Charlie Garrard is an entrepreneur with a track record of creating successful companies. He was born in Italy and educated in the UK where he earned his Mechanical Engineering degree from Newcastle University. Charlie went to work with General Motors in Australia where he came to realize that he didn't have the tolerance for being a small cog in a large wheel.
In 1991 he joined Hagen & Co, a small consulting company in the UK as their fourth employee. Charlie quickly built a reputation for offering his clients straightforward solutions to complex problems. Five years later he left the UK to start up Hagen's US office, this was the first real test of his entrepreneurial spirit. Charlie arrived in Boston without a home to live in, no office to work out of, or clients to work with. Within 24 months the new business had surpassed all previous revenue records and had grown to be the largest of the three subsidiaries.
In 2001 Charlie founded Stroud Consulting. While the majority of consulting companies were suffering a major downturn Charlie led the US business from a fledgling company to a robust professional service firm that grew on average at 40% per year. Today Stroud has over 60 professional staff based in the USA, Europe and Australia. It is not not only recognized for its client work, but also as one of the best places to work. In 2008 Stroud was voted "Best Small Consulting Company to work for" by Consulting Magazine.
Throughout his consulting career Charlie became recognized for his ability to develop long lasting client relationships with senior executives at Fortune 500 companies. Along with his colleagues he developed processes for analyzing businesses and finding straight forward ways to improve their operating performance.
Charlie's experience in the consulting world has given him a network of people that he can turn to for advice, and the confidence to see that opportunity lies everywhere if you can just look at it through the right set of eyes.
In 2008 Charlie decided it was time for a new adventure, he transitioned from his role as Managing Director and sold his majority stake in Stroud Consulting. Together with Tim Wadlow he formed Penion Group as a vehicle to help them find and acquire a small to midsize Boston area company.
Charlie is married to Jeannie and has two children. In his free time he enjoys sailing and skiing.
Tim Wadlow combines technical expertise with broad business and interpersonal skills. After graduating with honors from Boston University's Engineering program he entered the world of operations consulting by joining Hagen & Co.
Equations and theories were things of the past. Tim thrived in real world situations where clients valued his ability to solve complex practical problems. Quaker Oats, Kimberly-Clark, Cadbury-Schweppes and Smurfit-Stone offered a variety of exciting and rewarding client engagements. Over the years Tim pushed himself to develop his abilities to work seamlessly with all levels of the client organization, from the shop floor to the boardroom.
With Hagen & Co, and later Stroud Consulting, Tim worked with large clients in many different industries and in many locations around the world. Typical engagements realized 10-30% operational improvement in only a few months and generated bottom line savings in the millions of dollars.
Since 2004 Tim has been consulting with small and medium sized New England companies. His projects have involved medical devices, paper, food, metal fabrication and semiconductor manufacturing. In each case he has found that the same skills he used to lead change at fortune 500 companies can be successfully applied at smaller privately held businesses.
Following his successful consulting career Tim co-founded Penion Group to leverage his consulting expertise and pursue his passion of owning and operating small to mid-size New England companies.
When not working with clients Tim is a world-class athlete in the competitive sport of sailing. While at Boston University he was a three-time collegiate All-American and College Sailor of the Year. Tim represented the US at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. At the 2008 Beijing Games he was selected to be the Captain of the US Olympic Sailing Team.
Tim and his wife Ery live in Beverly, Massachusetts.
