Say Hello to Ron Roberts
Ron has been deeply immersed in the construction industry since the day he walked out of the University of Oklahoma with his Mechanical Engineering degree in one hand and an offer to work for a large, industrially focused consulting engineering firm in the other.
Ron eventually earned his license (vowing never to take that nasty exam ever again) and toiled as an engineer before getting bored and heading off to night school to earn his MBA. Upon completion of that degree he joined up with the Pinnacle Performance Group, a management consulting and people development firm that served two distinct clients: contractors and manufacturers.
That combination of clients enabled Ron to transfer many of the cutting edge Total Quality Management techniques that were standard practice in the manufacturing world to the construction world where they were truly foreign concepts. Pinnacle’s rather rare embracing of people development and business systems gave Ron an ability to create systems that could be and would be performed consistently by the people inhabiting them.
After Pinnacle closed its doors so that its owners could pursue new dreams - despite being extremely well known nationally among paving contractors, concrete contractors, and general contractors - Ron took a position as the General Manager of a commercial general contractor. He took that position mostly out of curiosity to see how general contractors really think and behave.
Ron then moved on to help out a friend who was in serious financial trouble with his site utilities firm. Unfortunately, the patient turned out to be terminal despite immense efforts by Ron and the company’s amazingly gifted Operations Manager, Mr. Steve Pittsenbarger.
Next, Ron took a position as an Owner’s Representative. He figured "What the heck. Might as well confirm that owner’s think and act like I think they think and act." He served as the owner’s representative overseeing the construction of $100 million project.
In the mean time, Ron decided open up his own consulting practice. He had previously concluded that a coaching model was the best approach for helping contractors build their business, so he created The Contractor’s Business Coach.
A few months down the road, while at a trade show, Ron ran into his most talented former client, Mr. Guy Gruenberg, and learned that Guy had set up his own consulting firm. After comparing notes, strategies, philosophies, solutions, and personal values Ron and Guy became fast friends and decided to merge their two practices.
Ron’s vast and varied background in the industry has given him a clear understanding of the motives and behaviors of the people who populate the industry. Passing those insights on to his clients is what gives them incredible competitive advantage as they move forwards with the development of their business.
Say Hello to Guy Gruenberg
Guy Gruenberg was and is President of Grow Consulting. Grow Consulting focused on helping owners and managers grow the profits of specialized construction companies. He accomplished that through coaching owners and managers on sales, marketing, costing, and hiring the right people.
Guy is formerly the Chief Operating Officer of Rose Paving, and has over 25 years of professional experience in management and sales in the construction industry.
Prior to joining Rose Paving, Guy founded the asphalt division of RAE Products and Chemical Corporation and then served as owner and vice president . RAE manufactured and distributed sealcoat throughout the greater Chicago area.
In the early 90’s, Guy was getting a little bored with his business as it was pretty much running itself, so he entered law school and acquired his law degree. Now, don’t call him a lawyer. He never had any intention of taking the bar or practicing. He just wanted the knowledge of law.
In 1999 The Brewer Company purchased the assets of RAE’s asphalt division and Guy started up a consulting firm prior to being talked into joining Rose Paving.
Among his accomplishments, Guy was honored with the "Best Young Businessman in Chicago" award in 1979. He has written award-winning articles for Chess Life magazine; written, directed, and acted in theater; conducted numerous seminars and keynote speeches for the pavement industry; and has spoken on various motivational topics for mainstream organizations and groups nationwide. In his spare time, Guy enjoys riding his Harley Davidson motorcycles, boating, designing motivational presentations, flying, scuba diving, reading, and chess.