San Diego Business Executives

Andrew Feghali, a Sage Executive Group member and owner of 12 Little Caesars Pizza franchises, has been honored as one of San Diego’s 40 Under 40 Class of 2018 by the SD METRO Magazine.

In its 19th year, the 40 Under 40 awards program was founded to acknowledge the contributions of San Diego’s young leaders who have potential to shape the region’s destiny. SD METRO selected the honorees from more than 200 nominations based on their personal accomplishments, community involvement and career achievements.

Feghali is the founder of restaurant holding company AMF Foods, Inc. The company has experienced annual sales growth from $1.5 million in 2009 to over $9 million (projected) in 2018. It was listed on the July 2, 2018 San Diego Business Journal Locally-Owned Restaurant Franchisees list. In addition to running his Little Caesars restaurants in Southern California, Colorado, and Texas, Feghali was selected by Jerry Rollins, CEO of Sage Executive Group, to serve alongside him as a Sage Executive Group Forum Co-chair.

“I believe Andrew is an exemplary CEO and corporate citizen. He’s a visionary, educator, and hands-on leader, well deserving of the ‘40 Under 40’ honor,” said Rollins. “He’s enthusiastic and driven to provide his employees with opportunities, as well as finding  time to contribute to the local community.”

“It’s a distinct honor to be recognized by the SD METRO as an under 40 award-winner,” said Feghali. “The awards program encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of young people who inspire others with their leadership and achievement. San Diego is a vibrant community, and the talent, drive and ambition of this year’s honorees was outstanding.”

Feghali was one of the youngest District Managers for PepsiCo – Frito Lay, Inc. Southern California. At 21, he oversaw 20 route sales reps as direct reports and 150 accounts with more than $9 million in annual sales.

Feghali received his B.S. Degree in Business Administration and Management from California State University, Fullerton, in 2007and his Master’s Degree  in Executive Leadership from the University of San Diego School of Business in 2015. He is working towards completing his Ph.D. in Leadership Studies from the University of San Diego.

San Diego-based Sage Executive Group is a fast-growing membership network and advisory group for business leaders. SAGE’s value-based philosophy encourages business leaders to put people before profits and learn how to effectively balance business demands and responsibilities to family, community and health.

            Sage Executive Group member Nick Brune, founder of Eco Caters, introduced his new meeting and entertainment venue in San Diego’s Gaslamp District to Sage members in a social gathering in June.

The venue , “Revel Revel,” features dramatic, floor-to-ceiling photographic artwork by fellow Sage member Aaron Chang, owner of Aaron Chang Ocean Art Gallery in San Diego and Solana Beach. The Revel Revel location is a large, third-floor space with beamed ceiling and brick walls in a historic building at 868 Fifth Avenue.

       Brune, who is head chef of Eco Caters, grew up learning to cook in the kitchens of Louisiana and has built his company into a muti-faceted catering operation in San Diego, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. that offers organic, locally grown cuisine. One of the company specialties is “Simply Lunch,” a ready-to-eat organic meal for companies and their employees at an  at affordable price.

The Thursday evening happy hour was an opportunity for Sage Executive Group members and top-ranking executives to spend time together and enjoy hors d’oeuvres prepared and served by Eco Caters staff.

It was the first of series of spotlight social events planned by Sage Executive Group, which also hosts quarterly seminars and forums on key business issues such as the new federal tax law and the growth of cryptocurrency.

Sage Executive Group, founded in 2012 in San Diego, is a leading peer advisory group whose members work together to address and solve the most critical issues impacting their business and personal lives.

For more information, go to www.sageexecutivegroup.com or call 800-648-1063.

Ray Grainger, founder and CEO of Irvine-based Mavenlink and a member of Sage Executive Group, is featured in a Forbes Magazine profile as one of the thought leaders changing business in America.
Grainger is a former Accenture partner who founded Mavenlink to bring the skills of world-class consulting to a broad audience of companies competing in the $3 trillion global services economy.
“Ray embodies the drive to grow, improve and succeed that is a hallmark of Sage Executive Group members,” said John Rollins, CEO of Sage. The San Diego-based peer advisory group specializes in working with high-performing, top-level executives.
Grainger explained that in co-founding Mavenlink in 2008, he set out to create a better, less expensive platform that would address the issues facing the modern services company, which require tools to manage shorter duration projects often with people who are working across geographies and who may have never met before or may never meet. His goal was to help those companies optimize their business operations.
For a time after college at Harvey Mudd in Southern California, Grainger was a river guide and also journeyed to the South Pole. Those experiences helped shape his management philosophy.
“Everything I learned there at that young age was foundational to my entire career, this idea of adaptability,” Grainger said in his Forbes interview. “You don’t get to choose the people you work with. You’re all just sleeping in one big bunk house. You’ve got every type of personality you could imagine. You have to learn to get along. Everybody’s got to accomplish the mission.”

