AccessEN Expert Panel to Address Strategies for Businesses Poised To Move to the Next Level

March 19, 2012 - PRLog -- COSTA MESA, Calif.– An engaging and expert panel will bring actionable ideas and real-life examples to business founders, CEOs or stakeholders for moving a business to the next level of success at the Access Executive Network monthly forum on March 20, 2012 at 6:00 PM at the Center Club, 650 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, Calif.

According to Ed Inal, AccessEN chairman, the interactive discussion will focus on companies that have been successful at growing the business to its current level and managing the critical aspects of revenue, customer support, technology, and human resources. If operations have reached a plateau, however, strategies must be implemented to:
• Increase revenue that has flattened or worse – declined
• Revive sales and win new customers – in current and new market segments
• Insure the right talent is in place for where the company needs to go
• Measure – and reward – team performance that gets the company to its goals
• Manage the board of directors so they support these efforts – and get out of the way when they should

Panelist Bios
• A self-proclaimed small business and entrepreneur’s advocate, Kirsten Mangers is the president of Companies with Causes, a consultancy firm and incubator for entrepreneurial companies making a difference in our new economy as well as traditional organizations seeking an elevation in corporate and social consciousness. Prior to Companies with Causes, she was the founder and CEO of WebVisible, a SaaS platform helping local businesses acquire new customers, Ms. Mangers led the expansion of the company via diverse partnerships across 14 countries, raising over $35 million in venture backing and growing the company from 8 employees to over 350.  WebVisible’s domestic and international reseller partnerships included AT&T, British Telecom, Intuit, European Directories, Microsoft, and The New York Times Company, among others. She is chairman of the board for the Alzheimer’s Association of Orange County, chair of their Visionary Women’s Circle, and chairwoman of the Technology Leadership Political Action Committee, board member of the Chapman Leatherby School for Entrepreneurship, and a board member of ACCESS Executive Network.

• Ken Sobaski is a president/CEO/advisor and coach to small and mid-sized companies. He is a visionary, strategic leader with a history of significantly growing businesses across five different industries: consumer food, consumer services, recreational products, giftware/collectibles, and online education. Mr. Sobaski has turned around toplines by driving cultural change, creating a new vision and defining the strategies to achieve that vision; improving operations, building executional excellence and higher accountability while consistently delivering plan; building high performing teams by hiring/retaining key talent while improving cross functional teamwork and collaboration; and delivering marketing and sales successes: building brands, igniting sales teams, repositioning/re-segmenting the business, accelerating new business development and developing external focus on customers, consumers, and competition.

• Rhonda Handke is principal and interim CEO with One Accord, and a creative executive with more than 20 years of experience leading organizations to the next level.   Her achievements include organic revenue growth exceeding $2B throughout her career. She repackaged a telecom supply chain company offering from a distribution model to an outsourcing model, growing the business from $50M annually to nearly $700M in less than 3 years. In her next venture, Ms. Handke led a midsized, narrowly focused telecom company to broaden their product lines and market reach, ultimately creating the #2 global player in a B2B service business. In addition, she led this company to enter into manufacturing with the acquisition of several product lines building customer breadth worldwide and becoming a core profit center for the company. In her most recent endeavor in the for profit education space, she recognized and acted on untapped market trends, growing revenue 27% with EBITDA growth of 40% year over year - building a trajectory of sustainable growth in the years to follow. Ms. Handle is forward thinking, strategic, creative and high energy which inspires the best of those around her to achieve their full potential.

Admission to the event is $45 for non-members and $25 for students. Space is limited; pre-registration may be required to ensure seating. Register online at http://www.accessen.org.

AccessEN sponsors include Daly-Swartz Public Relations; Latisys; Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth; The Center Club; Sandler Training; BridgeGate; TriNet; and CyberianSoft.

About Access Executive Network
Access Executive Network (http://www.accessen.org) is dedicated to bringing together leaders and senior executives to enhance professional connections and give back to the community. AccessEN focuses on helping other entrepreneurs and executives by sharing knowledge and expertise. With strong ties to the community and a desire to not only support each other, but also to support the community at large, AccessEN has quickly grown to be a well-known presence in Orange County with an eye to expanding throughout Southern California.

Contact:
Daly-Swartz PR for AccessEN
Jeffrey Swartz, 949-470-0075
jeffreyswartz@dsprel.com