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We're Seasoned Entrepreneurs & Managers
Jim Stoynoff
As Synthesis Solutions founder and president, Jim Stoynoff has ultimate responsibility to ensure that the firm’s clients are best positioned to maximize the full potential of their organizations. A seasoned entrepreneur with a passion for helping other entrepreneurs succeed, Jim has been an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist and has received multiple Arthur Andersen Best Practices Awards. Before forming Synthesis Solutions, Jim was the founder and president of Damian Services Corporation, which provides commercial credit and business process outsourcing services to hundreds of companies nationwide. Throughout his career, Jim has advised other entrepreneurs, not-for-profits, and educational institutions. Currently, he manages SCORE client projects with student MBA teams at the University of Chicago, De Paul-Coleman Entrepreneurship Center, and the Neighborhood Business Initiative group at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School. Read Full Bio >Marina Davis
Enthusiasm, humor, caring, and results are hallmarks of Marina Davis’s approach to leadership training, team building, organization development, and facilitation. She has directed training programs at Hyatt Hotels in both Budapest and Chicago, and she developed Automated Data Processing’s cutting-edge corporate university, “The Institute for Service Leadership.” While at ADP, Marina was director of leadership and development for the company’s largest business unit, which had $2 billion in annual sales. After founding Tandem Consulting in 1999, Marina has developed a loyal client base that includes ADP, Equity Office Properties, New York Life’s investment management division, Marakon Associates, CBIZ Corporation, the Fulcrum Network, and others. Read Full Bio >Joel Goldhar
The son of small-business owners and a champion of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship, Joel Goldhar, Ph.D, is a nationally recognized authority on flexible manufacturing, computer-integrated operations, and the strategic management of technology. He brings special insight to his frequent work with rapidly growing companies, including strategic planning, operations effectiveness, new product development, and cost-effective technology solutions. Widely published and a member of several editorial boards, Joel has also served as dean of the Illinois Institute of Technology graduate business school, where he is a professor of technology management. Joel received a Ph.D. in business administration from George Washington University, an MBA from Harvard University, and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Read Full Bio >Patricia Guerzo
With more than eighteen years of experience in finance, internal auditing, and supply chain-logistics, Patricia Guerzo achieves bottom-line results through effective project management, innovative leadership, and rigorous, quality-based analytics. Formerly senior director of financial systems at Eastman Kodak, Patricia enjoyed wide-ranging responsibilities in finance, internal auditing, sales and customer management, and logistics. At Chas. Levy Circulating Company, Patricia served as director of continuous improvement, leading strategic financial performance efforts as well as the company’s $25-million book business. Patricia is also an entrepreneur who founded a compact-disc production company that serves business and entertainment markets. She teaches project management systems as an adjunct faculty member at Keller Graduate School of Management. Read Full Bio >Jerry Hicks
Jerry Hicks is a seasoned executive with extensive domestic and international experience developing and leading initiatives in marketing, sales, and strategic planning that drive operational improvements. As a senior director for SBC International, for example, Jerry developed and executed the strategy that transformed MATAV, the Hungarian telecom company, into a competitive operation under deregulation. At Ameritech, Jerry was director of business market operations planning and development targeting small and mid-size companies, and he served as the company’s director of workplace learning. For two years, Jerry directed strategic planning for the Chicago chapter of SCORE, “Counselors to America’s Small Business,” as well as counseling several small enterprises from start-up through expansion. Read Full Bio >Scott McGarvey
With nearly 20 years of industry and consulting experience, Scott McGarvey helps clients to execute strategic mergers and acquisitions and then, post-transaction, to ensure their profitable growth. His areas of focus include acquisition search and due diligence, post-merger integration, start-up ventures, new and re-positioned product lines, and integrated marketing through multiple channels. Recent clients include Liberty Mutual Insurance, GMAC Residential Funding Corporation, Royal & Sun Alliance, Experian, and Heller Financial (now part of GE Capital). Scott also serves closely held middle-market enterprises in a variety of industries. Formerly affiliated with Price-Waterhouse and Chase Econometrics, Scott holds an MBA from the University of Chicago. Read Full Bio >Bob Nelson
An accomplished electronics manufacturing executive, Bob Nelson offers nearly 20 years of multi-functional senior executive experience in product development, manufacturing, sales, business acquisition and integration, and general management with P&L responsibility. He has had extensive success with small to mid-size global electronic manufacturers and for ten years served as president of several North American divisions of European manufacturers. As vice president of engineering at a $200-million computer electronics contract manufacturer, Bob collaborated with a private equity firm to develop 10 new products yielding $300 million in revenue. A Lean Six Sigma green belt, he is well known both for his turnaround expertise and for his ability to build long-term relationships with technology developers, suppliers, shareholders, and customers. Read Full Bio >Russ Scalpone
Russ Scalpone, Ph.D., has led key performance-based initiatives in organization effectiveness, change management, and research as a consultant with A.T. Kearney and as a director-level manager at major corporations, including Amoco and McDonald’s. As president of the Scalpone Group, Russ has enabled numerous client companies to assess and improve factors critical to innovation in new product development and process, strategic measurement and score carding, team-building at all levels, and customer satisfaction. Russ also served as a consulting psychologist at Medina & Thompson, Inc., where he improved executive performance through assessment and coaching, and helped clients implement high-performance work systems. In addition, Russ teaches innovation and creativity in the master of product development program at Northwestern University. Read Full Bio >Mike Sullivan
Named to membership in the State of Illinois Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame, Mike Sullivan knows first-hand the challenges small business owners and entrepreneurs face because he’s faced those challenges himself. Mike launched a successful import/export business while still in college and then accumulated invaluable marketing and sales experience with several major corporations. Working literally from his basement, Mike launched Marking Specialists/Polymer Technologies, Inc., and grew it into a global manufacturing and distribution company. He is an award-winning speaker with special expertise in guerilla marketing and selling, managing through high-growth stages, business trouble-shooting, and developing highly effective sales training and execution programs. Mike is committed to helping small and middle-market companies be successful. Read Full Bio >Ken Volz
Over 20 years as a business development and corporate financial senior advisor, Ken Volz has generated more than $10 billion in enterprise value. He pioneered innovative national and international expansion through start-ups, acquisitions, and joint ventures in North America, Europe, and Asia as vice president of business development at Ameritech Development Corp. and vice president of strategic investments at Ameritech’s international unit. As the entrepreneurial vice president of marketing and business development for Ameritech Information Industry Services, he grew a small unprofitable division to $1 billion in annual revenue and significantly improved margins. An engineering graduate of the University of Illinois, Ken holds an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School and is a certified public accountant and valuation analyst. Read Full Bio >