Career Biography

My first W-2 job at 16 was as a lifeguard at an outdoor pool and within the first 5 minutes of opening day, and amongst the chaos and overwhelming din of excited children I leapt from the tower to rescue a drowning child. Heroic foreshadowing… no, but I promised you an origin story and some humble brags. Seriously, surveying the entirety of a problem creates better understanding of stakeholders, drivers, & guard rails… and prepares you to leap into action. 

THE SPARK

Truthfully, my professional career began my freshman year of high school. My parents opened an educational supply store named Erasers & Crayons, Inc., and like many teenage children of family businesses I become cheap, mostly free, labor. It instilled an understanding of business; marketing, key accounts, products, margins, scheduling, and employee personalities – as well as a sense of purpose, community, and service. It became an anchor to my intellectual curiosity of channel development and methodologies to drive revenue. (And while I went on to become a Spartan, then Seton Hall, and into my professional career, I remained aware of business operations and the K-12 marketplace as a Director.) 

PROFESSIONAL ADOLESCENCE

My College at MSU (one of the most competitive on campus and nationally in its discipline) required a study abroad or a full-time internship. I did both. And while stories of canyoning down rapids and dancing on a table in a Swiss pub helped me be a more interesting person; the full-time internship as a legislative analyst for a reputable lobbying firm (with A-clients) officially began my C-Level training. At Governmental Policy Consultants I audited committees, wrote updates & briefs, attended client and legislative meetings, where I was encouraged to participate, and got an intimate understanding of the public private space… I worked directly on water erosion legislation and ran point on a School District client… also my first meeting with a billionaire. 

DESIGNING & BUILDING SALES CHANNELS

The first “real” job was with Prudential as an Advisor. My manager challenged me to assess what markets I could bring authority to. So I met with small-business owners and I rewrote their education planning seminar and marketing collaterals, got myself invited to about a dozen schools through the PTA organizations (in front of about 600 prospective clients, creating consistent 17 meetings a week). Combined with a three vertical marketing approach to acquire enough assets under management ($2.5m) to be recognized as a Top 10 First Year Producer in a multi-state region. I also ravaged through product training, learning the basics through advanced planning. Working with all the Sales Managers, MD, and some of the most successful Advisors in the Company. It allowed me immersive sales training from an impressive group of professionals and I became savvy about funds, products, & the technicals and complexities of the financial services world.

NEW YORK CITY & TECHNOLOGY CALLED

My writing and marketing skills got me noticed by ICM Conferences who hired me to Produce executive education on system design, network infrastructure and telecommunications (on Madison Avenue). I speak geek and got to talk to the best and brightest Fortune 1,000 engineers and senior executives, help build case studies, and weave developmental and marketing themes throughout 4 three-day events. The big wins were my support of the Sponsorship and Attendee sales teams. Creating compelling content and targeted purchaser data to support their sales, yielding $2.5m in sponsorship on my first event, and over $10m in revenue from my conferences. I was producing hot content, and it allowed a leadership role assisting other Producers with their product launches. And again, working with seasoned sales professionals (even had the PGA ad sales team on our floor $$$).

COMBINING FINANCE, MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

The opportunity to combine my communications and finance skills presented itself with The MWW Group (rebranded to MikeWorlWide, a top-tier communications firm) in their Investor Relations division. During my tenure we were ranked #2 in the country by PR Week, and I was hired to work with the breadth of accounts in analyst and fund manager relations. I wrote copy (i.e. websites, brochures, press releases, and investor and sales pitch decks) but it stemmed from my role doing research, targeting and primary investor communications. I worked on several Retail clients as outside IR council. PetSmart (got them at $3 & change, left them at 14 +.; also flipped their retail to institutional ratio to 70% institutional), Trans World Entertainment (through the Napster lawsuit and during the FYE national rebrand, maintaining institutional investment) and Zany Brainy (as it entered bankruptcy). Institutional contact during the transformation of a multi-media company (The Ackerley Group).  And I represented a regional insurance and energy Company. The rest of the clients were public or venture funded technology companies. Impacting 20 companies and personally managing $65k in monthly retainer, becoming a mainstay on cross-departmental new business efforts, and I won a retainer from a telecommunications solution/defense contractor subsidiary, on my own. 

CREATING OPPORTUNITIES & REVENUE

At MWW I stretched myself by producing add-on revenue with special projects (i.e. crisis (Eagle Foods), Perception Audits (American Capital Management), investor messaging (tech clients), and a Private Placement Memorandum (Menu Direct) – Funny story; the CEO was walking around the office asking if we had the ability to do a PPM so I raised my hand and I said “yes”, and as he walked away I Dogpiled examples of PPM’s to learn how to write one. My first offering document was for a nutraceutical company with gluten free products and became foreshadowing of the future (client work, not gluten intolerance).

