"I believe that entrepreneurship is the greatest force for positive change in the world today. Growthink’s products, services, and ideas make a meaningful contribution to the spread and success of entrepreneurship worldwide. This is good and important work."

Growthink's co-founder and CEO, Jay Turo has led Growthink's emergence as one of the nation's largest strategic advisory and investment banking firms focused on the entrepreneurial marketplace.

In his 14 years at Growthink, Jay has advised dozens of emerging, middle market, and corporate clients regarding their growth and capital formation strategies. His corporate clients have included Deutsche Bank, McKesson, Infospace, Samsung, Porsche, & Paramount Pictures.

He has worked with a wide host of emerging companies including Accelerant, C8 Medisensors, Dakim, DCIP, Free Conference, Fresh Games, Green Medical, Integreon, L3D3, Mobeze, MyPublicInfo, Nolatek, Ometric, Pocketsonics, Precision Time, Raise Capital, Recoup IT, Research Scientists, Sandel Medical, Spring Medical, Telverse, Thrombovision, XCOM Wireless, and Xorbent, among others.

Jay is an active angel investor and speaker and writer regarding private equity, entrepreneurship, and technology. His column appears on the Growthink blog on Mondays. View his past columns here.

Jay has an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA and earned a Bachelor's degree with Distinction and with Departmental Honors from Stanford University. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons.

Watch Jay discuss entrepreneurship and relate his own experience starting and growing a company.

See Jay's Twitter Updates Below

Bridget Quinlan has a broad background in public relations and marketing. Bridget’s expertise is used to work with Growthink clients across various sectors to develop and implement marketing and customer acquisition strategies.

As the public relations director and a member of the pre-opening team at the Elysian hotel, Bridget was responsible for introducing the property as the premier luxury hotel in Chicago and build awareness of the newly launched Elysian brand. In addition, she developed and implemented a comprehensive public relations and marketing plan, establishing national branding and generating positive media coverage for the hotel. 

Prior to joining the Elysian, Bridget spent three years at the renowned Peninsula Chicago Hotel as the public relations and marketing manager, where she developed an aggressive and on-going media relations campaign that generated strong local, regional and national awareness of the hotel, spa and restaurants as well as directed the marketing campaigns for the property.

In her tenure as a public relations and marketing professional, Bidget has honed her promotional skills and established a strong rapport with local and national media constituents.  With a depth of knowledge in this area, she is an exceptional creative and strategic thinker with a brand-focused mentality.

Bridget’s experience as a leader has proven to be a valuable asset to her community as well. She recently sat on the board of the Oak Street Council and was a member of the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association. 

Bridget graduated from Loyola University of Chicago with a Communication degree.

“The true pleasure for me in working with Growthink is engaging with passionate entrepreneurs and helping them to maximize their business’ potential. Our work at Growthink pushes entrepreneurs to think through the conceptual elements of their business as well as through the details, providing them with the necessary tools and support to succeed in business planning, fundraising and strategic positioning.”

In her tenure with Growthink, Jacklyn has worked with a variety of clients, representing over 50 companies, both nationally and internationally.  Her work includes creating business plans, financial models, marketing plans, private placement memorandums and investor presentations.  Jacklyn infuses each project with creativity and aims to provide each client with customized strategic advice to propel their business’ growth and meet their objectives.

Previously, Jacklyn worked as a senior consultant in the Strategic Advisory Department of Ernst & Young’s Tel Aviv office. During her time here, she worked closely with some of the largest international companies consulting them on how to expand their business abroad. Her work was comprised of commercial due diligence projects, new market expansion, market research, start-up consulting, and business planning. Additionally, Jacklyn worked at MTV Networks in their marketing department where she creating integrated marketing campaigns for select clients.

Jacklyn has also contributed to the entrepreneurial community by hosting business planning and fundraising lectures. She has lived abroad in several countries and speaks four languages.  

Jacklyn holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Marketing from Boston University and a Master’s Degree in Finance from ESADE University in Barcelona, both of which she graduated with honors.

