Started Young.
Learned Fast.
I’ve been building, fixing, and scaling companies since I was 13. My first business was a catering company called Dinner. I built it from scratch, marketed it, and made it profitable—cash reserves.
That business got me in the door with some of the biggest restaurants in Chicago in the mid-‘80s, and by 18, I was helping turn around celebrity-backed flagships in L.A., Vegas, and Nashville.
Digital Before Digital Was a Thing.
When the internet showed up, I taught myself to code. I joined one of the earliest music-tech startups using fan data to sell merch, music, and tickets—before iTunes even existed. I helped build brand-and-band startup, later sold to Ticketmaster, spun off the sponsorship side, and took it to George P. Johnson.
I showed up with $5.8M & helped launch their entertainment group.
That momentum carried me through the early digital and data wave. I helped Fortune 100s expand physical events into digital ecosystems and build some of the earliest social media command centers for brands like Pepsi and Cisco.
Operator. Investor. Closer.
Eventually, I co-founded a venture accelerator—Flo—to fund what others wouldn’t. We co-created companies like Blue Chair Bay Rum (the fastest-growing independent spirits brand at launch) and the Made In Network, a YouTube multi-channel network for creators. We brought Google to town and got them to invest.
Some hits. Some not so much.
All of it taught me what founders need when they’re in it and what buyers want when they’re looking. It was at this time that I met a major healthcare investor and asked: Why not apply everything I’ve built—brand, ops, demand gen, exits—to this space? This moved me into the PE/VC space where my fractional work began: step in, stabilize, scale, position for exit, and move on.
I Helped Deliver 31 Unique Exits. And 3 IPOs.
Why I’m Here.
Craving change. Was it time to move out of the PE/VC space? What did I really love about my work?
Easy: Partnering Directly with the Founder. Helping them move from chaos to clarity. Creating value that others can see—and want to buy. That’s what I’m doing today.
Real Life. Real Work.
I’ve survived cancer three times. I’ve been a self-pay patient for the last 18 years. I’ve worked the grocery line in Northbrook, Illinois. And John Hughes once gave me $5K for college to use my name in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. True story.
