Action Planners Corp (a consulting and collaborative group) focuses on helping small businesses make growth plans and find financing; as well as on work with non-profit agencies on Strategic Plans and Fundraising. Turn around situations and/or start-up, early stage, operations in business or the non-profit sector are a specialty.APC has been my full-time core practice for 40+ years, except when taking on a position with an organization as their employee. In those cases, I have often continued with consulting assignments or training activities which do not conflict with my main commitment. I have secured, and often administered, numerous federal, state, and/or foundation grants; ranging from $10,000 to over $1 million. Equity financing is another area I have been effective in developing; as well as general fund raising and special event projects. Organizing and/or leading informal groups to take focused action on specific objectives lies at the core of these efforts. Developing and leading teams, as well as forging and negotiating engagements or contracts, is a key feature of such efforts; including MOAs and collaborative arrangements, among others.

Led community efforts promoting the development of the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood; including the revision and updating of the St. Paul City strategic plan for the area in close engagement with the entire community. A key activity was forming and leading collaborative efforts by 50+ organizations, businesses, and educational institutions to identify and engage improvement efforts impacting local businesses, schools, housing, parks, and youth. We developed documentaries for the local PBS TV station and published a monthly newspaper mailed to over 7000 households and businesses. www.daytonsbluff.org

General Management of this association of CDC Executive Directors focused on Community Development, Micro-lending and Small Business Development, as well as Affordable Housing. Management of several small business lending funds, including micro-loan funds, was a major activity. MCCD was a certified SBA micro-lending agency at the time, and utilized funds from other public and private sources to help develop over 100 small businesses. www.mccdmn.org

Developed and/or coordinated Wilder program activity to empower and assist local residents and organizations seeking to improve the West Side community and, later, two others in St.Paul. Effort was substantially focused on collaborative action with organizations, businesses, and residents via the formation and strengthening of informal associations of individuals within, and without, the community. www.wilder.org

Manufactured and distributed set-back thermostats and microwave burglar alarms. Our Energy Watch 2000 was one of the first programmable thermostats utilizing programmable chip technology. It won several awards and was featured on the "Good Morning America" show in the early 80s. I formed the management and marketing team, and developed its first stage financing via private placements and a successful IPO. Company was merged with a commercial controls company in 1983.