Who is my vNacelle?

Elizabeth was born into a long line of entrepreneurs and grew up appreciating the importance of educating and developing the next generations of owners and entrepreneurs. With over 24 years of experience with small to medium-size growth enterprises, she has worked with owners to develop sustained business value growth in both the United States and Canada through entrepreneurial development, focused operational efficiency, effective management team development, and enhanced financial management, measurement and accountability. She has compassionately and effectively taken hundreds of privately-held business owners and their management teams to the next level as they seek to experience accelerated growth, improve their business value, and navigate the process of successful business succession.

Alongside her team at vNacelle, she has created The Entrepreneurial Flight® model - acknowledged as leading-edge thinking for private businesses by a number of leaders and faculty at the Harvard Business School – and also serves as an international speaker, instructor, and the chair for the international chapter of the Women President’s Organization (WPO) in Denver, Colorado.

Elizabeth graduated with honors from the Colorado School of Mines, with a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering, Elizabeth worked at top companies such as Microsoft, Mobil Oil and Union Oil. Later down the road, Elizabeth became a founding partner of ROCG - a full-service international business advisory and consulting firm, and her Colorado firm was voted one of "The Top 100 Women-Owned Businesses of 2003” by Colorado Biz Magazine.

Dawn believes in the my vNacelle mission: Grow, Reignite and Empower the Entrepreneurial Spirit around the world. Having worked with entrepreneurs in small businesses from her teenage years to now, she understands the contributions these businesses make to the community and the overall economy. With my vNacelle, Dawn is fortunate to facilitate and mentor entrepreneurs through the myBVA Groups as a Chair. Thus, allowing her to contribute to the success of many more small businesses.

In addition to her work experience with entrepreneurs in many capacities, she has also worked for large corporations in the retail and high technology sectors. In these companies, she worked with suppliers, engineers, buyers, managers and team members to ensure the highest customer satisfaction no matter the product being delivered. Dawn’s strength areas include process development/documenting, supplier management, team development, and employee training.

In her free time, Dawn enjoys spending time with her family and friends, walking, playing tennis, and reading plus volunteering her business skills and time with her sons’ Boy Scout Troop.

As business owners we often live our lives on the edge, immersed in day to day operations and sometimes hindered by our own blindspots. Accelerating the growth of our enterprise is inseparably linked to accelerating our individual growth - and then extending that development into our organization as we develop an entrepreneurial team.

My passion is to partner with entrepreneurs and business leaders in a way that helps them reach the possible, not only in business, but in all areas of their life.

As a serial entrepreneur I have seen all sides of the business life cycle, from idea to execution and company sale. I have also had a few failures along the way. Having an avenue for growth, development and counsel is key to improving execution, and execution is the ballgame in business. Sometimes growth comes through individual coaching, sometimes it is in a peer group setting. Either way, this structured support helps us accelerate our own success, and we in turn help others accelerate theirs. Nothing guarantees success, but we can do a lot to "put the odds in our favor"!

Dave is a Consultant with vNacelle International Organization and Senior Advisor for Arête High Performance Advisors where he focuses on strategic planning, strategic execution, and financial management for private companies.

Dave has been truly blessed in his career as this has spanned from a senior executive at a Fortune 500 company to founder of a start-up. His experience with strategic planning, team building, finance, and capital markets makes him an ideal advisor for your business. Dave will work with your team on the vNacelle Business Value Accelerator and other tools to help your company achieve its growth and financial goals. Dave is also significantly involved in the continued development of Arête’s Design Your Exceptional Company framework.

Dave served as Chief Investment Officer at Fortune 500 Reinsurance Group of America (RGA) from 2007-2013, and head of Global Portfolio Management from 2004-7. While there he led the team and built the capabilities to enable RGA to grow from $8 Billion in invested assets to $32 Billion. At RGA, Dave was key member of the RGA strategic planning team. He executed these plans capably, building the investment team from 18 to 65 professionals, utilizing extensive new third-party asset managers, and broadening the investment profile in asset classes, and geographies, to enable RGA to achieve its global expansion goals.

In 2013-2014, Dave was a national thought leader for the reform of 401k plans, as he collaborated with think tank scholars and other retirement plan experts on the necessary reforms of defined contribution pension plans. His product idea, The Common k, put together the best practices from these collaborations. His work here pushed the industry forward in making standard most of these recommendations.

