Gene Hopper
An entrepreneur, strategist, and advisor on high performance teams, Gene Hopper is known for her ability to bring executive teams together on a new idea, new direction or high stakes outcome. Gene has served as consultant or interim management for clients ranging from Fortune 20 companies, non-profit organizations, venture and early stage medical, technological and service companies. Gene leads executive teams through the development of real world strategic plans to execution of the plans through building high functioning teams committed to results. Gene’s magic is her ability to work in complex and challenging environments, extract order, and build teams of leaders who pull together to make it happen.
Gene Hopper has testified on Capitol Hill on the use of technology in health care, has developed and launched four companies (two venture funded), is a patent holder, has commercialized diagnostic services for people with diabetes, and consulted with early stage companies in numerous market sectors.
At Apple Computer, Gene was part of the direct sales force and responsible for regional sales and marketing for higher education and health care and part of the team that redesigned the $750 million education direct and dealer channels.
Gene served as executive director for the Center for Telemedicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center where she implemented the largest statewide computer based healthcare services network for 60 rural hospital and regional facilities. Hopper went on to become Chief Information Officer for the Health Sciences Center and was responsible for enterprise wide infrastructure, applications and technology services at one of the top twenty comprehensive medical schools in the country.
In 1999, Gene co-founded Inoveon, a diabetic retinopathy diagnostic company. She served as chief operating officer and vice president of operations and developed business plans and marketing strategy to deploy the company’s technology in diverse health care settings to detect diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of blindness.
Her work with diabetes led her to the Joslin Diabetes Center of the Harvard Medical School where she established business models for a diagnostic service start up delivered in various healthcare and reimbursement environments. Gene was a part of the executive team that secured seed capital and venture funding and was responsible for the developing national marketing, sales and operational programs resulting in the largest diabetic eye care service in use in the U.S.
Sherry Dale
Serial entrepreneur, strategist, advisor, connector, mindfulness coach and expert in building companies and high performance teams. Sherry has owned, founded and built companies in professional services, real estate, retail, wholesale, technology and financial services. With executive level experience in finance, operations, technology, strategic planning and general management, Sherry has served in management for clients in multiple industries.
Sherry was a co-founder and the Audit, Accounting & Consulting Partner for Jones & Dale, CPA’s. She was responsible for business development, strategic planning, management of the firm and the audit and consulting division. Sherry also provided direct auditing and consulting service delivery to a wide range of clients while specializing in high growth entrepreneurial companies.
Sherry co-founded a wholesale meat and frozen food distributorship in April, 1991 (Express Meat Company). She was responsible for all operations and day-to-day management and growth of the company. Under her leadership the company grew to distribution in a 5 state region, 60+ employees and annual revenues in excess of $70 million. Sherry negotiated a successful sale of the company to Cargill in late 2004.
Strategix Consulting Group was founded by Sherry in October, 2004 and provided strategic planning, executive team building, executive coaching, financial stewardship, succession planning and exit planning for high growth entrepreneurial companies.
From 2009 to 2015, Sherry stepped into interim management for one of her consulting clients that was experiencing explosive growth. She took the role of Chief Operating Officer and her responsibilities included managing the day-to-day operations, organizational oversight on all human resource issues, subcontractor management, corporate budget compliance, financial management, banking, insurance, strategic planning, contract negotiations, due diligence site, and software development planning. She was instrumental in management of a large government contract and in the launch of a technology company subsidiary.
In addition to the companies mentioned above, Sherry has owned a restaurant, real estate development companies, an executive coaching firm, a technology company and a food processing plant.
Sherry is a Certified Public Accountant with a BA in Accounting and Economics. She started her career with 2 international accounting firms, Coopers & Lybrand and Arthur Andersen.
Kendra Clements
Kendra Clements has over 23 years of experience in human resources and business consulting and has had global responsibility for strategy and day-to-day operations in executive coaching & transformational leadership, change management, policy and procedure development, regulatory compliance, staffing, organizational development, compensation and benefits, internal communications, employee metrics, management reporting, and has led M&A efforts.
