Today, we spend our time helping organizations who do good in the world do a lot more of it.
But before we get to that…
I was on a trip to Tel Aviv with my family and 6-year-old daughter when I turned to my wife and said, “I think I want to start a business.”
At the time, I was considering my next steps as the CFO of the Jewish Federation of Columbus – a role I landed in after becoming a CPA and then leaving behind a corporate career working in finance at Nationwide Insurance.
And although I couldn’t give my wife an answer to the very reasonable question “what type of business?”, she amazingly agreed to give me a 3-month trial period to figure it all out.
Once home from the trip, I began an impact investing course that surrounded me with entrepreneurs starting new social enterprises. One day as we sat around the table together, someone asked what we needed the most help with in our business. And nearly every single person said finance.
If there was one thing I knew, it was finance. And so I looked at those sitting at the table and offered (for a price they couldn’t refuse!) to build out their financial models and then advise them as their social enterprises came to life. Almost overnight, I had my first clients. And in the spring of 2017, Panoramic Strategy was born.
Although I first began the company believing our sole focus would be outsourced CFO services, I quickly realized there was also a need for not just financial help and guidance, but overall strategy.
And that’s what grew Panoramic Strategy into what it is today – a partner that offers financial, strategic, and change management services that help social enterprises grow their impact.
After more than two decades in corporate, I felt stuck. It had been 25 years spent in various executive positions at Keycorp bank (Chief Compliance Officer, Executive Vice President, Chief COO for the Vice-Chair…). I had even risen to President of Key Education Resources, where I was running a business within Keycorp of more than 200 people.
And though I loved the job and the work and was great at it, I kept waking up and asking myself, “To what purpose am I doing all this? Is there a better way I can take control of my time and my skills to really make a difference?”
With that, I decided life was short. And I retired. Shortly after, a friend of mine asked if I’d be interested in coming on as faculty to McKinsey’s consultant learning programs, which I continue to do today.
Between my background in business, my 25 years as an executive, my experience helping run a 200-person company, and coaching more small groups of leaders than I could count…there was one philosophy I developed and saw to be true again and again: if you want to get anything done, you have to communicate effectively. And that means you have to have a company culture that makes practicing and learning how to do just this possible.
This philosophy allowed me to shift my work to help make change for leaders and teams for organizations of all kinds. Including global consulting firms, banks, manufacturing businesses, law firms, non-profit agencies, and more.
And so when David called me in the early days of Panoramic Strategy to help with his biggest project to date (a high-stakes integration between the Jewish Foundation and the Jewish Federation of Columbus), I couldn’t say no.
And I’ve been here as a partner ever since, helping our clients build successful teams and strategies, craft high-performance culture, and develop great leaders.
If there’s one thing you should know about David and Beth, it’s this: they’ve shared a deep family connection, friendship, and business partnership for decades.
Beth first met David when he was just 2 years old at the “mommy and me” class she was bringing her 2-year-old daughter to.
And yes, David really did spend a summer in Beth’s garage with her husband Frank building a ping pong table in college. And then he really did ruin one of her parties when he put a kayak in her pool. But we’ll leave it there for now!
In short, we offer financial, strategic, and change management services that help growing social enterprises strengthen their impact. As of today, we’ve had clients in more than 40 states who, in total, have over $1B in revenue and $3B in assets.
In short, we offer financial, strategic, and change management services that help growing social enterprises strengthen their impact. As of today, we’ve had clients in more than 40 states who, in total, have over $1B in revenue and $3B in assets.
Along the way, we’ve been able to help: