Overview
Experienced executive often described as a “growth guy” or “glue guy” given my primary strengths are related to growing companies (e.g. Go-To-Market, securing transformative deals, building teams, collaboration, and growing revenue). I have founded or been part of the early team at four startups, two of which were acquired. I also have experience working in larger matrix companies.
Experience
Curo ventures, Founder
December 2022 - Present
Curo Ventures is an Independent Sponsor focusing on middle market investment opportunities. We seek to acquire B2B and B2G companies that solve enduring problems or meet the unchanging needs of the customers they serve. Our thesis is inspired by Morgan Housel’s work about betting on things that remain the same instead of trying to anticipate and bet on what will be different in the future. Morgan’s writes about this is his blog post “Betting on Things that Never Change” and his book “Same as Ever”..
Experience Gained: Deeper understanding of the lower middle market acquisition process including deal sourcing, structuring, due diligence, relationship building, industry and company analysis as it relates to our investment thesis and goals.
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VARUNA, CO-FOUNDER
October 2018 - June 2022
Varuna uses data, design, and tech to help build resilient water systems (municipal and investor-owned utilities)
Accolades: Google Accelerator Acceptance, Imagine H2O Cohort, UrbanX Cohort, GovTech Top 100 Business, Fast Company mention, worked with largest US city, and second largest Investor-Owned Utility (IOU)
Experience Gained: Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy & execution, Deeper knowledge of self (personal & professional), team building, fundraising, tough conversations, frameworks to assess business health, working ‘on’ the business while working ‘in’ the business, thriving and surviving under unprecedented macro-economic conditions (pandemic, civil unrest, inflation), working with global suppliers, transitioning to Board role, etc.
Outcome: Varuna is still thriving and serving municipal clients in multiple states.
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uplift data partners, vp, business development & Sales
February 2017 - October 2018
Uplift Data Partners is an early stage drone services company. My charter is to identify where we should play in a crowded ecosystem given our organizational resources and capabilities. And to create a sales structure and systems to generate revenue. This blog post represents my thoughts on the aforementioned topics after a few months working at this company. Where are You Placing Your Bets for Your Startup? . Secured 31 new logos and 10 Master Services Agreements in 16 months.
Experience Gained: Go-toMarket (GTM) strategy & execution, white-space analysis, customer development, pricing, contract negotiation, enterprise sales
Outcome: Uplift Data Partners was acquired by Precision-Hawk.
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onvi, chief operating officer
September 2016 - February 2017
Took on the COO role at a hardware startup attempting to bring a new oral hygiene product to market. The company had built a working prototype and sought to raise capital to fund small batch production. My responsibilities included managing the supply chain, primary point of contact with international manufacturer, design company & law firm, financial reconciliation and pitch development. Introduced business model framework to identify white space in the market, implemented 10 week cashflow forecast and models to help CEO make decisions. I learned a ton in my short time at the company. Bottom line: Hardware is hard : )
Experience Gained: project management, contract negotiation, cashflow forecasting
Outcome: We were unable to achieve product market fit or bring a fully functional product to market.
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gartner, senior account executive
September 2013 - August 2016
Individual contributor role with responsibility to develop and execute strategy to increase revenue with local government entities.
Increased revenue 3X over two year span.
Developed marketing strategy and executed tactics to drive 100% YOY customer retention.
Selected to Gartner Champion Team (approx. 5% of the sales force). Members are identified as future leaders within the company. Members share best practices and evangelize product updates and innovations across sales organization.
Experience Gained: driving sales in complex client environments, sales forecasting, territory planning, account planning, value-selling methodology.
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power2switch, director Business Development (Founding team member)
June 2011 - September 2013
Lead role responsible for launching the company’s commercial business, market expansion and strategic partnerships.
Sold over 200 commercial accounts (accounting for 48% of company revenues) in Year 1 in a highly competitive deregulated marketplace.
Increased amount of residential customers 17% by securing distribution partnerships with established companies (e.g. Angie’s List, Mint.com).
