Operations executive who builds industrial, manufacturing, and service businesses that scale, and run without their founders.
I grew up watching my father run his own electrical contracting business. He was good at the work, really good. But the business never stopped needing him. Every decision, every job, every problem ran through him. He could not scale, could not step back, and eventually closed the doors when he could no longer physically do the work himself.
That stayed with me.
Twenty years later, I still walk into restaurants, shops, and job sites and start reading the room. How involved is the owner? How exhausted do they look? How dependent is this business on one person? The answer, more often than not, is the same: the founder built something real, but built themselves into a trap. The business created for freedom became the thing that took it away.
Two decades as a VP, General Manager, and Director of Operations taught me the other half: building the system is only part of the job. The harder part is getting people to actually change how they work. That is not a process problem. It is a human one.
I have also watched what happens when a business changes hands without a real operating system underneath it. I was involved in an acquisition where the team arrived with good intentions: whiteboards covered in flowcharts, binders full of documented processes, post-it notes covering every wall. It looked like order. It felt like progress. It all got thrown away.
The documentation started in the middle. Nobody had ever mapped how the business actually created value from end to end. When the founders left after their earn-out, they took the real operating system with them. It was in their heads. The binders did not capture it. And when a capable General Manager stepped in to lead, he had nothing real to run on. He made his own decisions about how things should work. They were reasonable decisions. They just were not the decisions that had made the business valuable in the first place. The revenue loss that followed was gradual. One quarter at a time.
When the operating system lives only in the founder's head, it walks out the door the day they do.
That General Manager was not a bad hire. He was a capable person in an impossible situation. That is what happens when the system lives in the founder and nowhere else.
VP, GM, and Director of Operations roles carrying full P&L across manufacturing and field-service divisions.
Integrated four companies post-acquisition and unified four legacy service locations into one operation.
Migrated from SAP to NetSuite ERP and deployed field service management systems.
Implemented Lean manufacturing on the plant floor at Pulltarps Manufacturing.
Scaled a national installation network from $11M to $25M at 15% CAGR, launching profitable operations in Texas and Ohio.
Built Safe Fleet University, standardizing 1,500+ subcontracted technicians nationwide.
Pairs operating systems with the change management that makes them stick, so a business runs without depending on any one person.
BBSI (Barrett Business Services)
Leads a multi-million-dollar business unit and a team of experts advising small and mid-size business owners on organizational development, change management, strategic planning, and growth. Partners with owners to accelerate growth, reduce loss, and build companies that run better.
Safe Fleet / Clarience Technologies
Rebuilt a declining field-service division. Won $4M in new business in year one and $3M in year two. Migrated systems from SAP to NetSuite ERP. Launched a national technician training network for 1,500+ subcontracted technicians.
Safe Fleet
Grew installation facilities from $11M to $25M at 15% CAGR. Unified four legacy service locations and launched profitable operations in Texas and Ohio.
Safe Fleet
Led enterprise-wide planning and managed two acquisitions, aligning cross-functional leadership, cultural integration, and consolidated reporting.
Safe Fleet
Managed go-to-market strategy across nine business units, aligning brand positioning, sales enablement, and customer lifecycle governance.
Pulltarps Manufacturing / Safe Fleet
Pulltarps Manufacturing
Kroeger's Recycling