It was between the PPM and taking on a business development client (Virtual Logistix) that helped me find a niche. Vilox had created a database agnostic cipher that allowed the virtual merging of data independent of systems architecture without corrupting the source material. Outside of the CEO, who was a practicing surgeon and developing a significant IP portfolio and his CTO who was Brazilian expat here on a visa – I built all the messaging, decks, and business cases for vertical specific partner presentations. We did the traditional technology analysts roll-out in Silicon Valley and cultivated new business opportunities while trying to discern its market application. He eventually sold it to B of A as an anti-money laundering tool for $100m+.

TAKING OWNERSHIP

After MWW’s acquisition by IPG I left with the Managing Director to start 3rd Millennium Management. Leaning into boutique financial services and business development we took on three big IR projects that year. On behalf of their investors, I spent time at an Artificial Intelligence Company (developing a source code exchange) to assess different vertical applications. Legal counsel installed us to produce a yearlong investor campaign & public emergence (reverse) of the world-famous entertainment brand. The owners needed to sell, and they needed a liquidity mechanism to transfer ownership and to build a new venue on the west side of NYC city. Hosting individual investors and business opportunities meetings with management as well as six investor events, we spoke with 1,500 unique licensed investment professionals. In addition to interpersonal investor communications, we were the IR firm of record and produced all public communications. We were very successful driving volume and interest successfully fulfilling our charge. Finally, the last project was Dice.com. After EarthWeb had changed its name to Dice, Inc and divested assets but saddled it with debt, Wall Street wasn’t feeling this market leader. We successfully ran a delisting campaign, driving brokerage volume and allowing the Company to renegotiate debt. I like to think I’m a small part of why they still exist.     

Legal issues with the other 3rd MM Partners required me to search for new opportunities. I had individually acquired a client named HotelRevMax to raise capital, marketed them, and quickly secured a $2.5m commitment of the $5m they needed. They decided to sell to TravelClick instead and the CFO now needed a new job… And Financial Summit Ventures was born. FSV offered a mixture of CFO and Business Development services with a high degree of competence in financial offerings & go-to-market strategies. 

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT & CAPITAL MARKETS

Building off the public offering and fund-raising communications experience we pursued a relationship with the principal owners of the Improv and Funny Bones chain of comedy clubs. A 3+ year engagement negotiating with the team of owners, the Master Franchise owner, the Franchisor, Minority owners and ultimately structuring an offering, creating unified accounting, and marketing it to private equity. We received an all-stock offer, a pledge for pure money, and 3 competitive offers of combined debt & equity that required analysis, due diligence meetings and negotiations. 

With an anchor client in place and business development on my mind I was presented with an opportunity to help a friend who was launching the 1st speed networking event in NYC. I was shadowed by a business reporter for the New York Daily News through the event. The article featured a teaser on the front page, a large photo of me on the front of the business section and was picked-up and syndicated to 127 other newspapers. Many good natured jokes led to a lot of doors being opened. 

We acquired opportunities from other entertainment ventures that were seeking expansion: an experiential music tour targeting tweens (Camplified) with a multi-disciplined revenue structure (3 Generations); a 25yr. old opera staple in NYC (Café Taci) & an audition Company (NYIOP), and some informative misses with an omni-channel club community and the courting of the Trapeze School. Our fashion clients were more corporate structure & business development than offerings and included a handbag designer that was behind the glass at Nordstrom’s (The World According to Jess) and a luxury wedding dress producer (Reem Acra)… and revenue analysis and some structure work for a paintball supply distributor.

Technology clients included sub-contractor work I did on a Loyalty Engine (Loyalty Xchange Partners) that had powered a significant national retail program, helping to define and market the Company to partner opportunities. A $500k offer from a private investor in a long-distance calling app Globe Dialer (it went on a flip phone). Some copy for an IPv6 conversion Company and jukebox & audio Company. Modeling for a travel Company. And a medical device manufacturer that I did the financial and approach documentation that received three $50m equity offers from Becton Dickinson & Co., Beyer, and Johnson & Johnson for multi-head aesthetic laser and skin perforator. 

MAYBE I’M NOT A SUPERHERO?

I had a skiing trauma on a 50-degree day in Vermont, well until it plunged 20 in the afternoon. It’s part of my origins story and maybe part of my unknown superpowers. It stopped my life, but I stayed positive through a 3-year rehab. The first 2 in NYC doing what I could to support the clients and it eventually brought me back to Michigan in the summer of 2009 where I acquired my series 7, 66, Life, Accident & Health as well as Property & Casualty license, and worked on a network security patent and Company (P37, LLC - Non encryption based topographical manipulation and management of the packet parameters, transmission, and delivery. Very, very cool stuff). I flipped burgers at a music joint, I swam till I was fit and now I’m creaky but athletic.

Don't call it a comeback; I've been here for years; Rocking my peers and putting suckers in fear; Making the tears rain down like a monsoon! Boom…

The Hantz group recruited me to be the branch manager of holistic planning, 25 Advisor, RIA location. The offerings ran the breadth of financial services products as well as legal, accounting, banking, and a full menu of business services. There were approximately 1,500 retainer-based active clients. My responsibility was to make sure that they were being seen while collaborating with the Advisors to explore potential revenue opportunities. Often my role was to monitor and encourage cross selling, particularly with new offerings. I trained new Advisors and one of the more unique aspects of my responsibilities was a weekly meeting that I conducted on case design. Both as a compliance backstop & training opportunity; we had 8 Advisors present a full financial analysis of a client while the rest of the office offered solutions. 

