About

I am a serial entrepreneur. In 1980, I bought my first tractor, signed my first loan with the Production Credit Association, and started waking up in the middle of the night worrying about the rain ruining my hay crop. I grew up in Idaho, on a 10 acre farm. My parents, a physician and professional educator, owned the property, rented it to me, cosigned on the loan(s), and the rest was up to me.

Over the last nearly 30 years, I've spent my life learning, growing and helping others learn from my experience. I've run seven companies from $1MM in annual sales to $50MM in annual sales, three of which I owned all or part of. I've worked in corporate America, in privately owned, family owned and private equity owned companies, and for myself. I can honestly tell you each one has its own issues and problems, none any worse than the other, but through it all, I've always migrated back to the small business world of companies with 5 to 150 employees, with a hard driving entrepreneur at the helm.

I graduated in 1989 from Cornell University with a BS, majoring in Business Management. I started my "career" with Andersen Consulting's Change Management Services group, based in New York City. I quickly learned that I still had the entrepreneurial bent and bought my first business 2 years later in Portland, Oregon. Since buying that first business, I've had executive level roles for businesses and divisions from everything from a 5 person company to a 10,000 person company. I've been in distribution, manufacturing, retail, technology and probably a few others. One thing has remained constant: entrepreneurs are a battle-hardened bunch and I understand and appreciate the level of commitment each one makes, every day they wake up and "go to work."

I've seen businesses from multiple viewpoints. When I was a general manager for DDS Harris, a tornado hit my facility. I managed the reconstruction of both the process and the building—through it all, the most important aspect was the people—they held the organization together and I provided the support to all those great people to let them do their jobs. The turnaround I did at CitySort, as CEO, from 2001 to 2005 was nothing short of ridiculous—we went from 117 to 47 people and increased sales by nearly 100% all in 18 months—again it was all about the people--I had a management team that literally grew the business without me. This is where I learned that working myself out of a job was a GREAT feeling and accomplishment.

After nearly 20 years of managing and growing businesses for myself or as an employee, I've found that the greatest satisfaction I've achieved is when I help someone else realize his/her goals and aspirations; especially when the person is currently in a really bad situation and just needs some help getting his/her head above water. I love providing a good sounding board, rolling up my sleeves and digging into critical problems and listening to a CEO or business owners goals, dreams and fears. My practice is now focused strictly on helping small business owners and CEOs get things done.

I live in Bala Cynwyd, PA with my wife, three daughters and two dogs. I am an avid woodworker, with aspirations to sell more of my custom designed and hand-crafted pieces (for which I cut and mill my own lumber), life-time fly-fisherman and passionate Executive Coach.