Fall 2001 Issue

Ask a PBA

It is 9:00 a.m. on Monday morning and for the last hour you have been staring at a blank piece of paper. This paper should contain your strategic plan for growth but for some reason you are just stuck. You know you have to get this done and that no one else but you, the CEO, can do this. You need help or just a little guidance in the right direction. But where in the world can you find this type of help? As you sit staring at the paper with your frustration mounting, the phone rings. Saved by the phone - with relief you answer it. You hear the familiar voice of a manufacturing specialist from the South Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership (SCMEP). As you begin explaining your current dilemma, the manufacturing specialist realizes you need a PBA. Thinking he has lost his mind, you inquire - What exactly is a PBA?

A Professional Business Advisor, or PBA, is a new program being offered by the SCMEP. This program is designed to specifically help CEOs transform and grow their companies. Through weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly meetings, a PBA works with the CEO to guide them in developing strategic growth plans, organizational assessment of the company, financial analysis, and any other enterprise-wide transformation of the company that needs to take place. Over the course of a year, a professional business advisor will end up spending about five to eight days each month one-on-one with the CEO. "We guide CEOs and serve as a mentor to help them create and implement a vision and strategy for improved profitability and growth," said Chuck Spangler, vice president of field operations for SCMEP.

Spangler participated in the pilot program committee with 10 other MEPs across the nation, and is currently the only PBA the SCMEP has on staff. "But we plan to change that by the end of this year," added Spangler. "I have three people in the middle of completing their PBA certifications from NIST right now. By next August we plan to have six PBAs on staff at the SCMEP." The SCMEP is one of a handful of MEPs nationwide that has implemented this new program.

To learn more about the PBA program or to have a PBA work with your company, contact Chuck Spangler at 864-288-5687 ext. 210 or cspangler@scmep.org.