Our Experts

Sean Hutchinson, CEPA, CMAA

Partner, Strategic Development and Partnerships (USA)

Over Sean Hutchinson’s 30 years in business, the most valuable lessons he has learned have been from business owners who generously shared their stories of success and struggle. They have allowed him to offer insights and guidance based on first-hand experiences.

Sean has founded more than half a dozen companies, all of them with partners, some more successful than others. At the age of 34, Sean led a fast-growing global company and was responsible for making big decisions with big implications on a daily basis. Despite having been very green, he was hard-working and quick-learning and the firm became the largest of its kind in the world. Sean is proud to call himself the third-generation heir to his family’s 64-year-old custom millwork manufacturing business. Sean has e sat in your chair many times over the years and the fact remains: he loves being an entrepreneur.

Guillermo Mazier, MBA

Special Advisor, RFN Cities and Contributor, RFN Academy

Guillermo Mazier helps cities, companies and community organizations unlock innovation to feel more confident about their growth and impact in the future. The result is creative, connected and resilient companies in stronger communities.

Guillermo is a global economic development expert who specializes in helping cities and companies innovate and improve. He has had the privilege of teaching and working with over 12,700 government, corporate and university leaders like those from the European Union, the Inter-American Development Bank, US Travel Association, University of Waterloo, Tennessee Valley Authority as well as some of the most notable cities and companies in the world.

Cindy Reid, CFP, ChFC, CLU, TEP, CEPA

Partner, Strategic Development and Partnerships (Canada)

Throughout Cindy Reid’s nearly 30 years as a trusted advisor and instructor in the financial industry, she has endeavoured to deliver the best advice available to clients and advisors alike. Cindy is passionate in her belief that every client has unique needs which require curated advice. Regardless of the complexity of the goal, Cindy believes having a plan is key to achieving success. Whether you are a business owner looking to optimize and properly determine the value of your business or a farmer wanting to successfully transition the family farm between generations, cultivate personal wealth and preserve family legacy, Cindy navigates these landscapes by working through a process to educate and empower clients to create an actionable plan.

Robert J. Johannigman, MBA, CEPA

Senior Advisor

For nearly four decades, Robert Johannigman’s overarching focus has been on impactful strategic planning and merger and acquisition initiatives, with specific attention given to driving successful execution at the corporate level to accelerate sales growth and profitability. Robert has held various leadership roles in a wide variety of companies and industries, including wholesale distribution, semiconductor and sensor technology, spectroscopy, electronic interconnect systems and mobile digital marketing.

Warland Griffith, CFP®, CEPA

Partner, Client Relationship Management

Warland Griffith’s experience as an owner and entrepreneur in the private business world spans more than 35 years over three different industries, including business wealth and value acceleration, personal financial planning and executive search.

As the founder and CEO of a financial planning firm, Warland developed programs and accumulated in-depth experience in personal wealth accumulation, risk reduction, estate planning and tax advantaged income replacement strategies to harvest wealth for retirement. Earlier in his career, he established and ran one of the most successful executive search firms serving the hiring needs of Fortune 500 companies. Warland has worked closely with company executives and been exposed to a wide spectrum of business-related disciplines, including manufacturing and distribution, sales and marketing, finance, human resources and organizational leadership.

John B. Lazar, MA, MCC, NCOC™

Director

John Lazar has been a coach and performance consultant since 1983, with more than 20 years spent as an executive coach to CEOs, presidents, partners, business owners, executives and senior managers at a variety of organizations. At RFN Advisory Group, John’s role is to ensure our coaches support your success in a way that works for you and your needs.

John works with leaders and their teams to shift mindsets, align values, develop more effective practices and improve results. He is a board member of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) and has been a member since 1981. John has worked with clients on five continents and given more than 90 presentations and workshops in the US, Canada, Mexico, England, Belgium, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, India and China.

Joe Slatter

Senior Advisor

Joe Slatter is the creator of the Better Practice methodology which, is the underlying framework for RFN Advisory Group’s ‘Decision Dynamics’ sprint and ‘Leadership Accelerator’. Joe’s mission is to help individuals, organizations and communities accelerate toward “better”; however they choose to define it.

Joe has lived in six countries and worked extensively with global, cross-functional and highly distributed teams. He created Better Practice with the belief that teams, organizations and communities can improve their performance by establishing a common sense and listening to each other.

Alistair Stewart, CEPA, MSC

Senior Advisor

Family owned businesses are in Alistair Stewart’s blood. Being involved in his grandfather’s business gave Alistair early insights into what must go right if a business wants to attain lasting success. Much of Alistair’s professional career has been spent helping the owners of small and medium size manufacturing businesses clarify what success means to them so they can achieve it.

After graduating from Plymouth University (U.K.), Alistair worked as an accountant in a variety of large corporations. His work there led him to a position in the US, and then to the US Department of Commerce’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), with an intense focus on growth, profitability and value creation for small and medium-size manufacturers

Kim Powell, CM

Kim Powell has been a marketing communications specialist for nearly 25 years. In that time she has worked with a variety of companies and organizations to help them define their point of difference and work to improve public opinion. Kim as worked as a communications professional both on staff and as a consultant for a number of companies including owner managed. Kim has achieved her Chartered Marketer (CM) designation from the Canadian Marketing Association.

Jennifer Davis, B Comm (Hons)

With more than 20 years in the financial industry, she is an experienced, effective communicator who excels in educating, guiding and building relationships with advisors and business owners.

She has been called upon to present to and educate advisors and clients on strategies to preserve and transfer wealth, as well as a variety of other tax, estate and exit planning topics.

Janyce Fadden

Director of Strategic Engagement University of North Alabama

Janyce's role includes implementing an innovation pipeline strategy called Shoals Shift Project and other business engagement projects.

Fadden also served in various capacities as President, Vice President, and General Manager for major corporations including Honeywell and Danaher. She is experienced in lean management and leadership which has resulted in many achievements over her career.

Rex Northen

Rex holds an M.A. from Oxford University and has helped launch and operate more startups than many of us will meet in several lifetimes. He has spent 18 years in IT of which 12 years as CEO, followed by a decade in cleantech.