Of greater importance, board members are committed to the belief that Rhode Island’s small business community embodies incredible management talent that is meeting competitive challenges everyday to grow their firms. The commitment to providing a forum to share this talent drives their desire to provide quality and timely articles for your review. Their commitment to Rhode Island’s small businesses reflects the values of the Every Company Counts.com virtual community:

Marty Cooper
Principle, Sage Business Solutions
Hometown: North Kingstown, RI

Marty Cooper, is a principle of Sage Business Solutions with Ed Greene. Based in Cranston, the company is a consulting firm that serves as an advisory board to small businesses in Rhode Island.

Prior to forming Sage Business Solutions, Marty Cooper’s career included over 25 years of marketing products for nationally recognized companies. He has served on several national association committees including, National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) and, National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA).

Marty has been instrumental in helping businesses attain increased sales and profitability through comprehensive marketing plans and creative marketing programs. He has produced integrated marketing programs that included innovative advertising, public relations, direct mail, trade shows, sales promotions, training and Internet communication.

Marty grew up and worked in a family that owned a small business in suburban Cleveland, Ohio. It is through this experience that he developed a passion for working to help small businesses become successful in Rhode Island.

A Rhode Island resident for almost 20 years, Marty has been an active member of the community. He has been actively involved in education in the town of North Kingstown where he and his family reside.

A graduate from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, Cooper has a B.S. in Communication.

Lynne C. Couture
President, LCC and Company
Hometown: Cumberland, RI

Lynne C. Couture is president of LCC & Company. Lynne has 25 years of experience using high-performance management systems and training tools to create, manage, change, and improve organizations. She has worked with large and small organizations in the service, manufacturing, not-for-profit and government sectors. She facilitates meetings and delivers workshops on change management, leadership development, project leadership, team effectiveness, ethics in business and interpersonal skills.

Lynne’s early career at AVON products in New York focused on implementing Total Quality Management (TQM) throughout the organization, including problem solving training and leading project/process improvement teams. Subsequently, as an experienced entrepreneur, she launched three successful organizations. All three companies continue as viable businesses today. This combination of entrepreneurial, corporate, and not-for-profit experience lends real-world credibility to Lynne’s interaction with participants in her workshops. Her industry experience includes manufacturing, textile manufacturing, nonprofit, education, healthcare, government, publishing, fiber optics, retail, pharmaceutical, and consumer products.

Lynne earned her Bachelor of Art’s Degree in International Relations and Business from the American University of Paris, and is a lifelong learner who continues to attend seminars, workshops and certification programs to broaden, deepen, and strengthen the services she provides to client organizations. She is a certified trainer for Achieve Global Skill Modules, an authorized distributor for Inscape Publishing and an affiliate of Vital Learning Company. She is also an adjunct facilitator at Bristol Community College, Bunker Hill Community College, Community College of Rhode Island, and Quinsigamond Community College.

Bob Hewitt
President, Hewitt Development Enterprises
Hometown: Wickford, RI

Bob is a results-oriented executive with over 30 years experience in Executive Management, Strategic Planning, Operations, Sales & Marketing with profit/loss responsibility and consulting in related fields, i.e., electro-mechanical, mechanical, textile, aerospace, military electronics, chemicals, and microcomputer system communication corporations with small and large companies including extensive experience with family-owned businesses.

Bob, as President of Hewitt Development Enterprises, has been consulting to senior business leaders for 18 years. He has expertise in resolving troubled turnaround and start-up operations and has been able to provide strong direction for company growth and profitability. He has held crisis interim management positions as President, COO and VP of Operations as well as Project Management Consultant in a variety of industrial assignments.

Bob has extensive international business and management experience in Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, India and Asia. This experience is in setting up and negotiating vendor alliances/partnerships, project management and holding such positions as President of a textile company in Poland and a COO of an apparel accessory manufacturer and worldwide distribution company in China.

Prior to Bob’s consulting practice, he served as President of Branzonics, Adams-Russell Electronics, where a new management team was developed and a new product market strategy was implemented with a 20% sales increase in the U.S. and Middle East in less than six months.

Bob has taught courses at the college level and has worked with Bryant College consulting and mentoring of companies needing assistance with business problems as well as importing and exporting projects. He has served as a Board Member of a private manufacturing firm in Rhode Island

Mr. Hewitt is a member of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA), Association for Corporate Growth (Boston & Miami) and the Rhode Island Export Assistance Center.

Lawrence A. Girouard
President, Business Avionics
Hometown: Newport, RI

Larry is President of Business Avionics, Inc, a consulting company that focuses on strategic planning, sales and marketing programs and corporate cultural transitions.
With over 35 years of business experience Mr. Girouard (BSME, MBA) has had a broad breath of responsibilities in management positions that span Fortune 500 companies (DuPont, Cookson, Kaydon ) to high technology start-up companies (Spectrum Technologies, Composite Development Corp).

Throughout his career he has had extensive experience in sales/marketing, establishing and motivating field sales forces (direct or reps), forecasting, business plan organization and implementation, strategic planning, managing internal corporate cultural change and in creating both internal and external systems to facilitate communication within the corporate structure.

He was first Executive Director for both the NASA Technology Transfer Center for the State of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Manufacturing Extension Center (RIMES), a US Department of Commerce funded program.

Mr. Girouard is a frequent lecturer at regional colleges/universities and other venues discussing the difficulties of negotiating the growth curve for small entrepreneurial companies. He also served on the Boards of the Slater Mill (5 years) and RIMES (5 years) and was the “chair” of RI Manufacturing Week (1998) that attracted 2000 people to various locations in Rhode Island to raise awareness of the importance of manufacturing to the Rhode Island economy.

John Nelson
Owner/Manager, The Capital Connection
Hometown: Newport, RI

Whether it's consulting, writing or speaking, John Nelson brings a depth of experience to the field of business development. John has over 35 years of banking and business experience in commercial lending, entrepreneurial activities, business development, credit, operations, personnel administration, and multi-branch management.

John is the author of The Plan, a business plan workbook, as well as Understanding Commercial Lending, a question and answer guide. John is also a lecturer on entrepreneurial and finance topics, and has been invited to speak at many educational conferences.

John Nelson is the owner and manager of the Capital Connection which specializes in financial consulting, business planning to raise capital, seminars for small business, and placement of debt and equity capital. In addition, John is also a certified consultant for the RI Small Business Development Center.

Whether lecturing on small business finance topics or helping small business owners obtain loans, John Nelson has dedicated his career to the entrepreneurial spirit. He was named the Small Business Administration/SBA Financial Advocate of the Year in 1989, 1994 and 1999, marking the third time he won the prestigious award. John was also an invited speaker at the 2002 ASBDC conference in Nashville, as well as the 2003 ASBDC conference in San Diego.