Lorraine Rieger McGregor – Biography

Lorraine McGregor is the founder and a partner in Spirit West Management. With her partner and husband Rob McGregor, they have done pioneering work in how to grow a company. By focusing on the business as an interdependent system that founders or flourishes based on how well information flows amongst employees and leaders, they have achieved success for more than 100 clients since 1990.

Most consultants work in functional areas which reinforce the silo problem of us versus them that retards growth, performance and effectiveness. Lorraine looks at the company as a whole with many levers that need fine tuning, improving processes, exchange and strategy so the company achieves its goals. She and Rob use their Smart Team Toolbox which are the tools and techniques they developed to change how people think, lead and manage individually and in groups.

As one of the first people to work in the Clean Tech space, Lorraine made a name for herself in the US as a business development specialist by helping get technology for water, wastewater treatment, alternative energy and other environmental solutions to market.

As an Mergers & Acquisition specialist, she works with owners and shareholders to prepare their companies so they are actually saleable, worth their desired exit price and to be attractive to target investors.

Lorraine is the former President of the Association for Corporate Growth, Vancouver Chapter the leading M&A authority in North America. She holds a Masters in Business Administration from Simon Fraser University, a Marketing Diploma from the BC Institute of Technology and Design Arts Diploma from Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology.

What’s Lorraine Been Doing Lately ?

• Giving a webinar for Community Banks on how to think like a buyer and make their bank more profitable and saleable. December 2011
• Co-author with Rob McGregor of the book and Playbook “Fast Track Secrets for Making Your Business Saleable” Published November 2011.
• Contributed to the development of “Secrets of the 1% Difference” an online training course and DVD on how to improve profitability through employee engagement.
• Wrote two articles as a guest columnist for BC Business Magazine (Dec 2008) and Business in Vancouver (Nov 24, 2008).
• Guest lecturer at Simon Fraser University on how to grow a company with an exit strategy in mind and how to develop a marketing strategy to grow a software technology company.
• Elected President in 2008 of the Vancouver Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth, www.ACG.org
• Developed www.MakeYourBusinessSaleable.com, the first online website to provide video based learning for how to prepare a company so it actually will attract a buyer.
• Joined the board of A W.I.S.H, A World Institute for a Sustainable Humanity www.AWISH.NET which fosters sustainability projects around the world

Rob McGregor – Biography

Partner and People Performance Specialist. Rob is a founder, coach and senior consultant working with business leaders who want their companies to grow but are struggling with people management issues.

He is the co-developer of the Smart Team Toolbox which is what we use to help people learn how to change how they think, lead and manage to get the high performance results a business owner needs to move off a plateau.

Rob’s career has been devoted to helping people grow as leaders, managers and followers in the US and Canada.

As a former budget officer in a Government of Saskatchewan ministry he helped grow the ministry and then, with imposed budget restraints, he led a downsizing process that made sense for clients and the public purse. He understands that having the right indicators help to make the right decisions but it is leading and managing people effectively through the impact of those decisions that brings the rewards.

Rob has served the military and health care institutions as a Chaplain, taught and coached conflict resolution at the Justice Institute of BC and led leadership teams on numerous strategy sessions on how to motivate them out of sticky situations and into high performance. He has worked with CEO’s in manufacturing, engineering, construction, mechanical service industry, software, advertising, public relations, retail grocery, health care, and education.

Rob also manages our engagements to ensure our clients get what they need, when they need it, takes care of our valued associates and improves our own systems and processes.

Rob holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, a Masters of Divinity, a Masters of Business Administration, and a Certificate in Conflict Resolution.

What’s Rob Been Doing Lately:

• Co-author of “Fast-Track Secrets for Making Your Business Saleable” published by Infinity Publishing November 2011 and available on Amazon.
• Coaching MBA students in the fine art of negotiation when the heat is on.
• Presented a paper at the Gallup Leadership Institute Summit on Leadership 2006 in Washington DC.
• Created the theory of Followership Intelligence (FQ): Leading so others can follow effectively; Following so leaders can lead effectively.
• Followership Intelligence was selected by the Gallup Leadership Institute in the University of Nebraska business school to be one of their international research projects.
• Co-authored a qualitative paper on Followership which was published in The Leadership Quarterly in 2010.
• Loving sailing his Catalina 34 and playing the electric guitar.