Mentors: SALES SERVICE
Summary of Qualifications Chris Zobel is a sales and management professional with extensive experience in small and large businesses. He has worked with Fortune 500 and Mom and Pop businesses throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Chris has a degree in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. After a successful career of over 30 years in the private sector, working with Miller Brewing Company, Arrow International, Yuengling and others, he accepted an Economic Development position with the US Small Business Administration assisting businesses in Delaware and later in Virginia. In 2014, he was relocated to Hampton Roads to concentrate on the very important small business community here. During his tenure with the SBA he interacted with small business owners from all cultural backgrounds. He was actively involved with assisting businesses with SWAM, HUBZone, 8a and Veteran certifications. An additional duty that Chris held was the District International Trade Office (DITO). As DITO, he held Export training events and met one on one with businesses to educate them on the specifics involved with establishing International Trade. He was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and served for 5 years in the US Navy during the Vietnam Era. Chris and his wife Susan live in Norfolk and enjoy life in Hampton Roads. Want to meet with this Lead Mentor? Schedule an...
Summary of Qualifications Todd Waldo is an engineer, artist, and community advocate. With a BSEE from North Carolina State University, he has a career in systems development, maintenance and operations. Todd Waldo is the Enterprise Engineering Manager at Royall & Company. He is responsible for the development, maintenance and operations of all systems to support clients’ needs and requirements. He graduated from North Carolina State University (BSEE) and the Interactive Marketing Institute at VCU. His recent focus has been on operations ensuring quality and performance for users and clients as well as resolving issues with products and data. He is also making investments in other colleagues as a mentor and adviser to increase diversity, inclusion, mission awareness and engagement. All of this carries over in his service to the Richmond community with his work for various non profits. He serves on the Board of Directors for Better Housing Coalition, the President of the Board of the Robinson Theater Community Arts Center, board member for Church Hill Activities and Tutoring (CHAT) and the Church Hill Academy. He also serves Church Hill through the Church Hill Central Civic Association. He leads development and execution of annual special events like TEDxRVA and the Hill Topper 5k. His goal is to partner with leadership adding value for client and employee management, applying his expertise in operations, technology and data, while supporting mission and values. Want to meet with this mentor? Talk with your Lead...
Summary of Qualifications As a fractional CMO Deborah helps organizations identify their brands, identify their key goals, and determine appropriate marketing strategies to achieve those goals. Throughout her career, she has worked in corporations, ad agencies and currently as an independent consultant. Deborah has worked with large organizations and smaller organizations. She gets involved in creating communications plans (external and internal), marketing plans, and the pieces and parts that make up marketing plans; as in strategies and tactics including branding, research, public relations, and advertising. Frequently, the first step is the most difficult. Helping clients understand what it is they are really offering, and why their product meets the need of the prospect better than the competition is not easy, but it is almost the most important step in the process. Without a clear grasp of the brand the marketing strategies may fall on deaf ears. Over her career, she has worked in the business 2 business arena, and business 2 consumer. She has worked with retail, tourism, education, health care, housing and the financial industries. Want to meet with this mentor? Schedule an...
Summary of Qualifications Doug is a veteran entrepreneur and consultant whose experience focuses on strategy, operations, analytics, and finance. He is a founding partner and owner of Gather, whose coworking spaces provide a community to more than 200 entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small business people. Doug White spends his time solving business problems for entrepreneurs and their organizations. His background in physics, math, engineering and business gives him an ability to go beyond the easy, surface solution; to dig deeper and find unique answers to the problems that plague small businesses. He has a talent for making the complex simple and guiding others to see and understand the key that will solve their puzzle. He helps organizations develop strategies to take them to the next level, grasp what their financials are really telling them, develops metrics to keep track and measure what is important and fixes operational issues by finding the root cause of the problem. Doug has successfully led start-ups and turnarounds. He has been a part of executing acquisitions on both the buy side and the sell side. He has worked successfully in fields ranging from heavy duty manufacturing to sales and distribution, from consumer lending to investment brokerage. The common thread through each assignment is that Doug has been the catalyst for creating significant bottom line value and he can teach you his methods. He has specialized in taking businesses that were broken and fixing them or taking businesses that were successful and raising their performance to the next level. Currently, Doug works with his wife Polly at Whitestone Partners, their full-service small-business consulting firm. Together, they...
Summary of Qualifications Brooke is a proven entrepreneur and business strategist. She helps entrepreneurs of all types to start, grow, and save their small businesses. Brooke works with entrepreneurs to achieve optimal success in both their business and their lives. With experience in all types of businesses and roles, she can help you create a plan to save, grow, or launch your business. Unlike other consultants, Brooke focuses not only on setting up businesses for success, but also the success of the entrepreneurs running them. She evaluates everything from overall business strategy, to sales efforts and processes, to customer service and retention, as well as explore and implement solutions to let you work “on” your business instead of “in” it. In addition to her own knowledge and network, Brooke can educate you on grants, resources, and services that are available at little to no charge to entrepreneurs in the Richmond area. Whether you are struggling to solve one problem within your business, or would like to evaluate and grow all aspects of your business, Brooke can help you achieve optimum success, growth, and balance as a business and an entrepreneur. Brooke graduated Summa Cum Laude from Middlebury College in 2001 with degrees in Philosophy and Spanish. For the past 15 years, she’s gained experience and expertise in many areas of the business world, from sales to operations to process improvement, for all types of industries and companies. Through her experience at companies like UPS, Duncan-Parnell, and LeClair Ryan, Brooke has been exposed to and learned about many types of operations and management styles, which allows her to be flexible and...
