Jim Brewer, CEO and Founder
I am grateful. The companies I had the privilege to be part of have changed me, industries, and the lives of our customers and associates. I was part of a leadership team acknowledged as INC Magazine as #1 the fastest growing private company in the US as we added drug coverage to the Medicare program. I believe in leaders; entrepreneurs who start businesses, hired guns who run businesses, and their senior teams who execute short-term and long-term strategies in larger organizations.
My great passion is helping those leaders take a vision and make it reality. I chair the by-invitation-only CEO and Key Leader Boards, lead our EOS engagements and our leadership coaching practice.
I decided I liked entrepreneurship early. I was the top fund raiser in Boy Scouts, but it was sort of unfair. I was selling brooms made by the blind while I was in a Boy Scout uniform. Later, I started my first company at age 20 and made a million in sales in under three years.
I have had the privilege to work at great companies with great leaders. As VP of Individual Sales at MemberHealth I worked with Chuck Hallberg, the man who won the race against the largest payers in healthcare. MemberHealth made it to INC #9 in 2006 and all the way to INC#1 in 2007; one of the few INC #1 companies with over a billion dollars in revenue. At CompuServe Network Services, with an amazing team led by Clark Woodford, I held many roles including National Sales for the exclusive network for VISA USA, its merchant banks and large retailers. When CompuServe bought Mark Cuban’s first major company, I worked for Mark, now owner of the Dallas Mavericks and the lead shark on Shark Tank, to expand to a multi-city model. And at Transactive, Inc., I was one of the players in an amazing leadership group that transformed the billion-dollar-a-year fraud-ridden food stamp program in Texas to the first statewide electronic card program for over a million families served by 20,000+ food retailers.
There were other adventures; software companies built and sold to giants, ventures positioned to go public with hopes shattered in the dot com era, great alliances between great companies, and important failures where we learned big lessons. Those stories are best saved for conversation over a cup of coffee or a good glass of wine.
Susan Taylor, VP Marketing and brand ninja
Susan’s witty, irreverent style of writing earned her a suspension from the Academy of Our Lady High School in Chicago before the age of 16. Her career in advertising was well under way.
During her 25+ years in advertising, Susan headed up the creative departments of a number of noteworthy Dallas agencies working on a variety of national and international accounts. She is recognized for her big ideas, powerful headlines and clear communications. She is particularly adept at strategic positioning and integrated brand messaging.
If you ask Susan the reason for her success, she’ll tell you it’s simple psychology. She has the ability to get inside the heads of consumers and connect with their needs. While her insightful approaches have garnered numerous awards, she’s the first to say her real benchmark for success is bottom-line results as evidenced by her impressive track record for meeting clients’ goals.
In her off time, Susan enjoys yoga, sipping good wine and figuring out how to do both at the same time.
Account Highlights: Avocados From Mexico, Borden Foods, Carter BloodCare, Cooper Aerobics Center, El Fenix Mexican Restaurants, Fisher Price, General Datatech, Guardian Savings, Hoya VisionCare, JC Penney, Kansas City Steaks, KFC, McAfee, Neiman Marcus, Nokia, Omni Hotel Rewards, Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Sprint, Taco Bell, Tony Roma’s, United Regional Health Care