Tag: CEO peer advisory group San Diego

Confidence in reaching profit growth this year is so high for top San Diego-area executives that no layoffs are planned, most plan to hire and their biggest concern is recruiting and retaining talent. At the same time, they express little concern about the controversial immigration and tariff policies of the Trump presidency.

These are key findings of a comprehensive survey of 67 Chief Executive Officers whose companies in San Diego and Orange counties employ more than 8,000 workers and generate more than $5 billion in annual revenue. The survey, which is a key barometer of the health of the Southern California economy, was commissioned by Sage Executive Group, a peer advisory organization for business leaders. The CEOs, who are Sage members, run a wide swath of businesses in technology, real estate, insurance, law, wealth management and hospitality.

“I am pleased to note that Sage member CEOs are focused on profitability as compared to revenue growth, said Sage Executive Group CEO Jerry Rollins. “Too many companies these days think top-line growth is the most important factor, but Thomas J Watson, the founder of IBM, stated, “business is built on net income” and those principles are true nearly 100 years later.

The survey found that two-thirds of the CEOs polled are highly confident of achieving profit growth this year, and the remainder are moderately confident. For eight out of 10, “creating a success-driven company culture” is a top priority, but only half express confidence in being able to achieve this goal.

Ninety percent of the CEOs indicated that increasing profitable sales is still their most important challenge and fewer than half were confident they could achieve profit expectations. They said their major obstacles are recruiting, cultivating, and retaining leadership talent and raising the capital needed for expansion.

Only 12 percent of those polled said the last year’s federal tax overhaul was “extremely” beneficial to their business and a large majority, 70 percent, rated it as “moderately” beneficial.

Two of the least important issues were immigration and new tariffs. Almost three-quarters of the CEOs consider “navigating new immigration regulations” as their least important concern, and almost that many rate “navigating increases in tariffs” as a less-important concern.

Sage Executive Group provides top executives in the San Diego and Orange County areas an opportunity to meet monthly in peer advisory groups to address and solve the most critical issues impacting their business and personal lives.

For more information, contact Sage Executive Group at (800) 648-1063 or visit www.sageexecutivegroup.com.

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.

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.”

Tom Galido has a word of warning for the future of television as a marketing medium.
“The television model is going to fall apart as we know it,” said Galido, CEO of Kaptivating Technology in Los Angeles, in a presentation to San Diego business leaders sponsored by Sage Executive Group.
Galido explained that in today’s digitally dominated marketplace, information comes from all directions in increasingly fragmented ways. “You don’t even know where your customers are these days,” he said.
Rather than going to your TV for information – or to reach your audience – that information is available in your hand. “The most important screen is the screen in front of you,” Galido said.
In his talk, “The New Age of Social Media Marketing, he said those are key challenges for businesses. “We cannot have this level of defection” from traditional marketing methods “without reformatting the industry.”
For success today, “it’s all about being fast.” And over the next five years, he said “it’s not about being big, it’s about having the best data.”
He cited Netflix and its success in mining customer data to guide production decision, and Target, in gaining understanding of what kids wanted in back to school shopping (beauty and style) rather than focusing on what parents valued (computers and backpacks.)
The future of marketing, steeped in social media information, will “combine scale with data to drive action,” he said.
The almost universal availability of information levels the playing field. “The big boys are going to have to compete with the little guys because everyone is the same height,” he said.
Galido, 42, was named CEO Officer of Kaptivating Technology, a provider of next-generation real-time marketing technology, in January.
Sage Executive Group, which provides a peer advisory experience for CEOs, presidents, and partners, as well as for C-level executives in finance, operations and sales. sponsored the talk as part of its quarterly learning events. The talk was held at the Mintz Levin law firm offices in San Diego.
The Sage process has been developed by executives who have over 45 years of collective leadership with CEO peer advisory groups to create an effective and value-driven member experience. For more information, contact Sage Executive Group at (800) 648-1063 or visit www.sageexecutivegroup.com.
 

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.

Four experts on mergers and acquisitions addressed the question of what is happening in today’s “frothy” investment marketplace at a panel hosted by peer advisory organization Sage Executive Group.
There is a “crazy supply dynamic for quality assets,” said Craig Dupper, a partner with Solis Capital Partners based in Newport Beach.
He was joined on the panel, held at the San Diego office of Knobbe Martens law firm on Oct. 18, by Rose M. Thiessen, a partner in Knobbe Martens; Troy Romero, president of Romero Park law firm;  and Kerry Morris, partner in Shoreline Partners:
The question was raised by Jerry Rollins, the panel moderator and CEO of Sage Executive Group, a San Diego-based peer advisory and learning organization for CEOs and other top-level executives.
Romero said he has seen a significant rebound in the number of deals his firm has handled, from 17 in 2007 to zero in 2009 when the recession hit across the country to 14 expected this year.
“Some industries are hot,” said Morris, “valuations are at an all-time high.” But he cautioned that investors need to carefully examine financial analytics and that the customer base needs to be “rock solid,” preferring to use the word “choppy” to describe the M&E climate.
Across the board, panelists expressed wariness about the political climate and outcome of the presidential election. Thiessen said that as an intellectual property attorney,  she is especially interested in “the shape of the Supreme Court” after the new president makes a new appointment, especially on a court that has become increasingly involved in patent decisions.
That led to strong advice to business owners who may be interested in selling, or who might be surprised to find that someone is interested in buying their company.
“Make sure you have ownership of intellectual property,” Thiessen said.
And “if your company is based on a technology, it should be beautifully tied up,” Romero said.
Every company that might be attracting investors needs a playbook that provides short-term tactics, long-term strategy and “valid, timely and accurate financials,” Rollins said. “I have seen $100 million companies without a plan.”
And he noted that with the highly publicized, billion-dollar buyout of Ballast Point Brewing Co. last November, company owners still need to be careful not to have “unrealistic expectations.”
The event was hosted by Sage Executive Group and sponsored by Knobbe Martens and City National Bank.

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

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.
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