“The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vidal Sasson

As a Growthink Business Consultant, Gregory Ross leverages his wide-bank of experiences in different industries in order to act as a collaborator to an entrepreneur as they actualize their dreams of starting and growing their own business.

Prior to joining Growthink, Greg worked at Clarion, a non-profit film fund. Greg produced and distributed documentary films as well as crafted and executed social media strategies. Additionally, Greg responded to all media requests and appeared frequently in print as well as on radio and TV on behalf of the organization. Greg also worked in a sales and marketing role at the Wall Street firm of American Stock Transfer. Greg worked with Fortune 500 companies as well as small and medium sized firms in order to either help them go public or assist them in managing their existing shareholder base more effectively.

Greg started his career in the music industry at the talent agency Triad Artists booking gigs for clients that included many of the 1990’s Seattle grunge artists and the Lollapalooza tour. He later worked in Mexico City bringing U.S. musical acts and international trade shows to the 20,000 seat arena Palacio de los Deportes.

Greg earned a bachelor’s degree in Communications with a minor in Business from the University of Southern California. Greg is a reservist in the Israel Defense Forces and is also fluent in Spanish and Hebrew.

“The innovate point is the pivotal moment when talented and motivated people seek the opportunity to act on their ideas and dreams.” - W. Arthur Porter

With a successful track record of assisting clients in driving revenue, Aaron brings a strategic sales and marketing background to the Growthink team. His specific areas of expertise include the development of sales and marketing plans and budgets, market research and client management.

During his tenure with Marcus Evans, one of the world's leading providers of business intelligence, he established himself as a trusted partner to his clients through his consultative approach, strong work ethic, deep industry knowledge and extensive professional network. During the discovery process, he strives to gain an accurate understanding of the clients’ critical success factors and long-term business strategies.

Aaron specializes in educating business owners and entrepreneurs on effective marketing and sales strategies. His “no nonsense” methods focus on action supported by proven theories and results. His passion is to help people achieve their business goals by successfully utilizing planning and best practices. He has worked with venture-backed, development stage and high-growth, publicly held companies across a full range of commercial sectors, including Capital Markets, Life Sciences, Defense, Healthcare, Information Technology and Legal.
 

"The Growthink team is passionate about helping businesses of all sizes realize their full potential and approaches this mission with both creativity and analytical diligence.  I am very much looking forward to both contributing to and learning from this dynamic group of entrepreneurs."

As a member of Growthink’s Strategic Board of Advisors, Mathew Segal  brings  over 20 years of strategic thinking, entrepreneurial know-how and growth consulting expertise from a variety of industries.

Mathew Segal currently serves as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development for Trojan Battery Company, a leading U.S. Manufacturer of deep cycle batteries for industrial and renewable energy applications.  In this role, he leads efforts to identify and develop new business opportunities globally as well as growing Trojan Battery’s market share within existing markets.

Prior to joining Trojan, Mat was a Partner with OC&C Strategy Consultants where he managed key strategic initiatives for large corporate clients and led acquisition due diligence teams for private equity firms. Mat has also served as a senior consultant for The Mitchell Madison Group and has held business planning and management posts for Cedars-Sinai Health Systems and Disney Consumer Products.

Mat received his MBA with honors in strategy and finance from The Anderson School at UCLA where he served as president of the Management Consulting Association and director of the Entrepreneurial Association Mentor Program. He also received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Northwestern University.  Mat lives in Portland, OR with his wife Nancy and three children.

“ I am delighted to be working with such a bright and talented group of people.  I look forward to gaining more exposure to Growthink’s network to further all of our entrepreneurial interests.”

A member of Growthink’s Advisory Board, Dave Shevock brings to this role an extensive background in marketing and business strategy combined with true thought leadership from the technology industry.

