How Can Stone Advisory Board Improve My Company Performance?
The Stone Advisory Board (SAB) is a ready-to-engage board of six experts in their respective business disciplines that drive holistic, rapid, and measurable growth for private company clients. SAB is not merely a group of advisors, but it partners actively with its clients, bringing tangible business tools, frameworks, and discipline to accelerate growth and ROI.
We Have Worked with the World’s most Sophisticated Businesses on Market Leading Transactions
The Stone Advisory Board evolved as a management activation extension of Stone Advisor’s long legacy of business success. As Stone Advisors generated nine-figure client value in its FDIC business resolution services and situational buyouts, the need emerged to ensure that the appropriate governing and operating policies and procedures are established for effective governance of client companies. SAB’s multi-disciplinary approach enables our clients to enhance company performance holistically by establishing and meeting key performance goals across the business functions.
In larger, mature companies, the governing board usually establishes certain board committees (e.g., Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, Risk Committee, etc.). The SAB directors play a similar role acting as the chairperson of a functional area “quasi-committee” and giving a strategic report on functional areas to the governing board at each joint board meeting. Each SAB director has developed a “Functional Area Reporting Template” for assessing and reporting on the strategic health of their respective functional areas of expertise. These functional area reporting templates map to the overall governing dash board that the SAB helps the governing board put in place and is used to measure and monitor the overall strategic health of the company.
What Types of Companies Best Benefit from SAB?
- “Troubled” companies needing to execute a turnaround
- Early-stage companies with products and/or services that can grow and scale quickly
- Closely-held companies that need to transition to a more “independent” portfolio company for their private capital sponsors
- Family office-sponsored companies that need strategic governance advice
The Six Business Functions Represented by the SAB Members Include:
1. Financial Management Director
Advisory Director for CFO functions, including capital planning, balance sheet/income statement management, budgeting, liquidity management, etc.
2. Customer Management Director
Advisory Director for CMO functions, including marketing, sales, customer service, product/service innovation, channel management etc.
3. Legal & Risk Management Director
Advisory Director for General Counsel/CRO functions, including legal/financial/operational/reputational risk management, regulatory management, insurance coverages, crisis management, etc.
4. Systems Management Director
Advisory Director for CTO/CIO/COO functions, including information technology systems, data management, physical facilities, operating processes, supply chain management, etc.
5. HR Management Director
Advisory Director for Human Resources functions, including employee recruiting, hiring, compensation, development, leadership succession planning, culture management, etc.
6. Strategy Management Director
Advisory Director for CEO functions, including development/ execution of a formal Strategic Plan, overall governance and management of the business, etc.
OUR STONE ADVISORS LEADERSHIP TEAM
R. Brad Oates
Brad Oates once had a distinguished professional football career in the National Football League after a noted athletic career at Brigham Young University (“BYU”) where Brad was a two-time captain of the football team and was named to the 1975 Associated Press All-American team. Brad augmented his off seasons in the NFL by attending law school at BYU’s Law School. He graduated with honors in 1982, and he was awarded the Professional Responsibility Award by the Utah Bar Association. In 1985, Brad began a professional career in the Texas banking industry. Brad is currently Chairman of Stone Advisors, LP, a Dallas-based buyout, business advisory, and resolution services firm. Former senior executive positions include: Chairman of NFC Global; Chairman of Universal Hardwood Flooring; Chairman of eBureau; Chairman of RiskWise International; President of LexisNexis Risk Solutions Group; Executive Vice President of Stone Capital; President/COO of Bluebonnet Savings Bank; and SVP/General Counsel of Stockton Savings Bank. Brad holds a Masters Professional Director Certification, and serves as an independent board member at CIT Group (NYSE:CIT). He is a former Chairman of the Texas Savings and Community Bankers Association. And, he is a noted lecturer on business ethics and corporate governance.
Joseph Heilner
Joseph Heilner spent his career as a business executive for such marketing-centric companies as PepsiCo, General Mills, GameStop, Wingstop and Dr Pepper Snapple Group. Most recently, he served as Chief Marketing Officer for Rosinter, the largest publicly-traded conglomerate of consumer brands across 11 countries in Eastern Europe. He lived in Moscow, Russia with his family before returning to Dallas.
Today Joseph brings his broad domestic and international customer experience, marketing, innovation, and sales toolkits to select consulting and advisory clients across business sectors. Joseph has developed a unique expertise in customer experience, interpreting consumer insights to optimize brands to be relevant to customers both domestically and with country-specific nuances, internationally. He is a noted consultant in business development and sales. Joseph’s marketing bias is toward the gamut of digital vehicles based on measurability and cost efficiency.
Matt Bracy
Matt Bracy is a former General Counsel, litigator, and business lawyer who understands the big picture business issues from all perspectives. Matt is a partner in Scheef & Stone, representing businesses domestically and internationally in the areas of corporate law, contract negotiations and drafting, and mergers and acquisitions. Matt began his practice in Houston, working at a commercial litigation boutique and then a firm he started. In 1999, Matt left Houston to become the head of government relations for a financial services group in Washington, working on federal, state and local issues. Opportunities lead to a move to Philadelphia, then to Dallas, where he became General Counsel of a finance company. While serving as General Counsel, Matt was selected as the President of a national trade group, and the DFW Chapter President of the General Counsel Forum. In 2012 Matt decided to return to private practice as a business/corporate partner.
Kate Lengyel
Kate Lengyel has earned a wealth of human resources and operational knowledge and expertise over the past 25 years. She is currently the Vice President of Human Resources for Securus Technologies where she has managed the company’s growth from 500 to 1300 employees. Under her leadership, the HR function has provided better benefits, improved talent acquisition and implemented retention and recognition programs. She has proven experience in managing corporate facility operations. Her prior experiences include working in the telecommunications sector at Excel Communications, and serving financial services, investment banking and technology start up entities through Stone Holdings and its subsidiaries. She is active in the community serving as a founding member of Women with Promise, a local nonprofit committed to transforming the lives of women in need and volunteering with Jesuit Women’s Auxiliary and St. Monica Catholic School. Kate lives in Dallas with her husband, Craig, and their three children.
John Taylor
John Taylor is an experienced information systems and technology executive having held leadership positions in Fortune 500, Big 5 consulting, medium sized businesses and technology startups. John specializes in IT strategy, software and vendor selection, systems implementation and IT operations but his experience covers a wide range of technology areas as well as business optimization, logistics management, and business development.
John has been CIO for a $120 million apparel manufacturer and was responsible for the development and operation of all the software and technology components of a major Fortune 500 online service offering receiving over 20 million visits per month with three million regular subscribers.
John grew up in England, winning a scholarship to Oxford University to study mathematics where he obtained a double First from Oriel College and, after graduation, went on to join Accenture’s London office. He moved to the United States after six years to head up software development for a small engineering start up pioneering the use of artificial intelligence.