MARABEK - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Business Intelligence Analyst
- Member of the Business
At Marabek, Brock is a critical member of the business intelligence research and market development team. He actively helps clients assess their SWOT, market competitiveness, IP portfolio, financial and capital models as well as provide intel on core business metrics. Brock oversees several projects and provides data analysis on key business drivers using qualitative and quantitative information from market and industry sources. His primary role also involves helping Marabek Partners and Directors identify strategic options to help execute a successful plan for both organic and inorganic corporate development.
Brock Wright Graduated from Oklahoma State University in 2020 with a Bachelor's of Science in Finance. Brock has business experience in investment banking and has worked with the Oklahoma State University Technology Development Center to expand his knowledge in intellectual property and with Cowboy Technologies to enhance his understanding of business development. Brock is pursuing his masters degree in Agribusiness at Oklahoma State University.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Executive Director - NAFTA
At Marabek, Carolina is a critical member of our NAFTA manufacturing and market development strategy. She focuses on leveraging business and operational information to create SWOT analysis. Carolina works closely with clients to assess their CRM and business development tools to mine customer based intelligence to create competitive strategies. She oversees several projects and provides data analysis on key business drivers using qualitative and quantitative information from market and industry sources. She supports Marabek identify strategic options to help execute a successful plans for both organic and inorganic corporate development.
Carolina's expertise in supply chain involve inventory and purchase pricing strategies. Her experience in SIOP (Sales, Inventory, Operations and Planning) gives Marabek's clients a broad range of options when reforming their manufacturing operations and profit analysis. She brings market research and trend based insights to help clients exercise well defined production plans.
Carolina resides in Monterrey, Mexico and has worked with multinational firms across the globe. She is experienced in cross-border trade and business development.
As a Partner at Marabek, Chad brings his deep global entrepreneurial executive experience in agribusiness, including bovine genetics, food manufacturing, specialty crops, row crops, and regenerative agriculture. Extensive sector knowledge within beef, dairy, crop protection, carbon markets, and specialty foods.
Recognized as a rainmaker and integrator, Chad grows companies, builds new ones, and creates inclusive corporate cultures. Chad has conceptualized and launched multiple start-ups in his career, along with establishing numerous joint ventures and partnerships across supply chains and value streams.
Chad has a proven track record of project management, change management, and growing sales across a wide range of operations. He has developed commercial markets & negotiated joint ventures, re capitalization plans within his deep network of investment funds, strategic partners, and others. He leverages his experiences to assist Marabek's global clients with specific interests in food, agriculture, agro-tech and related supply chains.
Chad's twenty-five years in the agribusiness, supply chain, and manufacturing sector begins at the genetic level, where he led a bovine genetics start-up. He also started a milk procurement company that grew into a manufacturing company that sold to all classes of trade. Chad has worked with most dairy products as either a CEO, contract manufacturing vendor, business development consultant contracted by manufacturers, or broker of finished goods in the US and globally. Chad has a unique ability of unifying teams and commercializing strategic plans.
Chad's strategic leadership, team development, regulatory, and government affairs experience, and communication ability is exceptional. His enthusiasm and passion are contagious. He is equally confident walking farms with dairy, beef, or crop farmers to delivering impactful board presentations.
Chad lives in Wisconsin with his wife of twenty-six years, Jo Ann. They have two adult children and one grandson.
Dr. Daniel Maedge is a partner at Marabek and brings 15+ years of expertise and experience in science with focus on chemistry. At the Technical University of Braunschweig he started out with a diploma thesis about polymers used for tissue engineering. In the field of polymer chemistry and surface chemistry he studied the "Grafting of Polymers onto SiO2 Surfaces through Surface-attached Monomers" for his PhD thesis at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau.
As a Partner at Marabek, Dr. Luis Rodriguez, PhD is a highly experienced bilingual educator (Spanish/English), consultant and business administrator with more than 25 years in the business and manufacturing industry. He has deep expertise in developing projects for private and public organizations across Latin America and the Caribbean in the areas of; organizational transformation, business intelligence, quality, project management, corporate training, territory development, and process virtualization. Dr. Rodriguez holds a Ph,D. in Knowledge Management, an MBA in Marketing among several professional certifications.
