Supporting Economic Growth
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Leadership

Cheetah Development believes that the best leaders are great at releasing the potential in people around them. In this way and others they must continually strive to be the servants of all.

 

Raymond Menard

Executive Director, Chairman of the Board of Directors

Ray Menard visited Tanzania in 2008. It was being a business startup and development expert that led him to notice the challenges facing small businesses in Tanzania. After exploring the issues of small business capitalization and mentoring he identified a model to help small businesses start and grow. After a half year of intensive study and the frequent encouragement of many people experienced in third world development, he decided to apply his experience in a new direction.

Although Ray excelled in his biochemistry studies at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, he never worked directly in the field. Instead, his career was unusually varied across several industries including industrial products, manufacturing, services, call centers, distribution, consumer electronics, software, medical devices, etc., usually working at the C-level or as a consultant. As a result, Ray possesses an extraordinarily varied set of skills, the result of wearing a lot of hats, being shifted to the critical and risk-laden projects within companies, and a personal wide-ranging interest. However, at all times, Ray has recognized that human resources are the primary path to success for any company. It is the nurturing and recognition of talent that delivers value to the customers, the company, the shareholders, and full circle back to the employees.

Sometimes the developed world is suddenly flung back in time. This was the case in lower Manhattan on 9/11 when the power systems, transportation, and communication grid were all significantly damaged in one fell swoop. At the World Trade Center recovery effort, Ray led the critical path task: the logistics and security for all debris hauling. In a setting of extreme pressure, hazardous environment, snarled traffic, failed communications, and oversight by over 20 agencies, he brought a solution on-line within three weeks. As a direct result, clean-up completed at less than 1/4 of expected time and budget, saving $billions.
 
Mr. Menard has 30 years experience and has held the following titles: CEO, COO, Board Member, SVP Marketing and Sales, SVP Business Development in New Technologies, Division Manager, Director of Product Management, Director of Alliances, and Founder. He has worked in start-ups, growth, turn-around and Fortune 500 situations in local, national and international settings. He has worked for VIC Manufacturing, Criticom International, and Autodesk among many others. He holds 14 patents in three different industries and has been a frequent speaker and trade journal author. He is married and has three daughters.

 

Russell Myers

Vice President Development

Russell has over 30 years of sales, marketing and management experience and attended the University of Oklahoma. He is nationally recognized expert in access control, camera and door hardware system design and installation processes.
Russ as part owner served Vice President of Sales for Security Solutions USA a start-up company from 1983 to retirement in 2009. Here are some career highlights:

 

 

• 1984 Established the first national sub-contract network of service providers of any kind
• 1984 to 2009 Managed the logistics for many national installation projects up to 8500 locations in size.
• 1984 to 2009 Established and managed a customer care call center managing over 150K accounts
• 1998 Won the Black Gold Award of Excellence for brochures layout and design
• 1999 Help design and demonstrate the first wireless video transmission across an 802.11b network.
• 2000 Help manage several national security trade show events.
• 2002 Co-Author an ISO Sales System manual.
• 2007 one of the first 20 people to hold the Physical Security Network Professional designation for the International Security Council.

Russell has been married for 39 years to Janis and lives in Mustang, Oklahoma. He has two sons that are married and three grand-children. He currently serves as a Deacon and church treasurer at Chisholm Heights Baptist Church.

 

 

Board of Directors

Danita Bye

Danita Bye is the CEO of Sales Growth Specialists, which she founded in 1997. Her road-tested “no excuses” approach to achieving sales success has been implemented by many businesses through her two most popular programs, the Sales Turnaround and the Sales Acceleration Programs. She brings to Cheetah Development a wealth of experience, discipline, entrepreneurial spirit and drive that has delivered uncommonly profitable results for her clients. She is also a sought-after speaker, guest lecturer and has published numerous articles and e-books.

Her experience in sales dates back to when she was a President’s Club Performer for a Fortune 500 Company at the age of 22. Ten years later she took an equity position and became part of the turnaround management team for a small, struggling medical device company. As an equity partner and national manager of Micro-Tech’s sales turnaround team, Danita grew $300,000 in annual revenue into $10 Million in just seven years. Danita Bye is serving on the boards for National Speakers Association Minnesota Chapter and Triple T Enterprises. She is married with three children and still finds the time to study for her Masters in Transformational Leadership at the Bethel University.

 

Dr. Mark Ereth

Mayo Clinic physician and Associate Professor of Anesthesiology with subspecialty training and practice in cardiovascular anesthesiology. He graduated from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine, and the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine.

Dr. Ereth is an internationally known expert in anesthesiology, transfusion, platelet function, and blood management who is a frequent speaker at medical schools and hospitals around the world. He has experience consulting with medical products companies, startups, and medical services in the US, Europe and the Middle East, He is also a Founding Board Member of Zybac. Dr. Ereth leads a multidisciplinary research group at Mayo, has had more than 100 research papers and abstracts published, and holds several US patents for medical devices.

 

Bob Stewart

Bob Stewart brings more than 25 years of business experience to serve the needs of Cheetah Development, including management roles for Cargill, Inc. and Surface Mount Taping Corporation. Currently Bob is a business consultant and private equity investor with Platinum Group, based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. He serves on several for-profit corporate Boards. His background includes corporate, securities and transactions law at Fredrikson & Byron and auditing for Price Waterhouse and Company. For six years, Bob was president and director of the Merchants’ Exchange, the oldest organized commodity exchange in North America.

Bob has significant experience in multi-national business ventures, particularly in Asia. Bob and his family lived in Kuala Lumpur for several years during his tenure with Cargill. He also served the United States as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Bob holds a law degree from the University of Virginia and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Notre Dame. Although he does not maintain his professional licenses, he is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a member of the Minnesota State Bar.

Bob is married, resides in Edina, Minnesota and is active in school, scouting and youth sports activities for his three children.

 

Key Advisors

Mark Moxness

Chief Legal Counsel

A shareholder at Krass Monroe, P.A., Mark heads up the firm’s estate and small business planning groups. With extensive experience in the practice of tax and corporate law, Mark assists clients in the following areas:

• Estate planning
• Wealth preservation
• Closely-held business/corporate transactions and structuring
• ESOP implementation
• Business transition and exit planning

In addition, Mark is committed to providing results-oriented outside legal counsel and related services to emerging businesses.

Prior to joining the firm, Mark practiced tax law in San Diego with the international accounting firm Deloitte & Touche. He then moved to a mid-sized law firm in Southern California where his practice emphasized tax law, estate planning, real estate and corporate law. During that time, he received certification from the California Board of Legal Specialization as a certified specialist, taxation law.