FACULTY
The first CEO Boot Camps have scored 9.8 out of 10 and the CEOs have led businesses ranging from $1.5 million to over $1 billion
VERNE HARNISH
Host - All Events
Verne Harnish is founder of the world-renowned Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), with over 18,000 members worldwide, and founded and chaired for fifteen years EO’s premiere CEO program held at MIT, a program in which he still teaches today. Founder and CEO of Scaling Up, a global executive education and coaching company with over 290 partners on six continents, Verne has spent the past four decades helping companies scaleup. The Global Scaleup Fellow at The Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard, he’s the author of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits; authored The Greatest Business Decisions of All Times," for which Jim Collins wrote the foreword; wrote Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) which has been translated into 26 languages and has won eight major international book awards including the International Book Award for Best General Business book; and is the co-author of Scaling Up Compensation. His latest book is Start to Scale. Verne serves on several boards including vice chair of The Riordan Clinic; co-founder and chair of Geoversity; and board member of the social venture Million Dollar Women. A private investor in many scaleups, Verne enjoys piano, tennis, and magic as a card-carrying member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. Verne Harnish is founder of the world-renowned Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), with over 19,000 members worldwide, and chaired for fifteen years EO’s premiere CEO program held at MIT, a program in which he still teaches today. Founder and CEO of Scaling Up, a global executive education and coaching company with over 250 partners on six continents, Verne has spent the past four decades helping companies scaleup. He’s the author of the bestseller Mastering the Rockefeller Habits; authored The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time, for which Jim Collins wrote the foreword; and wrote Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) which has been translated into 22 languages and has won eight major international book awards including the prestigious International Book Award for Best General Business book. His latest book, Scaling Up Compensation, rocketed to the #1 HR book on Amazon. Verne also chairs the annual ScaleUp Summits and serves on several boards including vice chair of The Riordan Clinic; co-founder and chair of Geoversity; and board member of the social venture Million Dollar Women. A private investor in many scaleups, Verne enjoys piano, tennis, and magic as a card-carrying member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.
BOB VERDUN
Guest CEO - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Bob specializes in helping businesses with their go to market/growth strategies and effective ways to maximize shareholder value. He has been involved in dozens of M&A transactions, advising company owners on strategies for growth, acquisitions, mergers and capital raises. Under Bob’s leadership, his company CFI won Inc. Magazine’s “Fastest Growing Private Companies” award for five consecutive years. He established partnerships with some of the leading companies in its industry and became IBM’s largest global partner for multiple product lines. CFI routinely won awards as an Employer of Choice, Companies to Watch, Best and Brightest, Great Place to Work, and more. When Bob sold CFI the ten-year average annual growth was 27% and 25% EBITDA! As an active investor, Bob has participated in over 60 business transactions in recent years. This includes his role as a developer, general partner and limited partner for over 40 real estate projects. He has capabilities in all areas of business transactions including; structure, finance, legal and integration. A lifetime learner, Bob has participated in numerous educational programs including the MIT Entrepreneurial Master’s Program, Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), ScaleUp, Strategic Coach, High Stakes Negotiating and many other executive education programs. As CEO of Scaling Up Coaches, Bob is leveraging his experience and extensive network to expand partnerships, create new opportunities, and drive the continued growth of the organization. With a fresh perspective and a growth-oriented mindset, he is committed to enhancing the Scaling Up Coaches, Community and businesses they serve.
BILL GALLAGHER
Guest CEO, Lake Tahoe
Bill Gallagher is a business coach and master facilitator with over 30 years of entrepreneurial and executive experience. Bill has spent the last 15 years coaching and training others in leadership and performance and previously led 4 companies of his own and been a partner or executive in 2 others. Bill discovered the Rockefeller Habits and Scaling Up 20 years ago, has used them in his own companies. Today, Bill coaches leaders and teams across more than 25 cities in 11 countries and the host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast. He is a passionate and playful presenter and his clients, at all stages, share a hunger to grow successfully with an openness to new approaches and thinking. Bill Gallagher is the guy you want around to sustain growth, when you need to build consensus, or even when things explode and you need to get the team in action. Working alongside an entrepreneur, Bill is able to inspire people and companies, and then get them pulling together. An experienced entrepreneur and executive, he has created and run companies and business units ranging from startup to over US $500 million.
