The Team

Gregory E. Uhlig, Principal

     Greg Uhlig is an organizational architect who utilizes the "total systems" approach whether developing business plans for startups or resolving critical business issues.  He is a management professional with more than eighteen years of experience in architecting business strategies, change management, budgeting, financial, and turnaround projects.  As a principal, he manages the company's overall business operations.

     He has served as the president of a marine manufacturing operation for five years, served as a COO/CFO in the insurance field for six years, served as controller in a homebuilding company for five years, consulting both internally and externally and also taught Organizational Behavior at The University of Texas in Austin.

     Armed with an M.B.A. in Management and with a background as a C.P.A., Greg has the knowledge, expertise and understanding of the leverage available on the people side of the equation and the potential financial impact.

Robert Solomon, Principal

     Bob Solomon is a highly intelligent, high energy, proven performer and natural leader in the real estate arena.  He has more than 30 years of experience in construction, sales, sales management, marketing, land acquisition, management, financial, and turnaround projects.  Many of those years were spent in public companies.  He is responsible for the company's overall marketing strategy.

     He successfully served as Vice President of a national homebuilder for 12 years, leading the company in sales and closings 9 of those years and successfully turned around two Texas markets.  He also achieved outstanding success while serving as Senior Vice President for 11 years with a regional homebuilder, establishing records in Dallas/Fort Worth for the number of homes closed in one year.  It was there, that he was given the additional task of turning around the Nashville and Atlanta markets that were underperforming.

      Bob’s undergraduate degrees are in Political Science and Accounting which has provided a solid foundation for his business acumen.  His years in leadership have made Bob a highly sought after homebuilding/turnaround professional as well as investor advisor. 

• Business Model Evaluation 
• Sales Training
• Sales Management
• Construction
• Marketing
• Project Evaluation
• Operational Analysis
• Division Turnarounds
• Negotiations
• Land Development
• Land Acquisition
• New Product Development
• Crisis Management
• Annual Budgeting
• Job Cost Budgeting
• Business Plans
• Management Training
• Customer Service Training
• Management Evaluation
• Pricing Strategies

John Poss, Senior International Consultant

     John Poss is an international consultant who has successfully engineered solutions for clients in Argentina, Australia, Canada, England, France, India, Iran, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Thailand, South Africa, and Sri Lanka.  His focus in resolving complex challenges that span many industries including oil and gas, mining, logistics, real estate, construction, and telecommunications.  He is a business consultant with more than thirty years of technical experience.

     He has served as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Technology Officer of various companies during his consulting career. 

     Armed with technical expertise and international experience, with a background as a C.P.A., John rounds out the executive team that steers the consulting engagements of the firm. 

• International Issue Resolutions and Negotiations 
• Business Model Evaluation 
• Strategic Planning
• Technology Development & Licensing
• In Argentina, negotiated settlement to disputed $30 million contract
• Negotiated settlement to lawsuit in Australia regarding tungsten mine
• Negotiated various minerals joint venture agreements in Canada; led turnaround of troubled mining operation
• Negotiated technology licensing agreement in England; evaluated feasibility of exporting specialized mining equipment to Canada
• Negotiated technology licensing agreements in France
• In India, held discussions with Steel Authority of India (SAIL) regarding sale of equity interest in mining venture
• Developed system for construction of telecommunications system in Tehran, Iran, including importing of equipment from the United States to Iran
• In Japan, negotiated $250 million long-term metallurgical coal sales contract with a consortium of Japanese Steel Mills, including NSC, Nippon, Marubena, Sumitomo and others
• Negotiated long-term sales contract with Pohang Steel in Korea; conducted discussions with Pohang regarding sale of equity interest in Canadian metallurgical coal mine
• Negotiated loans and equity investments by a U.S. company in a Mexico based Internet Service Provider; sold U.S. manufacturing facility for Mexican Bank; implemented plant closure for NAFTA "twin border" manufacturing plant in McAllen, Texas  
• In Norway, developed an international purchasing system for Brown & Root, a U.S. based international design/build construction company
• In Taiwan, negotiated coal sales agreement and oil and gas agreement
• Negotiated a Joint Venture with telecommunications subsidiary of Loxley, Ltd., a Thailand conglomerate
• In South Africa, negotiated the sale of a joint venture interest in a platinum mine
• Member of Board of Directors of a telecommunications company in Sri Lanka

Brad White, Process Consultant

     Brad White is a group dynamics facilitation professional with a decade of experience in group dynamics assessment and correction. 

     He is highly experienced in business analytics and human intelligence.  He specializes in reading the human landscape of an organization in addition to various process methodologies.  As a trained interrogator in the Army, Brad is able to obtain valuable information in a very subtle, non-threatening manner.

     He recently completed an MS in Advanced Manufacturing and Enterprise Engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio.  He holds an undergraduate degree in International Business with a concentration in Mathematics and an executive certificate in Global Management from Thunderbird University.

• Lean Transformation
• Six Sigma
• Theory of Constraints
• Business Process
• Balanced Scorecard
• Strategy Mapping
• Interviewing
• Process Modeling

Marcus L. Smith, IT Consultant

     Marcus Smith is an IT specialist with three decades of experience in providing technology development, planning, management, and consulting services.  As a practitioner, he has provided CIO-level guidance to four firms, including Pabst Brewing Company over a ten year period.  As a consultant he has provided senior advisory and project management services to Fortune 500 companies such as El Paso Corporation, Continental Airlines, Boeing, and Northwest Airlines as well as various local state, and federal government agencies.   

