About Us

Chicago Area TAB® Certified Facilitators

Michael Brown TAB Certified Facilitator

Mike Brown is President of Brown & Associates, a management consulting firm located in Hawthorn Woods, IL. He has over 35 years experience in corporate and consulting roles in sales, product management, market research and strategy development. As a consultant since 1991, Mike has helped clients to better understand their employees, customers, channels and competitors and develop solutions to meet today's challenging competitive environments. His educational background includes a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from Rutgers University.

Bruce Caris TAB Certified Facilitator

Bruce Caris has been planning and implementing major organizational and operational changes in Chicago companies for over 25 years. He has extensive experience with successful startups and in organizations undergoing significant change (i.e. mergers corporate spin-offs, and organizational restructuring). His expertise is in the areas of operations management, strategic planning and human resources. Among Bruce’s accomplishments are planning and implementing effective organizational structures for startups, forming new departments and programs for post-merger entities, and creating and implementing a dynamic planning process for an organization separating from its parent corporation. Bruce holds an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Denny Coll TAB Certified Facilitator

Dennis Coll has over 25 years as a business owner and small business consultant. He co-founded a commercial real estate firm and served as its CEO from 1976 until 1992. This firm, with 200 employees, grew to own and operate over $200 million of office and multi-family apartment properties in the Midwest, outperforming the market by 19%. Mr. Coll merged the firm into a major Wall Street money management firm and became a full equity partner responsible for their real estate portfolio. In 1992 Mr. Coll began a new career in investment banking and consulting, primarily to privately-held businesses under $100 million of sales, on matters of sale, acquisition, merger, re-capitalization and re-organization. Mr. Coll earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a BS in Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point

Paul Detlefs TAB Certified Facilitator

Paul Detlefs is the founder and President of The Prestwick Group, a consulting firm serving small businesses in the Chicago area. He is a former Partner with Accenture (24 years), where he led their Middle Market consulting practice in Chicago. During his career he has worked with over 100 small and mid-sized businesses in manufacturing, distribution, construction and various service industries. His focus is on helping organizations measurably improve their value through supply chain performance, improved financial management, and the strategic use of information technology. Paul is a CPA, is certified at the Fellow level by APICS, and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Rick Disney TAB Certified Facilitator

Rick Disney has over 30 years of experience working with small and mid-sized companies as a financial executive, business owner and advisor.  These companies have been manufacturers, contractors, retail and wholesale distributors and service providers.  He has guided numerous companies through the preparation and completion of capital raising, the sale of their businesses and working capital enhancement.  He has also led companies through performance improvement projects in their finance, accounting and production functions.  Rick is a CPA and has an accounting degree from Northern Illinois University.

Jerry Pinney TAB Certified Facilitator

Jerry Pinney is President of Jerry Pinney & Associates and has over 30 years experience in the food industry and as a business and industry consultant. He possesses a unique perspective of organizational strategies and also of today's competitive environment that demands sophisticated management skills and creativity. Jerry is motivated to help every organization that he works with to improve results and to plan for growth. He takes great pride in that accomplishment. Jerry is an Executive Coach. You can discover more of Jerry’s programs and services by visiting his web site at www.coachpinney.com.

Don Schlueter TAB Certified Facilitator

Don Schlueter has over 30 years of executive leadership as CEO and President with full P&L responsibility for consumer and durable goods companies ranging from $ 5 to $100+ million in revenue. His broad experience spans consulting, small private entrepreneurial companies, two LBOs and major divisions of three Fortune 500 companies - Baker Hughes, Terex and Babcock Industries. Don has grown and turned around companies by implementing team building, strategic marketing, market-driven product development, financial budgeting and controls and a broad spectrum of efficiency improvements. He has extensive international experience in negotiating joint ventures, technology transfers, licensing agreements and other global business partnerships. Don has a BS in Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA from St. Louis University.

Zbig Skiba TAB Certified Facilitator

Zbig Skiba is the president of Skiba Consulting, Ltd., where he focuses on helping small and medium sized businesses develop sustainable business strategies that provide synergy between financial, environmental and social considerations.  Zbig has a unique combination of strategic and technical skills and broad experience in a variety of functional areas and business sectors.  He brings this breadth of experience to his strategic planning assignments, where he cross-pollinates ideas from one sector to where they might provide unique value in another sector.  Zbig has an MBA from Kellogg GSM at Northwestern, with a focus on entrepreneurship and international business, and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering. To find out more about Zbig Skiba and Skiba Consulting, please visit us at http://www.skibaconsulting.com

Phil York TAB Certified Facilitator

Phil York is a management consultant with over 25 years of experience in the US, Canada, and Korea.  During his career at Accenture and MCI, he focused on business planning, sales and marketing processes, and financial planning and control.  In addition to TAB facilitation and business consulting, Phil works with clients on sales planning and as interim CFO.  Phil is a CPA and holds an undergraduate degree from Yale and a graduate degree from Georgia Tech.

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