization.

His practise has worked with clients in  Europe, the USA, the UK and Africa.

Dr. Barden has been Chief Executive of News Digital Systems, Axel Springer Television and Quadriga plc.

He has been Chief Operating Officer of BskyB and Managing Editor of TV-am plc.

As an entrepreneur, he has founded businesses in the media, technology and communications sectors.

Stephen Barden holds a Doctorate (DProf) from Middlesex University for his research into how top organisational leaders learn to use power and authority.

He has a Diploma in Professional Coach-mentoring for Senior Executives from the Oxford School of Coaching and Mentoring.

He is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Programme for Management Development and has substantial training in Organisational Development, Action Centred Leadership and Negotiation.

He is a trained Mediator accredited by the School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, Regents University, London.

He is the author of the book “How Successful Leaders Do Business with Their World: the Navigational Stance” – which details his work on the exercise of leaders’ power and authority and forms the foundation for his practice.

I have been given the privilege of working with thousands of b2b leaders, sellers and marketers each year for over two decades in helping them inspire their buyers. It’s a source of immense personal joy for me when I can help others up their game in ways they weren’t able to before. On the business side, the role I’ve played can be characterized as “sales and marketing enablement,” and I’ve done this with and for business, product, sales, and marketing leaders and the organizations they serve for many of the world’s largest global businesses including Microsoft, Oracle, HP, Citibank, and McKesson.

My clients have rewarded me, my colleagues, and my business partners with repeat business, the ability to quickly grow revenues landing my firm on the fastest-growing company list 2 years in a row, and winning industry awards including HP’s Marketing Circle of Excellence and the Corporate Executive Board’s Marketing Campaign of the Year. I’ve been a keynote speaker for very large corporate events including Microsoft’s CIO Summit, and a guest speaker and educator for associations, business roundtables and in-company events and ongoing programs across all major continents. Note: Bruce holds both an undergrad and an MBA from the University of Oregon. 

Before joining Birks, Mr. Bédos was formerly with the high-end jeweller, Boucheron International (Kering), in Paris, France, where he served as President and CEO after a distinguished career with the Richemont Group in Paris and London and at Cartier’s iconic Maison.

In July 2018, Birks was prized with the prestigious Brand Of the Year Award. The prestigious World Branding Awards are the premier recognition programme of the UK-based World Branding Forum.  The annual event is the ultimate global brand recognition accolade and evaluates brands from around the world. The judging process involves a three-step procedure: brand evaluation, public online voting and consumer market research.  Birks is the only brand to receive the award in the Retail Jewellery category, surpassing the impressive competition for its dedication and passion behind the fine jewellery brand.

Jean-Christophe Bédos currently serves on the Board of Directors of Birks Group Inc., and the Montreal General Hospital Foundation as Vice-Chair and is Chair of the Financial Resources Allocation Committee.  Mr. Bédos is a Member of the Board of the London Business School Global Advisory Council.  He is an active member on the committee “L’avenir de la rue Sainte-Catherine” project and has co-chaired the fundraising campaigns of the McCord Museum and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. 

Born in Morocco, he lived in France and England until 2011.  He now resides in Montreal, Canada with his wife and four children.  He is a skilled brand builder within the luxury retail sector, who brings a very relevant background having spent his entire career, for more than 30 years, within the high-end watch and jewellery industry.  Mr. Bédos earned a MSc in Business Management from London Business School – Sloan Fellowship Masters Programme, with Distinctions in Marketing and Brand Management; a BA in International Commercial Law from University of Paris Pantheon-Sorbonne; BA (Honors) in European Business from Trent University, Nottingham, England; BA in Business Administration from Toulouse Business School, Toulouse, France.

Prior to Dawn, Unsal spent 18 years with Unilever where he started his career as a Project Manager. By 2010, Unsal had risen to the role of Managing Director Unilever Foodsolutions Turkey, Central Asia & Caucasia. In this role, he doubled his division’s annual revenue and operating profit. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors for Unilever Turkey. Unsal earned a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA from the University of Toronto.

Before joining Snap Kitchen, Dale spent time at Taylor Farms, where he served as the chief operating officer. He also spent over eight years at LSG Sky Chefs, holding multiple positions within the company, including chief operating officer for the UK office. During his time at LSG Sky Chefs, Dale was responsible for various roles, including managing over 9,000 employees, strategic deployment, operational excellence globally and his final assignment which had him managing the US market with revenues of $850 million. Prior to LSG Sky Chefs, Dale spent over nine years as a senior director of food services at Continental Airlines during the business turnaround under the leadership of Gordon Bethune. Dale graduated from Manchester University and The Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene. He built his career driving lean manufacturing with training alongside The Porsche Group in Germany, where he also attended the Porsche Academy for Lean Logistics. Dale, originally from Scotland, lives in Austin with his wife Linda, and he is the proud father of four children.

Phobio’s flagship product is Safetrade, a device trade-in software that offers simple solutions, unmatched support, and a risk-free program that guarantees device values to wireless retailers. In 2017, Phobio successfully launched its second product -- Rodio -- which provides a two-way communication system designed specifically for enterprises to send important updates and messages to remote and geographically-dispersed teams with ease, and utilizes AI to maximize team engagement. 

Stephen holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School. He is a journalist by education, a technologist at heart, and, as an entrepreneur, he thrives on start-up culture and his personal mission to build things better. Stephen is also an avid pilot, who has moved frequently in his career, living throughout the US, Australia, and Asia. Currently, he lives in Atlanta with his wife and two sons.

Email - stephen.wakeling@phobio.com

Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwakeling 

Now as founder and CEO of Postie, he’s out to reinvent direct mail marketing for a digital world. Dave’s first encounter with the awesome potential of digital marketing came during the dotcom boom of the late 90’s. He was working for a web 1.0 marketing company, watching his clients at legacy giants like Procter & Gamble and Clorox toiling away at the same cramped desks year after year. Meanwhile, his contacts at digitally-savvy tech startups were busy trading in their Hyundais for Ferraris. Something big was happening, and he was determined to be a part of it. Fast forward to the 2010’s, and Dave had transformed that determination into an incredible career as a multiple-time founder, early stage tech investor, and digital marketing guru. He learned to apply emerging AI and machine learning analysis to various digital marketing channels, fueling the launch of over 20 successful consumer internet startups in the process. But despite the success of his strategy, one advertising channel remained stubbornly resistant to his attempts at modernization — direct mail. After years of research, Dave cracked the problem. In early 2017 he unveiled Postie, finally empowering old-fashioned mail to perform as dynamically as the best modern digital channels. With a suite of powerful tools like real-time attribution and audience modeling, they’ve quickly become the preferred direct mail solution for top digitally native brands like Lyft, Postmates, Casper, Warby Parker, Stitch Fix, and more.

Bill’s expertise also includes family business governance and succession, as Day & Zimmermann is one of the largest family businesses in the US as ranked by Forbes. Bill also recently published his first book, Our Way, a biography on his father and past Yoh president, Spike Yoh. More information at ourwaybook.com.

John lives in Illinois with his wife Kim, three beautiful kids Jack, Grace and Leah, and their dog Millie who is adored and loved by all. 

John attended Northern Illinois University. He belongs to several industry professional associations including: MHI (Material Handling Industry), EASE (Ergonomic Assist Systems & Equipment), MHEDA (Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association), and IARW (International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses.) and actively participates in the open book community GGOB. 

John enjoys swimming and competes in 5k open water swims and masters state and national championship meets holding top 10 times in many events.

Throughout his illustrious career spanning several decades, Sean played a pivotal role in shaping the growth and success of Chester Paul Company. Under his visionary leadership, the company transitioned from the “soft drink” beverage industry to the drinking water and water treatment market. This strategic move allowed the company to flourish and solidify its position as a leading provider of water treatment systems and components worldwide. Sean's exceptional business acumen and strategic vision enabled the company to expand its product offerings, explore new markets, and forge strong relationships with clients. 

Sean's commitment to excellence and unwavering dedication to customer satisfaction earned him a stellar reputation within the industry. Known for his hands-on approach, he actively engaged with customers, understood their unique needs, and delivered tailored solutions that consistently exceeded expectations. His ability to build and nurture long-term partnerships significantly contributed to the company's continued success. 

Recognizing the evolving landscape of the industry, Sean spearheaded the decision to sell  Chester Paul Company to Elbi of America. This strategic move facilitated increased synergy,  expanded resources, and enhanced capabilities to better serve clients and remain at the forefront of the industry. 

Currently serving as the VP of Sales for Chester Paul, Elbi of America's Water Treatment division, Sean continues to contribute to the company's success by providing strategic guidance and leveraging his deep understanding of market dynamics to drive sustainable growth. 

Beyond his professional accomplishments, Sean is actively involved in various not-for-profit organizations, where he serves on boards, committees, sections, and task forces affiliated with the Water Quality Association and its regional partners. His dedication to advancing the industry extends beyond his business endeavors. 

Sean resides in Southern California with his wife Suzette and takes pride in being a devoted father to his two grown children, Brianna and Robert. In his leisure time, he has discovered a  passion for endurance sports and has completed numerous marathons and the ultimate test of endurance, the Ironman triathlon.

Lyth is the COO of Huupe and is an Arab-American founder originally from Milwaukee, WI. Previously, Lyth helped co-found a luxury ride-share app that has done over 60 million rides to date. After that, Lyth moved on to an AI-recruitment technology company that did 20 Million in revenue in its first year. Lyth has experience in early-stage startups and global expansion. As an operational leader, building successful teams and hitting deadlines is his expertise. His love for basketball, technology and blending the two together is the motive for creating Huupe.

Strategic Growth

• Mergers | Acquisitions | Divestment
• Acquisition Integration
• Business Restructuring
• International Business

P&L Leadership

• Company Transformation
• Turnarounds & Profitable Growth
• Product and Market Share Growth
• People & Team Development

Before starting ECatalyst, Thomas trained on the MIT method of entrepreneurship and set up for-profit ecosystems with LIFE (The Leadership Institute for Entrepreneurs).  

Thomas has his BA from Cornell University in Mathematics, Psychology, and Religion, and graduated summa cum laude in his MDiv from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He currently lives in Colorado Springs with his wife Stephanie and his two amazing red-headed kids

Prior to joining Merryck & Co, Adam Bryant worked for thirty years as a journalist, including eighteen years as a report, editor, and columnist at the New York Times. Bryant earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree, English Language, and Literature, from York University in Toronto, and his Masters of Science, Journalism, from Columbia University in New York. He and his wife have two children and live in New York City.

Joel’s 15-year career as a nonprofit entrepreneur has been marked by the relentless pursuit of impacting students. He honed this skill playing defensive tackle at The Ohio State University where he relentlessly pursued quarterbacks for the Buckeye’s national championship football team. In his senior year at OSU, Penton received the Danny Wuerffel trophy, known as the “Humanitarian Heisman,” which is awarded to one college football player each year for outstanding community service.

Upon graduating, Joel founded Stand For Truth and Relevant Speakers Network, a speakers’ bureau that has touched more than 3,000 public schools and 2 million students nationwide. As a public speaker, Joel has presented to more than 2,000 live audiences and over 1,000,000 people across the country. He is also the author of three books including DURING SCHOOL HOURS: Why and How LifeWise Academy is Reinstalling Religious Education into the Public School Day.