Dr. Luis' primary role at Marabek is supporting our domestic and global clients expand manufacturing within LATAM and NAFTA regions with exclusive access to government agencies, private and public resources to expedite strategies at competitive costs. His strong network brings high value relationships across a broad spectrum of international economic development groups for product marketing, sales and distribution. His recent LATAM engagements include working closely with companies in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, the Caribbean Islands, Chile, Peru and Argentina.
He serves as an instructional Designer and Course Administrator for the MBA, MSM and DBA programs at Grayson College and Keiser University's Business Graduate School. As a graduate and adjunct professor, he is a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for Strategic Management, Project Management, and Organizational Change. Teach Management and Project Management at the graduate level (MBA, MSM and DBA). He advise graduate students in academic matters as well as advises DBA candidates as a member of Dissertation Committees.
Dr. Luis managed the transition of the local center to a good standing NIST/MEP Center for the State of Puerto Rico and its various agencies such as PRiMEX, the Puerto Rican Manufacturing Extension. PRiMEX is a private non-profit organization, organized in 1996 through the initiative of Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company (PRIDCO) and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership(MEP), a program under the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). As part of a national network, PRiMEX supports the needs of all Puerto Rico's small and medium enterprises (SME's) by providing services to improve their business processes. His other responsibilities included training personnel, managing a Federal Fund Grant plus local matching funds, and the development of NIST/MEP initiatives such as' Lean Manufacturing, Quick Change Over, 5S's, Kaizen, Quality, Value Stream Mapping and others tools. Increased market penetration over 100% for the year 2001 and 2002. He lead the development of Puerto Rico's Manufacturer Profile and created PRiMEX's publications and collateral promotional materials.
Prior to joining PRiMEX, Dr. Luis was a Business Consulting Director at Torres, Llompart, Sanchez, Ruiz, LLC., where he managed the development of the Marketing Consulting Department. Built close personal relationships with key customers. Diversified the firm experience base with non-accounting services such as business consulting, business proposal preparation, sales training, legal support and marketing research for Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. His efforts increased market penetration by 5% and developed a robust campaign with marketing and sales collaterals.
Aside from holding his PhD, Dr. Luis holds various certifications including MPM, CEC, CCA, CMA and CQIA. Luis lives near Dallas, Texas with his wife and children.
Harish is an active Partner at Marabek who brings over 30+ years of expertise in various operational and technical roles with a strong background in chemistry and mechanical engineering. His expertise continues to be in helping global manufacturers in a wide range of industries maximize efficiencies and increase profits. He is a value driver specializing in developing innovative strategies and operational templates to expand margins through asset optimization and utilization.
Since 2002, Harish continues to advise several clients in the area of manufacturing and operational efficiency. He is an expert in identifying Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and realizing operation efficiency and synergy. He maintains a strong record of successes helping public and private manufacturing companies more efficiently utilize their assets, improve maintenance margins, and enhance green environmental footprint. Some of his leadership roles include design of mechanical systems, assemblies, electro-laser optics, and parts.
Harish provides PEs, institutional, public and privately owned companies with professional advisory support in technical and financial assessment, and guidance for current and future Property, Plant & Equipment (PP&E) assets and improved EBIDTA performance for manufacturing clients. In addition, Harish drives full-scale study of an enterprise assets, it's operations to determine actual value, based on output and ability generate future cash flow. He advises stakeholders and companies how to determine actual real value of an enterprise by reconciling financial records, production output, hard asset valuation, and any intellectual properties.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Assistant Director of Tulsa
Over the past 8 years, Jacob has managed over 400 technology projects and startup companies in the US and Europe. As a Partner at Marabek, Jacob brings his global executive experience in medical and innovative med-tech technologies, including his venture capital expertise with an extensive network of institutional and private investors who have a wide array of focus areas. His focus is to identify and progress leading edge technologies that have a strong, commercially viable product-market fit. He provides businesses advisory support in capital raise preparation and positioning through a disciplined process along with Marabek's investment advisory team.
