Midwest Society of Professional Consultants

May 3^rd, 2006

MSPC Consultants College

The "Consultants" College concept in professional society meetings (originally conceived by Dave Taylor in 2003) will reintroduced in May and June of 2006.  The May College program will feature four tracks.  All tracks will be conducted before and after dinner.  These smaller-group sessions will be more focused and allow for more interaction between participants and moderators. 

Business Financial Management 101
Moderator Phil Warren (QuickBooks Advisor)

Even if you are somewhat familiar with QuickBooks, you will not want to miss this session.  QuickBooks has captured over 85% of the small business financial market.  This will be an excellent opportunity to discover how you can leverage sound financial practices in your own consulting business or with your clients.  A financial information database is the "core" of every business.  This session will help you understand how QuickBooks offers easy ways to handle day to day financial activity as well as providing information necessary to guide business management, to assist in long and short-range planning and to satisfy tax requirements.

NOTE: Intuit will provide a complimentary copy of QuickBooks 2006 to one lucky participant in this track.  If you have a notebook computer, please bring it to the session.  MSPC will provide a few notebook computers for participants to use in the session.  This track will be continued at the June meeting. 

Phil Warren  (QuickBooks Advisor) is a CPA and a Certified QuickBooks Advisor since 1999.  He has owned his own successful consulting practice for the last 10 years.  Phil brings over 25 years of Accounting and Management experience to the arena of QuickBooks.

Jumpstarting Your New Consulting Practice 201
Moderator Tom Long (Solid Oak Consulting)

Participant feedback after April's presentation of "So You Want To Be A Consultant - Key Issues For Prospective New Consultants" indicated a need for more in-depth coverage of starting a consulting practice.  Whether you are new or experienced in consulting or are considering starting your own consulting practice, this track at the MSPC Consultants’ College may be for you.  Participants will explore and discuss elements necessary for the strategic launch of your new business including issues related to your business plan, your marketing plan, your brand, your infrastructure and a host of other topics.  The emphasis will be on what is necessary and what works when starting a consulting business and there will be plenty of opportunity for questions and answers and interaction between participants. 

Tom Long is the President and Principal Consultant of Solid Oak Consulting, LLC and a member of MSPC.  He is a seasoned executive with 30 years of experience in starting, managing and turning around business groups both domestically and internationally.  He has started groups at Procter & Gamble, Nastec Corporation, Ernst & Young and R.R. Donnelley & Sons. And has worked to turnaround groups at Cincom Systems, Nastec Corporation, Oracle, KPMG, Andersen Consulting and Computer Associates.  His involvement as an executive in a Venture Capital backed startup, Nastec Corporation, is where he first had the opportunity to work in a turnaround situation.  But since then, he has consistently sought out opportunities to work in IT start-ups and turnarounds. Most recently, he led the AI Expert Systems practice at Computer Associates and took it from a starting position of breaking even, to a 24% net profit margin on a base of $5M in revenue. Tom's hands-on experience and leadership skills have helped him to be successful in dealing directly with senior management in client companies and acting as the communication facilitator between senior management and skilled technical people.  Through mentoring and individual development to foster motivation, his teams have consistently been recognized as peak performers by his clients and management. Credentials Tom is a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rutgers University and The Stanford University School of Business.  He is certified in the Capability Maturity Model by Carnegie Mellon University. He is certified in Business Dynamics and Dynamic Systems Modeling from the MIT Sloan School of Management.  He holds certificates in Change Management from ODR and The Australian Graduate School of Management. He is trained as an Executive Coach and certified by Andersen Consulting.

Consultant Science 550-Graduate Symposium
Moderator Ray Levulis (R J Levulis & Associates)

This is an advanced discussion group for seasoned consultants who want to exchange happenings within the last one to two months with respect to their relationships with customers, prospects, partners, competitors, vendors, etc.  Issues can range from good and bad times to problems they have faced and problems they have solved!  Join the round robin discussion and share your experiences with others.  

Ray Levulis, a former MSPC president, has over 30 years of management consulting experience.  He holds a BS degree in industrial engineering from Lawrence Technological University and an MBA from the University of Detroit.  Ray is a Certified Management Consultant with the Institute of Management Consultants, and a Life member of the Institute of Industrial Engineers.  His services are geared to reducing costs, improving customer service and planning facilities, domestically and internationally.  Ray has conducted assignments in a variety of industries for organizations such as Deere, Steelcase, Ace Hardware, Kelsey-Hayes, Ford, Sears, Fiat, ITW, and the U.S. Army.