Joel Penton lives in Columbus, Ohio with his wife, Bethany, and their five children, where they all enjoy telling stories at the dinner table, watching sci-fi movies, and playing full-contact monkey in the middle.

As a business owner and corporate consultant since 1997, Molly’s roles have included: sales, sales management, curriculum and course design, meeting facilitation, front-line employee training, leadership training and development, executive development & coaching, strategic consulting, organization change management, and project management.

The focus of her training and coaching is on helping Trusted Advisors and Trusted Experts make the most of precious facetime with clients and colleagues, increasing their influence during hard-won sales calls, high-risk presentations and hard-charging collaborative problem-solving sessions. Thanks to her highly discerning clients over several decades, Molly designed – and truth-tested – the no-nonsense training that makes up the ProImpress curriculum. The flagship programs include: Mastering Authentic Influence™ (sell), Presenting Yourself & Your Ideas with Impact™ (present), Dynamic Team Problem-solving™ (teams), Leader as Coach™, Leader as Change Champion™ (coach) and Leader as Culture Carrier™(peer-coach).

More recently, as an outgrowth of her Leadership & Transformation Coaching Certification from the Hendricks Institute in Ojai, CA, she began teaching her course participants how to successfully and pragmatically leverage mindfulness practices in everyday business exchanges; for instance, she began demonstrating the power of breath to help ground nervous impulses in negotiations. She playfully refers to this research-supported curriculum as “Spinach in the Cookies,” so named because these “extra skills” are mixed into every core training from ProImpress.

Molly earned her Bachelor’s degree and a teaching certificate from Penn State University, and spent a year teaching at the Center for English as a Second Language in France. She has earned numerous Certifications and Master Certifications in training and executive coaching. A key specialty is organizational culture transformation—aligning behavior with corporate strategy and realizing better business results. Over the years, she has worked alongside representatives of McKinsey, The Boston Consulting Group and others to translate their recommendations from written reports into measurable behavior change on the job.

Molly feels passionately about the work of her company and team: “There’s a bigger game at play here. Busy, accomplished professionals don’t always want to stop what they’re doing to focus on how they’re doing it. Yet, I’m convinced that by waking up super-smart professionals to the benefit (and the practice) of being more intentional in their communications, not only will their workplace relationships (and results) improve, their personal connections will deepen, as well.”

Prior to founding Evergreen, Jeff was a Vice President at Alpine Investors where he led investments in business services companies and was a board member of Risk Management Strategies, MidAmerica, YouCaring and Constructive Media.

Jeff Totten graduated Phi Beta Kappa with highest honors from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley where he was President of the Berkeley Investment Group.

Evergreen is a holding company that acquires and operates a group of leading service companies. Selling your business is one of the biggest decisions you will make in your lifetime. Owners and founders of services businesses trust Evergreen to help them achieve their long-term goals and to steward their legacy. We are committed to acquiring and holding businesses indefinitely and empowering management teams with a proven playbook for growth.

We’ve succeeded in guiding companies through the next stage of their growth. Our north star is our mission to be North America’s best home for businesses and their leaders. That means we empower employees and treat each deal as a unique opportunity to work with owners to support and grow businesses into perpetuity.

We believe the single greatest input to our operational success is our CEOs and we also believe in attributes over experience. Evergreen’s CEO program directly places MBA graduates at the helm of businesses we acquire in a variety of management roles and have seen these leaders grow into running our highest-performing businesses. We have the benefit of sharing best practices between the exceptional leadership teams across our portfolio.

We are committed to specific industries and all Evergreen companies have access to the community platform that connects leaders across the entire portfolio. We believe that by connecting CEOs and other team members with their counterparts at other companies, everyone can learn and grow.

Matt’s greatest treasures are his Faith, family, and friends. Matt resides in northeast Indiana with his family.

Prior to PharmaPoint, Mike served as a founder and chief operating officer of Source Medical, the largest nationwide provider and leading source of information technology solutions and other critical services for ambulatory surgery centers, specialty hospitals and rehabilitation clinics. During his tenure, Mike developed the initial business plan, helped raise all capital and spearheaded the acquisition and integration of three companies and one asset purchase from a publicly traded company.

Mike also co-founded Industriaplex, Inc. and served as executive vice president of business development. Industriaplex focused on providing a full range of commercial equipment, systems, maintenance and professional services to national retail, food service, and industrial customers in the United States, Canada, Middle East and Asia. Industriaplex was twice ranked in the top 100 of the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies.

Working on the corporate audit staff for General Electric (GE) in more than seven different GE businesses, Mike oversaw such initiatives as acquisition integrations, Six Sigma implementations, financial audits and controllership assessments.

Mike is passionate about mentoring our younger generation through sports and pursues a lifestyle of giving back to his community. He has served two terms as president of the Hoover Athletic Association (HAA) governing youth sports in the city of Hoover. Mike has coached more than 500 area youth in both football and baseball over the past ten years. He now works with his alma mater, John Carroll Catholic High School, in helping coach within their football and baseball programs, while also serving on the school’s advisory board.

In addition to his commitment to coach and mentor area youth, Mike also believes deeply in giving back to the city he loves and was raised to appreciate. To that end, he has served more than 10 years as chairman of Rise Above, Inc., a charitable foundation providing contributions to a myriad of non-profit organizations within the Birmingham community. His most recent commitment is to serve as chairman of gotURback, Inc., a not-for-profit organization focused on helping children facing adversity. It is both founded and led by local high school students who have a passion for being known as a generation of selfless leaders.

Military Mike served his country on active duty for the United States Armed Forces from 1994 until 1997. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in management from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and was then stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, where he served as a Field Artillery Officer for the United States Army. After his time at West Point, Mike served as Graduate Assistant Coach (awarded Army Achievement Medal for performance), Fire Directions Officer (awarded Army Achievement Medal for performance) and Assistant Divarty S1 (awarded Army Commendation Medal for performance). He also earned the distinction of Commandant’s List Graduate, Master Fires Award (highest academic average in fire support) and Master Shooter Award (best in observed fire) at the Field Artillery Basic Course.

In addition, Mike was a three year letterman in both football (Coaches Award for “Most Courageous Attitude”) and baseball (voted co-captain by the team). Mike Plaia was selected by West Point leadership to escort President Bill Clinton during his inaugural visit to the Academy in 1993.

doTERRA sources, tests, manufactures, and distributes pure essential oils and natural wellness products to over nine million Wellness Advocates and customers. Our products are shipped to 86 countries and counting.

Through industry-leading, responsible sourcing practices—Co-Impact Sourcing®—doTERRA maintains the highest levels of quality, purity, and sustainability in partnerships with local growers around the globe. The doTERRA Healing Hands Foundation®, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, offers resources and tools to sourcing communities and charitable organizations, raising self-reliance, increasing access to healthcare, promoting education, advancing sanitation, and fighting against human trafficking. With our social impact mission to triple our impact by 2030, doTERRA is helping the world heal—one drop, one person, one community at a time.

Wiley is a graduate of The University of Alabama and received a Master’s degree in Business Administration from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. After graduate school, he joined Procter & Gamble, Inc. Throughout his marketing career he has managed national brands including Vick’s VapoRub, Mott’s Apple Sauce, and Vick’s NyQuil.

He is also a member of the Teaching Faculty at the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship at Florida State and also Advisory Board Chairman for the Business Dynamics Research Consortium at the University of Wisconsin – Extension.  Its mission is to study exceptional growth companies, the capital markets, and overall business activity to learn more about their impact on employment and economic growth. He is the Former Chairman of the Board for the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), a global not-for-profit organization with 58 Chapters and 14,000 members in the US and internationally, representing middle market private capital investors, intermediaries and the middle market deal community.  In 2017 he was given ACG’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the organization’s Intergrowth 2017 conference in Las Vegas, recognizing his dedication to ACG and the middle market community in the U.S. and around the world.

Previously, Doug was Chairman and CEO of Tatum LLC, which grew into a highly respected national professional services firm with 30 offices and over 1000 professionals and employees.  The company was sold to Spherion in 2010.

Doug is the Managing Director of TIP Seed Fund LLC, a newly formed seed stage VC fund with investments and investment rights in a diversified portfolio of companies with unique and proprietary products in the consumer, high-tech, and nutraceutical to pharmaceutical marketplaces.

Doug is the author of No Man’s Land: Where Growing Companies Fail, a leading text about growth companies that has been translated into several languages and has won four National Best Business book awards.  His insights about the economy and business have been cited in hundreds of media outlets including Inc. Magazine, The Financial Times, and The New York Times online.

Anne's journey towards success began many years before she rolled the first pretzel when she and her husband experienced any parent's worst nightmare – losing a child.  This propelled Anne into years of darkness, depression, and despair but out of her pain came purpose and the desire to persevere towards personal and professional success. 

Anne is among an elite group of women who have founded national companies in America and is among an even smaller group that has owned an international franchise company. She was named one of America's 500 Women Entrepreneurs by Working Women and Entrepreneur of the Year by Inc. Magazine. Many television shows have featured Anne's Entrepreneurial insights and personal story, including Secret Millionaire, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, ANDERSON, and Food Court Wars. Her story is highlighted in numerous publications, including Fortune Magazine, Inc Magazine, Guidepost, and Nation's Restaurant News. Anne also received honorary doctorates from Eastern College and Elizabethtown College. 

Anne sold Auntie Anne's® in 2005 and authored Twist of Faith, a revealing look inside her life and business.  She followed up that book with, The Secret Lies Within, which provides an inside-out look at trauma and how to overcome it through sharing your story.

Today, Anne speaks to audiences worldwide, inspiring people with her authentic stories and life experiences. Her mission is to help women overcome the pain, blame, and shame of their past by sharing their stories so they can lead with purpose. 

He left the company in 1968 saying he would return later, but first, he was going to pursue a boyhood dream. He wanted to be a race car driver. He spent 20 years in motorsports winning regional races, the Formula Atlantic Championship, and Rookie of the Year at the Indianapolis 500 in 1979. He competed in the Indy 500 six times,  qualifying on the front row in 1984, and held the best average finishing record of anyone who started more than four events from 1911 – 1988 when he retired from driving race cars.

As a businessman, Howdy operated a motorsports marketing company and an advertising company, which served the motorsports community. He authored an award-winning book called, “Formula Car Technology” and was a contributing writer for magazines and newspapers about racing. He was also one of the first color commentators of racing for ESPN.

Howdy rejoined the family business in 1987. “The relationships between racing teams  and manufacturing are kind of twin sisters in the sense that you’re always trying to  improve something with the mechanical equipment.”

Howdy led a transformation of the then 100-year-old family business. With the help of others, a professionally managed strategic vision was successfully introduced.

Today, known for its Quality and Value, “JIFFY” Mix is uniquely positioned for the  21st Century. “JIFFY” is the market share leader in retail prepared baking mixes. In  2007, Chelsea Milling Company entered the foodservice market space, selling to  commercial and non-commercial customers.

As a dedicated privacy consultant, Jodi designs custom compliance programs to fit the size and diversity of each business. These programs include balancing customer data collection and use, GDPR and US privacy law compliance, operationalizing privacy, digital governance, online data strategy, and much more. 

Jodi understands the many facets of building and managing a business, and she knows how challenging it can be to keep up with the ever-changing regulations around compliance (after all, you don’t know what you don’t know…). Jodi breaks down privacy laws and each company’s specific obligations into simple, easy-to-understand terms. It is her passion to help businesses foster strong customer relationships that are based on trust, while also privacy-friendly and compliant with privacy laws.

