Mark A. Froehlich began his career as a management trainee at Thompson Caterpillar, a Caterpillar dealership headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Froehlich rose through the ranks and held various positions including salesman, Marketing Manager – Industrial Division, Assistant Treasurer, and Treasurer. While holding the office of Treasurer, he was also promoted to Vice President of Thompson Investments, LLC where he was responsible for the alternative asset investments for the firm.

While Treasurer, Froehlich was instrumental in leading the company through a major change in incentive compensation. He led the firm through its conversion to an economic value added incentive system. With EVA, the company’s balance sheet and financial performance improved measurably.

Mark Froehlich left Thompson in 2001 to found his own investment and consulting company. The investment company, Baker Clark, LLC is still in operation, as is the consulting firm, Impact Solutions, LLC. Impact consults in the areas of sales training, marketing, strategic planning, coaching, leadership development, and turnaround management. Froehlich’s consulting clients have included or include his former employer, Palladium Press, LLC,  Harvard Business Publishing, a division of Harvard Business School, and various others.

Mr. Froehlich has served on the board of directors of Secureworks, Inc. where he served on the audit and compensation committees. He also serves on the board of directors of CapitalSouthBank (CAPB). Froehlich is also a member of the Society of International Business Fellows.

Froehlich has been a civic and community leader for many years. He has served on many boards, and currently serves on the board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Alabama School of Fine Arts Foundation, which he has served as Chairman in past years. In 2000 he was asked to co-chair the Birmingham International Festival Salute to South Africa in 2002. The event was a record breaking success, and it attracted world leaders such as Nobel laureates, the Archbishop Desmond Tutu and, President F.W. DeKlerk.

Froehlich holds a Masters in Public and Private Management from Birmingham Southern College. He has spoken  to the Conference Board in Chicago and New York on the subject of managing for value. He also has attended several continuing education programs at Harvard Business School.

Mike Weiner is a successful executive. He began his career in the non-profit world, and later purchased a business in Birmingham, Alabama.

Over a twelve year period he grew sales by over 600%. He then sold the firm to Aspen Marketing in 1999. Later, when Aspen, a marketing firm ranked 5th in the United States, experienced business setbacks, Mike was chosen to be a part of the turnaround team. He helped Aspen successfully restructure the company. He also helped Aspen in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, sourcing products from abroad, overseeing the Atlanta office, and many other endeavors for the company.

Mike has the abilities and skills in the areas of staff/people development, marketing, organizational behavior, strategic focus, and execution premium. Weiner also has exceptional negotiating skills. Mike’s negotiations on behalf of clients is widely known and respected.

Mike has an M.A. in Social Work from the State University of New York and attended various  M.B.A classes at State University of New York.

Larry Harper has a successful business track record spanning thirty years.  He currently serves as Director of Graduate & Executive Education Programs at the Brock School of Business at Samford University. He also serves as an assistant professor of business teaching managerial values and international management.

Before joining Samford he was a Management Board Member and Chief Financial Officer at Eskom, South Africa which is among the world’s largest electric utilities.  There he was a key member of the leadership team that turned around the company from financial distress, and repositioned the organization as a business oriented and customer focused utility.  The strategy he helped develop and implement included: Building a stronger financial discipline, improving all business processes and the management of people running them, communicating aggressively with internal and external stakeholder groups, arranging attractive and appropriate financing transactions with institutions active in the major financial centers around the world, and increasing cooperation with customers, the public and the government.

He was a Senior Manager with Ernst & Young in Washington, D.C. and since moving to Birmingham in 1988 to start his own consulting practice Larry has conducted many management development and consulting assignments for companies worldwide.

Larry offers a global perspective and broad experience in strategies being implemented by many entities in their efforts to meet the requirements of a changing society and marketplace.  He has a MBA, a graduate degree in Finance and bachelor’s degree with Accounting as a major.

Ed McQuigg is a board level executive with a substantial background in strategic & marketing planning. Ed retired at the end of 2007 from Richemont International, the second largest luxury holding company in the world, as Vice President of Group Marketing. Cartier, Piaget, Mont Balnc, Dunhill, Purdey, Panerai, Van Cleef & Arpels are among the many luxury companies that Richemont owns. As such, Ed reported directly to the Chairman of the company. During Ed’s tenure at Richemont, he lived in London & New York. He developed a model on wealth creation, and developed a model with predictive implications. Ed also conceptualized Dunhill’s, Mont Blanc’s, and Lancel’s world positioning marketing programs.

Prior to Richemont, Ed was the Director of Strategic Planning & Market Development for Rothmans International, a major tobacco company. Ed’s responsibilities were global. He reported directly to the CEO. Prior to the above role, he was the Director of Brand Development.

Ed has also been an executive at Phillip Morris, and other known companies.

Jerry Clark is a business leader and manager with a strong background in finance, accounting, and general management. Jerry also has a broad exposure to retail and sales promotions as well as national and international operating experience. Jerry also has experience at securing complex financing.

Jerry began his career at Weinberg, Ward & Beam CPA’s from 1972 to 1978 after which he was hired by Wallace International as their Chief Financial Officer. Soon after, he was promoted to President where he helped grow the company from $9MM per year to $131MM per year. Wallace was a national & international sales promotion firm, active in seventeen countries. These countries include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Clark negotiated and closed a $20MM loan agreement with Chase Manhattan Bank. Jerry negotiated the sale of Wallace to a British company, and stayed on as CEO. Jerry created impressive growth after the change of control. Upon leaving Wallace, Jerry founded Allen & Barbour, LLC a sales promotion firm. Clark sold his interest in Allen & Barbour in 2006.

Clark earned his B.S. in accounting at the University of Tennessee.

Howard Koch brings many years of executive experience to Impact Solutions. He served as President of a 36 store chain of optical centers. Prior to Howard’s arrival, the chain had lost money for three consecutive years. Koch was able to turn the company around in a period of five months. Koch also served as Vice President of Merchandising for TSI International Sportswear. He also served as Senior V.P. of Merchandising and partner for MySkinMD.com, a successful online skin care business. Prior to that Koch spent many years as the head of the cosmetics division, the largest division in the company, of Parisian, a division of SAKS, Inc.

Howard is a graduate of Leadership Birmingham. Koch holds a degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, and he attended the University of Virginia.Koch also served as a Captain in the army where he served as a pilot. He was selected for a special project for the Department of Defense. He was loaned to the Department of Defense in the area of Defense Contract Administration Services, where he negotiated contracts for the combined armed forces.

Howard has served on the board of directors of many civic organizations such as Magic Moments, Muscular Sclerosis Society, and various others.

Koch has skill sets that lend themselves to analyzing and solving organizational issues, leadership skills, people solving skills, and he has extensive experience with leadership coaching.