Businesses engage ForteCEO to help achieve results where results and opportunities eluded them before. Our team of interim executives has a proven history of delivering results.

Businesses that employ ForteCEO interim executives enjoy a superb ROI from their investment – as much as 5 to 10 times their cost!

On these pages, in the words of some of our clients, the story of how ForteCEO helps business owners achieve their goals.

When we turned to ForteCEO, we had a very strong management team that was struggling to find the correct focus and high execution levels we all expected from ourselves. Right from the start, it was clear that the ForteCEO team were people of integrity and intelligence. They were not afraid to draw a line in the sand and step up to it.

Our ForteCEO executives have been in the trenches - and not only survived, but prospered. We are confident that any decision made with their help has years of experience supporting it.

A year into our engagement with ForteCEO, our organization has completely changed. Many major and minor enhancements have been made, from bolstering pricing models to enhancing our strategic plan, and solidifying our management culture of Integrity, Respect, Teamwork and Responsibility.

During difficult times it is easy to internalize the stress and problems. ForteCEO removed this cloud of indecision and confusion by strengthening our management team's moral courage and boosting our confidence.

I would enthusiastically recommend ForteCEO to any company.

Marshall Waksmundzki
President
Cabworks LLC

When an existing client approached our bank to provide the construction financing and a permanent loan for a new specialized production facility, we needed an expert opinion on both the expansion plan and the new facility's viability. We called ForteCEO and within days they provided Ken who was a perfect match for the task, with recent experience running a larger business in the same industry.

Ken had the hands-on experience to quickly identify issues with our client's current performance and their planned expansion strategy. In two days on site with the company, ForteCEO was able to provide a detailed report on the viability of the proposed project and expansion plan. Through this analysis, our bank gained a clear picture of the expansion risk, and our client gained valuable insight on how to improve their business moving forward.

I would recommend ForteCEO highly for lenders who need assistance with industry specific business issues.

George Metzger
Senior Vice President
Commercial Banking

ForteCEO brought immediate sales and leadership experience to our company when we needed it most, after learning that we were losing a large client that accounted for almost half of our profits. In just a few months of part-time work, Pete helped me rebuild our sales organization and expanded our product line into new markets and industries.

The transition process hasn't been easy, but our ForteCEO executive helped us establish strategies to ensure growth with our current customers and in new markets. Pete's expertise in manufacturing operations was also helpful, as he was able to quickly identify new sources of revenue and methods for reducing expenses.

I also found our ForteCEO partner a pleasure to work with because he came to my company with an in-depth understanding of the industry and he worked with me to define and implement the solutions for my business. It was great to get this kind of expertise on a temporary basis ­ and to know I can call on ForteCEO if I need them in the future.

I would recommend ForteCEO highly for business owners who need hands-on assistance with tough issues.

Robert Lindsten
President Commercial Banking

I contacted ForteCEO when our veterinary critical care, emergency small animal practice was not showing the growth and profitability that it had historically - and I was questioning our ability to lead the company to the next level. I asked ForteCEO to provide an experienced "hands on" operating executive who could assist us in establishing leadership and strategy for the future.

The ForteCEO executive, Guy Arvia, worked with my management team and me to quickly understand our business, market, and leadership challenges, and he chaired a working session to help us author a strategy for our business. Guy also worked with us to refine the strategy - and deliver that strategy to our Board of Directors. The strategy is sound, we are all 100% behind the plan, and the reception by our Board was very positive. I have also personally benefited greatly from the experience and the knowledge that Guy shared with us.

The investment we made with ForteCEO will be returned to us many times based on their work with us - and I would highly recommend ForteCEO to other business owners who are facing issues that they are struggling to solve, who need to rapidly move themselves and their business to the next level.

Irvin Herling, DVM

We hired ForteCEO because we were hit particularly hard by the recession that started in late 2000 and was exacerbated by the events of September 11, 2001. Sales of our German operation fell 10% while sales of our American operation fell 50% in a market that declined by 70%. After the economic recession ended, it became apparent that we were left with a permanent, significant loss in size of the machine builder market our company served in the United States. Our U.S. operation was still losing money and we could not continue in that mode.

ForteCEO did a thorough assessment of our business strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT). Our ForteCEO executive helped us navigate through an iterative process of in-depth discussions with key staff, consolidating information, presenting it back to us, and brain-storming in order to set priorities. By infusing his expertise, our ForteCEO consultant enabled us to examine and accept the difficult truths about our business. He recommended a plan that called for drastic steps in cost cutting and operations consolidation. When we expressed concerns about certain aspects of the plan, he was flexible and came back with a "plan B" that we felt worked better for us.
Sometimes it takes an outsider to see clearly what is difficult for an insider to recognize. ForteCEO was helpful to us in focusing on the actions needed to achieve desired business goals.

I would recommend ForteCEO to any business owner who faces challenges due to a declining market.

David C. Easley
Former President
The Precise Corporation

Tote Cart is an Illinois-based second generation family-owned manufacturing company that serves the retail trade. After two difficult years and upon a recommendation from our bank, we hired ForteCEO to help us in several areas.

Although we knew that our manufacturing operation was clearly struggling, our ForteCEO executive felt that by starting with leadership training and team building for the management team, everyone would be more prepared to tackle the challenges we faced with regard to quality improvement and cost reduction in our manufacturing process.

We knew that our quality was marginally acceptable, work-in-process inventory was excessive, delivery dates were being missed, systems were weak, and scheduling, processing and simply knowing what to make were rooted in "tribal knowledge" rather than proper documentation. We also knew that we didn't have the appropriate staffing ratio for the volume of business produced. There were stacks of "work in process" material ahead of each operation, and no logical flow of materials through the plant. Because of these inefficiencies, the plant appeared to be running at capacity. As a result, the sales force was reluctant to contract for new business. We needed an outside source to help us get our arms around all these issues.

A second ForteCEO executive with extensive experience in manufacturing process was brought in to sort it all out. He implemented a simple DBR scheduling system that helped us to eliminate the bottlenecks in our operation that were limiting our throughput.

In a word, the results were "phenomenal." In the first week alone, production went from 600 units per day to 965 without making any labor changes. After that, we found that we could consistently finish 1100 units per day, and up to 1500 if necessary. This translated into triple profits.

All this has resulted in far less inventory on the floor, smaller batch sizes, better quality, nearly 100% on-time deliveries, and 50% more product built in the same space with the same number of employees. This, in turn, resulted in our ability to focus on developing more sales to fill the newly found capacity.

We couldn't be more thrilled with the results. Our management team is once again having fun, working better together than ever before, and we once again have a healthy balance sheet. I enthusiastically recommend ForteCEO to any company struggling with similar issues.

Paul Mills
President
Tote Cart Company

I was referred to ForteCEO when my $9 million permission-based Internet marketing company was not showing the growth and profitability that I wanted ­ and I was questioning my ability to personally lead my company to the next level. I asked ForteCEO to provide an experienced mentor who could assist me in becoming more effective personally, and in taking my company to a new level of growth and profitability.

The ForteCEO executive, John McGinnis, worked with my management team and me to quickly update our business plan and establish a culture of accountability based on that plan. Within the first month, John also gave me increased confidence in my own decision-making and effectiveness, and helped me make a number of key decisions that resulted in a stronger management team. I am now much more effective in working on the business - and not in it.

I recommend ForteCEO to other business owners who need to move themselves and their business to the next level.

Stephanie Healy
Owner
Vente, Inc.