Dave has over thirty years of experience in the investment advisory, financial analysis and accounting professions, serving in wealth management and institutional services at Buckingham Asset Management, Co-founder of Capstone Advisors, and Analyst and Portfolio Manager at Lincoln National Corp.

Dave also currently serves as an Adjunct Lecturer at Washington University’s Olin Business School. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and became a Certified Public Accountant while with Touche Ross & Co. Dave has an MBA from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business and a BS in Accounting from the University of Evansville.

Dave’s family is his biggest blessing, having been married for 34 years to Melissa. Melissa works as Medical Technologist at St. Louis Children’s Hospital in the Virology Lab. Melissa is also a passionate beekeeper and Master Gardener. They have three children, John, a paramedic at Christian Hospital in St. Louis; Kristen, a soon-to-be Nurse Practitioner in St. Louis, and Kara, a Software Consultant in Boulder CO.

Karen loves working with courageous leaders that dare to go where they have not gone before; leaders that want to achieve more for themselves, for their businesses, and for the people in them. She’s the talent that bravely goes towards the areas of business that others tend to avoid, rolls up her sleeves, and addresses issues head on to achieve higher performance.

Working in the hospitality field for five years, she developed a reputation for her drive, leadership and service abilities within the Hyatt organization. Ten years ago, Karen joined DMS in an operational capacity. Her ability to quickly deliver exceptional results led her to be promoted within the company numerous times, including her final post as Senior Vice President, where she served as a leader of leaders.

With a strong background in strategic and operational leadership, Karen helps teams assess situations, address challenges, find solutions, and execute plans, while providing executives and managers with the direction, leadership, guidance and tools to help them perform at their very best.

Originally from Canada, Karen lives in Grand Cayman with her husband and three dogs. She maintains an active role in the community, using her skills to benefit Rotary and Big Brothers Big Sisters. When she isn\'t working or reading, you can likely find Karen at the gym, walking the dogs, and even singing karaoke now and then.

Merv has grown companies organically, initiated start-ups, completed acquisitions and conducted sales of companies. He has managed turnarounds and restructurings. He knows how to manage businesses and lead people. He not only loves doing it but has fun along the way.

Merv’s belief is simple: Culture trumps strategy. Purpose driven Performance is the major critical success factor. You can have a great strategy, exceptional processes and systems, but if you do not have an engaged and competent workforce you will receive mediocre results.

As a successful former President & CEO, and now as a Senior Business Advisor & Executive Coach, He believes a leader\'s responsibility is to develop our employees\' full potential, harness that potential and direct it to achieve organizational purpose. Simply stated, "I help people and organizations excel!"

Mac retired in 2004 following a 33 year career with the PCL family of companies. He began his career with PCL as an assistant superintendent and his career progressed to the position of regional president. Following a 1 year retirement, he became a TEC Chair. As a coach, mentor and thinking partner to 18 CEO’s and Senior Executives, his role was to assist in their making better decisions, being better leaders and achieving better results. In 2011 Mac successfully transitioned his TEC group to a new chair. He was an Executive Advisor and Coach to Senior Executives on 2 large Ledcor Construction projects (The $1 billion Bow Project in Calgary, Ab and the $500 million Honua Kai Project in Hawaii). Mac has extensive experience as a facilitator for Strategic planning, team-building and alignment processes, as well as providing mediation services in the private sector.

Kim is a business consultant and accountant with over 12 years of experience owning an accounting business. Having worked in public practice and in the banking industry as an account manager, she has a great deal of background and experience upon which to draw. She is not afraid of a challenge and understands firsthand the risks and rewards of owning a business.

Core Values:
- Authentic relationships
- Integrity
- Mutual respect
- Friendly Environment
- Team focused result
- Learning attitude


Specialties: Consulting, Corporate Tax, Business Valuation, Business Succession, Non-Residents, Estates & Trusts, Personal Tax, year-end preparation, bookkeeping.

Don has a broad 30 year history of financial, operational and executive experience in a wide range of industry sectors. Industry experience includes corporate banking (President), international apparel design/distribution (CFO/COO), multiple store grocery retail (President/CEO) and investment banking (Managing Director). Participation in the successful sale/merger of numerous middle market firms.

Don works well with CEOs as a behind the scenes advisor/mentor or as a special advisor participating in Board meetings as a non-voting guest.

Specialties: Financings/Operational Impacts of Financings - all aspects of the right hand side of the Balance Sheet. Interpretation and Education of financial information for CEOs and Boards. Adept at identifying efficient use of and coordinating beneficial relationships with outside professionals.

