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 | | | | | Ralph Beck
Ralph Beck, Founder and Managing Director, BKB Advisors, brings more than 25 years of sound business insight and planning to closely held businesses, across many industries at different points in their life-cycles. He guides entrepreneurial organizations through transitions – from being a business to being a company, from reactive decision making to planned growth – as well as merger & acquisition work, exit planning, training and development, and process design.
Working closely with owners and senior managers, Ralph helps transform the way they and their employees work. Success is dependent upon the ability of an organization to align its people, processes and purpose. Ralph has helped a wide variety of businesses achieve that much desired goal. He has shown business owners how improved decision making and management development leads to efficiency, effectiveness and growth. How examining strategy and creating workable processes leads to increased sales and improved cash flow. Of course, every organization is different; Ralph is sensitive to the culture and goals of each company.
He has helped businesses to recapitalize and refinance, negotiate with potential investors and funding sources, as well as being a guide through the transition to sale. Manufacturers, distributions, service and professional firms turn to Ralph for providing the vision, strategy and tools that guide organizations to understand their goals and realign themselves accordingly.
With 17 years of commercial banking line and management experience, Ralph lead operational, market, technical and related change efforts, while also piloting business development and credit quality efforts. He was a primary contact with regulatory and community groups.
He is a certified Quality Instructor (through Philip Crosby & Associates) and a member of the Risk Management Association. He has taught and designed credit training and development courses in credit for banks across the Chicago metro market.
Ralph has served on a variety of boards over the course of his career. He currently is active with board committees of The Mikva Challenge and Colorado Rocky Mountain School.
Ralph Beck holds an M.B.A. in Finance from Washington University in St. Louis, and a B.A. in Government and English Composition from Beloit College.
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 | | | | | Beth Keno
Beth Keno Managing Director, BKB Advisors, brings strategically focused business solutions gained from 25 years of entrepreneurial and business consulting experience to middle market companies.
With her expert guidance evaluating and managing the forces that drive organizational performance, Beth helps business owners and client teams improve their effectiveness and bottom line results.
For many companies the process begins with Beth providing strategic planning guidance. Leveraging that knowledge she works with the team to design an implementation plan to help the organization reach its goals. She has expertise in mediation, business processes, identifying and implementing internal control practices and compensation issues.
She has completed mediation training through the Center for Conflict Resolution in Chicago. As a mediator, Beth successfully guides divergent parties to consensus. She helps family run businesses, owner groups and teams address underlying interests and incorporate those into a final outcome.
Recognizing each client is unique Beth crafts individualized and specific solutions to their business needs. Guidance and coaching focuses clients on integrating these solutions into their daily practices. Her proven methodology creates positive internal change for organizations and business owners.
The key architect of a comprehensive Operational Review program, Beth provides an independent objective evaluation of current financial and operational practices. Originally developed for professional service firms, her Operational Review identifies critical problem areas and analyzes detailed business processes. With it, Beth is able to recommend and implement best practice solutions including internal controls, enhanced checks and balances, and measurement and accountability.
Prior to joining the firm, Beth worked with over a hundred law firms as the owner of Juris® Midwest the representative for the Juris ® Law Management Software in the Midwest. Having built her own company, she brings a perspective appreciated by many business clients. Her skills in integrating ownership, process, measurement, training, and planning are based on hands-on experience with managing her own company, as well as with the clients she served.
Beth serves on the Board of Directors for the Chicagoland Institute of Management Consultants. She is also on the Advisory Board of the Illinois Small Business Development Center in Lake County. In addition Beth is a volunteer mentor for Menttium for its Menttium 100® Program, a program that helps women move into leadership positions.
She has spoken at various Bar Associations, National User Group conferences, ALA conferences, Marketing Strategies seminar, and Chamber of Commerce events. Beth holds a B.A. in Psychology from Loyola University.
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| | | | | Our Affiliates
From systems work, to plant layout, to family ownership intervention and planning to marketing and product development, human resource management to recruiting, we work to bring the right experts into our clients’ planning and operations. Our affiliates bring varied and proven skills to our clients. We work to ensure that when we suggest them for a situation that their skills and delivery methods fit our client, helping ensure the success of any project. BKB Advisors L.L.C. ensures that the work our affiliates perform is provided on a collaborative basis, integrating the specialist skills into a client’s overall needs and goals.
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