Prior to joining Bonney, Jeremy worked as an entrepreneur in South Africa’s rapidly evolving telecoms industry. Jeremy moved to the US with his family 5 years ago in search of better opportunities and adventure. At Bonney, Jeremy is focused on constantly improving company culture, hiring and developing talent and pursuing sustainable growth.

Harish has led multiple new set-ups, streamlining operations and capitalising on organisational synergies, thus achieving exponential revenue growth across industries & global markets. Harish has accomplished multi fold increase in business turnover while superseding performance including planning, execution and launching of new products/businesses leading to transforming the business in the USA, Asia Pacific & Africa as CEO. He has special love and passion for business & growth potential of these markets. 

His past leadership positions span roles in global companies like ACME Group, Indus Towers, Times Innovative Media Limited, & Bharti Group, specializing in business acquisition, strategic alliances, distribution management and budget controls in high-intensity growth markets. On the academic front, he is an IIFT Alumina and a Bachelor of Engineering (electronics) from Nagpur University.

Mr. Hedrick has more than three decades of broad-based leadership experience, with more than 20 years of experience in the petrochemical industry, leading businesses, chemical manufacturing and health, safety, environment and quality (HSEQ). Prior to AVN, he held numerous roles of increasing responsibility at Lyondell, Bayer Polymers, Bayer MaterialScience and Bayer CropScience and has led multiple regional and global teams to improve business results, reliability and safety systems. His entry into the chemical industry followed service as an officer in the United States Army.

In addition, Mr. Hedrick currently serves on several boards of directors, including Discover Real West Virginia Foundation, West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, West Virginia Manufacturers Association, and Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences of West Virginia.

He is Chairman of the Charleston Area Alliance Board and Vice President (Vice Chair) of the Advantage Valley Board.In addition, Mr. Hedrick sits on the Business Roundtable of West Virginia.A native of West Virginia, he holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

Gillespie has more than 15 years of senior management experience working across the spectrum of roles in the disability services industry including executive leadership, operations management, and group home management. His resume prior to his service at Living Well includes more than a decade of strategic leadership at Minnesota disability service providers, including his time as Executive Director of the Duluth Regional Care Center (DRCC) in Duluth, MN. Prior to that Gillespie was Chief Program Officer of Hammer Residences in Wayzata. Hammer Residences provides services for more than 1,900 people impacted by disabilities, Hammer has 550 staff in locations across the Twin Cities region.

In addition to his leadership at Living Well, Tom is married to his high school girlfriend Susie. The couple has a 5-year-old son, Henry.  Tom serves on the board of directors for the Association of Residential Resources in Minnesota (ARRM), Minnesota ACO provider ALTAIR, and The Non-Profit Insurance Trust. Gillespie and his family also volunteer their time with Minnetonka Community Education, The Woodbury Hockey Association, and South Washington County Schools. Tom Gillespie has received an undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, and an MBA from Concordia University St. Paul.

Mikkel is the Founder and CEO at Expat Money™, a private consulting firm started in 2017. He hosts the popular weekly podcast, the Expat Money Show, and wrote the definitive #1-Best Selling book Expat Secrets - How To Pay Zero Taxes, Live Overseas And Make Giant Piles Of Money.

A world traveller since his teens, Mikkel Thorup has learned his craft in three unique and unconventional ways; first, by living it himself, continuously pushing the boundaries testing new ideas around the globe; next, from diligent and intense study consuming over 2000 books and courses on the subject; and finally, by apprenticing and learning directly from the world's top legal experts in the field. Mikkel has dedicated himself for over two decades to building this mountain of knowledge, one that is not constrained by languages, cultures, or borders. He now works one-on-one with private clients utilizing this combination of hard-won experience and in-depth knowledge and has helped hundreds of people to build their dream lives abroad.

As an autodidact, Mikkel stopped attending school at 12 years old before officially dropping out at the age of 15. Both his own experiences growing up, and those of his children as expats in an increasingly remote world, have inspired Mikkel to innovate in the field of education. In 2021 he co-founded the Expat International School of Freedom & Entrepreneurship. This revolutionary online learning program focuses on encouraging children and teenagers to develop their skills and abilities in a purpose-driven and responsible way and how to apply them in the real world.

Since leaving Canada as a teenager, Mikkel has been an avid traveller. He has circumnavigated the globe over 400 times, visiting more than 100 countries and has called 9 different countries home in his 20+ years of non-stop continual travel around the world.

Mikkel Thorup has inspired countless individuals through his podcast, books, and appearances on hundreds of radio and podcast interviews. A respected and sought-after keynote speaker has seen him invited to present at events in China, the UAE, Belize, Costa Rica, the USA, Panama, Liberland, Ukraine and many more. He speaks on immigration, maximizing international investments and how to move offshore for more freedom, privacy and protection. He is a powerful speaker with a rich and inspiring story.

Mikkel Thorup is the Free Cities Ambassador with The Free Cities Foundation. And sits on the Board of Directors for multiple construction and community development companies that are focused on freedom and self-sustainably in Latin America. 

As a passionate philanthropist, Mikkel Thorup sits on the Board of Directors for 10 Eighteen Uganda, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing resources and opportunities for teen mothers in the Namuwongo slums of Uganda.

Mikkel Thorup is a dedicated husband and father of two. When not helping clients or growing his 7-figure consulting firm, he enjoys travelling and spending time with his wife and children.

To learn more about Mikkel Thorup, you can join his daily email correspondence, EMS Pulse - an invaluable resource for planning your new life abroad that is currently enjoyed by over 37,000 expats and expat hopefuls worldwide.

Kahn holds a Bachelor of Business Administration, Information Technology from The Interdisciplinary Center and a Master of Business Administration, International Business from Bellevue University.

He joined Hilti in 2004 as a territory sales representative for construction in San Francisco. From there, he was promoted to regional manager for San Diego and Hawaii. In 2008, Avi took on greater responsibility as the Chicago-based West Great Lakes division manager. In January 2011, Avi took an international assignment when the organization named him president of Hilti Canada.

Kahn is active with the Dallas Regional Chamber, serving as a member of the board of directors and executive committee, as well as chairing the international task force. He is involved with several charitable organizations including serving as a foundation board member of Children’s Health of Dallas, a pediatric health care organization, and was on the Habitat for Humanity Canadian Leadership Council. Avi is a member of the ownership advisory group of the Dallas Stars hockey team. Since 2017, he is a Catalyst CEO Champion for Change.

Avi Kahn resides in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex with his wife Maryann and their two sons, Ethan and Adam.

As Founder and CEO of 10XBeta, a product development and engineering firm working in consumer and enterprise electronics, medical devices and specialized robotics, Marcel works to build expert multidisciplinary teams to solve unique, solve complex problems by leveraging a global network of manufacturing partners and has developed hundreds of products. Over the course of 8 years, 10XBeta has helped numerous medical professionals test, develop and commercialize products ranging from electronic stethoscopes, colposcopes, to surgical instruments.

Recent works include; INDIEGO, autonomous robot that powers manual wheelchairs; CARE-E, KLM Dutch Airlines’ new helpful concierge and baggage carrier; INSPIREN, a sensor platform providing insights into the quality of care provided to patients; FOOTPRINTLESS, a sneaker prototype created from CO2 recovered from energy production; BEATBOT, a programmable self-driving robot designed to motivate athletes; JEFFSOLVES MEDTECH, an immersive medical innovation program developed in collaboration with Thomas Jefferson University.

He has extensive executive-level experience in leading, managing, and participating in large-scale, high-profile events, including, but not limited to, the loss of the space shuttle Challenger in the mid-1980s, mass migrations of Haitians/Cubans in the early 1990s, the loss of TWA Flight 800 and Alaska Air, the loss of JFK, Jr.’s aircraft off of Martha’s Vineyard, and dozens of contentious and complex business and legislative issues associated with FEMA’s transformation following Hurricane Katrina. 

Before starting his own company and acquiring a second one, Pat served as Senior Vice President of PIER Systems, a technology-focused crisis communication company (2007-2008); Director Office of External Affairs for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (2006-2007); and as a Technical Director/Program Manager for Anteon Corporation (now General Dynamics Information Technology) (2005-2006).

Pat served more than 21 years in the U.S. Coast Guard, retiring as Chief of Public Affairs in 2004.  Other notable staff assignments include serving as the Deputy Chief of the Coast Guard’s Strategic Analysis Staff, Press Assistant to the Commandant, and Chief of Coast Guard Media Relations.  Operational assignments include more than seven years of shipboard experience, including command of two Coast Guard cutters. 

Pat has consulted with various sectors, including oil & gas, education, nonprofits, and pharmaceuticals.

Pat holds a Doctorate in Communication from the University of Maryland, a Master of Business Administration from George Mason University, a Master of Science in Public Relations from Syracuse University, and a Bachelor of Science in Government from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.  He is a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

However, you might say his life’s work was predestined. Long after he fell in love with rowing, Bruce discovered quite by accident that his ancestors were, in fact, a legendary rowing family. In addition, his great grandfather was a master boat builder in Cambridge who made the first sliding seats in racing shells.

Throughout his career, Bruce has remained steadfastly committed to improving communities by making rowing accessible to all, including his work previously as the executive director of Community Rowing in Boston. He also founded Lincoln Park Juniors, a rowing program in Chicago for underserved youth. Today, Bruce continues to thoughtfully innovate new ways to make the water and the rowing world more accessible, while also improving the communities in which we live.

Bruce will tell you it was the “swing” of the rhythm of rowing in perfect harmony with his teammates that bonded him to the boathouse and the lifestyle. And he says that same “swing” is what continues to move the entire rowing community into the future. Under his guidance, the Hydrow team has been able to create a world-class way to do that: our rowers. Together, we continue the movement, with a state-of-the-art home fitness offering that grants you access to world-class waterways, the sport’s most elite Athletes, whole-body health, and a community that spans centuries, and the globe.

My perspective on business, politics and society is shaped primarily by my alignment with the Austrian School of Economics. I was irredeemably inspired by my early reading of the Intelligent Investor at the age of 24 and am at a loss to understand why anyone would want to think differently about investing and capital allocation other than from a value perspective. I am a Christian Libertarian by conviction. You can read more about my own journey and the influences on my thinking by reading the blog post „why we do what we do“

I am an Englishman, born in Lancashire in 1963 who moved to Germany at the age of 24 after completing my education at Rugby and Durham University. Starting in 1987, I spent almost all of my investment career in Munich, Germany, before moving to Ireland with my family in early 2015. I now commute between Dublin and Germany and have come to the conclusion that there are worse things in life…I have been married to Britta since 2000 and our family consists of four children, three dogs, and a horse, all of whom live in Delgany, Co. Wicklow. I am an avid long distance trail walker (see www.peregrinations.eu for my trail blogs), cross country skier and sailor, I read voraciously, listen to an unhealthy amount of podcasts, write enthusiastically and drink large quantities of green tea every day.

I am also a founding member of the Small Giants Community ( www.smallgiants.org ), a wonderful, US- based organisation, that caters to companies that choose to be great instead of big and provides resources and a community to value-based leaders.

In addition I am an active supporter and mentor within the Ashoka Social Entrepreneurship (http://ireland.ashoka.org/ ) network, both here in Ireland and in Germany and Britta and I have been actively involved with Ashoka in one way or another since 2002.

