Who We Are
Business Excellence Partners is a member of the
Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.
All Founding Partners are members of
Arizona Business Advisors
All Founding Partners are
Accredited Associates of the Institute for Independent Business.
Individual partners belong to:
Tempe Chamber of Commerce
Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce
Local First
Phoenix Holistic Chamber of Commerce
The Referral Institute
Mike Tyler, CBeA, AInstIB
Mike Tyler has over 30 years experience in business, in roles ranging from Controller to Vice President to CEO at companies like Union Carbide, Praxair and Valley National Gases. He has hands on experience in running companies from $2 million to $200 million, has spent time in most business disciplines and worked with small business owners and corporate boards.
Skills
Mike’s skills are in developing and implementing plans to take companies to the next level, developing a roadmap for the business, which lays out the key actions that have to be taken. A proven leader, he has deep experience of organization and work process design, two of the key ingredients in successful implementation. Mike considers himself a generalist, but lists Mergers & Acquisitions as a specialist skill having completed 30 deals ranging in size up to $50 million.
Business Advisor Successes
Working with other Associates, Mike developed the Business Excellence workshop series, a program designed to take businesses to the next level, which is delivered to clients through Chambers of Commerce and other organizations; this is an income generator per se, but also is a great source for getting individual clients. The workshop series is made available to Associates of Business Excellence Partners.
Mike’s individual clients have no hesitation in recognizing the contribution he has made to their businesses, as evidenced by the quote below from one of his long term clients.
Chuck Thompson, CBeA, AInstIB
Chuck Thompson is a proven senior management executive with over 30 years of successful accomplishments in the consumer products industry. He successfully established three different U.S. based operating companies for European manufacturers. His career has encompassed most phases of distribution to the higher end retail market, while centering on luxury home furnishings. Chuck has a strong working knowledge in the fields of Sales and Marketing, Import and Export, Strategic Planning, Distribution and General Business Operations. He has a proven ability to develop strong Customer Relationships and is widely known and respected in the retail community.
Skills
Chuck has a wealth of hands on experience. During his successful career he has worked with companies ranging in size from $2 million to $50 million. He has helped companies in turn around situations, as well as those striving to handle rapid growth. Given his many years as President or CEO he could best be termed a “Generalist” with extensive experience in all areas of management, finance and planning. His very strong background in the areas of Sales and Marketing is always present and has proven very helpful to his appreciative clients.
Business Advisor Successes
For the past five years, Chuck has worked directly with a variety of businesses in the greater Phoenix area. His clients are broadly diversified, comprised of retail franchisees, printing businesses, light construction, storage and warehousing, aerospace support and real estate. His project work has encompassed pricing and new product development, sales force recruitment and training, acquisitions, business planning, new market development, facility location and planning, and much more.
Chuck is an active member of Arizona Business Advisors and has worked with other associates on the Business Excellence Workshop program.
Kjell Andreassen, MBA, CBeA, CExP, AInstIB
Kjell Andreassen has been an entrepreneur based in Arizona for over 25 years and held senior executive positions with public and private companies. Prior to starting Acceler8 llc and Exit Planning Advisors llc he was Executive Vice President and COO of MedAire, Inc., a leader in providing medical and health services to remote locations, where he oversaw the significant growth of the company, public listing of the company and the establishment of operations in Europe, Asia and Australia. Kjell began his career in the financial services industry, and spent a number of years in positions as CFO with commercial banks, savings institutions and mortgage companies in Arizona. He has an MBA from Arizona State University, a Master of Business and Marketing from Oslo Business School and a Postgraduate Degree in Business Education. He is a Certified Business Excellence Advisor, an Accredited Executive Associate of the Institute for Independent Business and a Certified Exit Planner. He has served on a number of corporate Board of Directors, and is an Associate Professor at Western International University in International Business, Marketing and Entrepreneurship. He has completed the Global Leadership Certificate Program at Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Business. He is a certified instructor at Referral Institute of Arizona.
Skills
Kjell Andreassen is an experienced entrepreneur, business executive and advisor to a number of emerging and established businesses He also works with companies and business owners providing business valuation services and advice on developing and implementing exit strategies and strategies to maximize business value.
