TETON CAPITAL GROUP, LLC - Professionals and Advisory Board

Phil has 30 years of corporate finance experience in mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, asset management and divestitures, and in dealing with the public debt and equity markets.

Before co-founding Teton Capital Group, Phil worked for 16 years in investment banking and banking as a Managing Director at NatCity Investments, at McDonald & Company, and as a commercial banker at Bankers Trust. He was responsible for public equity and debt offerings, and a variety of mergers, tender offers, and private financings.

Phil also founded and built an investor relations consulting practice working with CEOs and CFOs of public companies with market caps ranging from $50 million to $4 billion. During the tenure of investor relations programs established by him, Phil’s clients increased their total market capitalization by more than 60%.

Phil has served public companies as well, both on the Treasurer's staff at Republic Steel, a Fortune 100 company, and as Vice President, Corporate Development at Collaborative Clinical Research, Inc. Phil earned an M.B.A. and a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.

Rex is a CEO who has built his reputation by leading the marketing of some of America’s largest consumer brands. He began his career with General Foods (now Kraft) where he rose to lead the marketing of brands like Maxwell House coffee and Birdseye frozen foods. He then moved to Bristol-Myers Squibb where he led all marketing for their US Mead Johnson nutritional products before moving to Montreal, Canada as president of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Canadian Consumer business. In Canada, he had responsibility for a broad range of franchises including the Clairol, Excedrin, Bufferin, and Keri lotion businesses. He guided these brands through periods of dramatic change that included transformational work on all elements of marketing.

Following his stint in Montreal, Bristol-Myers Squibb moved him to Cleveland in 1997 where he was senior vice-president and general manager for Matrix Essentials. In a very short period, he led the marketing team in the restaging of the largest brand in the salon industry (Biolage), introduced a major new product line (Amplify) that became the most successful new product introduction in the industry, and relaunched the core Matrix salon hair coloring line (Socolor). In 1999, he left Bristol-Myers and moved to Harry London Chocolates, an 80 year old private manufacturer of fine chocolates in Canton, Ohio where he assumed leadership of a company facing significant financial challenges. Over the course of two and a half years, he led a team that resolved the issues confronting the company using a combination of marketing and sales changes, operational initiatives, and financial restructuring.

Rex now has nearly 30 years of marketing experiences in a wide array of categories. He has managed billion dollar, global brands; he has marketed small, highly segmented and regional franchises; he has operated successfully in a variety of industries within the US and internationally; and his businesses have been recognized with national awards for marketing excellence.

Lee has global operating management and leadership experience in a variety of settings, from start-ups to mature businesses in multiple industries. He is President of Growth Partners, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in strategy development and mergers and acquisitions.

For over 25 years, Lee has been involved in technology, manufacturing, distribution, and professional services businesses, primarily in the healthcare, automotive and powersports industries. He has experience in general management, operations, marketing, sales, global account management, product development, product management, finance, strategic planning, and corporate development. Lee’s experience spans product and service offerings including hardware and software systems, service and support; enterprise-wide information systems; medical practice management software; electronic medical records; software duplication and distribution services; tax processing systems and services; business forms; training products and services; consulting; microfiche production; and electronic publishing. Lee brings a successful track record in originating and managing more than 15 transactions on four continents.

Most recently, Lee was Senior Vice President and General Manager of ProQuest Global Automotive, where he successfully revitalized and grew a mature electronic parts catalog business to achieve global sales in excess of $100 million annually. Previously, Lee was the Chief Operating Officer of the National Automobile Dealers Association.

Lee also spent 15 years with The Reynolds & Reynolds Company where he held a variety of senior management positions, including co-responsibility for establishing and managing Reynolds & Reynolds’ Healthcare Systems Division, growing revenues from $8 million to $65 million in 3 years. Lee earned an MBA from Xavier University and a B.A. degree in Economics from Ohio Wesleyan University.

Kenneth A. Wakeen

Ken, a former Ernst & Young partner, has combined his financial and advisory expertise with hands-on management and operation of an industry-leading, privately-held manufacturing and distribution company.

Ken was executive officer and a director of this US and Canadian supplier to the heavy-duty truck parts aftermarket. Under his leadership, by combining sales and key account programs to gain market share with innovative supplier programs and alliances, sales grew organically from $45 million to over $100 million, while relative operating earnings increased. Ken also negotiated major growth deals with customer-formed buying groups, cementing the company’s leading market position.

Ken led initiatives to keep pace with this rapid growth, which included development of pricing and quoting systems, customer service improvements and purchasing disciplines. The implementation of a $2 million ERP system enabled the company to continue enhancing its industry-leading customer service initiatives. After years of growth, and in anticipation of significantly changing market dynamics, Ken led the quick sale of the company at a significant premium.

Previously, Ken was a partner in Ernst & Young’s national office where after the merger with Arthur Young, Ken led development of the firm’s new audit methodology, materials, integration, and training worldwide. Ken also helped develop the audit guide on internal controls for the profession’s standard setting body. Before transferring to the national office, Ken held client responsibility for private and public multinational companies in different practice offices.

Ken earned a BBA from the University of Michigan Business School, and attended Ernst & Young’s Northwestern University Executive Program. He has been both a CPA and a CMA.

Beyond our Advisory Board members, Teton Capital Group has strong relationships with a number of successful and skilled operating executives and investment partners with backgrounds in a variety of industries.