Michelle is an economist with substantial experience in strategy delivery through strategy development, business planning and process architecture and implementation. Her focus is on making difficult concepts and complicated business matters easy to understand for all role players (buy-in) in enterprises through the use of graphics and user friendly techniques (creating the forums for role players to participate in their enterprises) and tools. She delivers assignments based on PMI principles and we have a lot of fun in the process!

Her goal is to continuously participate in the global economy: to learn, to share, to challenge and to enjoy the opportunities that comes from forging international business links and interacting with clients in other countries and cultures.

Specialties: Process Architecture, Change Management, Strategy Roll-Out, Project Management, Organizational Structuring.

Damon believes that his strong suits are an ability to integrate vision with function and he balances the need for “blue sky” ideas with the reality of budgeting and financial performance considerations.

Doug graduated from University of Nevada at Reno with a B.A. degree in History after service in the United States Army with a one-year tour of duty in Vietnam. Upon graduation Damon went to work in the family business, then called Damon Distributing Company. In 1977, he purchased Damon Distributing from his father and subsequently changed the name to Damon Industries in order to more accurately capture the evolving nature of the business model.

Damon Industries, significantly, does not market a single item in common with the company that was purchased from the Senior Damon. Functions of the company now include the manufacture of shelf stable juice concentrates sold primarily to wholesale distributors. In 1989, Damon and a 50/50 equal partner, Jack Durkin, started a company in Toronto (Concord), Ontario. This company was a template of Damon Industries in Sparks, Nevada. That venture has sprung off several joint ventures including one in Mexico and several in the Caribbean in the last 15 years.

Damon has been active in IBDEA (International Beverage Dispensing Equipment Association); a trade association dedicated to the issues and needs of the beverage dispensing industry. He is past Chairman, President, and an active Board Member since 1980. Damon has testified as an expert witness on industry issues to several committees and sub-committees of the United States Congress.

In 1999, Damon and several of his colleagues (including two former bankers) founded First Independent Bank of Nevada, a community bank specializing in commercial banking. In 2007, this bank was sold to a publicly traded institution called Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL). Wishing to maintain the good name and brand of the local bank, it continues to function as First Independent Bank. Damon served on the Board of that bank in the capacity of Secretary until December of 2010. Previous to the sale to Western Alliance, Damon served on the Board Loan Committee (loans over $250,000), the Board Compensation Committee, and the Board Public Relations Committee. In the face of a downturn of banking institutions, Western Alliance and its affiliates continue to be a strong, profitable bank.

In 1997, Damon became the first member in the State of Nevada to join TEC (now Vistage), an international organization of CEO’s. He continued active membership in Vistage until the beginning of 2011 and credits that organization with giving him a world-class perspective on how businesses should be run. He has been exposed to some of the most qualified speakers in the world, discussing various aspects of business and life through the Vistage membership. His peers in the group offer a wide range of diverse opinion and knowledge that Damon has been able to access.

Hobbies include reading (business and motivational books), writing, working out at the local gym, hiking, and traveling with wife Diana who has been a phenomenal support over the years. Damon also, as an avocation, facilitates strategic planning for friends businesses and has done so for his trade association and bank. He enjoys mentoring (and learning from) diverse cross sections of people including his own children, all grown now. Sons, Aaron and Josh, work in the business and are fully cognizant of all possible exit strategies and family trust planning. Tiffany, the youngest, is married, living in New York City, and establishing herself in the fashion industry. So far, the children have brought Damon and his wife, three grandchildren.

John Muir once said “if you tug at a single thing in nature you will find it is attached to the rest of the world”. John’s passion is small business, and he has found a need to address a serious problem in America. Only one new business in ten survives beyond seven years to thrive and make its mark on the world. This failure rate impacts American families, employees, suppliers, and communities. More importantly, it impacts our entire ecosystem.

Mentoring small businesses and increasing awareness are two of the most effective methods for increasing survival rates.

Over the last 10 years he has developed his skills as a small business mentor. To increase awareness John maintains a weekly blog at America’s Small Business Institute (www.asbinstitute.com) an organization he cofounded.

In his spare time John coauthored “Small Business 1.0”. The book introduces small business owners to methods that can alter the DNA of a small business. The focus is on survivability, personal growth, and profitability. The book can be found at America’s Small business Institute or Amazon.com.

John is a graduate of the U.S Naval Academy, a proud Rotarian, and since 1975 has been an owner of a successful employee benefit business.