Domestic and international experience in North America, Europe, Germany, and Asia Pacific, Clements brings a unique combination of pragmatic business experience as well as multi-cultural capability. She has worked across every level of business from entrepreneurs to CEOs and individual contributors within a variety of industries (manufacturing, transportation, service, private equity, oil & gas, aerospace & defense, & technology).
In her previous role, Clements served as a Board Member, Partner in the firm, and Vice President of Global Human Resources for Acorn Growth Companies. She managed the firm’s global Human Resources operations, compliance, and health and welfare programs. She directed all Leadership Development, Organizational Development, and HR Strategy efforts for corporate office, domestic, and international operations.
Clements has a strong business acumen focusing on operational excellence and has a proven track record of innovative human resources leadership and success in achieving exceptional business results. She has led transformational human resources teams for publicly traded and private companies from start-ups to Fortune 100’s and 500’s in mature and emerging markets, both in high-growth and turnaround environments. She has also been responsible for multi-site and multi-cultural workforces in union and non-union environments.
Kendra enjoys public speaking and has led and participated in conferences, workshops, symposiums, seminars, panels, group sessions, and more. Topics range from her expertise in Business Strategy, HR, Leadership, Organizational Development, and minorities and women in business.
Clements is a proud member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and is dedicated to serving her tribe and community.
She attended Oklahoma City University where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science with a minor in Pre-Law and was an active Phi Alpha Delta member.
Danielle Ezell
A jack of all trades, strategist and expert problem solver. Danielle has owned several businesses, served on the executive team of a multi-national corporation and headed a non-profit.
She is able to work at both a macro and micro level to quickly gain clarity of an organization’s opportunities and accurately identify potential obstacles.
Danielle spent the early part of her career focused on business-to-business marketing and public relations. After working for several companies, she founded an award-winning strategic communications consulting firm. Her insatiable curiosity coupled with a dislike of routine resulted in her working with clients ranging from startups to the federal government.
In 2008 she agreed to lead the technology marketing team for Teleflora, a former consulting client. Danielle was quickly promoted at the online flower retailer and in 2011 was named Vice President of Administration. A member of the executive team, she led the company’s human resources functions, technology marketing and key enterprise-wide operations projects.
A trusted advisor, Danielle has worked at every level of an organization. She has extensive experience managing cross functional, enterprise-wide initiatives including quality programs, leadership development and succession planning efforts, compensation programs and product launches.
Danielle is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources and has her Accreditation in Public Relations. She earned her B.S. in Public Relations from Syracuse University and her M.B.A. from Oklahoma City University.
Kati Hanna
A growth strategist guru, Kati has managed over 75 projects in a wide variety of industries during her 25-year career. She focuses her efforts on working with leadership teams to define goals and high-potential opportunities for growth; and managing key growth initiatives, marketing efforts and organizational implementation. Kati’s expertise also includes marketing and sales consulting, organizational analysis, process improvement, strategic planning, leadership development and strategic initiative implementation.
She has developed and conducted many onsite training and development programs for executive teams and emerging leaders. She has worked individually and corporately with executives and emerging leaders from a broad spectrum of organizations and industries. Kati has extensive experience in both the B2B and B2C markets.
Kati was the Senior Project Manager for two major industry growth initiatives for 22 Christian publishers and 19 Christian record labels and has managed several Inc. Magazine Consulting clients over the years.
Richard Zahn
Richard Zahn helps entrepreneurial companies develop, execute and finance strategies to grow their companies. His mission is to facilitate the success of the companies, organizations and individuals he serves through strategic actions and by connecting them with the resources to support
their growth. Richard applies his knowledge, experience and network connections to build successful
companies. While specializing in developing companies, Richard’s extensive experience and expertise allows him to address the full range of issues that a growing organization may face.
Richard has worked as a consultant and adviser to numerous companies who sought his guidance in developing strategies to grow their businesses or in managing their current growth strategies. He successfully managed three companies and served as part of Inc. Magazine’s Growth Strategy Consulting Group. These relationships created opportunities to meet and work with a diverse group of companies throughout the United States. This group also connected him to individuals and companies with resources and expertise which are an added benefit to his clients.