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Founder & Leadership Coach
Care Deeply Consulting
Meet Christopher
As an executive coach and the founder of Care Deeply Consulting, Christopher wants to make every business a force for good. Since 2008, he has coached, trained and facilitated conscious business leaders and their teams to improve their performance without sacrificing their core values. Christopher supports leaders at every organizational level with engaging and empowering employees, navigating workplace conflict, generating commitment and buy-in, and holding team members supportively accountable to shared results.
Prior to becoming a coach, he spent 17 years as an engineering leader with large tech companies where he learned that you can fill a room with the smartest people in the world but if they aren’t working together as a team then it doesn’t really matter. Christopher believes in walking his talk, so he volunteers his time as Board President for the Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center (RMEOC) and Lead Organizer of B2B B-Corps.
Connect with Christopher on LinkedIn.
Author & Co-Founder
Small Giants Community
Meet Bo
Bo Burlingham is the author of Small Giants: Companies That Choose To Be Great Instead of Big (Portfolio, 2006), co-founder of the Small Giants Community, and an editor-at-large of Inc. Magazine. Bo joined Inc. in January 1983 as a senior editor and became executive editor six months later, a position he held for the next seven years or so. In 1990 he became editor-at-large for a number of reasons, including his desire to go back to writing. He subsequently wrote two books with Jack Stack, the co-founder and CEO of Springfield Remanufacturing Corp. and the pioneer of open-book management. One of the books, The Great Game of Business, has sold more than 300,000 copies. The other, A Stake in the Outcome, has also done pretty well and gotten great reviews.
Before joining Inc., Bo freelanced for various publications, including Esquire, Harper’s, Boston Magazine, and Mother Jones. Bo was also managing editor of Ramparts magazine. In 1982, he joined Fidelity Investments, where he wrote for Peter Lynch, Ned Johnson, and other honchos until coming to Inc. From 1992 to 1997, he served on the board of The Body Shop Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the international cosmetics company. He was also a founder, with Tom Peters, of PAC World, a weird international networking group that gave him a chance to meet a lot of zany—and brilliant—people from around the globe.
Connect with Bo on LinkedIn.
Founder & CEO
Starstuff Travel, LLC
Meet Stacey
Stacey Cabell is a dedicated entrepreneur, travel expert, and speaker with 13 years of experience in the travel industry. As the founder of Starstuff Travel, she has built a thriving business that helps travel agents grow and step outside their comfort zones. Stacey’s journey has been marked by resilience, overcoming anxiety, depression, and personal challenges to become a successful business owner and motivational speaker. She’s passionate about sharing her story to inspire others to break through their own barriers and create the life they truly deserve. She hopes to inspire othes, leaving people motivated, empowered, and ready to take bold action toward their personal and professional growth.
Be sure to ask about her travel adventures and the reality tv docu-series for entrepreneurs that she participated in!
Connect with Stacey on LinkedIn.
Founder
Atomic Object
Meet Carl
Carl started Atomic Object with his partner Bill Bereza in August 2001. Atomic designs and builds custom web and mobile applications for many industries. Starting his own company wasn’t part of the plan, but he needed a job, and the startup he had left his academic career for had just gone belly-up. Carl retired from Atomic in January 2023, selling his remaining shares to the 60 other shareholders in the non-ESOP employee ownership plan he created in 2009. Under the thoughtful stewardship of co-CEOs Mike Marsiglia and Shawn Crowley, Atomic currently has 120 employees in four offices and 85 shareholders.
In addition to serving on several boards, Carl spends his time advising founders and investing in very early stage companies. He believes small, privately held companies can be a force for good in underserved communities and generate wealth for underrepresented founders.
Carl and Mary O’Neill have been married for 40 years, has two kids, and lives in Grand Rapids with two Siberian huskies. Ask Carl how long he’s been taking care of his Eastern Box Turtle!
Connect with Carl on LinkedIn.
Owner & CEO
Catalynt Solutions, Inc.
