key executive retention Archives

Midtown Business Radio

Romanoff Renovations and Solution Road

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Romanoff Renovations and Solution Road

This week I was joined in studio by guest co-host, Bo Wilkins, of Sound River Advisors. Sound River Advisors is a collection of experts who help privately-held businesses create compensation packages designed to retain key high-value executives. Their compensation plans help preserve the owners’ equity in their business while rewarding the leaders who have helped build the business.

We sat down with Doug Romanoff, founder of Romanoff Renovations, a flooring installation company he started in 1974. Doug described how, as a young man recently out of college, he decided he wanted to start his own company after working for another company for a while. He shared how at the time, he had only $300 in his bank account. So, he would buy some discontinued carpeting nearby, go into the city and market it to apartment complexes that were renovating, selling them the product he’d bought and installing it for them.

Over the ensuing 40 years he became one of Home Depot’s largest contractors, installing their flooring at over 400 of their locations around the country. His business has grown from that one man start-up to a business with over 2000 installers, billing over $100 million per year.

We also talked about how he established a charitable foundation through the company called The Romanoff Foundation, focused on helping individuals and families in the community who are struggling.

Solution Road is a not-for-profit whose mission is to help organizations in need of fundraising. Sarah Smith and her colleague, Charlie Craig, came by to talk about how they put their skills at relationship-building to work for the organizations they serve to help them achieve their goals.

This new company’s first client is GeoVax, an Atlanta-based organization that is in the later stages of testing the vaccine they have developed to prevent HIV. GeoVax is also now actively working to develop a vaccine that will successfully prevent Ebola as well.

Sarah and Charlie explained how rewarding it is for them to be helping an organization with such far-reaching impact if they are successful in their efforts. We were pleased to help them tell their story!

Special Guests:

Bo Wilkins, Partner, SoundRiver Advisors

Former Executive Managing Director, Wealth Management, Reliance Trust Company
Former Partner, Nease, Lagana, Eden, & Culley
BA, History & German, Hampden-Sydney College
CLU – Chartered Life Underwriter; ChFC – Chartered Financial Consultant; CAP – Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy

Doug Romanoff, CEO/Founder, of Romanoff Renovations

Sarah K. Smith, CEO/Founder, of Solution Road

Masters Degree, English, University of Essex
Previous Director, Corporate Marketing, Emory University
Former Vice President, The Emmy Awards Foundation
Previous Director, Special Projects, TEDx Peachtree

Charlie Craig, COO of Solution Road

Master of Arts, Bioethics, Emory University
Master’s Degree, Journalism, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College
Previous Author and Editor, Global Technology Report, Ernst & Young
Former President, Georgia Bio

SoundRiver Advisors and Emerging Artist Network

This week we sat down with experts from SoundRiver Advisors and Emerging Artist Network. Bo Wilkins, one of the experts from SoundRiver Advisors who focuses on insurance strategies and solutions came back on and introduced us to Dave Sutton of Emerging Artist Network. Dave brought along his partner, well-known guitarist, Peter Stroud. SoundRiver Advisors is an Atlanta firm whose team is made up of investment finance, insurance, and tax experts. They work with privately-held companies to help them plan compensation packages for key executives as well as position themselves for generational transition.

Bo introduced me to Dave Sutton, who along with Peter Stroud and Dan Lipson, had started a technology company called Emerging Artist Network. With his extensive background as a marketing expert with TopRight Partners charged with helping companies expand their brands’ awareness, he saw an opportunity to fill a void in the entertainment industry. Dave has leveraged this experience with brand development and marketing with a passion for music to help develop a technology platform that utilizes a collection of data points about emerging bands as well as brands. The data enables Emerging Artist Network to use gamification and analytics to match brands seeking to grow to emerging artists whose data profile and band dynamic matches the picture for that particular brand. Peter Stroud has been a touring musician with a long list of artists such as Sheryl Crow, Sara McLaughlin, Don Henley, Peter Droge, and numerous others. He co-founded the boutique amplifier company, “65amps“, whose amps are used by a host of accomplished artists as well.

Dave and Peter talked about how challenging the music business is now for artists to make money on their music, outside of touring. In today’s digital age that has changed the way fans purchase music, royalties have declined significantly. That means emerging artists must look for sources of revenue to support their creative efforts and recording costs through such channels as strategic relationships with brands willing to sponsor their work. Peter talked about how securing sponsorship has often had a negative stigma in the music industry among artists, being viewed as “Selling out”. Emerging Artist Network seeks to get to know a band, their style/genre, and their listeners and using innovative algorithms, they’re able to match artists with brands who are looking to include musical acts in their brand awareness campaigns. As Peter and Dave described, they seek to let the bands they work with be who they are rather than seeking to change them to fit a sponsor. I look forward to having them back on the show to feature a delighted brand they were able to link up with a band.

Special Guests