     He has been an innovator in the area of business and IT plan alignment/linkage and accelerated enterprise transformation planning and preparation.  He has been recognized for advances in technology developments and the overall effective use of technology in attaining strategic business goals.  

     Marcus holds an M.S. in Engineering Management and a B.S. in Computer Science, both from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

• Provided executive IT management services for Lewis Energy Group including strategic planning, technology, development and procurement, and vendor management
• Managed legacy system replacement project for Billing Concepts, a market leader in telecom customer billing
• As Interim CIO for El Paso Energy, provided transitional executive IT management including project chartering procedures and migration to an efficient organization and system architecture
• Directed project for Maritz Motivation to create linkage between their business and IT plans
• Directed study for Continental Airlines to determine the feasibility of HR outsourcing
• For a major pharmaceutical company, directed project to migrate mainframe systems to client/server including the conversion of twelve major applications, staff retraining, and implementation of advanced system development methodologies and approaches including prototyping
• Project Director for Freight Contract and Barrge Dispatching and Accounting systems projects for Cargill
• Project Manager for the development of Beneficiary Registration and Drug Control Systems for he Egyptian Government

Callie de Quevedo, Branding/Marketing/Public Relations Consultant

     Callie de Quevedo is an accomplished Brand Director offering 12 years of marketing, branding and public relations experience garnered at such world-class companies as Wynn Resorts, Cirque du Soleil, NBC Television Network, Disney and Fox.  Her innovative ideas and entrepreneurial spirit have lead to success across multiple industries including entertainment, hospitality, food and beverage, retail, nightclubs, spas and salons, and consumer products. 

     In her current position as Brand Director of Wynn Resorts, Callie has worked directly with CEO Steve Wynn on the launch of his newest Las Vegas resort, Encore.  The project entailed the identity development of all business units including five restaurants, 11 retail shops, a spa, a salon and a nightclub.  While with Wynn, Callie has also overseen the launch of a dynamic marketing campaign to recruit in more than 6,000 new employees, which resulted in over 25,000 applications on the first day.  This campaign won a MediaWeek Media Award in the $1 Million category.   

     Callie holds an M.A. in Communications from the University of Southern California and graduated Cum Laude from Trinity University with a B.A. in Communications.

     Callie offers expertise in brand building and leveraging both traditional and online marketing channels to create integrated, 360-degree marketing campaigns.  Her strengths in this arena include:

• Translating high concept business plans into impactful performance
• Project management driven by sharp problem-solving skills
• Budget management
• New market development
• Market research
• Cultivation of strategic relationships
• Creation of compelling promotional collateral and media tools

Carol Arnold, Research Consultant

     Carol Arnold is a 25 year veteran of marketing research.  She offers a unique perspective to clients, having worked on both the corporate side and consulting side of marketing research.  Before joining USAA, a large financial services company in the late 1990's in San Antonio, she was a senior market research analyst for Roadway Express, a Fortune 500 transportation company in Akron, Ohio, and previously held a vice president position for a Cleveland research firm. 

     Carol has experience in numerous industries including financial services, transportation, and healthcare.  She fine-tuned her skills for 15 years on the corporate side of research and 10 years in the consulting field.  Her consulting clients included Eaton, First Energy, Roadway Express, Land O'Lakes, and Sherwin Williams.

     Carol has an M.B.A. in Marketing and is a certified focus group moderator.  Her passion is helping companies communicate their offerings in the most effective manner.

• Focus Groups
• In-Depth Interviews
• Satisfaction Studies
• Tracking Studies
• Market Segmentation Studies
• Attitude Awareness
• Usage Studies

Ted Jones, Marine Consultant

     Ted Jones is a marine professional with more than 35 years experience in all aspects of the marine industry including international consulting projects in Europe, South Africa, England, Bahamas, Mexico, Canada, and Puerto Rico that involved sales, manufacturing, racing, and quality control.

     Ted has a wealth of experience in vessel manufacturing, sales, sales management, dealer support, product demonstration, maximizing C.S.I. scores, and the warranty arena.  Ted has more than 21 years in manufacturing, retail business area, research and development and 14 years in the consulting field.  He innovated, engineered, manufactured, and sold engine transom brackets which evolved into Armstrong Brackets, the premier transom bracket in the industry.

     Ted holds certifications in the following: NMMA Boat Compliance, Yamaha Business Management, 500-501 Symposium Training; Business Sales and Management, Yamaha Five Star Master Technician, Yamaha Five Star Service Manager, Doug Jackson Targeted Sales Seminar, Marine University--Boater 101 Instructor, and Nautic Global Group University Sales and Marketing.  He and his team held 12 National and World Championships and 7 World Records.

• Sales Representation & Dealer Support
• C.S.I. Scores
• Product Demonstration
• Dealership Operations
• Vessel Construction and Engineering
• Total Quality Management Systems
• Evaluation of Manufacturing Processes
• Production Optimization
• Major Outboard Engine Manufacturer Quality Evaluation
• Powerboat Racing Driver, Owner, and Team Manager