Over the years, Dr. John has led the acquisition of 50 operating units and/or businesses in the USA and Europe, including two joint ventures in Japan and one in Italy. Most of the acquired operations were underperforming when acquired, and were turned around within months.

He has authored / co-authored six  books, including the forthcoming "How to Acquire the Right Business". He, also, designed and led the launching of an MBA degree program for South East Europe at the American College of Thessaloniki, Greece.

During the 1990’s Dr. John taught at the Ross School of Business of the University of Michigan, focusing on corporate strategy and acquisitions. He has lectured widely in the US and Europe on these topics.

Prior to starting the above ventures, Dr. John served as vice president for planning and engineering, and group vice president for international operations for Masco Corp for more than seven years. Before joining Masco he was director, technology center, Allis Chalmers; department manager of Thermionic Systems at the Martin-Marietta Co.; and program manager at Thermo Electron Co.

He has received many awards, including twice being named Entrepreneur of the Year by Inc. Magazine, in Michigan. He has received the Corporate Leadership award from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the Distinguished Young Scientist award from the Maryland Academy of Science. He has served on the (Michigan) Governor's Venture Capital Task Force. He served as Chairman of the Strategic Fund of Michigan. He has also served on several boards of directors, advisory boards or committees, most noteworthy the Mechanical Engineering Department Visiting Committee at MIT, the Visiting Committee at the University of Michigan School of Business, and the Advisory Council at the GSIA (School of Business) of Carnegie Mellon University. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Manufacturers Association of Michigan.

Dr. John received his BS and MS Degrees in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical & Nuclear Engineering from the University of Maryland, and later completed the Program for Executives at the Graduate School of Industrial Administration (GSIA) at Carnegie-Mellon University.

For further details on Dr. John's background, please click

  Lawrence A. Fox 

Larry’s career spans over 22 years, during which time he has held numerous positions in public accounting, consulting and industry. His extensive experience has allowed him to develop an expertise in mergers and acquisitions, where he has led or been involved with over 25 transactions around the world with a total value exceeding $500 million.

 From 1994 – 2003, he held the positions of vice president of corporate development and chief financial officer for two publicly held manufacturing companies. For JPE, Inc, he helped complete six (6) acquisitions in North America in three years, which helped the company grow from annual revenues of $60 million to over $250 million. For GKN plc, he led a divisional worldwide acquisition program which acquired 16 companies around the world in three years. The acquisitions helped GKN Sinter Metals grow from annual revenues of $500 million generated from 20 plants, to over $800 million generated from 35 plants.

For all of these transactions, he was involved in every aspect of the merger and acquisition process, from identifying acquisition candidates, to leading and performing detailed due diligence, to negotiating the transaction, to leading the post-closing integration activities.

Larry was the Chief Financial Officer of GKN Sinter Metals, responsible for the company’s worldwide finance function and an annual budget of over $15 million. He has extensive experience in strategic planning and industry research, as well as financial management and cash generation. He has played a crucial role in several successful turnaround situations in the automotive industry, where he has acted as plant controller for several $60-million tier one suppliers.

During his career, he has worked in a variety of industries, including automotive, industrial manufacturing, and consumer products. He has worked for large global, publicly-held, industry leading organizations as well as small, privately-held, entrepreneurial companies. In addition to GKN plc and JPE Inc., he has held positions with Duchossois Industries (The Chamberlain Group), Ernst & Young and Technomic.

 Larry has also applied his skills to the creation, development and licensing of an invention for the consumer products industry. During this project he researched the industry to test the financial and commercial viability of the idea; managed a support team of experts and guided the idea from concept to working prototype; applied for and received a utility patent; and successfully licensed the idea to Hasbro/Playskool, a leading toy and children’s products manufacturer. The product generated revenues of over $2 million in major retailers such as Toys R Us and Target.

Larry received a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Illinois/Champaign, a M.B.A. from Loyola University of Chicago with a concentration in marketing, and he has successfully completed the national CPA exam. He is currently active in the Detroit area chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth and several other volunteer organizations. Larry resides in the Detroit area with his wife and two daughters.

  Walid Tout 

Walid's experiences range from in-depth technical expertise in a wide range of areas to overall business and computer systems across national and multinational corporations. He was instrumental in designing and implementing the system that enabled the extremely successful launch of Sony's PlayStation in 1995. This system spanned multiple locations, suppliers and service providers and integrated a number of heterogeneous systems from multiple vendors in a single seamless and location-transparent manner.

Walid also led the design and implementation of the first web-based risk management system for DORN technologies, which was later acquired by Computer Sciences Corporation. His work with DaimlerChrysler, United Health Group, Urban Sciences and Proquest involved the study and evaluation of systems and subsystems, making recommendations on redesign or new designs to streamline business processes, and bringing systems in line with business goals and expectations.

His career spans 15 years during which he has worked with a number of Fortune 500 and multinational companies including SONY, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, TTI Inc., United Health Group, Ingenix, Proquest, Computer Sciences Corporation, and Urban Sciences. Over the past seven years, Walid has also worked on Internet issues with a worldwide impact relating to business and technical processes with international groups including ICANN and the IETF.

Walid received his BS in Computer Science and Mathematics from Eastern Michigan University. He received his MS and Ph.D. Degrees in Computer Science from Michigan State University. He holds a number of US and international patents, and a number of pending and continuing applications. Walid is a member of an industry domain experts group, which delivers expertise and decision-making assistance to business, government and investment leaders around the world.

Jenny has provided administrative support to high-level executive management for over 20 years. Her extensive background providing support and assistance for CEO’s, vice presidents, CFO’s and directors has given her the insight, knowledge and organizational skills required to work in the fast-paced executive environment. Understanding that the organization of the top management determines its effectiveness, her expertise brings a high level of professionalism, organizational ability, communication skills and problem-solving.

Jenny’s strengths are in providing and coordinating all levels of behind-the-scene administrative support. This includes global schedule coordination, travel and meeting arrangements, liaison between upper and middle management, and communication with external business associates. She is also adept at the roles and responsibilities of a personal assistant, streamlining the extra-curricular business and social activities of the busy executive and allowing more of the executive’s time to be spent on running the business.

In a career spanning multi-national corporations and entrepreneurial start-ups, and a spectrum of leadership styles, Jenny has assisted and organized top executives at: JPE, Inc.; The Genex Group, division of MCN; Delphi Corporation; the Cadillac Division of General Motors; Tektronix; and Masco. As a business owner and entrepreneur, Jenny has utilized these skills, having owned and operated her own retail business.

Jenny attended the Detroit College of Business and received an Associate in Science, Executive Secretarial, in 1980.