Our Team
Garry J Peterson
President
Garry Peterson is currently the Founder and President of Garry Peterson and Associates, LLC, which provides business coaching and advisory services to small and medium-size companies engaged in a variety of industries.
Prior to this start-up, Garry led the Turnaround Consulting Practice at Plante & Moran, PLLC, a $275 million accounting and management consulting firm employing nearly 750 people. In that capacity, he had a client list of well over 40 small to medium size companies, and three international corporations with revenue over $6 billion. Garry and his team provided CEO and Executive Management training in the implementation of operational and strategic solutions for retail, distribution, manufacturing, aerospace, customer service and supply chain management.
In addition to having extensive P&L responsibilities, Garry has a wealth of management, coaching and training experience gained in over 25 years of leading high performance teams in organizational change and driving sustainable improvement in productivity, profitability and growth. He has held senior domestic and international positions with General Motors Corporation, Dover Corporation, M.A. Hanna Company and Wynn’s International. Prior to his consulting career, Garry was the Executive Vice President of the Tesma Operating Group of Canada’s Magna International.
Garry holds undergraduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics, an Associate Degree in Operations Research and an MBA. He is also the guest lecturer in Organizational Behavior at the college Graduate School level. Garry does extensive public speaking and was the commencement speaker at his alma mater. He is active in several professional associations, including APICS, SAE, ASQ, AME and SME.
Sarah Peterson
Vice President of Business Development
Sarah has her B.S.B.A. in Operations Management from The Ohio State University. She began her professional career leaning out a manufacturing environment, heading up daily production and material control, and improving vendor and client relations. She was part of a team that drove the company from financial loss to millions of dollars in profit in just a few years. From there, she was the point person for all material control issues with a major airline in-flight entertainment project, including material procurement, managing and scheduling, and product reengineering issues.
She has marketing, sponsorship, and event planning experience in the $100,000 range for a luxury homebuilder as well as project management experience for a major hospital.
Currently, Sarah heads up the marketing, human resources, and client relations functions, including administering the initial team and individual assessments.
Strategic Partnerships
Stephan Barrett
Rise Creative Group
Over the past seven years, Stephan has created graphics for clients such as Universal Orlando, Subway, The Florida Department of Health and Paris Hilton's Club Paris. With a degree in Graphic Design and Visual Communication, Stephan has created traditional graphic design pieces encompassing corporate identity packages, logos, billboards, advertisements and brochures.
From traditional advertising, Stephan moved to new media design where he has created visual designs for more than two hundred small, medium and large business client websites using his expertise in graphic design, audio, video and animation to capture the customer's interest and deliver the client's message. He has also aided clients as a web application designer, creating client-friendly tools for their online marketing efforts.
Stephan received an Addy award for the “We Make the Change” website www.wemakethechange.com for the Florida Department of Health, and was awarded Best Website out of a group of over 700 real estate companies across the country for www.HarryNorman.com. He has spoken at the WPPI, a photographer's convention, on effective website design and visual communication.
Bill Pinkerton
The VV Group
Bill Pinkerton is the Founder and Owner of The VV Group, Inc., a business and executive coaching business with a focus on Strategic Planning and Marketing solutions.
Prior to this, he was the President and COO of Product2store.com, Inc., an international B2B website serving manufacturers of retail products and buyers for retail stores worldwide. In this role, Bill was responsible for all facets of the business, including website development, operations, financial controls, marketing and sales, and establishing strategic alliances.
Prior to leading Product2store.com, Bill was Executive Vice President of AT&T Capital-Systems Leasing, a computer leasing and asset management division of AT&T. In that capacity, he was responsible for profitability and strategic direction for four distinct business units, with revenue in excess of $135 Million and profits of $7 Million.
Bill is a highly experienced executive with over 30 years in the e-commerce, computer, telecommunications, leasing, equipment brokerage and asset management industries. His specific strengths are in the management of growth, CEO coaching and strategic execution. He has also held executive positions with CMI Corporation, Burroughs Corporation and National Telecommunication Equipment, Inc.
Bill holds an undergraduate degree in Economics and an MBA. He is active in several professional organizations and does extensive public speaking.