Jacob Mahaffey is currently the Assistant Director of Tulsa, Oklahoma based Cowboy Technologies, where he supports the development of the strategy and activities of the company. Cowboy Technologies was organized in 2011 as a for-profit, limited-liability company owned by the Oklahoma State University (OSU) Research Foundation to be a catalyst for commercializing technology through successful startup companies. Cowboy Technologies also provides sponsored research funding for technologies still at OSU, seed capital investment funding in operational startups, non-dilutive state and federal funding assistance, access to the OSU technology commercialization mentor network, and access to scalable business facilities. OSUCHS has additional funds that are available for early-stage research.
Jacob worked previously for the Intellectual Property (IP) division of Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA). CTCA is a hospital and outpatient system spread across the US and Mexico with commercial entities in Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. Jacob served a variety of roles including directed innovation campaigns to execute long-term strategies to create patient, identification of business and IP value, supported development of an improved informed consent processes, education and articulation of patient rights, and facilitated IP protection measures for healthcare client's trade secrets.
Jacob obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Arkansas and went on to further his education at William Carey University-College of Osteopathic Medicine (WCUCOM). While at WCUCOM, Jacob assisted in presenting innovations with Dialysis Associated Steal Syndrome and other dermatological conditions. To better support business plan development, Jacob obtained a Master's of Operations Management at the University of Arkansas and a Negotiation and Influence certificate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Having a passion for healthcare innovation and research, Jacob furthered his education in law at the University of Tulsa College of Law and Nova Southeastern College of Law. In 2020, Jacob began a research project with Novel Opioid Inhibitors at Oklahoma State University-Center for Health Sciences. Jacob is also the founder of a startup company that has a device to treat lymphedema.
As a Partner at Marabek, Kurt brings more than 30 years of experience in the medical device industry and President/CEO level experience with both public and private medical device, manufacturing, software and telemedicine companies. He also has held a number of general management, M&A, marketing and business development positions with several leading medical device manufacturers, including St. Jude Medical, Medtronic, Carestream Health and LivaNova and most recently CEO of TheraTec.
Kurt has advised private equity firms on mergers, acquisitions and portfolio management ranging from large cap to start-ups in medical devices, telemedicine, medical software and contract manufacturing. Kurt brings extensive experience on both the buy- and sell-side M&A deal structuring for corporate and private equity investors seeking domestic and international opportunities.
He is well respected for his specialized expertise that extend beyond his strong executive leadership experiences, Kurt is a strong advocate for carefully defined strategic Go-To-Market (GTM) planning and analytics and often leads with technical and scientific diligence with deep market intelligence and research. Kurt is often traveling to meet valued clients exploring corporate development opportunities and investments in early ventures, licensing and joint-venture strategies. His global network of senior level executives, directors of boards, multi-national companies and corporate investors uniquely qualify him to help find, execute and lead advanced manufacturing and innovative solutions within Marabek's medical device and med-tech practices.
Mr. Goos holds a Bachelor's degree in Marketing and Business Management from Minnesota State University and a Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of St. Thomas. He enjoys travel and time with his family and is active in the community and is active on several corporate and civic boards including AllerMed Pharmaceuticals, TheraTec, American Heart Association and American Cancer Society.
Job Titles:
- Director - Technology / Team
Matt is a strategic and tactical operations and finance executive. He has extensive experience from a broad range of management and leadership positions in diversified manufacturing, financial, and technology companies, both private and public. Matt possesses extensive experience and expertise in mergers and acquisitions, including strategic valuation modeling, synergistic value creation and complex capitalization structuring.
Prior to co-founding Marabek, Matt was the COO at Pioneer Plastics and Thermotech, a nationally ranked in the top 50 injection molding companies within the automotive, technology, industrial, med-tech and aerospace/defense sectors. While at Pioneer, Matt architected and executed on the company's organic and inorganic growth strategies including the acquisition of Thermotech as well as other stressed and distressed manufacturing companies between the United States, Mexico, and China. Matt helped grow the companies from $3M to $140M in revenue over 12 years. He led the M&A process and sale of Thermotech to private equity group, Insight Equity from Dallas, TX in early 2015.