In 2015 I was invited to join an interfaith delegation to the caribbean island state of Grenada, whose purpose was to coordinate a number of reconstruction and redevelopment projects for infrastructure seriously damaged by hurricanes a decade earlier. As part of that delegation representing the Anglican community, I was awarded with an honour bestowed by the Governor General into the Order of the Nation of Grenada with the rank of Knight Commander.

Since 2017 I have served as one of a number of business professionals working as mentors to high growth entrepreneurs with the Ryan Business Academy „Mentoring for Growth“ Program.

In 2018 I was elected to serve on the founding steering committee (supervisory board) of the MyData Global Organisation, an Helsinki-based foundation set up to ’empower individuals with their personal data, thus helping them and their communities develop knowledge, make informed decisions, and interact more consciously and efficiently with each other as well as with organisations.‘ and was delighted to have been involved with that organisation in its founding year.

I believe that business can and should be a force for good in our society and that the more people take entrepreneurial responsibility for their lives, the better our society will be. I also believe in Benjamin Franklin’s dictum of “doing well by doing good” and in that Abraham Maslow was right when he wrote „The difference between the great and good societies and the regressing, deteriorating societies is largely in terms of the entrepreneurial opportunity and the number of such people in the society. I think everyone would agree that the most valuable people to bring into a deteriorating society would not be 100 chemists, or politicians, or professors, or engineers, but rather 100 entrepreneurs”. Amen to that.

Elliott earned a Bachelor’s degree in United States History from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Outside of work, Elliott enjoys spending time with his family, rooting for the New York Jets, and reading about history, technology, and business.

Scott's first business was in partnership with Tino Lettieri, called Tino's Inc. and after 3 years was sold to Schwanns in 1989. From 1990 until 2003 Scott built and sold Benchmark Learning, Minnesota's largest technology training company, and then from 2004 until 2014 he built and sold Insights Twin Cities to Insights Global in Scotland.

He also learned lessons on life and leadership as a TEC/Vistage member from 1995 until 2003, and he has published four books: I Think I'll Stand Up, Get a Job Fast, GPS for Success, and Discover Yourself. He is also a highly rated speaker for Vistage International, the world's largest CEO member organization and has trained several dozen leadership teams running billion-dollar business units. Today Scott and his team deliver increased sales, profits, and productivity in some of the world's best companies while traveling globally training teams, leaders and sales people, speaking to thousands, and reaching millions more via his live webinars, his videos, and his Ted Talk (www.scottstedtalk.com).

If asked "What's your dream job?", Scott would say, "EXACTLY what I do now... teaching people how to communicate better with each other.”

Ms. Schweikert has a history of creating innovative strategies to ensure the delivery of high-quality early education and care programs. Early in her career, she was the Director of the United Nations Child Care Centre and later developed and managed on-site employer-sponsored child care programs for numerous Fortune 500 companies. 

Her advocacy work extends both nationally and internationally and includes serving as a board member for the Early Care & Education Consortium, an advisory board member for Marco Polo World School and Seton Hall University. In addition, Gigi serves as the President of the Lightbridge Foundation, a non-profit 501-c3 providing over $500,000 in grants and scholarships to support the health, education and well-being of children and their families. 

Gigi is an international thought leader advancing the quality of early education and child care. With 30 years of experience and 18 published books, in three languages, Gigi has appeared on CBS, NBC, Fox, and the Wall Street Journal Lunch Hour News. Ms. Schweikert has been quoted in The New Times, Entrepreneur, and Forbes. 

She enjoys reading, writing, and is proud of her greatest accomplishment; being mother to her four beautiful children.

Prior to joining Timex, Gary was Global VP/General Manager of Playtex, a business unit of  Energizer’s Personal Care division. Among his achievements at Playtex, he helped acquire the  Hawaiian Tropic sun care brand and expanded its distribution internationally. Gary joined  Playtex in 2006 as part of a turnaround team that sold the business to Energizer Holdings.  

Gary also held a succession of global marketing positions at P&G/The Gillette Company, each increasing in scale, scope of responsibility and complexity. By developing new products and focusing on transformational cost savings and productivity initiatives, he was able to deliver consistent profit growth in Gillette’s Oral-B and shaving businesses. 

Gary is a board director of Horizons National, a not-for-profit that delivers summer and after-school education and enrichment programs to low-income children across the country. He chairs the marketing communications committee and serves on the strategic planning and compensation committees. He is also a board advisor to PrideGear, a start-up that customizes athletic logo-wear for college and club sports teams. 

A native of Massachusetts, Gary graduated from Brandeis University and earned his MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Gary and his wife, Carolyn, have four daughters and reside in Westport, CT.

Prior to founding Evergreen, Jeff was a Vice President at Alpine Investors where he led investments in business services companies and was a board member of Risk Management Strategies, MidAmerica, YouCaring and Constructive Media.

Jeff graduated Phi Beta Kappa with highest honors from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley where he was President of the Berkeley Investment Group.

SELECT ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

• Extensive turnaround experience in the omnichannel consumer sector. 
• Experience working with private equity including both sell and buy-side. 
• Implemented ERP, warehouse management, and new web platforms. Deep experience in product development,  sourcing, and manufacturing. 
• Recipient of leadership and product design awards including Women in Business Honoree - Minneapolis/St Paul  Business Journal, (2019) and Corporate Leadership Award, Melanoma Research Foundation (2018). • Member of private and non-profit boards of directors.  

RELEVANT SKILLS 

Strategic Planning & Execution, Growth Leadership, Change Management, P & L Management, Forecasting,  Global Cross-Functional Team Leadership, Supply Chain Management, Lean Process Improvement, M & A, Integration  Strategies, Retail & Industrial Channel Management, Organization Development, Global Partnership Development,  Board of Directors, Product Innovation, Private Equity (PE), Transformational Leadership 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 

HEARTLAND AMERICA, Greater Minneapolis, MN 

Chief Executive Officer 2021 – present 

In business for 40+ years, Heartland America is a private consumer-based company with investors that sells a full range of end-of season retail products through catalog, phone, and digital to consumers nationwide. 130 employees, ~ $50M annual revenue. 

Hired to develop strategies and plans to turn around, stabilize, and grow the business. Report to the BOD Chair. 

KCREICHENAU CONSULTING, Minneapolis, MN  

Founder and CEO 2019 - present Support companies and PE firms to evaluate businesses with a focus on growth, opportunities, and customers. 

Work with multiple private equity firms to help with due diligence and identify opportunities for multiple companies in the consumer space. Successfully conducted a business unit analysis for CEO/Board to decide how to grow a division of a  $300M consumer-based company. 

COOLIBAR, Minneapolis, MN 

Chief Executive Officer 2014 – 2019 This mission-driven brand has introduced numerous innovative fabric technologies, raised standards in sun protective ratings, and designed a variety of UPF 50+ apparel. In 2016 the business was acquired by Olivarius Hospitality. 

Recruited to succeed the founder in 2014 to reposition the company for the next phase of growth.  

EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP | STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT | CORPORATE ALIGNMENT | EXIT STRATEGY • Collaborated with the BOD and senior leaders to develop strategy and implantation plans, budget, and portfolio.

Kendra Reichenau – page 2 

• Led the business turnaround with a successful transaction to new ownership in 2016. 
• Deployed significant change management and prioritization methods including new systems, implementation, ERP  integration, warehouse, and web platform. 
• Led global growth including 200 retail and luxury resort wholesale accounts. Attained Double-digit growth for three consecutive years, with 100% growth in year five. 

OPERATIONS | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT 

• Increased from 45 FTE employees to 100 global employees; added in-house production offices in Thailand and India. • Migrated 50% of all production away from agents to in-house to improve margins, quality, and supply chain. • Achieved strong growth by prioritizing e-commerce and Amazon businesses. 
• Focused on growing new wholesale channels and strengthening core business, as well as identifying new product categories and brand partnerships. 
• Built a strong online community through social media with a focus on education and support. Grew customer engagement by 300%. 

KOHLER COMPANY, Kohler, WI 

President, McGuire Furniture - San Francisco, CA 2011 – 2013 One of the largest privately-operated global firms with 48 divisions and ~$6.5B in annual revenue. 

Led turnaround, management, and growth of an international, omnichannel luxury furniture company in wholesale,  retail, manufacturing, and design. Managed a 300-member global team. 

• Re-invigorated a 60-year-old heritage company known for high quality and beautiful design. • Managed full P&L for two manufacturing plants, three unions, and 120 wholesale partners globally. • Grew successful e-commerce and digital strategy. 
• Won multiple design awards for new product launches. 
• Created a strong foundation of sales and products for the successful sale of the company in 2015. 

LUXOTTICA GROUP. Milan, Italy 

Senior Vice President and General Manager - N3L Optics - Orange County, CA 2007 – 2011 Luxottica is a global leader in eyewear, with over 5,800 optical and sun retail stores in North America, Asia-Pacific, China, and Europe with a strong brand portfolio including Ray-Ban, the best-selling sun and prescription eyewear brand globally. 

Reported directly to the CEO of Oakley. Managed 70 employees with full P&L responsibility. • Developed and launched an interactive, multi-branded sports performance sunglass retail concept. • Grew the business to 10 locations when successfully transferred over to the Sunglass Hut division. • Attained + 20% YoY store increase on 10% less inventory (2010). 

• Created the branding, defined the consumer, and developed the PR/marketing strategy to drive awareness in national and local markets. Drove all assortments and visuals, and ensured field support and training. 

Senior Vice President and GMM - Sunglass Icon, division of Oakley, Inc. 

Responsible for the general management of a 125-retail inline and kiosk sunglass store chain. • Created the vision for all marketing, merchandising, and field training and execution. 

• Negotiated new terms and relationships with the vendor community. 
• Improved margin by 1.5 pts. Grew revenue by 6% to over $80M business. 
• Led the migration of all 125 locations to be re-branded under Sunglasses Hut name and systems once Oakley was purchased by Luxottica. 

REICHENAU CONSULTING, San Francisco, CA 

Interim Executive and Consultant - San Francisco, CA 2004 – 2007 Worked with Board Members at Oakley, CEO of Gymboree, President of Dockers, and CEO of Crescent Jewelers to review existing product development processes, identify business opportunities, and implement organizational change.

Acting VP of Design for Dockers Women’s - Focused on improving fit and defining the design process by calendar month.

Acting GMM for Crescent Jewelers - Created a marketing plan, new brand image, and visual standard for all stores.  Reduced inventory by 20%; improved sales by 10%. 

Acting Head of Merchandising for Janeville (Gymboree) – Defined and clarified the customer, streamlined the product fits, and the go-to-market processes. 