ETHAN MARTIN
Guest CEO - Vail, Colorado
Ethan Martin is Founder & President of PFD Group, Inc. and a Scaling Up Rockefeller Habits certified coach. Ethan has a passion for serving high-growth companies that focus on bettering their communities and the world by helping these companies identify their strategic goals, build high-performing teams, and execute their plan. He serves his clients by leveraging his expertise in corporate leadership, entrepreneurial start-ups, and private equity. He also measures his performance by his clients’ financial returns, internal team trust, and impact on their communities. Ethan supports leadership teams to focus ON the business instead of IN the business, allowing CEOs the freedom to devote 80% of their time to what “gives” them energy and to spend more time with customers. Many of his engagements include helping clients build the culture they have always wanted through an employee-focused, high-trust, transparent approach. Through client engagements and previous senior leadership roles, he has found a high correlation between company culture and performance. Ethan has had a long history as an entrepreneur - including starting and selling multiple companies, and with private equity. Ethan was a seven-year member of the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO). He currently trains new Scaling Up coaches and has served on several non profit boards. Additionally, Ethan co-authored “The Mentorship Engine,” a book dedicated to helping CEOs use vision and purpose to attract, develop, and keep transformative talent. This work reflects his passion for developing leaders, building community, and using business as a force for good.
Rajeev Agarwal
Guest CEO, Host, New Delhi
As the founder and the CEO of MAQ Software, Rajeev Agarwal focuses on adopting the latest software engineering techniques to utilize emerging technology platforms. Prior to founding MAQ Software in 2000, Rajeev worked at Microsoft Corporation, Redmond for nearly seven years in the Visual C++, Windows, and Exchange product management groups. In 2013, Rajeev authored his first book, ”What I Did Not Learn At IIT: Transitioning from Campus to Workplace.” The book was aimed at helping new graduates in India transition to their first jobs. Reviews were positive. With over 25,000 printed copies in circulation worldwide, the book was recognized as a National Bestseller and reissued by Penguin Random House in August 2017. Penguin Random House published Rajeev’s second book ”What I Did Not Learn in B School: Insights for New Managers” in 2017. Outlook Money wrote, “This book has all the necessary ingredients for a good read for those aspiring for an MBA.” Rajeev’s article “Why Do Some Companies Grow Consistently, While Others Struggle” was published in the December 2017 issue of Entrepreneur magazine. He has been featured on the front page of The Seattle Times and has been quoted in pieces by Inc., Entrepreneur, Puget Sound Business Journal, Businessworld, and BBC News. As an entrepreneur, Rajeev was a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year (2010) award. Puget Sound Business Journal honored him as one of the “Top 40 Rising Business Leaders under the Age of 40” in the Greater Seattle region. Inc., a leading U.S. business magazine for mid-market companies, inducted MAQ Software into its “Hall of Fame” and listed it as one of the fastest growing private companies in America nine times, a rare achievement. Rajeev is active in many educational, philanthropic, and community improvement efforts. Rajeev set up the Foundation for Excellence to build classrooms and provide furniture, blackboards, science lab equipment, and drinking water to over 25,000 students in India. Efforts to reduce abject poverty in India are hampered by the 65% female literacy rate. Because 200 million people cannot read or write, Rajeev has partnered with Pratham and Ekal, two of the largest education non-profits in India. Realizing that artificial intelligence can improve learning outcomes, Rajeev is working with these NGOs to adopt mobile-based apps. One such initiative is working with the Global Learning XPRIZE team to bring winning solutions to the Indian subcontinent. Rajeev and MAQ Software are adopting XPRIZE solutions tested in Africa for India through MAQ Software’s technology expertise. Rajeev holds a B. Tech. degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur, a Master’s in Engineering from Iowa State University, and an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. A native of Shahjahanpur, India, Rajeev and his wife Arpita live in Bellevue, Washington.