Jack Farnan, Human Resources vice president for HM Electronics in Poway, learned an important lesson about managing change in an unlikely place – the spiritual home of the Dalai Lama high in the Himalayas.
An avid mountain climber, Farnan was on his way to an ascent in Ladakh when he had a chance to spend  time with thousands of Buddhists who had come to hear the Dalai Lama teach at a  monastery in northernmost India, a refuge in exile from his historic home in Tibet now under Chinese control.
The Dalai Lama places a premium on the “importance of personal change in the world,” Farnan said, and that is a message that can – and should resonate – with the chief executive officers charged with bringing change to their organizations.
Farnan, who has 25 years of experience in identifying and developing executive talent, laid out seven key characteristics of a successful CEO in a presentation to members and guests of Sage Executive Group, a premier peer advisory group based in San Diego. Farnan is currently VP of Human Resources at HM Electronics, a global company that designs and manufactures wireless communication products.
His conclusions are based on research on the requisite skill sets for CEOs to survive and prosper.
Most important, Farnan said, is that top leaders are decisive. Research shows that CEOs with this one trait “were 12 times more likely to succeed.” The components of success then flow from the ability to understand how “personal change” is translated into the workplace. Critical characteristics of these top leaders are:

• They are decisive.
• They engage for impact.
• They adapt proactively.
• They deliver reliably.
• They hold themselves and others accountable.
• They are Level 5 leaders.
• They have a growth mindset.

Farnan said that ultimately successful leaders lead by example, and “we can do so much with just changing ourselves.”
 

Sage Executive Group announced today that painting company executive Tony Hady has moved to the peer advisory organization’s top-level CEO group after building his company revenues to more than $6 million annually.
Hady, the principal at Pacific Western Painting in Escondido, joined Sage Executive Group three years ago as a member of the Ascent advisory group for executives running companies with annual revenues under $4 million. He attended the group’s monthly meetings in which executives work together to solve management challenges and develop strategies to expand their companies.
“Sage Executive Group has given our team the network, the wisdom, the education and the accountability needed to grow successfully,” Hady said. “I highly recommend Sage to business owners as our ROI continues to be priceless.”
Hady, 34, is a third generation painter who joined that company about three years after it was founded in Fallbrook by his brother, Kirby Hady, in 2003. Pacific Western Painting now has about 70 employees and increased revenues from $3.3 million in 2015 to more than $6 million last year.
As a result of the rapid rise in revenue, Hady has been elevated to the Sage Executive Group for CEOs facilitated by Jerry Rollins, who founded Sage Executive Group in 2012 in San Diego.
Kirby Hady, now director of client education at Pacific Western Painting, and Randall Know, director of operations, are both current members of Sage Executive Group and are actively involved in its management development program.
Sage Executive Group operates peer advisory groups for CEOs, presidents, and partners, as well as for C-level executives in finance, operations and sales. The Sage process has been developed by leaders who have over 45 years of collective experience with peer advisory groups.
For more information, contact Sage Executive Group at (800) 648-1063 or visit Sage Executive Group.

To lead a group of leaders, a top executive will achieve greater success by embracing a philosophy of coaching forward, of looking through the front windshield rather than the rear view mirror, advised sales expert G. A. Bartick in a presentation to Sage Executive Group.
His talk was hosted by San Diego-based Sage Executive Group, a peer advisory organization that gives high-level executives a confidential setting to improve their business performance and enhance their personal lives. His talk at a June 16 breakfast meeting at the Corporate Alliance office in San Diego was part of an ongoing series of learning events hosted by Sage.
Bartick, president of R3 Consultants, urged executives to “quite coaching to the past and start affecting the future.” As part of that commitment, he said that even the most well-intentioned leaders become caught up in the problems of the day and need to practice – and then execute – how to  “catch  people doing more things right and fewer things wrong.”
Looking through the front windshield is not only a metaphor for focusing on what is ahead, rather than what is behind, Bartick said. It also puts a premium on setting  “crystal clear expectations”  for what is coming down the road.
In addition to that forward-looking vision and ability to communicate, the role of leading leaders becomes more effective if the executive takes time to “get in the weeds, to pay attention to what is happening on the field of play.
Bartick likened that management mind set  to being a “conscious, competent coach,” a leader who loves helping their associates figure out how to set up the project, pricing and resources.
That often translates to giving people “the what and the why” of what they need to do to excel in the jobs – and meet the company’s management and personnel goals.
For executives in the room, that is a leadership style they described with words like “insightful,” “aware” and “inspired.”
Sage Executive Group’s identity, and resulting rapid growth, has made it a key player in management training and development in the San Diego area. It  has grown from an initial concentration on CEOs from large and mid-size companies with annual revenues of more than $4 million to a wide range of peer groups for C-level executives and sales and marketing experts from companies with sales of $1 million or more.
For more information, go to www.sageexecutivegroup.com.

