We've worked in over 50 cities in the US and nearly as many outside the US.
Our work spans the following amazing organizations.
With over 25 years as a transformation Leader, Chris has added value ( >$350 million in savings) and mitigated risk across borders, functions, industries, levels, and technologies by executing focused and system-wide programs. He has consistently delivered fast results in both failing and robust situations for start-ups and Fortune 500 companies. His small business success is recognized at a global management consultant firm that achieved the “Fast Fifty” by Crain’s Chicago Business and Inc. 5000.
Chris started his career reporting to the owner of a multi-site industrial diamond tool company. After completing a dual-degree Master’s program at Thunderbird and ESADE in Barcelona, Spain, he joined Arthur Andersen Business Consulting in Chicago with a practice focused on non-labor cost reduction. He then worked in industry for 13 years at Fortune 500 firms, in various roles with increasing responsibility from Corporate Audit to International Finance to Financial Shared Services (Business Decision Support) and then Global Human Resources, advising and leading all aspects of HR Risk Management, reporting to the EVP of HR. He led a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt project as part of a Business Transformation Team, which collectively spanned over 80 projects with $60 million in savings.
In 2009, he joined AArete, a global management consulting firm, with roots from Arthur Andersen. He not only helped grow AArete by a factor of 10 (from 10 to over 130 employees – now ~400 – with similar increases in revenue), but also led multiple teams in non-labor cost reduction, compliance, and process improvement efforts at Fortune 500 companies, delivering over $300 million in savings, consistently gaining executive-level support and building teams empowered to drive results.
Chris now helps CEOs, COOs, and other business leaders grow themselves and their business, leveraging his diverse background.
Chris was a founding member of a non-profit whose mission is to build a bicycle and pedestrian friendly community, which became the first community in New Jersey to earn The League of American Bicyclists’ “Bicycle Friendly Community” status.
Jim Adkins – Co-Founder – Palm Beaches, FL
Jim graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1981 and then went on to a long career in the Air Force as a leader, engineer, metallurgist, project/program manager, and acquisition officer. He took an incentivized early retirement opportunity and retired from his government service in 1996. His first commercial endeavor was with General Motors/Delphi Packard-Electric and GM/Delphi Chassis responsible for $75M in services and labor agreements necessary to run a multi-location $3.5B business.
Next, Jim took his talents to the private equity industry in his first of four business turn-arounds. Mentoring, teaching and leading the efforts for all operational and business services, agreements, contracts, and negotiations; he was able to add significant value and improve the bottom line. He was sought after and joined John Deere Corp. After numerous business successes, Jim re-entered the private equity world in 2002 with Enerpac LLC. to lead his second business turn-around. Using the same recipe he had refined to a science; he was able to achieve double-digit improvements in profitability in less than six months.
Since 2002 Jim has gone on to successfully use his personal brand to lead, guide, improve and work in several industries including light and heavy manufacturing, lawn/termite service, fastener, automotive, electronics, jet engine businesses, healthcare, Social Media, SAAS, and entrepreneurial start-ups. Certified as a LEAN and Six Sigma Black Belt / Champion and led 1000+ projects at the individual and corporate wide level to improve research & development, operations, procurement, Sales and Operations Planning (SOP), after-market support and sales initiatives. His senior leadership experience with private equity, privately held companies, publicly held companies, government buying and selling, plus two additional business turn-arounds with brands like Bobcat, ServiceMaster, and Chromalloy will provide any business partner with personalized and tailored approaches and solutions that will best meet their needs at both the individual and organizational levels.
Some of Jim’s proven areas of expertise are:
- Leadership and Leadership Development
- Identifying and implanting changes needed to achieve business growth
- Successful Communication within all levels of business
- Recognizing, Encouraging, and Creating Opportunity for Employee Achievement
- LEAN, Six Sigma, DMAIC, Toyota Production System
- Team Building, Collaboration, and Partnership
- Continuous Process Improvement
- Identifying Necessary Culture Changes, Recognizing/Improving Current Cultures
- Strategic Planning and Execution on Priorities
- Determine Crucial Management Changes
- Successful Mergers and Acquisitions
Doug Edwards – Executive Recruiting Expert – Charlotte, NC
Doug entered executive recruiting in 1992 in a national/international practice that evolved to become one of the executive search industry’s leading companies chosen by top companies to provide solutions to their senior leadership needs. He quickly rose to become the top recruiter in the US for this major national firm. Prior to this, he held both staff and line positions in retail, third party logistics, and manufacturing from director to executive vice-president. His recruiting experience spans many Fortune 500 companies across all industries, including: Supply Chain | Materials | Engineering | Operations | Quality | Logistics. He excels at C-level searches and senior management positions.
• Recognized as a subject matter expert on behavioral modeling, behavioral recruiting, management assessment, organizational & candidate generation & sourcing.
• Broad experience in staffing and full lifecycle recruiting at all levels nationally and internationally by successfully planning, prioritizing, and managing various team tasks within high-pressure situations focusing on forward thinking solutions for both behavioral and skill-based searches.
• Excellent communicator who seamlessly interfaces between C-level executives, HR teams, employees, and the public to focus on continued key growth and profitability.
• Strong interpersonal, energetic, and solution-oriented skills credited for building and sustaining client relationships across all levels of an organization that encourage diversity, low turnover, and high company loyalty.
Bruce Ross – Transformational Leadership Coach & Trainer – Auckland, New Zealand
Bruce Ross is an established Leadership and Executive Coach with over 27 years specializing in this area. He is experienced across the full commercial spectrum – from individuals and teams (middle managers through Senior Executive levels) within mid- and large-sized corporations, to startup entrepreneurs.
He helps business owners, senior leaders and high-potential talent navigate growth within the ‘inner game of leadership’ – to Lead Better and Live Bigger: that is, be a better leader, a better partner, better parent… better human being.
The potent neuroscience techniques he teaches are easy to learn and help leaders see their blind spots, near-eliminate stress and overwhelm, free themselves from the negative bias of the mind, expand their vision and more effectively influence outcomes.
Bruce has distilled the latest in academia (having created and delivered MBA-level Leadership Development programs) to meet pragmatic demands for personal transformation and enhanced impact at work and at home.
He has directly coached over 2,100 business owners/leaders and trained over 15,250.
These include leadership teams from within many of New Zealand’s iconic organizations, including Institute of Directors (Governance), Hawkins Construction, Xero (Accounting Software), Yamaha (Vehicles), Fire Emergency NZ (FENZ), Nib (Health Insurance), Vero (Insurance), Fidelity Life (Insurance), Smith & Caughey (Retail), Plumbing World (Plumbing Distribution), Harcourts (Real Estate)
Kathy Weidmann – Social Media Coordinator – Grand Rapids, MI
Kathy is the Social Media Coordinator for our team. She also works with the Better Business Bureau of West Michigan.
She makes sure that our messaging makes it out into the real (virtual) world looking good and making sense.

She is excited to be a part of the CXO Accelerator team and eager to offer her assistance to our clients in any way she can.
