About BetterGround

A few years ago, I asked a senior leader at a Fortune 200 tech company what his experience had been working with consultants.

"The worst," he said. "They showed up assuming they had the answers and did not listen to our challenges or thoughts on improvement. Their idea was basically to do the same thing they'd done elsewhere, assume it would be successful, and left without much follow up. We threw out their work and kept doing what we'd always done."

I've heard versions of that story dozens of times. Leaders who brought in outside help hoping for a thought partner and got a PowerPoint deck. Teams who felt talked at, not listened to. Recommendations that looked elegant in the boardroom but fell apart the moment they hit the floor.

That's not how the best outcomes happen. And it's not why I do this work

Before starting BetterGround, I spent two decades building — and sometimes breaking — teams, systems, and organizations.

I did plant audits and training within industrial manufacturing facilities, learning and understanding the value of simplicity in complex environments along side maintenance technicians and reliability engineers. I ran P&Ls and managed teams at a multi-billion dollar restaurant and retail company, eventually leading a "Store of the Future" initiative transformed operations throughout the company without disrupting the guest experience. I did economic development work, creatively partnering with state, regional, and local organizations to retain critical talent while working to align public and private sector leaders behind a shared vision of prosperity.

As a Managing Director at a global consulting firm, I led large-scale transformations for Fortune 200 companies and Private Equity holding companies. I helped CEOs and leadership teams navigate post-acquisition chaos, built a proprietary equity and inclusion tools to measure behaviors instead of aspirations, ensuring meaningful change was sustainable rather than a flavor of the month program.

What I learned across all of it: the people inside the organization usually know what's broken. They just don't always have the language for it, or the permission, or someone asking the right questions. My job isn't to arrive with answers. It's to help surface what's already there—and then build something that actually works.

I went back to school at 40 for an MBA, not because I needed credentials but because I wanted to pressure-test what I thought I knew. I'm a certified change management practitioner. I've worn hard hats in paper mills, suits in boardrooms, and chef coats at nonprofit fundraisers.

But if I'm honest, the work I'm proudest of has nothing to do with clients. It's being a husband and father, tutoring adult literacy programs, showing up meaningfully for friends and those that least expect it, and finishing two marathons—mostly because I wanted to see if I could.

The thread through all of it: I want to leave people and organizations better than I found them.

That's what BetterGround is for.

Mission

Better Leaders. Better Execution. Better Results.