SAN DIEGO – Sage Executive Group, a San Diego-based membership network and advisory group for business leaders, announced record growth in its membership. Sage has grown from startup four years ago to a premier peer advisory organization for CEOs of more than 90 San Diego and Orange County members, with total revenues from their businesses exceeding $1.5 billion and averaging a 15 percent growth from 2014 to 2015.
As part of its expanding role to become a key training and development organization for leading San Diego-area companies, Sage has expanded its reach to include special groups for sales leaders, creative agency executives, marketing professionals and facility managers.
What sets Sage apart in working with the region’s top executives is a philosophy emphasizing values, encouraging business leaders to put people before profits, and learning how to effectively balance business demands and responsibilities to family, community and health. Members, ranging from CEOs of large-scale companies to up-and-coming sales executives at new enterprises, meet monthly to share ideas, solve problems and exchange feedback about their professional and personal challenges.
“Sage offers camaraderie and support of people who are going through some of the same things you are,” said Sage member Steve Wagner, co-founder and brewmaster of Stone Brewing Co. “We share and give each other ideas for how to better balance life, and take good care of your business and your family.”
Sage’s growth has been guided by founder and CEO Jerry Rollins, a successful San Diego businessman and entrepreneur whose management approach is grounded in his early career as a professional hockey player. His sports experience of coaching and being coached, as well as his expertise in business team building, has translated into Sage’s emphasis on values-based leadership.
Sage’s identity, and resulting rapid growth, is founded on groups of 10 to 12 like-minded executives who meet monthly in half-day sessions led by a seasoned business leader. Members work together to address and solve critical issues impacting their business and personal lives. Each group offers a scholarship to a member who leads a nonprofit organization in the local area. Sage also holds quarterly networking events featuring a presentation by marketing and sales experts. Sage members contribute to educational growth by offering aspiring students college scholarships on an annual basis.
Sage Executive Group was launched in 2012 by Rollins, who served as the CEO, president and owner of four companies for more than 21 years, and San Diego entrepreneur Brian Yui, a specialist in building companies from the ground up.
For more information, contact SAGE Executive Group at (800) 648-1063 or visit www.sageexecutivegroup.com.
Media Contact: Chuck Buxton
chuck@sageexecutivegroup.com or (619) 892-8119

By Cecilia Johnson
UCSD Extension Business Program graduate student and Sage Executive Group intern
Nine speakers representing some of the best business minds in San Diego gave powerful insights into strategy, vision, purpose and life values at the debut of “Sage Talks” sponsored by Sage Executive Group and attended by members of the peer advisory group at the Grand Del Mar hotel in San Diego on Dec. 8.
Sage CEO Jerry Rollins moderated the event with a goal of bringing new information to Sage’s members so they can apply it to building better leadership and creativity for their companies. Sage, in its role of mentoring top executives, strives to bring a competitive advantage to its members and to be part of their journey of success.
The talks, each less than 20 minutes and modeled on the popular TED Talks format, were given over four hours during the afternoon. Before the speeches, about 100 members and guests had an opportunity to socialize at a buffet lunch and afterwards to share ideas and observations at a reception on the hotel patio, festively decorated for the holidays.
From the perspective of a business student, the talks accentuated the importance of a moral commitment to employees, as well as family and community. Speaker after speaker shared experiences and life stories that were not only about overcoming obstacles and achieving success, but about a strong consciousness of being good people overall and of providing integrity and trust in personal and business relations.
In his role as moderator, Rollins played a dual role of keeping the nine talks rigorously on schedule and also fostering a climate of belonging to a learning group.
For more information, click on Sage Executive Group. To view the nine talks, go to Sage Executive Group’s YouTube Channel.
 

If you are comfortable with your strategic planning, then you need to shift your perspective, escape the trap of “tried-and-tested tools” and focus on key areas that very likely will bring “fear and discomfort,” said business consultant Stacey McKibbin in a presentation to San Diego business executives.
McKibbin, president of Multivariable Solutions and a coach with Sage Executive Group, challenged business leaders to understand that in today’s hyper-competitive environment, strategy “is more of an intuitive and messy process, not the analytical process we’ve made it to be.”
The breakfast meeting in early November was sponsored by Sage Executive Group, a fast-growing, San Diego-based peer advisory group for top managers ranging from CEOs and C-level executives to sales and marketing directors.
Effective strategic planning embraces the unknown, requires unwavering focus by a small group of top executives who have inherent trust in each other, and demands a commitment of time each week over a year or more. “Once strategy is nailed, execution is very systematic and sequential,” McKibbin said.
It is critical to assemble the right team, a group of four to five leaders drawn from the top ranks such as CEO, co-founders, head of sales or marketing, all with one attribute in common – trust. The team’s main job is to determine the focus for the future, concentrating not on everything the business does for every customer, but on its most profitable and value-driven core. This is the 7 percent that effectively defines the company and draws customers who are attracted and sustained by “value” of what the company provides and are willing to pay for it.
“This becomes you Number 1 thing to focus on,” McKibbin said.
For more information on McKibbin’s presentation, you can reach her at stacey@multivs.us or (844) 433-3328.
Click here to learn more about Sage Executive Group.