GAP, INC., San Francisco, CA - Senior Director and Divisional Merchandise Manager - Women’s NORDSTROM, INC., Seattle, WA - Vice President, Brand Manager, Halogen  

ARTHUR ANDERSEN/KPMG, San Francisco CA - Manager  

EDUCATION 

SCRIPPS COLLEGE, Claremont, CA - Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science 

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION 

Women in Business Honoree - Minneapolis/St Paul Business Journal - 2019 

Corporate Leadership Award - Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF) – 2018 

Several Design Awards for Product Launches - KOHLER COMPANY - McGuire Furniture 

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS 

CHIEF (National Executive Women’s Group) – Selected Member 2022 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

Board Member- WASHBURN CENTER FOR CHILDREN, Minneapolis, MN (2021 – present) 

Board Member; Executive Committee - CRISTO REY HIGH SCHOOL, Minneapolis, MN (2015 - 2021) Board Member; Chair, Marketing Committee - IMMACULATE CONCEPTION ACADEMY - Cristo Rey (2009-2013)

Matt has navigated organizations through expansive growth and acquisitions, divisional and senior leadership restructuring, and financial turn-arounds. As CEO of Hope Haven, he has strategic and P&L responsibility for a $50 million budget and leads a staff team of 750. Matt was a lead advocate for legislation during the 111th US Congress that keeps siblings together in adoption and has raised millions of dollars for programmatic and capital projects. He previously managed $370 million per year for Best Buy when the company jumped nearly 100 spots in the Fortune 500. Matt was named the 2022 Executive of the Year by the Iowa Association of Community Providers.

Matt holds a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Minnesota, and a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, in English and Speech Communication from Saint Cloud State University.

Matt married his college sweetheart, Theresa, and they have four children. His hobbies include reading, fitness, and finding his way outside with the family and their two dogs.

• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: Extraverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging (ENTJ)
• Clifton StrengthsFinder: Futuristic, Ideation, Learner, Belief, Relator
• DiSC Profile: iD

Vishal is widely recognized as a change agent in the legaltech space, where he has worked tirelessly to improve outcomes for legal teams, while elevating their visibility within the enterprise.  

In 2021, Vishal was named an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, one of the preeminent competitive business awards for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies. LinkSquares debuted on the Inc. 5000 in 2021 at position #253.  

Outside of LinkSquares, Vishal mentors local Boston-based startup founders, plays covers and the blues on his guitar, and spends time adventuring with his wife and two young children. 

Vishal has a B.S. in Engineering from Northeastern University and an M.S. from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Cameron’s farm-raised work ethic, outside-the-box thinking, commitment to absolute transparency, and past professional experience have helped him to lead PEG to where it is today. A CPA by training with over eight years mastering the entitlement process in city management, Cameron brings a perspective that helps PEG offer compelling investment opportunities through innovative and cost-effective solutions to the complexities of real estate markets today. As one of the youngest finance directors in Utah’s city government history, Cameron structured the largest tax incentive project in the western United States at the time for the city of Lehi, Utah with Micron Technology, Inc. and continues to make headlines as PEG grows throughout the United States and Canada. 

With dozens of projects completed and many others underway, Cameron is proud of the market-leading position PEG has secured in its nearly 20 years of operation. Whether it is becoming the first developer ever to finish an AC Hotel by Marriott on time and under budget, building one of the only four-story branded hotel buildings in downtown Jackson Hole, developing a major student housing hub for Utah’s largest university, or breaking ground on the first Qualified Opportunity Zone projects in multiple states, Cameron rises to every challenge and finds great fulfillment in spurring economic growth for communities everywhere. 

Cameron received his BA in Business Administration from Idaho State University.

As CEO and President of Massage Heights Franchising, I am proud to lead a talented group of people to drive continuous growth in our overall culture. Culture is everything, and it is the cornerstone of my leadership beliefs.

Massage Heights is about creating a culture of caring where we focus on providing a personalized, elevated, and awesome experience to every member and guest. Health and wellness are part of our daily lives, and we are proud to work with our amazing franchisees and partners to grow our brand.

Franchising has been my 35-year career with various industries. The journey has been so rewarding, and helping franchisees, team members, partners, and consumers achieve their goals is what gives me the most satisfaction.

Prior to Massage Heights Franchising, I was the President of TITLE Boxing Club and oversaw over 180 clubs domestically and internationally. I have been an executive leader and franchising subject matter expert, steering vision casting for some of the best-loved and most-recognized brands, including Massage Envy, McDonald’s, Sport Clips, Cold Stone Creamery, and Godfather’s Pizza.

I have a proven history of providing business strategies and financial due diligence to help franchisees achieve operational excellence aligned with company mission, values, and goals. An innovative, forward-thinking trailblazer focused on driving results in relentless pursuit of excellence.

Expertise: Talent Development ~ Brand Stewardship ~ Strategic Business Planning and Execution ~ Change Management ~ Strategic Partnerships ~ National Promotions ~ Business Intelligence ~ Research & Analysis ~ Loyalty Programs ~ Market & Media Planning ~ Target Messaging ~ Local Store Marketing ~ Budgeting & Forecasting ~ Coaching & Mentoring

In addition to his corporate entrepreneurial work, Matt is co-founder and Chairman of Path Forward, a nonprofit that was spun out of Return Path in 2016, whose mission is to empower women to restart their careers after time spent focused on caregiving, working with more than 75 companies including Apple, Amazon, Wal-Mart, Intuit, Campbell’s Soup, PayPal, Verizon, and Oracle. He is also the author of 3 books: Startup CEO: A field guide to scaling up your business (based on his popular blog on entrepreneurship, StartupCEO.com), Startup CXO: A field guide to scaling up your company’s critical functions and teams, and the forthcoming Startup Boards: A Field Guide to Building and Leading an Effective Board of Directors, all published by Wiley & Sons.  

Matt has been recognized as one of New York’s 100 most influential technology leaders by Business Insider, by Crain’s as one of New York’s Top Entrepreneurs, and by Ernst & Young as an Entrepreneur of the Year finalist. He has served as a Board Member of numerous corporate, nonprofit, and community organizations, as well as Chairman of the Board of the Direct Marketing Association, and he completed a brief assignment as founder and leader of the State of Colorado’s COVID-19 Innovation Response Team in 2020. Matt attended Princeton University where he graduated Summa Cum Laude with an A.B. in Urban Planning in 1992. He lives with his wife Mariquita and his three children, Casey, Wilson, and Elyse in Scarsdale, NY.

Before joining SDG Group, Alejandro developed his professional career in important local and international companies as a consultant. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, postgraduate degree in International Management, and a master’s degree in Project Management from the Polytechnic University of Valencia in Spain (UPV). He also has a degree in Business Engineering from the School of Engineering of Antioquia (EIA University), Colombia.

In the last few years, Alejandro has been recognized as one of the Top 50 Global Healthcare Consultants by The Consulting Report and as a Visionary Leader in the Data & Analytics field by Analytics Insight. He contributes to SDG Group’s technology alliances in their partner advisory councils and direct engagements with their R&D departments to influence the market execution and the technology roadmap.

Madeleine is a former corporate executive and a 3x founder.  She has more than 15 years of experience leading, consulting and growing businesses of all sizes from family-run to fortune 500. She understands how to harness the power of people and how to leverage the power of dynamic educational content to catalyze growth.

Her down-to-earth style makes even the most intimidating topics feel well within reach and her ability to blend cutting-edge information with fiery inspiration drives audiences – both live and virtually – to stand up and take action towards their growth and business objectives without losing sight of who they truly are and what they desire the most.  

She’s taught over 25,000 people and inspires leaders to hit the next stage of their growth, whether it’s going from $5k to $45k months, hitting their first million in sales or even growing to $5-, $10-, even $30+ million dollars of revenue a year!

In addition to providing Managed IT Services, the SecureBIT managed security team helps organizations identify and reduce risk and our Upstream Impact software division creates applications that help non-profit organizations achieve their mission.  Our most recent application PantryEasy, (www.pantryeasy.com) is an online market that helps food pantries get their goods to their clients quickly and efficiently.

Our goal is to positively impact 1200 organizations by the year 2030.

Former CEO, National Marine Manufacturers Association and IPC-Connecting Electronic Circuits Business Strategist, National Association of Healthcare Quality Advisor, Global Marine Business Advisors

Thomas Dammrich was president of NMMA for 21 years.  When assuming the role, he knew he had to get the industry working together and focused on things everyone could agree to work on.  One of the first things he tackled was focusing on market expansion efforts that were also measurable.  Dammrich’s leadership helped unify the industry to do just that with the Discover Boating campaign, now entering its sixteenth year. 

Dammrich also served as President of IPC, an international trade association of companies producing printed circuit boards and doing electronics manufacturing services.

After retiring from NMAA in 2019, Dammrich continued his service on a number of Boards of Directors and has chaired or served on over 15 Boards of Directors including both non-profit and for-profit companies.  He is currently engaged as Business Strategist for the National Association for Healthcare Quality and as a founder of Global Marine Business Advisors

Thom can’t help but look forward.  He has said, “I constantly scan the environment in which industries operate to anticipate challenges and identify opportunities to keep the industry healthy, growing, and working together.”

Dammrich is a builder, having doubled revenues and members in every organization he has led.

Dammrich has a BA in Economics, an MBA in Finance, an MS in Accountancy, and a Doctorate of Business Administration, all from DePaul University in Chicago.  He is a member of the NMMA Hall of Fame, ASA Sportfishing Hall of Fame, and Boating Safety Hall of Fame and has been recognized for lifetime achievement by the Water Sports Industry Association.  He is a member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Management Committee for the Center for Sportfish Policy and serves on the Board of Directors of Niven Marketing.

Mary has served as CEO, CTO, COO, CSO, VP, board director, board chair, founder, consultant, and advisor for private and public companies from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 across a variety of industries. A licensed Professional Electrical Engineer, P.E., Ms. Jesse holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering, and nineteen technology-related patents. She is a frequent advisor, speaker and writer on technology, innovation and diversity, and is passionate about supporting underserved populations in STEM, technology, and business.

A pioneer in both technology and social media, Geoff redefined the fast-casual space by implementing mobile ordering, self-ordering kiosks, bicycle delivery, and nationwide shipping. Geoff has overseen Wow Bao’s inclusion into airports, major sports stadiums, university campuses, music venues, and grocers around the country that sell Wow Bao’s frozen retail line.  

Shortly after being named to both Nation’s Restaurant News’ Power List and Most Influential Restaurant CEOs in the country, Geoff changed the game in the restaurant industry once again by creating Wow Bao Now; launching more than 500 Wow Bao Dark / Virtual Kitchens in more than 400 cities in less than 18 months. 

Anna is a growth-oriented leader with over 22 years of business, operations and organizational leadership experience at high growth early-stage businesses as well as large, scaled organizations. Her experience spans across brand/marketing, distribution and supply chain, ecommerce, physical retail, technology and CPG. During her career, she has built a reputation for operational excellence, innovative strategic thinking, leading leaders, working with the highest level of integrity, and a deep and passionate commitment to putting the customer first.  

Upon completing her undergraduate studies at the University of Florida in 1999, Ms. Fabrega started her career at McMaster-Carr, managing various distribution operations at a 300,000 sq ft facility carrying over 500,000 products. She earned an MBA in 2004 from Kellogg School of Management and took a leadership role at Stripes, a 500+ store convenience store chain (now owned by 7-11), where she spent time in field operations, category management and ultimately led brand, marketing, PR and merchandising for over 500 stores, while also building and leading a wholly-owned financial services subsidiary.  

In 2008, Ms. Fabrega migrated to Microsoft, where she served as part of the global brand strategy team and led the strategic brand migration of all on-premises server-based products to the cloud, before transitioning to Amazon in 2011. 

