The Ownership Thinking Team

    
    

Brad Hams, founder and CEO of Ownership Thinking, is on a mission to eradicate entitlement. His company, Ownership Thinking, has helped hundreds of companies to diminish or defeat the entitlement mentality that is so pervasive and so devastating in our country and to replace it with cultures of earning - empowering employees to think and act like owners. He believes that human beings do not gain self esteem through unearned compensation, empty praise or false security, but rather through achievement. His company provides employees and organizations with the tools and training they need to realize their potential, and to create wealth where wealth might never have been created.

Brad, with the help of his extraordinary team, developed the Ownership Thinking model in the early '90s, during which time he was the president of Mrs. Fields Cookies in Mexico. Prior to this, he held executive positions in the area of finance and operations in a fortune 100 company. Brad is a lifelong student of business and finance, holds a master's degree in Organizational Development and Human Resources, and has taught business at the graduate level. He is a board member of the National Center for Employee Ownership, the country's leading resource on information and research related to broad based equity programs.  In addition to his consulting work, Brad spreads his mission and message by speaking to roughly 70 audiences a year, and is one of the most sought after speakers for Vistage, the world's largest membership organization of CEOs.

    
    

Alex Freytag, President and COO, has been helping employees think and act like owners since 1996, initially at Profitworks, Ltd., an employee training firm he co-founded, and now at Ownership Thinking in Columbus, OH, where he is Partner and Chief Operating Officer. Alex has a BA in psychology from Hamilton College and an MBA from the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University where he was valedictorian of his class. Alex is a member of the National Center for Employee Ownership, the ESOP Association and Vistage and in addition to his consulting work, spreads his mission and message by speaking to audiences of all types.

    

Tom Bouwer, Vice President US Consulting, offers over 20 years of U.S. and international management and consulting experience helping companies improve their profitability while teaching employees to think and act like owners. He has worked with start-ups and fortune 50 companies in such industries as insurance, finance, software, construction, manufacturing and consumer products. Tom’s experience in Turkey, where he started and ran his own company, provides him with unique insight into the issues confronting business owners and their employees. He has additional experience with consultants Deloitte & Touche and Booz Allen Hamilton. Tom has a B.A. from Hope College and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

David Cohn spent 25 years in business working towards building employee engagement and contribution in his own family business. He built the 3 businesses into one of the south's premier men's clothing stores and formal rental businesses. He has spent the last 20 years as an advisor to business owners in building companies that are sustainable and transferable. David has been looking for something to tie all of the above together. Ownership Thinking is the vehicle to accomplish all of the above. David has been involved in numerous community activities and is a member of the Vistage community. He currently resides in Parker, Colorado with Karen to whom he has been married for 39 years. He has been rewarded with 3 wonderful boys, a daughter-in-law and 2 beautiful grandsons.

    

David Saxe has over 40 years of hands-on, business related experience and the professional credentials to enable him to quickly identify both the challenges and solutions for all types of business organizations. He is a Certified Ownership Thinking™ Facilitator, a Certified Business Coach and a Canadian Chartered Accountant. This training, combined with his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Eastern Michigan University provides him with the experience required to implement the Ownership Thinking™ culture by providing employees with the right tools, information and training to create a team of motivated, engaged employees working in a fun environment.

David trained with Deloitte Touche – Chartered Accountants. He then formed a Financial Consulting practice, specialized in growing small and medium sized clients. In 1976, he founded Saxe Communications, which specialized in regulatory and financial matters, sales and acquisitions and rate regulation for the telecommunications industry, In 1980, David co-founded an investment company which built and operated a radio station in Canada and cable television systems across North America. In 2001, David was invited to join an Oil and Gas exploration and development company, which he now manages. He also serves on the Board of Directors of several other companies.

He is actively involved in his communities, both in Ottawa, Canada and South Florida. He is a member of the Chambers of Commerce in Boca Raton and Coral Springs, Florida and Ottawa, Canada; the Exit Planning Institute; the Small Business Association of Canada; The Indus Entrepreneur as well as the Business Breakfast Club. He serves on the executive of several of these organizations. David is also a past National Chairman of the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance and served on the Management Committee of the Canadian Amateur Bobsled and Luge Association during the years leading up to and including the Calgary Winter Olympic Games.