Experience Gained: entrepreneurship, creating a commercial sales function, product wire-framing, developing marketing materials, customer development, establishing partnerships
Outcome: Power2Switch was acquired by Choose Energy (Kleiner Perkins’ portfolio company) in 2013.
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the foster group, inc. director Business Development
June 2003 - September 2011
Business Development Manager (2006 - 2011)
In a leadership role, developed and executed strategic plans for the public sector consulting practice. Scope included state and local governments within Illinois. Led deal pursuit, deal negotiations, strategic partnerships, and project staffing.
Developed partnerships that resulted in 38% of firm revenues in FY 2009.
Developed and implemented proposal management process, reducing proposal development time by 50%.
Increased new project revenue by 204% in FY 2007
Sourced project personnel to expand firm’s delivery capabilities.
Account Executive (2003 - 2006)
Sales hunter role pursuing contingency planning, data security, and healthcare technology projects.
Sold project to existing and new clients. Averaged 18% YOY new revenue growth
Experience Gained: entrepreneurship, driving sales in complex client environments, creating revenue generating partnerships, Sandler-selling methodology.
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xo communications. director Business Development
June 1999- May 2003
Manager Sales Support/Regional Manager (2001 - 2003)
Selected to team of 4 out of 50 people to develop and launch centralized order fulfillment capability. Hired and trained 10 direct reports. Launched and managed South Region Order fulfillment business unit supporting 8 markets in southeastern US.
Executed communication plan and change management efforts regarding the order fulfillment process resulting in 100% adoption across South Region within two months of launch date.
Consistently led top rank performing unit (throughput/volume/accuracy) nationally.
Sales Representative (1999 – 2001)
Business to business sales hunter role.
Received 120% Club Membership Award, as one of only four, in Year 2000
Achieved 115% of quota during first year
Four-time “Shoe Leather Award” winner for highest number of new accounts per month.
Mentored new sales rep for 6 months, in which he attained 110% of quota.
Experience Gained: sales, picking up the phone and taking prospects from not knowing you to a closed deal, hiring, sales operations, management.
How i operate
instincts / natural Strengths / leadership profile
The Kolbe A Index (Instinct Test) is unique. It does not measure intelligence, personality or social style. It measures the instinctive ways you take action when you strive. My Kolbe Index is 6-6-4-3. At a summary level this score implies “You naturally shine when you’re working on a team. In fact, you’re often the unsung hero. You excel when you support infrastructure, bridge differences, respond to needs, and blend abilities into productive efforts.”
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StrengthsFinder assesses and presents your five most dominant themes of talent. My signature themes, in rank order, are:
Activator - People who are especially talented in the Activator theme can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They are often impatient. Instinctively, you regularly energize people with your ideas about what can be changed or done better
Futuristic - People who are especially talented in the Futuristic theme are inspired by the future and what could be. They inspire others with their visions of the future.
Connectedness - People who are especially talented in the Connectedness theme have faith in the links between all things. They believe there are few coincidences and that almost every event has a reason. They can bring a strong sense of calm.
Responsibility - People who are especially talented in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.
Restorative - People who are especially talented in the Restorative theme are adept at dealing with problems. They are good at figuring out what is wrong and resolving it.
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The Leadership Circle Profile (LCP) is unique because it is the only 360 assessment that measures both Creative Competencies and Reactive Tendencies. In this way, it gives the leader far greater insight into how they are thinking and what they are doing that limits the full deployment of creative competencies.
My LCP suggests others experience my leadership as highly authentic, with an ability to relate to others, in addition to understanding and seeing the system as a whole while possessing the ability to achieve results. Overall, I’m experienced by others (external and internal) as a highly effective leader. See the graph below for an overview of my Leadership Circle Profile:
Education
kellogg school of business, northwestern university
MBA, 2010
vanderbilt university
B.S. human & Org DEVELOPMENT
Awards
Awarded full Athletic Scholarship for Football (QB & Safety)
Member, Fellowship of Christian Athletes
Member, Student Athlete Advisory Board
Vanderbilt Representative, NCAA Leadership Conference
All Academic Southeastern Conference