At Amazon, she ran the $4B Sports and Outdoors business before joining the Amazon Go team in 2014 as the business leader responsible for developing and operating stores using Just Walk Out technology. As she built the organization from the ground up over the next six years, she took on increasing levels of responsibility, ultimately serving as the leader of the entire Amazon Go store organization (merchandising, marketing, field ops, supply chain, product management, research science, real estate, construction and design) and the Amazon Kitchen (fresh prepared private label) organization (700+ people in total). During her six-year tenure leading Amazon Go, she scaled the business to 28 stores across four cities and launched Amazon Go Grocery, the first full Just Walk Out grocery store.  

Anna is a big thinker that balances scrappiness with operational and financial rigor. She has a high degree of curiosity and is well-known for her ability to ask the right questions, look around corners, and to be clear and concise with her direction and advisement. She is based out of NYC.  

Prior to founding Knocking, Markus worked for Aetna, a Fortune-100 healthcare company, as a full-time executive advisor reporting directly to the General Manager of the company’s $1 billion Consumer Business. In this role, Markus led the definition and implementation of Aetna’s customer experience governance and operations for the launch of Aetna’s B2C business. 

Before Aetna, managed corporate strategy, consumer analytics and marketing functions at New York Life, a Fortune-100 insurance company, where he worked directly with senior leadership and the company board on key initiatives around business operations, investment management and corporate planning.

Markus has held roles at Medtronic (formerly Covidien), a Fortune-500 healthcare company, where he was responsible for the company’s $150 million bariatric surgery and trocar businesses, and Fonar Corporation, a NASDAQ-traded medical device company whose founder, Dr. Damadian, invented and first commercialized the MRI scanner in the 1970s. Reporting directly to Fonar’s CEO, Markus successfully restructured the company’s European sales and service operations, and was responsible for obtaining the company's first contract with the U.S. Department of Defense.

Markus grew up in Munich, Germany, and began his career as a financial analyst at Siemens AG, a German electrical engineering and electronics company. He holds a BA and MA in Economics from Cambridge University and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Le joined the casino as chief marketing officer in June 2018 and helped shape the marketing and acquisition strategy for the record-setting year and 2019. During his tenure as interim CEO, Le led the casino team through the pandemic while retaining the company’s entire team member workforce of 1,100.

Le has more than 24 years of experience as a senior executive, leading companies including Fortune 500 casino companies, including Wynn Resorts, Sands China and Caesars Entertainment. During his tenure with those companies, he’s been part of the opening or pre-opening planning for five different integrated resort properties, which have grown significantly.

Le holds two post-graduate degrees, a master’s degree in management and a law degree he earned concurrently while attending Cornell University.

James has served in numerous C-level roles, as well as mid- to senior-level positions, across diverse industries where he has garnered extensive experience in multi-unit management/ownership, strategic brand positioning, business growth/transformation, product development, M&As, and marketing in domestic and international markets. He has also served on 15 Boards of Directors as Chairman, President, Parliamentarian, Sergeant at Arms,  Secretary-Treasurer, and multi-board liaison for private, public, and nonprofit sectors, both international and domestic, including Subway (Corporate and Franchisees), Westin Resorts, Vistana Signature Experiences, and  Marriott. In all roles, James works in partnership with all board members and company leaders, creating and launching forward-thinking strategies that create highly competitive market leaders. 

Beginning his career with Weaver Popcorn as Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Revenue Officer, James was selected right out of college from 1,200 applicants to spearhead a $20M division. In 1996, James was recruited by Nesco, a highly specialized utility equipment company in international telecom and fiber optic as their first  Chief Marketing Officer of North America, adding the title of Chief Sales Officer of North America one year later.  In these roles, James turned around the business, securing status as a Top 3 largest global supplier in the industry and positioned the company for successful acquisition, and was awarded Recipient of Award from CEO for the  Highest Sales Transaction in Company History. 

In 1998, James founded Vision Investment Group, where he served as a Chief Executive Officer and Chief  Marketing Officer of Subway Multi-unit Franchising, where he initially acquired two Subway Franchises with 20  employees and led the company through startup to strategically position his Subway franchise business to grow to today’s “Top 25 largest franchisees globally” (50+ locations; 1,200 employees). He grew revenues from $250K  to $20M+ by acquiring 38+ businesses and building 14 new locations from the ground up.  

Within the Subway family, James is most proud of generating $3.8B in sales as Board Liaison working with Subway marketing team by creating and launching a $5 Footlong promotion in recessionary 2008. This campaign achieved a #1 Fast-Food Brand ranking in multiple categories worldwide and is recognized as the highest revenue-generating promotion in company history (recorded in Smithsonian’s Institute of Marketing). James has also received additional awards that include Franchisee of the Year, Best Advertising and Promotions of the Year (2X),  Most Improved Operations, Highest Sales Growth (multiple), and Manager of Year (multiple), among others. 

James Miller is a strategic, game-changing visionary who brings about the revolutionary and constructive change that positively impacts profitability. Leading from the front, he builds highly cohesive environments and teams.  Throughout his career, he has forged and delivered numerous multimillion-dollar partner relationships with companies that include Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay, Subway, Sprint, NASCAR, NFL, Disney, Twitter, Google, Westin Hotels, and Resorts, American Heart Association, and Walmart, among others. James is recognized for merging an open mind, an engaging personality, and an out-of-the-box leadership style to uncover new opportunities, improve brand positioning, significantly enhance operational efficiencies, and quickly resolve business challenges. 

An accomplished speaker, James has presented to audiences of up to 2,500 people and has served in an advisory/mentoring role for various fundraising efforts and companies that include Dancer Concrete, Subway  Franchisees, Steak ‘n Shake, Mr. Brews Taphouse, Umi, and the Subway Executive Leadership Team. James also served as the Advisor to the Boy Scouts of America/Scouts Canada, where he was awarded the “men’s necktie”  worn by Prime Minister of Canada, Jean Chrétien, for exemplary service to Scouts Canada. James attended  Milligan University where he received his Bachelor of Science in Marketing, Computer Science, and Team Labor. 

John became CEO in May 2014, after serving in a variety of executive roles at IAA for more than fourteen years. In June 2019, he led IAA through the process of becoming an independent public company. In 2019, IAA generated $1.4 billion in revenue and sold more than 2.5 million vehicles through its platform. IAA is a global leader in technology innovation, analytics, and operational execution.

Formerly with IAA, John served as senior vice president of planning and business development, CFO, and president. He sits on the national board of directors for SkillsUSA and the Northern Illinois University Board of Executive Advisors. John is also an active member of the Economic Club of Chicago.

Prior to IAA, John held senior financial roles at Central Steel and Wire Co., and Safelite Glass Corporation, Newark Electronics, and Deloitte LLP. He received a master’s degree from Northwestern University and a B.S. from Northern Illinois University.

A proud alumnus of Indiana State University, Kent holds a Bachelor of Science degree in management and serves on the university’s Alumni Association Board. He also holds an MBA from the Falls School of Business at Anderson University. Kramer is a 2010 graduate of the Goodwill Industries International Executive Development Program and serves on the School of Business and Information Technology Advisory Board for Purdue University Global. Kramer was elected to serve on the Goodwill International Board of Directors in 2019. Kent is an active member of the Rotary Club of Indianapolis.

Prior to joining Goodwill Kramer spent 13 years in multi-unit leadership positions with Sam’s Club and Kmart across several states.

Kramer resides in Pendleton, Indiana with his wife Jamei. They are the proud parents of four adult children and are active members of Madison Park Church of God, where Kramer serves as an Elder.

Prior thereto, she served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Duluth Trading Company from February 2014 to February 2015, Senior Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer from July 2010 to February 2012, and as Vice President of Product Development from November 2008 to July 2010.

Ms. Pugliese also served in various leadership roles with Lands’ End, Inc. from 2005 to 2008 and at Ann Inc. from 2000 to 2003.

Syed’s bachelor’s degree and subsequent work experience of 5 years gave him the expertise in Electronics Engineering, Power Systems, Telecommunication Engineering, and Control Systems. The Master’s degree research imbedded the expertise on Nanotechnology, Chemical Engineering and Energetics. His Doctorate education and subsequent work experience of 10 years encompassed expertise in Bio-Medical Engineering, Microbiology, Optics, Diagnostic Systems and other areas of science and technology. More recently, his work experience has focused on Environmental Engineering and Green Technology projects. 

Also unique to Syed’s experience is, how intrinsically he is aware of the academic and industrial setting and their workings. He has been on both sides and has led project teams as the Principal Investigator, as well as founded two start-up companies and was an equal partner in the third.  He has worked on projects for federal agencies such as the DoD, NSF, NIH, EPA, and many multinational companies.

He insists on how important and meaningful partnerships can be - be it with the industry partners or government agencies. His experiences over the years and the acquired nuances in the interactions and engagement with corporates, industry partners, and government agencies provide an advantage for his start-ups to succeed.

In my current position as the Chief Executive Officer of Plasmonic Diagnostics, he is busy leading the company to commercialize a disruptive non-invasive and ultra-sensitive technology in the infectious disease space.

Born in Hyderabad (central/South), India, Syed moved to the United States more than two decades ago. He has mostly resided in the midwest. His reason for not making a move from Missouri according to him are the courteous drivers and people kindly holding the doors for you to pass!

Donald holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Georgia and has held a CPA license. After graduation, Donald worked with regional CPA firms working with audit, tax, and business consulting clients. The experience in public accounting provided Donald with the experience to start other business ventures in Georgia. 

Donald was a founder of Cagle, Bloom and Company which provide capital funding guidance to business owners in North Georgia. Donald was a founder in Tab Merchandising which provided retail teams for big box store set-ups and remodel programs. 

The mission of Prime is to be great at managing projects and to make a lifetime impact on each person it encounters. This has been Donald’s greatest passion and is lived out both personally and professionally. His wife, Joy, and twelve children also share in the pursuit of this daily purpose. This positive impact is created by living out the core values of Prime which are: honesty, integrity, hard work, putting others above themselves and thanking God for His provision. 

Donald’s family mission is to love his wife as Christ loved the Church. He measures this by asking his wife and children for frequent feedback and in doing so, has generated strong support of this mission by everyone in the family. Donald and Joy both strive to encourage other husbands and wives to pursue a flourishing marriage. 

A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in Management, Leo tested a range of career paths -- everything from screenwriting to personal banking -- before discovering digital advertising in its nascent stages in 2002. He cut his teeth on the agency side as a digital media Ad Ops manager in Hollywood at Crew Creative. He then joined Gorilla Nation (now Evolve Media), on the publisher side with roles in ad operations and graphic design. 

Leo and his brother, John Resig, started theCHIVE.com in 2008 as a one-stop shop for viral photos and videos. theCHIVE became a global lifestyle movement and CHIVE Media Group became the umbrella company for theCHIVE.com, their ecommerce business The Chivery, a 501c3 non-profit called Chive Charities, and streaming OTT app, CHIVE TV. 

The brothers spun the idea for Atmosphere TV over beers at a local bar, after realizing that the experience of consuming content on TV’s outside the home could be elevated. This was the birth of CHIVE TV, which became the flagship channel within Atmosphere’s streaming platform, which now houses over 50 TV channels. 

Along the way, Leo also went on to co-found a golf apparel company called William Murray Golf with Bill Murray and his brother John. He also launched a top 50 US-brewery called Resignation Brewery in 2014 selling KCCO Beer. Philanthropy has always been important to Leo and he and his brother established Chive Charities in 2011 which has helped raise and donate over $20M to help individuals with rare medical disorders, veterans and first responders. 