Meet Megan
Megan Gluth is the owner and CEO of Catalynt Solutions, Inc., formerly TRInternational, one of the largest certified women-owned US-based chemical distributors in North America. Catalynt has been recognized by Puget Sound Business Journal as part of the 2023 Middle Market Fast 50 list, and Megan was one of five owners honored as the Business Journal’s Middle Market Fast 50 Leaders of 2023. She is also a winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2023.
She loves the great outdoors — from hiking and kayaking, to snowshoeing and camping. Ask Megan about where she’s traveled, what good books she’s read recently, or bond over your favorite coffee. Share yoga or daily meditation recommendations, and if you know how to play the cello, she may want to pick your brain!
Connect with Megan on LinkedIn.
Co-Founder & Head of Product
Text-Em-All
Meet Hai
Hai Nguyen is a co-founder of Text-Em-All, an automated messaging service. He focuses on creative ways to help customers through design while building a company that’s in it for the long haul. He’s fulfilled by meaningful relationships and aspires to do purposeful work for the rest of his life.
Text-Em-All is an automated calling and texting service that I helped architect and build. We help businesses and organizations send important messages to people that want to receive them. Currently, I’m focused on building a great product and a company that will last for 50+ years.
Connect with Hai on LinkedIn.
Partner
SeatonHill Partners
Meet Lance
Lance is a self-proclaimed Starfish Flinger and works with companies and individuals to grow and improve both professionally and personally. He has extensive experience in helping companies scale through different stages of their lifecycle, creating meaning and value. He is passionate about culture and is an employee engagement evangelist. By day, he is a Partner in SeatonHill (providing strategic financial and operational expertise), an Executive Coach, and a long-term member, mentor, and supporter of the Small Giants Community. Lance heads up the The Circle, a program for Small Giants Leadership Academy alumni.
At all times, he is “Puff” as his four grandchildren affectionately call him. Be sure to ask Lance what it’s like to be a Guinness Book of World Record holder or to disappear at the magic hand of David Copperfield!
Connect with Lance on LinkedIn.
Preconstruction Manager
FCI Constructors
Meet Travis
Raised on a Michigan farm, Travis Slisher has always been driven by curiosity, eager to understand the mechanics and people of the world. Instead of the traditional academic path, he dove into the plumbing trade and quickly began leading teams — a leadership experience that accelerated his personal growth. Today, Travis serves as MEP Preconstruction Manager at FCI Constructors, Inc.
Travis lives with his family in Colorado and continues to be on an ongoing journey of self-discovery and growth, where the unwavering support of his wife and therapy have been instrumental. He’s a graduate of the 2020 Class of the Small Giants Leadership Academy.
Connect with Travis on LinkedIn.
Co-Founder
Small Giants Community
Meet Paul
Paul Spiegelman is the co-founder of the Small Giants Community. He is also the founder of BerylHealth and The Beryl Institute and is the former chief culture officer of Stericycle.
He is a New York Times best-selling author and has been honored with the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. Paul is also a sought-after speaker on leadership, employee engagement, entrepreneurship, corporate culture, and customer relationships. His thoughts have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Inc. Magazine.
Paul practiced law for two years prior to founding BerylHealth. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from UCLA and a law degree from Southwestern University. In his free time, you can find Paul spending time with his family, playing tennis, and mentoring emerging purpose-driven leaders.
Connect with Paul on LinkedIn.
Co-Founder
Tasty Catering
Meet Tom
Tom Walter is a serial entrepreneur, best known for founding and serving as the Chief Culture Officer of the award-winning Chicago caterer, Tasty Catering. Tom started his first business—a fast food restaurant called Tasty Pup—in 1971. From that humble beginning to today, Tom is now also an author, speaker, and mentor.
Under his leadership at Tasty Catering, Tom and his team created, nurtured and led an employee-focused culture that has amassed over 20 “best places to work” awards, such as Forbes America’s Best Small Companies, Psychologically Healthy Workplace Awards, Crain’s Chicago Best Places to Work, and Inc. Magazine & Winning Workplaces Top Small Workplaces Winner. He was inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame in 2010.