I also wore a lot of hats, and while they hired me as the branch manager, I ran an individual practice and eventually I worked in 2 other practices (a $500k & $750 annual GDC producing units) driving 25% increase in both of those practices). 65+ retainer clients and over $30m AUM plus serving as a model of full-service financial planning. Among my other duties was the office’s Specialist in Portfolio Analysis, Social Security, Business Development, and I created the customer experience with electronic banking onboarding.

EDUCATION, FINANCIAL SERVICES, & BUILDING A DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

RCA was born out of parallel career paths that I ran with my oldest friend. His predecessor Company, Education Planning Resources, Inc. needed a transition to a more professional and national Advisor force. Together with three other principles we launched Responsible College Advocates. It involved national recruiting of seasoned Financial Advisors, productization of our Pay-for-College solution & our College Debt Elimination Plan, lead gen systems, training, and the development of a Master Agency. Quality control was done through education & national certification as a Pay-for-College Specialist, College Debt Specialist or Certified College Planner. And we took high-end consulting services and placed it inside a large TEAMS deployment to produce a digital platform for college planning. With massive content development of resources for Advisors and parents. Plus, full back-end infrastructure and support of a modern financial services Company.

We produced over $1m a quarter in new business opportunities (defined as parent(s) self-selecting, authentication  and both participating in v, introduction call, and 3-meeting process, with 35%+ conversion to new business). We acquire prospects through webinars, onsite events, decision funnels & SEO with Google Ads and Facebook, also immersive interactive presentations, DRIPS, geo-targeting, and created a corporate persona that we mirrored with local Advisor online presence, Hootsuite deployment, and in Employee Benefits, HS, 8th Grader Seminars.

Ongoing Advisor training was done with weekly experiential learning, monthly product training and sales meetings, a national conference, and over 50 hours of video training. This was an end-to-end sales, marketing & fulfillment system, done with wholesale insurance relationships, a modern client acquisition methodology, and including Advisors & back office, an organization that we had grown to 65 employees. 

The management teams had also developed University relationships with extreme tactical sensitivity to communications when converging financial services industry cooperation. Ultimately, Wayne State, Lawrence Tech, U of M, and Indiana Weslyn invited us on campus to meet parents at orientation and/or at graduation events, speaking with graduating students about financial services solutions. 

TODAY & TOMORROW

A technician at heart, but my superpower is being interested. That skill afforded me an intimate perspective of industries through their leaders and operating entities that I am able reference. Knowing the nuance of a client/product, bringing energy and effective communication/ positioning while managing a project… and closing. Those skills got me in a lot of rooms (even across an 18 ft. single-slap redwood table on the 9th Floor); what makes me shine today is my ability to support the goals of an organization across a breadth of objectives with specificity, while actively seeking to elevate contributions of clients/team members. 

All these experiences manifest themselves in my leadership style, looking to build employee competence by first identifying core skills to elevate current contributions. Build through successes, and challenging future growth. And while I’m not an attorney, quant jock, or engineer; people keep me around because I can speak in different voices (i.e. Customer experience, marketer, Wall Street & Private Equity, technologist, media or investor specialist). And the fundamentals help me to be a creative problem solver. 

Winning modern communication requires defining environments and ecosystems for success. Building trust through transparency. And growing relationships with core constituencies through thought leadership, influencers, or strategic networking… effective Loyalty Strategies combined with a keen understanding of the Lifetime-Value-of-a-Client… and targeted data cultivation. I’ve practiced these principles as both an entrepreneur & consultant helping to create opportunities amongst existing and underserved niches. Whether it’s investor positioning, a roll-out to Silicon Valley, packaging a consumer offering, or building a sales & fulfillment system; it’s all just understanding the end-user (i.e. fund managers, analysts, business partnerships, or parents making the 2nd most expensive purchase of their life) …and being talented at communicating. 

Channel development is supporting information exchange from prospect to life cycle. Touching prospective revenue through PR efforts, media buys, technical explanations to end-users, or driving consumer understanding and adoption - it’s all effective targeting, consumer psychology, and message management. That informs data strategy, campaign design and methodologies. If you’re building a distribution channel, influencer campaign or training system it starts with a creative problem-solving rubric that includes feedback & listening.

My career lens is often C-Level of disruptive companies, technologies or players in changing industries because I thrive on the challenge of evolution and intellectual curiosity. That’s been attractive to growth minded companies in my past… and I’ve learned that’s important to my career satisfaction. Hopefully more brilliant people and a new mission are tomorrow.We are a full-service marketing agency that helps businesses grow and succeed in today's competitive market. Our team of experts specializes in digital marketing, branding, and advertising strategies that will take your business to the next level.