Family has always come first for Leo. He is a proud father to two amazing children and husband to his wife, Tiffany. Hailing from Fort Wayne, Indiana, Leo now resides in Austin, TX by way of Chicago and Venice Beach

Present President, Pet Consumer Products, Central Garden & Pet Global President, Nutro and North America Pet Specialty, Mars Inc. General Manager, Mars Caribbean and Central America Vice-President Marketing Consumer Growth, Del Monte Foods  Vice-President Marketing, StarKist Seafood Vice-President Marketing, Pet Food USA Director Marketing, Pet Food USA  Director Marketing, Pet Snacks, H.J. Heinz Senior Brand Manager, Dog Snacks, H.J. Proctor & Gamble Chile  Brand Manager, Fabric and Home Care, H.J. Proctor & Gamble Chile 

President, Chief Executive Officer, & Director Deverl Maserang II is an innovative food & beverage industry leader with more than three decades of successful experience. He joined Farmer Brothers in 2019 as President,  Chief Executive Officer of the Company, and member of the Board of Directors,  shepherding the company successfully through the turbulence of the COVID-19  pandemic. Respected as an entrepreneurial innovator with a social conscience, he has led multiple turnarounds and global supply-chain transformations in addition to consulting for many well-known, successful corporations to provide strategic business guidance. 

Prior to taking the helm at Farmer Brothers, Mr. Maserang served as President and CEO  of Earthbound Farm Organic, an independent division of Danone, where his dynamic leadership fostered a successful turnaround of the legacy organic brand between 2017  and 2019. From 2013 to 2016, Mr. Maserang was Executive Vice President of Global  Supply Chain for Starbucks Corporation where he was responsible for end-to-end global supply chain operations spanning manufacturing, engineering, procurement,  distribution, planning, transportation, inventory management, and sourcing. Mr.  Maserang has also held leadership roles with Chiquita Brands International, TADD  Holdings, Peak Management Group, FreedomPay, Installation Included, Pepsi Bottling  Group, and United Parcel Service.  

Mr. Maserang received his Bachelor of Science degree from Texas Tech University.

Claudia has a long and diverse healthcare leadership background with C-suite appointments in organizations that vary in size from 300-bed tertiary hospitals to specialty hospitals and more recently, Critical Access Hospitals. She has particular expertise in turning around distressed healthcare institutions, both acute and post-acute, with an emphasis on changing culture, creating joy, and elevating the standard of care by engaging physicians and activating teams to drive out variability, embrace mission, and seek benchmark performance in all areas of the operation.

Claudia is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and is active in both the Kentucky Hospital Association and the Indiana Rural Health Association.

When she is not working, you can find Claudia somewhere outside where she enjoys restoring native wildlife habitat, fishing, and spending time on her farms.

At a very young age, Tim Bessell was exposed to the infectious world of art by his mother. As A result, Tim gained an interest and appreciation for the sub-culture that would coincidentally influence and shape his future to come.

Tim began his professional surfboard shaping career when he began working at Sunset Surfboards. By the age of thirteen, Tim began shaping surfboards from the beautiful town known as La Jolla, California. He was one of the youngest surfboard shapers in the industry, but he was already making a name for himself as a surfer and as a shaper in and around his home break of Windansea Beach in La Jolla, California.

Three years later Tim moved to Hawaii to prove he has what it takes to be a shaper on the North Shore. He began shaping custom surfboards for Lightning Bolt, one of Hawaii's premier surfboard manufacturers known for the infamous lightning gun shape of the 70's ridden by legendary Gerry Lopez. In fact, Tim Bessell would later become one of the few shapers allowed to manufacture surfboards under the Lightning Bolt name.

After legitimizing himself as a shaper, Tim returned to San Diego, California to open Bessell Surfboards. By 1987, Bessell Surfboards had grown into one of the largest surfboard manufacturers in Southern California. Tim also made a name for himself as an artist, with exhibitions as far away as Japan.

Tim branched off into the world of apparel when he started his own clothing line in 1992. He designed every item himself, and his unique touch of style was an instant hit. Tim even helped design styles for other clothing companies such as Hurley, T&C Hawaii, and Billabong.

In 1997 Tim decided to focus once again on surfboards when he returned to the shaping room to reinvent Bessell Surfboards. He built primarily custom-shaped boards for surfers who demanded more than the typical cookie-cutter shapes typically offer. Tim's willingness to work individually with each customer has helped build a reputation few surfboard shapers can match.

To date, Tim has produced over 46,000 surfboards. His boards have graced the covers of Surfer Magazine, Surfing Magazine, Beach Culture, and countless other surfing magazines. Many world-class surfers have ridden Bessell Surfboards including Peter King, Luke Egan, Jon Roseman, Glen Winton, Brad Gerlach, Vetea David, Ricky Irons, David MacAulay, Saxon Boucher, Debbie Melville Beacham, Ryder Mackey, Chris O'Rourke, Billy Choe, Simon Law, Juston Postin, David Eggers, Davie Miller, Richard Kenvin and more.

Bessell Surfboards are currently sold throughout the world with distributors in Japan, South America, and Europe. If you're lucky enough to visit Tavarua Island, you'll notice Tim's trademark guns are standard equipment on the island. Wherever you end up, chances are there is someone riding a Bessell.

Currently, Tim and his team at Bessell surfboards are starting many new exciting projects. These projects include Watershed Productions, a new film production company that is focusing on cutting-edge surf films. Most notably Tim Bessell has teamed up with the Warhol Foundation to reconnect the much-forgotten love that Andy Warhol had for surfing and the surfing counter-culture. “How I Met Andy”, is a short film that tells the story of how Tim met Andy Warhol and why his artistic inspiration never left him and how eventually this became the "Bessell Warhol Project.” In this project, Tim has created an extensive collection of surfboards with licensed Warhol art imposed on his signature surfboard shapes. This has created an international buzz once again and many of these boards can be found in art galleries and collector homes all over the world.

With the love for shaping boards Tim gained when he was thirteen combined with the experience, inspiration, and reputation he has gained along the way, Bessell Surfboards remains one of the top custom surfboard manufacturers in the world.

Born the son of a Yugoslavian immigrant who came to America with little more than the shirt on his back, he was taught to work hard. be a good family man and friend, and do right by all.

President of CSG: Mirko is the co-founding partner of Staff Source. Prior to establishing the Company, Mirko successfully led the sales efforts for Labor World in their largest Chicago market. During his time there, he assisted in reorganizing two distressed offices and expanding sales in his territories through growing existing business relationships and generating new customers turning them into the most profitable offices in North America.

As part of his day-to-day responsibilities, Mirko consults with Staff Source and other business entities while assisting in managing the CSG lines of business.

Welcony brands include Magstim Magnetic Stimulation, Magstim EGI high-density EEG, Technomed Clinical Neurophysiology, and Neurosign Nerve Safety Monitoring. Prior to leading Welcony, Dr. Krinke was the Vice President & General Manager of the Medtronic Brain Modulation (DBS) business. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor position in Neuroscience at West Virginia University.

“Neuroscience innovations offer a new level of patient and treatment insights that help physicians and clinicians in their life-saving work,” said Dr. Krinke. “Our combined strength leads to great solutions, and we all contribute to the quality and success of Welcony.”

Gillespie has more than 15 years of senior management experience working across the spectrum of roles in the disability services industry including executive leadership, operations management, and group home management. His resume prior to his service at Living Well includes more than a decade of strategic leadership at Minnesota disability service providers, including his time as Executive Director of the Duluth Regional Care Center (DRCC) in Duluth, MN. Prior to that Gillespie was Chief Program Officer of Hammer Residences in Wayzata. Hammer Residences provides services for more than 1,900 people impacted by disabilities, Hammer has 550 staff in locations across the Twin Cities region.

In addition to his leadership at Living Well, Tom is married to his high school girlfriend Susie. The couple have a 5-year-old son, Henry.  Tom serves on the board of directors for the Association of Residential Resources in Minnesota (ARRM), Minnesota ACO provider ALTAIR and The Non-Profit Insurance Trust. Gillespie and his family also volunteer their time with Minnetonka Community Education, The Woodbury Hockey Association, and South Washington County Schools. Gillespie has received an undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota, Duluth and an MBA from Concordia University St. Paul.

She’s spent almost two decades working across more a dozen iconic brands from upstream innovation roles to managing P&Ls across established businesses and start-up models. Falguni has a consistent track record of delivering breakthrough results in the most challenging of situations – here in the US and internationally. 

Falguni has been recognized with numerous awards not just for her marketing & management acumen but also on her ability to coach & nurture talent to create high-performing teams. She is a champion of organizational efforts and serves as a sponsor for the P&G Boston Women’s Network, Harvard Recruiting Team, and is active within the  Asian-Pacific American (APA) Network.  

After immigrating to the US from India at a young age, she grew up in the Midwest and earned her B.S. in Biology from Indiana University –Bloomington along with a Liberal Arts & Management Program (LAMP) certificate and  Political Science & Economics minors. 100% of her education was paid through scholarships & working through school. Falguni resides in South Boston with her family. 

"Dream is not that which you see while sleeping. It is something that does not let you sleep," says the greatest Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam

I founded ChainSys in 1998 in the United States along with Ganesan Rathinam (my brother), and later in 2000 founded ChainSys Global Development Center in India along with Mekala Rajkumar (my sister). I couldn't accept the stereotype of life, so I started ChainSys. I am having a great time of my life from 1998 till date to innovate and grow ChainSys. I am so happy to see ChainSys becoming one of the most innovative and most pleasing companies globally.

Our ChainSys experiment was to uplift society by accomplishing significant Technological innovations. This social experiment helped several thousands of Chains identify their technical acumen and quickly become successful technology experts. Every successful Chain creates 10-20 stronger Chains, sometimes even more than twenty. This organic organization model is a successful cyclic process that enabled us to grow and succeed.

We developed high-quality data products for Enterprise Customers and innovated them every day to make it the greatest of all times and useful for all. We are marching on the right path of achieving our Goals with our Smart Data Platform products and constant incredible innovations from our "Dream Team." We have succeeded in working with many Fortune 1000 clients and completed over 500 data projects.

ChainSys Smart Data Platform helps to solve your data management needs in Data Migration, Setup Migration, Data Integration, Data Reconciliation, Data Archival, Data Masking, Segregation of duty, Data Quality, Data Governance, Analytical MDM, Analytics, Security & Compliance, Data Cataloging, Low to No Code Application Builder, and BPA/QA Testing Automation.

I am eager to have a conversation with you on a data project; however, complex it is. ChainSys team has overcome many complex and critical data challenges.

Anne's journey towards success began many years before she rolled the first pretzel when she and her husband experienced any parent's worst nightmare – losing a child.  This propelled Anne into years of darkness, depression, and despair but out of her pain came purpose and the desire to persevere towards personal and professional success. 

Anne is among an elite group of women who have founded national companies in America and is among an even smaller group that has owned an international franchise company. She was named one of America's 500 Women Entrepreneurs by Working Women and Entrepreneur of the Year by Inc. Magazine. Many television shows have featured Anne's Entrepreneurial insights and personal story, including Secret Millionaire, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, ANDERSON, and Food Court Wars. Her story is highlighted in numerous publications, including Fortune Magazine, Inc Magazine, Guidepost, and Nation's Restaurant News. Anne also received honorary doctorates from Eastern College and Elizabethtown College. 