    

Carmen Garcia, Latin Services department manager at Ownership Thinking, has provided financial and business acumen training to the Hispanic community for over five years. Carmen grew up in Mexico City and holds a CPA from Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. She spent her early career as a CPA, and later was an internal auditor for several international companies. She also worked as a financial analyst for two of the five largest banks in Mexico. In the mid '90s she was part of the international operations team for Standard & Poor's in their TEC Center office.

Perry Phillips, CA-CBV, ASA, CEPA (Certified Exit Planning Advisor), Ownership Thinking’s Canadian Licensee, is the founder and President of ESOP Builders Inc. Perry is also on the Board of Directors of The Exit Planning Institute, an association of professionals founded in 2004 and recognized thought leader in the field. The Institute provides members throughout the United States and Canada with the training, resources and support they need to successfully design and implement exit plans for owners of private businesses. As an ESOP consultant, Perry has designed and implemented over 100 employee share ownership plans with a street value of over one billion dollars and is recognized nationally and internationally as an expert in ESOPs. Perry's consultancy operates in major cities across Canada in the belief that ESOPs are an excellent solution for Canadian business owners approaching their succession. Perry and his team have been trained and certified to implement Ownership Thinking for their clients throughout Canada.

    
    

Garrett Sullivan, Ownership Thinking's licensee for Hawaii, offers over 30 years of management experience in the construction industry - from Project Engineer to CEO. He is Founder and President of Sullivan Associates, Inc. (www.sullivanhi.com) and Past President of Kaikor Construction which he cofounded in 1985. Sullivan led the company to award-winning status and retired in 2010 to launch his consulting practice. He is the 2010 SBA Small Business Person of the Year for the city and county of Honolulu, Past President of the General Contractors Association of Hawaii (2010) and is active in the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) where he was Past President. Sullivan has successfully completed hundreds of civil, structural and building projects for the city, state and federal government across the Hawaiian Islands. Additionally, during his tenure the company has won numerous awards, such as Build Hawaii, AWA Project of the Year and local as well as national Safety Awards. Sullivan was born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and has lived in Hawaii since graduating for the University of Hawaii with a degree in Finance. In 1985, Sullivan earned a Master's in Business Administration from Chaminade University.

    

Sean Hutchinson is the managing partner of FortunatoHutchinson, a San Francisco, California based middle-market investment bank and is Ownership Thinking’s licensee in the San Francisco Bay area. He is the former Chief Executive Officer of Integra Realty Resources, the world's largest real estate advisory firm. For the past 20 years, Sean has advised privately-held companies throughout the U.S. on capital raising, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and recapitalization, turnarounds, competitive strategy, growth and expansion, value creation, governance, and exit/succession planning. He currently sits on the boards of three private companies. He holds a Master's degree from Miami University of Ohio, and is one of approximately 175 Certified Exit Planning Advisors practicing worldwide.

Gordon Bell manages The Midland Group, Ownership Thinking’s licensee for Indiana. Gordon is a former CEO turned advisor with more than 40 years experience running and developing companies worldwide and a vast network of affiliate partners. As the only certified exit planning advisor in northern Indiana, he brings extraordinary insight and resources to help companies grow and minimize risks.

His business partner, Ty Whitacre, is a former Vice President for Global Fortune 500 Companies and brings senior level skills in Business Process Improvements, Business Development, Sales Productivity Improvements and Integrating teams from mergers and acquisitions.

Craig West manages Succession Plus, Ownership Thinking’s licensee for Australia and New Zealand. He is a strategic accountant who has built a specialized advisory practice focused on small business owners to help them face the four key strategic issues that SMEs face as they grow – Raising Capital, Building Equity, Protecting that equity and Extracting the value that’s been built when they exit. Craig is a CPA and has been advising businesses in management, taxation and accounting issues for over 15 years. He specializes in business structuring and succession planning and has had extensive experience working with clients to improve their financial performance – with proven results.

Partial Client List (links to client sites are in yellow):