Dave has more than 18 years of experience with entrepreneurial technology companies focusing on sales, marketing, product management and operations. Most recently, he served as senior vice president of sales and marketing for DecisionStep, Inc. (Buy.com). Truly a serial entrepreneur, he has also been part of the executive growth team for Subimo (WebMD), Pictage (Apax Partners) and Trividia Corporation (ValueClick).

Dave holds an MBA in marketing from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and BA in economics from the University of Michigan.

Alex has more than 10 years capital markets experience with an extensive background in both the primary and secondary markets. He began his career with Morgan Stanley in New York City working on the Government and Repo desks, and next developed an expertise in financial futures and credit default swaps. Subsequently, Alex joined Banc of America Securities where his responsibilities included cultivating business relationships and due diligence for origination of over $5 billion in capital in a variety of industries including automotive, chemicals and telecom.

Alex has led several investment banking transactions in the beverage, healthcare and telecom sectors.

Alex has an MBA from Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University with a double concentration with Investment Banking and Corporate Finance and earned his Bachelor's degree at the University of Delaware.

"Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage." - Niccolo Machiavelli

Bringing nine years of business and consumer consulting experience, Bret’s focus at Growthink includes the implementation of business consulting and investment banking services for emerging markets as well as established businesses. Bret thrives in Business Plan Development, Financial Modeling, Fundraising, Business Disposition and Ongoing Consultation services.

Prior to joining Growthink, Bret worked in Commercial Real Estate at CB Richard Ellis and in Commercial Lending at US Bank.  Each experience gave him the unique opportunity to advise corporations in a wide array of industries.  Collaborating with corporate executives enabled Bret to maximize their potential and achieve positive results for their strategic initiatives.  Bret has worked with renowned companies including Northrop Grummen, Boeing, Mar Ventures, Newsweek, Atari, Revolution Partners, Healthcare Partners and Tokidoki.

Bret received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Finance from the University of the Pacific.

Ralph brings to Growthink over 20 years of extensive experience and expertise in environmental sciences- to include specifically land utilization, production methodologies, distribution strategies and marketing communications. He has successfully launched and exited numerous enterprises in the agricultural space.

At Growthink, Ralph has successfully helped to develop more than 30 strategies for companies in the consumer products, real estate, acquisition, non-profit development and Healthcare IT sectors.

Prior to joining Growthink, Ralph held positions as a V.P. for a national-recognized logistics and transportation company as well as loan and dept financing duties and was a major growth contributor to a national distribution company based in Los Angeles.

Ralph is actively attending numerous industry organizations including Southern California Technology News and Venture Capital sponsored events, as well as Venture Capital technology council of Sothern California. He is also actively involved in local philanthropic and nonprofit organizations, including the Special Olympics.

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford

As an Engagement Manager, Anna leads collaborative corporate strategy projects, specializing in media and technology enterprises. In her time with Growthink, Anna has evaluated dozens of companies and helped formulate their business growth strategies, along with preparing their business plans and financial models. She is dedicated to providing positive client experiences that result in focused business solutions.

Prior to Growthink, Anna worked in corporate development for Answers Corporation, where she sourced and analyzed leading Internet properties for acquisition.

A St. Louis native, Anna graduated with honors from the Missouri School of Journalism and started her career as a contributing travel writer for Southern Living.

In 2009, Vitale joined the editorial staff of Missouri Lawyers Weekly, where for two years she covered Missouri’s legal industry and was recognized by the National Newspaper Association, the Missouri Press Association and the Associated Press.  

Anna holds an MBA in Finance from Saint Louis University’s John Cook School of Business and bachelor degrees in Magazine Journalism and Music from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

“As a quote by Albert Einstein states: a life lived for others is a life worth living.  At Growthink, we are in the unique position to help entrepreneurs reshape and improve the way they are conducting their businesses, which in turn is transforming the global business environment.  This is not only a huge responsibility, but also a great privilege.”

Todd brings 20 years of entrepreneur experience to the Growthink team.  With an extensive background in Business & Investment Banking Consulting, Professional Arbitration, Investment Management, Media and Advertising, Finance and Energy, Todd has co-founded and operated four companies, and was recruited by another two companies to act as their CEO.  