Most recently through Marabek, Matt took the role of COO with Nortech Systems (NASDAQ: NSYS). In his role at NSI, he oversaw all aspects of the global operations, taking deep measures to impact the financial well-being of the company. Along with significant operational improvements, Nortech generated record annual operating profits, a first in its corporate history.
Core to Matt's focus is creating sustainable dynamic organizations with strong leadership that are focused on achieving operational and financial results for all stakeholders. In his early years, Matt was an investment banker at Boston Group, Salomon Smith Barney, Bear Stearns and American Express Financial Advisors (now Ameriprise) specializing M&A, tax strategies, business planning and investments into the technology, automotive and industrial sectors.
Known for his global travels, Matt was born in India, raised in Bahrain, studied in Los Angeles, CA and now calls Minneapolis, MN his home, He came to the US to complete his undergraduate degree at California Institute of Technology. After earning a BS in computer science, he moved to Minnesota over 25 years ago, later earning his MBA from the University of Minnesota. Matt serves as a board member to several companies and is a Regent and Chair of the Schools of Business and Technology for St. Mary's University of Minnesota. He also holds several certifications in business planning, tax structuring, Alternative Investment Management, Business Analysis, Lean Sigma Quality, among others.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner - Europe, Africa & Middle East
Michael Kuhn has 20 years of experience, including several years in management positions in the European automotive industry with focus on finance.
He held various management positions in the portfolio of a very successful private equity investor, e.g. as non executive board member in the automotive suppler business (EUR 230 million sales, 2,500 employees), plant engineering (EUR 12 million sales, 100 employees) and was CEO of a real estate holding in Italy.
Michael gained experience in a large number of transformation projects in industry, plant engineering and business services. In the course of his M&A activities he realized proceeds of seven times the invested cash. In the course of several buy-side projects Michael covered med-tech, healthcare and industry for private equity and strategic acquirers in Western Europe.
After conducting a training as electronic technician for Daimler, Michael graduated as Industrial engineer and subsequently completed a COO education as well as other leadership related trainings at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. As a native German based in Munich, Michael worked with various European countries and gained international experience while working in China and Singapore.
As Marabek's Managing Partner, Stephanie has over 20 years of executive leadership experience in corporate America after having held executive positions at Fortune 50 companies like Cargill and the Courage Center. Her work has involved all aspects of global including pre- and post-acquisitions, due diligence and post-transaction integration comprising broad aspects of human resource alignment and organizational development. Through her work Stephanie developed a deep knowledge of strategic planning, business consolidations and what resources are required to source, select, lead and execute a turnaround acquisition.
Stephanie brings to Marabek her specialized expertise in real estate asset and investment management with clear understanding of property value and operating costs relative to returns on assets. Using her many proprietary tools, industrial and commercial real estate clients can model and capitalize efficient property uses. Critically, by developing complex utilization models, she can showcase opportunities when to lease, sub-lease, own or transact a sale-leaseback options. She has advised clients navigate the complex real estate capital markets including investments in stressed assets and special situations. More importantly, her extended relationships with private investment and banking firms, offer Marabek's clients capital options. Especially for companies exploring ideas to maximize returns within their real estate holdings. Her international network of real estate firms and professionals are ready to assist clients globally. Over the years, Stephanie has executed and transacted hundreds of commercial, manufacturing, warehouse and industrial real estate properties as well as portfolios for private clients.
Leveraging her business success and experience, she has recently taken on an additional role within her Singaporean based private family office's real estate investment business. Since her involvement, the business has expanded to hold real properties on 3 continents in countries including Australia, United Arab Emirates, and the United States. In her total work experience, she has completed over $500 million worth of transactions. Raised in Australia but born in Singapore, Stephanie is fluent in English and Mandarin.
Currently, she serves on the Strategic Board of Governors at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business and the Nominating Board for the local chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Stephanie holds a BS in psychology from Monash University, Australia, and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2017 she was recognized in the listing of notable "Women in Business" by the Twin Cities Business Journal31. Most recently, in 2018, Stephanie was named as one of the "Top Women in Finance" by Finance and Commerce as well as many other awards for her charitable and business accomplishments.