Tom’s experiences have made him a sought-after speaker and expert on company culture, employee engagement (entanglement), entrepreneurship and leadership. His views and advice for both new and seasoned entrepreneurs are often featured in the press, including Inc. Magazine, The Daily Herald, Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Chicago Tribune, Crain’s Chicago Business, and Forbes.
Connect with Tom on LinkedIn.
Head of People & Great Work
Text-Em-All
Meet Sabrina
Connect with Sabrina on LinkedIn.
Co-Founder & CEO
Text-Em-All
Meet Brad
Brad is the CEO and founder of Text-Em-All (formerly Call-Em-All). He co-founded the company in 2005, and it’s been recognized on the Inc. 500 list as well as D/FW’s Best Places to Work. With over 10,000 clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to soccer moms, Text-Em-All takes pride in its easy going company culture while striving for excellence and results.
Brad believes in work-life integration – not balance! His passions include travel, company culture, playing almost any sport, the outdoors, speaking Spanish, open book management, coaching kids, Texas A&M (his alma mater), the Small Giants community, gardening, kids learning math facts, and generally just having fun.
Connect with Brad on LinkedIn.
Founder
MACKEY
Meet Mackey
Best selling and award winning author, Mackey McNeill, is the CPA rebel that turned the accounting industry upside down with Prosper for Business, a CFO coaching system designed to help business owners achieve Mind, Time and Money Freedom.
In her books, The Prosperity Playbook and The Intersection of Joy and Money, she shares her journey, the stories, challenges and the wisdom that she uncovered as she built the Prosper system. The result is a step by step roadmap useable by entrepreneurs to power exponential bottom line growth, the single most important first step in achieving the three freedoms
When not working, find her on her 35 acre perma-culture homestead, playing with her grandchildren or preparing a truly local food meal from her gardens. Learn more about her at www.MackeyMcNeill.com.
Connect with Mackey on LinkedIn.
CEO
Ace Metal Crafts Company
Meet Jean
Jean has been with Ace Metal Crafts Company since 1983, joining as a sales rep and progressing over the years to her current role as CEO in 2003. In her tenure after taking over the company from her father, Jean’s passion for developing conscious leaders and helping team members thrive has advanced the success of the company and produced a culture with a foundation built on trust. As a result, the company is filled with happier people that feel heard and appreciated. ACE has smashed the industry standard in every team member engagement survey. Her extensive sales and leadership experience has taught her that taking great care of customers on the outside starts with taking good care of people on the inside.
Under Jean’s leadership, ACE has been honored numerous times for outstanding business practices, workplace culture, and industry and community outreach, most recently being honored with an award for a Psychologically Healthy Workplace for the American Psychological Association. ACE was named to the Fab 40 by Fabricator magazine and received the 2018 Forbes Small Giant Award.
Beyond her role at ACE, Jean serves as a board member and advisor to other companies, including the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center. She received her Bachelor’s from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and her MBA from Northern Illinois University.
Connect with Jean on LinkedIn.
President & Owner
IWI Ventures
Meet Britt
Britt grew up on a horse / tobacco farm in Kentucky. He had a host of jobs ranging from an Edward Jones stockbroker, Outward Bound instructor, bartender/ski bum, co-owner of construction company, English teacher in Korea, and a General Manager of different restaurants. He eventually became a franchisee of Noodles & Company with 8 stores across 3 states.
Today, Britt is the co-owner of Forage Kitchen, a salad/ancient grains fast casual concept that also produces kombucha. The restaurant has 6 locations, and the kombucha is sold in over 800 locations! Britt is also the co-owner of True Coffee Roasters, a small artisan roaster with one flagship cafe location and sold at many small indie coffee houses and grocers.
In Britt’s words, he’s the luckiest guy on the planet as his success has been the result of falling upward!
Connect with Britt on LinkedIn.