Over the years, Todd has honed his business planning skills with specific expertise in:

• pro forma financial statements, revenue and valuation modeling

• management team, board, joint venture and strategic alliance formation

• capital formation

• structuring sales and marketing

• statistical/quantitative research & analysis

• streamlining operations, and budget control

• technical writing and communication

• patenting  

Todd is a member of the California CEO Forum (CCF), California Capital Summit (CCS) and Rockies Venture Club (RVC) of Colorado.  He has also attained the “Series 7 General Securities license,” “Series 63 Uniform Securities Agent State Law license” and “Series 3 Commodities and Futures contracts license.”

Todd earned a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration from The University of Arizona, where he was also a statistics tutor. He also recently completed his first semester of law school and currently sits on the prestigious Roster of Arbitrators for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which is the largest regulator for all U.S. securities firms.  In addition, Todd also sits on the prestigious Roster of Arbitrators for the National Futures Association (NFA), the industry-wide regulatory organization for the U.S. futures industry. Todd also has numerous Board of Director positions, and Advisory Board Member positions, to his credict.  

Also serving as Growthink's Director of Client Development, Melissa has extensive experience in sales, business development, project management, and executive search.

Melissa began her career in the healthcare arena at industry leader Emerald Health Services, where as the organization’s Senior Business Development Manager, clients included some of the nation's largest hospital systems. Melissa left Emerald to join the Lucas Group, one of the world's largest retained executive search firms. Clients included companies in the software, entertainment, biotechnology, manufacturing, consumer products, retail, apparel/fashion, and real estate sectors.

Since joining Growthink in 2007, Melissa has developed and worked with a robust portfolio of clients and investment arenas ranging from startup SaaS and New Media/Web 2.0 models to early stage ISPs, Forex platforms, healthcare/medical device, biotechnology, and fashion/entertainment companies to a $ 9billion dollar multinational manufacturing company.

Melissa is known for being out and about the city of Los Angeles representing Growthink at entrepreneurial, finance, and other industry related networking events.

Melissa earned her Bachelor's in Legal Studies from Johnson & Wales University and her MBA from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management. Melissa is also an active member of the Junior League of Los Angeles, Santa Monica Junior Chamber of Commerce, and the National Association of Women MBAs.

"At Growthink, optimism is an approach. We get to help businesses assess their opportunities and penetrate the marketplace from a position of strength - and that's good work."

Jacqueline brings financial acumen and extensive research and analytics experience to her role at Growthink.  As a Senior Consultant, she works with clients to create business plans and workable marketing, operations and fundraising strategies that enable sound decision-making and decisive action.

Prior to joining Growthink, Jacqueline worked as an investment analyst at Craton Equity Partners, a fast-growing venture capital firm focused on the environmental sector. She evaluated investment opportunities and built strategic partnerships with peer organizations and government to identify strategic advantages for portfolio companies, and was active in the firm's investor relations efforts. Jacqueline also has experience creating and implementing branding strategies and communications programs for companies across industries -- from the high-tech, hospitality and nonprofit industries.

Jacqueline earned a M.A. in Social Entrepreneurship from Stanford University.

“I enjoy my work at Growthink because each and every client presents a unique business idea and vision for success, which provides an exciting and constantly evolving working environment.”

Brian is responsible for executing strategic business plans and financial models as well as conducting market research.   He brings with him strong financial analysis skills and has expertise in a variety of industries including apparel and fashion as well as health and fitness. 

Prior to joining Growthink, Brian worked at the Century City office of UBS Wealth Management, where he performed portfolio analysis and market research for high-net-worth investment clients.  He began his professional career at a Manhattan-based real estate investment firm as a lease analysis intern, working alongside management to develop revenue models for each of the firm’s properties.

Brian attended the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California and received a Bachelor of Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance.  His key areas of study include Entrepreneurial Finance, Business Law, and Financial Valuation.