Anne sold Auntie Anne's® in 2005 and authored Twist of Faith, a revealing look inside her life and business.  She followed up that book with The Secret Lies Within, which provides an inside-out look at trauma and how to overcome it through sharing your story.

Today, Anne speaks to audiences worldwide, inspiring people with her authentic stories and life experiences. Her mission is to help women overcome the pain, blame, and shame of their past by sharing their stories so they can lead with purpose. 

Thomas is also the author of the book Recovering Leadership: Musings of an Addict Leader where he shares his personal story of advancing in leadership at Kimray, spinning out of control, and the long and difficult road of recovery that transformed his life and leadership. He also writes weekly “Monday Musings” on various leadership topics.

Thomas currently serves on the board of Salt and Light Leadership Training, and he is vice-chair for Hope Is Alive ministry where he personally mentors a group of men recovering from addiction. He and his wife, Rebecca, both received their degrees from Oklahoma State University. They have been married for more than 30 years and have six children.

Today there are 12 communities in Oregon and 5 communities in Montana.  They offer senior living with options for independent retirement living, assisted living and memory care. The Springs Living has never focused on being the biggest, but simply to offer a high-quality experience for its customers and employees. Fee embraces the fact that the “magic” of our profession is in the daily interactions between the residents and direct care staff. The Springs Living has grown organically through acquisition and ground up development.  The Springs at Lake Oswego, Oregon and The Springs at Bozeman, Montana are the newest communities that opened in the winter of 2019.  Each community offers a full continuum of living options that include independent living, assisted living and memory care.

Fee is married and has three adult children.  He is the Immediate Past Chair of the Oregon Health Care Association (OHCA) and on the Operator Advisory Board of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC). 

Ric currently is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Elkay Manufacturing Company, a large privately held organization located in the Chicago area. Elkay is a leading manufacturer of world-class stainless steel and quartz sinks, in addition to drinking fountains, Smartwell Water Delivery Systems, and the award-winning ezH20 bottle-filling stations. Elkay also is a global designer and producer of commercial kitchen equipment and interiors for the foodservice, hospitality, education, and retail market segments, including Starbucks, McDonald's, and Dunkin Brands. Ric is building a long-term corporate strategy and prioritizing focus and investment. He is leading the senior management team in efforts to grow the business by commercializing innovations, expanding global presence, executing on acquisition opportunities, and maximizing shareholder return through enhancements in revenues, profitability, and growth.

Ric previously was President & Chief Executive Officer of Essendant, Inc. (formerly United Stationers, Inc.), a Fortune 500 wholesale distributor of workplace items. As CEO, Ric rebuilt the company’s overall strategy and oversaw the largest restructuring in its history. He delivered performance at or above Wall Street guidance in each quarter and share price increased by more than 50% during his tenure. He planned, negotiated, and announced a major industry-changing merger with a $2 billion competitor. He then navigated the company through an acquisition attempt that eventually led to the successful acquisition of the company, which was completed in January 2019.

Prior to his role as CEO at Essendant, Ric was President of ORS Nasco & Group President of Industrial Portfolio, with responsibility for three Essendant industrial business units totaling about $1 billion in revenue – ORS Nasco (industrial distribution), Medco (automotive aftermarket distribution) and CPO Commerce (B2C e-commerce player in power tools). He originally was recruited to Essendant as President of Online and New Channels.

Before joining Essendant, Ric was with McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm, for 14 years from 1998 – 2013, and was elected Partner in 2005. He led more than 60 engagements across the globe with healthcare and/or consumer businesses ranging from $1 billion to $100 billion. 

Ric began his career with Baxter Healthcare Corporation in 1992 as part of a finance rotational program and served in roles of increasing responsibility, including serving as National Accounts Project Manager, Renal Division. 

His extensive Board experience includes serving on the Follett Board of Directors, the Essendant Board of Directors (prior), Chicagoland Habitat for Humanity Board of Directors, and Indiana University Business School Dean’s Council.  He is a Member of the Economic Club of Chicago. 

Ric earned a Master of Management (with distinction) from Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of Science in Finance (with distinction) from Indiana University.

Mr. Edwards is a visionary entrepreneur and technology developer with a strong background in entrepreneurship and marketing, and more than 40 years of business experience in the U.S. and abroad. 

For many years he operated a successful public relations and marketing firm in Hawaii,  which specialized in tourism and real estate development projects. His understanding of the global market and technological vision have brought about significant breakthroughs in the lighting and energy fields. In 1980 he moved to The Philippines, where he manufactured the first photovoltaic panels in the country and developed a revolutionary uninterruptible lighting system that received six separate international patents. The system was later installed in NASA, the World Trade Center, New York City public schools, and many other facilities throughout the U.S. 

Recognized as a leader in economic diplomacy, he is a noted authority and speaker on issues of global trade and development – particularly with regard to emerging economies.  Mr. Edwards is the Founder, President, and CEO of the Global Fusion Institute, a global network for the establishment of secure and harmonious cultural, educational, and economic relationships. In March of 2007, he was selected by the U. S. State Department as the keynote speaker for the AGOA conference held in Kigali, Rwanda. 

Today his Æon Group of Companies employs its proprietary technologies throughout  Africa, with a focus on housing and infrastructure, waste-to-energy and microgrid power,  agriculture, and vocational and technical education (in association with the Oklahoma  Center for Career and Technical Education system). 

Mr. Edwards is a graduate of the University of Hawaii with a B.A. degree in Asian Studies.  He has served as a member of the Oklahoma Governor’s International Team and a board member of Sister Cities of Oklahoma City. He is a member of MENSA International.

Mr. Schimeck has spent his career in environmental and industrial services, beginning as a management trainee at Chemical Waste Management, Inc.  He has worked in the C suite for 30 years in senior positions with The Brand Companies, NSC Corporation, K2 Industrial Services, The Brock Group, Veolia Industrial Services, and Optimer Brands.   His operational experience includes scaffolding, insulation, painting,  demolition and dismantlement, hazardous waste transportation, treatment, and disposal, environmental remediation, and nuclear facility decontamination and decommissioning. 

He currently serves as Chief Executive Officer at Versa Integrity Group, a leader in testing, inspection and certification services.

He holds a BA in Economics from Alma College where he currently serves as Vice Chairman of  the Board of Trustees.  He is Chairman Emeritus at Mercy Home for Boys and Girls in Chicago, Illinois.  Darryl and Jeanne, his wife of 36 years, live near the southeast shore of Lake Michigan where they enjoy golf, biking, and time with their family.

Marty Strong's direct and compelling message is focused on business but in truth, its leadership tenets are agnostic as to industry, marketplace, private or public setting. This is not a textbook. It is a personal conversation between a high-performance business leader and professionals searching for actionable insights that deliver results. Be Nimble provides mentorship, tips, tools, and useful examples to help drive home its valuable leadership insights. 

It's available now for pre-sale on Amazon (release Jan 1, 2022) Be Nimble: How the Creative Navy SEAL Mindset Wins on the Battlefield and in Business: Strong, Marty: 9781789048407: Amazon.com: Books

BIO - Introduction:

Marty Strong is a decorated retired Navy SEAL officer, and the author of the new business leadership book: Be Nimble: How the Navy SEAL Creative Mindset Wins on the Battlefield and in Business. After leaving twenty years in the military Marty spent seven years as a successful investment advisor with UBS. He is now the CEO and Chief Strategy Officer of the LGS Management Group, Inc., an employee-owned multi-company enterprise focusing on training and healthcare.

Social Media Platforms:

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Today, America’s Thrift Stores (ATS) is America’s premier thrift retailer in the Southeast, with 24 stores on track to deliver over $80 million in revenue and $10 million of sustaining EBIDTA in 2021 at a 66% gross margin and $12 million EBITDA run rate.  In the last 24 months, during the pandemic, ATS has added 7 new stores to its base of 17. Prior to the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, ATS’s business was already incredibly healthy, growing total topline sales for 12 straight quarters and same store sales for 11 straight quarters.  Reopening in June 2020, ATS emerged equally strong, with 4 back-to-back quarters of comp store sales growth, including an historic Q1 where both comp store sales and Total Sales hit record-breaking levels. Sustaining EBITDA is expected to be over $14 million in 2022 and will more than double over next 5 years as the company continues to grow comp store sales, opens 3-5 new stores annually and enters the rapidly accelerating on-line thrift space. 

Prior to joining America’s Thrift Stores, Ken a mentor, advisor and coach to small and mid-size company CEO’s as an Operating Partner with Alpine Investors LLC stretching across industries from Online Education to Online Retail Lighting & Design to Retail Furniture to Used Cars to Retail Thrift.  In this role he coached CEO’s and their leadership teams on helping them build and drive their growth strategies and sales & marketing execution. He also stepped into interim leadership roles and helped with sourcing and due diligence on potential new acquisition candidates. 

Ken Sobaski has been a visionary, strategic President & CEO with a history of significantly accelerating growth and inspiring teamwork on businesses across multiple different industries: consumer food, online e-commerce, recreational products and giftware. He has over 30 years of experience at blue chip marketing driven companies like Kraft, General Mills, Pillsbury, Polaris and Capella Education Company, where he grew brands like Orville Redenbacher, Green Giant, Wheaties, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and Polaris. 

Ken’s distinction is his ability to lead his teams to achieve significant levels of growth not reached before. Here are a few examples:

• At Pillsbury he took a $600mm refrigerated baked goods business that was flat or declining for 5 years and added $120mm in revenue in year 1 and built a pipeline of new products that grew $270mm of incremental revenue over 3 years
• At Green Giant he successfully launched Create-a-Meal, a $150mm new frozen vegetable meal starter business, achieving record shares in frozen vegetables, moving to #1 position in category in 12 months
• On Orville Redenbacher he reversed 49-months of declines with 12 months of double-digit volume gains.
• At Polaris he grew revenue +34% in just over 3 years by focusing/improving marketing execution and upgrading the dealer network
• At Capella Education Company (online consumer education company) he took growth from +15% per year to +25% per year, adding $120mm in revenue in under 3 years

Ken has served on the boards of The Minnesota Diabetes Association, The Twin Cities United Way and The Council on Aging – Orange County. 

Ken holds a BA in Economics & Urban Studies from St. Olaf College and an MBA in Marketing & Strategy from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University 

Ms. Ross has more than 20 years of experience in company management and operations in the United States, Europe and Asia. Ms. Ross specializes in helping clients manage their overall e-discovery and review through predictable pricing models and by simplifying the multi layers of discovery management.

Prior to her appointment as Global CEO of the Technology segment, Ms. Ross led the Western Region for the Technology segment, as well as the managed document review business globally.

Ms. Ross joined FTI Consulting through its 2008 acquisition of Strategic Discovery, a leader in the litigation discovery industry, where she served as the Chief Operating Officer and was responsible for data processing, IT and client support, human resources and administration and accounting. Prior to Strategic Discovery, Ms. Ross was Executive Vice President of Global Delivery & Operations at Freeborders Inc., an application outsourcing and software firm. Ms. Ross has also held strategic and operational leadership roles at Revlon Inc./MacAndrews & Forbes and The Boston Consulting Group.

In addition to her leadership role in the Technology segment, Ms. Ross serves on the Global Steering Committee of FTI Consulting’s Women’s Initiative, a company-wide program to attract, retain, develop and promote highly talented female professionals.

Ms. Ross has served in the Israeli Navy Intelligence, possesses an international and European background and is fluent in four languages. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Tel Aviv University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.