Business Advisor Successes
He is specializing in assisting owners of small and medium sized businesses get to the point where they can work ON their business instead of IN their business, developing and implementing key point business plans and plans for growth and expansion, domestic or international.
Lowell Peters, CBeA, AInstIB
Lowell Peters has a number of years experience working in the Retail support environment for a fortune 100 worldwide retailer. He has experience in many job functions including serving as an officer for several years. The experience encompasses working on strategic company projects, acquiring companies, visioning and running a line of business.
Lowell also has experience working with a regional retailer and building the support network, aiding in the national expansion of the retailer to serve the US market. He helped establish the retail support vision and business plan to provide a scalable model for the company to grow using partners and internally developed resources.
Skills
Lowell has developed skill sets over the years of starting businesses, running business operations and partnering with others to accomplish the business vision. His strong focus is on the employee, the customer, planning, and overall profitability. Planning and helping businesses through major changes is a complementary strength. He has great passion in seeing a business succeed. He has a hands-on approach to supporting business growth and change.
Business Advisor Successes
Lowell started as a business advisor 8 years ago when transitioning from the corporate world to working with small to medium sized businesses. One of his first experiences was being involved in starting a business that grew from zero to $60 million dollars in sales and was profitable in 5 years. This was a very niche business of parts cataloging and sales to the consumer market. He is still involved at the board level today for this business. He continues to be involved with a business that had a flat sales and break even operation for 12 years. He initially worked with the owners and new management to grow the company 3 times its original volume and several multiples of profitability within 2 years. He specializes in working with small business in visioning/planning and developing management capabilities to maximize the market potential of the company.
Lynn Whitman, CBeA, AInstIB
Lynn has over 30 years of business experience in a variety of positions, including Vice President of a major retail corporation and COO of a promotional marketing consortium. The predominance of Lynn’s experience is in the retail segment, including positions with Sears, Macy’s, The Broadway, Carter Hawley Hale and other regional retailers. She has experience in the financial side of the business, with a specialty in the credit card business and in the marketing side of the business with experience in direct mail, in-store marketing and other specialty marketing niches. For 7 years Lynn managed a diverse national consortium of specialty marketing businesses. Her responsibilities included supplier relationships, events, financials and catalog production. She served in advisory capacities on boards and committees of all major credit bureaus. She chaired a division of the National Retail Federation.
Skills
Lynn is a generalist with the ability to analyze a business’s strengths and weaknesses in the marketplace from a financial perspective, a competitive analysis and a service review. Her greatest strength is her creativity. She is able to approach each opportunity with vision and a strategy that will move the individual business forward. She believes in the power of relationships and knows how to help her business develop and capitalize on them. Lynn listens to her clients to make sure that she understands the dreams that they want to achieve, then helps them achieve them.
Business Advisor Successes
Lynn has worked as a small business advisor for the past 5 years. Her successes include working with a small contractor to quadruple their sales over the course of 18 months. She has developed business plans for several small businesses that have grown and prospered even in difficult economic times. She has clients in the construction trade, in retail business and a variety of other industries. She is currently president of Arizona Business Advisors. She volunteers regularly to help non-profit agencies maximize donations and other revenues.
Mary L Trost, MBA, CBeA, AInstIb
Mary Trost, MBA, has been in Senior Executive positions for over fifteen years, ten of those as C.E.O. She is an Accredited Associate of the International Institute for Independent Business and provides practical advice that works for businesses nationally and internationally. She has worked in a wide range of industries, including retail, health services, the non-profit sector, City and County Governments, social services, entertainment and tourism..
Skills
Mary’s skills include successful business start up and turnaround. A proven leader in challenging times makes her ability to find new ways of doing business especially relevant in the current economy. Mary takes a holistic approach with entrepreneurs, by helping them learn to use their passion to make both their lives and their businesses successful. She teaches business owners how to motivate and inspire management and staff through strength-based leadership which results in dynamic organizations with solid foundations. Mary considers herself a generalist.
Business Advisor Successes
Mary has been providing business education opportunities to small and medium size businesses for several years as a private business and through local Community Colleges. She, along with other Associates, has developed the Business Excellence Workshop series that is delivered through Chamber’s of Commerce, Associations and other organizations. She has also provided executive coaching to new business executives, non-profits and Universities across the nation. Mary has clients in both the profit and nonprofit sectors.