Category: Profiles

Kelli Maxwell: Helping Start-ups to Amplify their Brands

Since Kelli Maxwell was little, she knew that she wanted to be her own boss, but she wasn’t sure how. “Defiant” is what the adults that raised Kelli would describe her as. She comes from a Montana ranch family with a strong work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit. She worked for a financial firm for ten years and in that time, she worked her way into the position of marketing director. She also discovered that she had a talent and love for marketing, but insurance is boring and old-school advertising methods like newspaper and local tv were on their way out. Kelli didn’t feel fulfilled. It was during this time that she created her first company, Ever After Events, A Princess Party company, where Kelli Maxwell and her team would dress up as popular princess characters and perform at birthday parties and events. This is where Kelli’s gift for working with people and creating authentic content blossomed. She started taking on several freelance clients and decided to quit her full-time job and make the leap to starting her agency.

So, Kelli Maxwell founded Ember Marketing Group, which specializes in Authentic Brand Amplification. Creating videos and content tailored to each client, the agency handles all aspects of digital marketing from content creation to ads, copy, and PR. In the last year, Kelli Maxwell founded another brand of her business, Ember Marketing the Group. This organization is designed for start-ups and small businesses with no marketing budget. A subscription-based private group, it provides knowledge, tips, and action items to market start-ups as well as one on one monthly strategy sessions with each member.

Helping Clients to Grow

According to Kelli, Ember Marketing Group works with clients from every industry. From custom epoxy floors to home builders to realtors to gyms to pharmacies and coffee companies and more. Kelli Maxwell takes pride in working with PEOPLE. She sees first-hand that so many agencies just offer cookie-cutter marketing packages and create generic industry-related content, without even getting to know their clients. Ember Marketing Group focuses on spending so much time with its clients that Kelli and her team can authentically market them and their company through videos, photos, captions, and copy that is perfectly on brand for them. All of the marketing group’s packages are customized to each client’s specific needs and brand. The agency has continued to grow and expand along with services and platforms such as TikTok. Ember Marketing Group doesn’t believe in locking people into contracts; Kelli prefers to let her work speak for itself as proven by her track record. Once a client signs on with the company, they don’t leave, in fact most of her client base has been with her since the agency’s inception. The agency does an exceptional job going above and beyond for each client and positioning them as THE expert of what they do, through the content it produces for them.

Tackling Challenges

Personally, Kelli’s biggest challenge was learning how to delegate and manage her time to ensure that it is spent doing what she is best at, which includes meeting with people, strategizing, and filming with her clients. She had to fill in the holes on the backend for bookkeeping, social media management, processes, and systems to grow. She currently has two independent contractors on her team and one full-time employee. As an agency, she found her biggest challenge was the huge disconnect between the established businesses that can afford the video production and social media management they need and the start-ups who desperately need it but can’t afford it. Multiple times a week she has conversations with small businesses who have been taken advantage of by a salesman claiming to be a marketer or a cookie-cutter agency who overcharged and under-delivered. Kelli’s solution for serving these people at a price they can afford is Ember Marketing the Group. Along with her business partner Chareese Jorgensen, Kelli Maxwell teaches members of the group basic content creation and marketing principals. She and her team assists them with creating their content, encouraging them through the process and strategizing with them, identifying the best methods to grow their business per their industry, at a small price point that they can afford.

When Going Gets Tough

Shortly after Kelli Maxwell resigned from her previous job and started her agency, she went through a divorce. With suddenly no security net and no backup plan, Kelli burned through her savings and had to sell her house and move in with her best friend to survive. That friend along with her supportive community at the gym were instrumental in getting Kelli through that first year. She refused to give up and look for a job so it was do or die for Kelli. She gave that first year and a half everything she had to make it on her own and she is happy to report that in just three years she has purchased her first investment property, has plans to build a house this year, and has built a six-figure marketing agency that continues to grow. This came from a willingness to celebrate doing the hardest things in life and business and continuing to push forward despite the hardships.

Future Roadmap

Kelli’s company continues to grow rapidly. She is most excited about continuing to expand her client base and team, growing Ember Marketing Group’s subscription group to help start-ups, and continuing to grow her brand as one of the best marketers of her generation. Kelli Maxwell is also working on her first book and she can’t wait to debut that in the coming year.

Suggestions for Young Entrepreneurs

Kelli says, “The hardest part of working with start-ups is when reality sets in. Everyone has brilliant dreams and ideas and when they finally take the leap and launch, they quickly find out it is a steep and gruelling climb just to break even. Make sure your personal relationships are strong, your time management is stronger and you have the fortitude to overcome the discouragement, dips, and hits that come with any start-up. Do your research and make sure your idea is viable for your audience and you have a strong chance of building a brand or company that can survive and generate revenue.”

Roberto Gilardino: Serving Clients with Corporate Advisory Solutions

Meet Roberto Gilardino, the Regional Partner of Horizons Corporate Advisory is a unique advisory Firm with 30 operatives country law firms. The Firm provides international highly specialized legal and tax solutions that allow organizations to thrive in today’s complex transnational corporate environment.

Roberto oversees the organization’s transnational operations from the head office of Horizons situated at the heart of downtown Shanghai. The team’s skillsets rest in corporate issues and property safeguard and liaise day-to-day with Horizons’ regional offices to serve as the advisory’s global gateway.

Roberto’s background and skillsets lie in international business and corporate law with special attention on corporate government, strategy, and shareholder protection. With a deep sense of cross-cultural issues in cross-border transactions and corporate matters, both Roberto and his team provide clients with unique insights and strategies related to the difficult-to-read, often behind-thescenes, nuances in transnational business.

Before joining Horizons, he served professionally in ministries, governmental bodies, and the private sector, primarily in China. Roberto is an Italian national, he is fluent in Italian, English, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

Addressing Corporate Challenges

Roberto and his team at Horizons provide turnkey legal, tax, and financial solutions to comprehensively safeguard cross-border investments. Horizons’ professionals in more than 30 jurisdictions worldwide serve clients by addressing international corporate challenges through a local, national, and international lens. As a result, investments are comprehensively compliant with all the laws that it geographically touches and clients have full control of their cross-border investments, despite geographical distance and cultural differences.

Most of Horizons’ clients are international companies or corporate groups. The Firm’s employees identify themselves as client-centric professionals. Instead of the same traditional listening- executing- invoicing, Roberto and his team engage clients by building long-term trust and identifying their corporate challenges through delving deep into their business operations. Through this approach, the Firm uncovers the intangibles to formulate solutions that fit these unprecedented times.

Equally, Horizons value the unique strength of collaboration. The team brings a broad range of experiences. With such diverse perspectives and know-how, the Firm tackles solutions from multifaced perspectives which are highly attuned to the ever-changing business landscape.

If you greatly desire something, have the guts to stake everything on obtaining it. Come what may, be always a kind spirit!

Tackling Primary Challenges

Roberto believes, the challenge for many corporate advisories is navigating clients through multiple jurisdictions in this evolving world. With the rapid globalization, many businesses not only need to stay abreast of legal, tax, and accounting changes but also need to understand the various cultural and language gaps to thrive in unfamiliar jurisdictions.

As a result, Horizons Corporate Advisory has positioned itself to not simply practice law. Rather the team understands real-world challenges, is committed to conveying legal doctrine with clarity and accessibility and is sensitive to the language and culture of the client.

Through this manner, Horizons’ team opens dialogues, drills down challenging corporate problems and ultimately safeguards the client for the present and future.

Making the Industry Balanced and Equal

According to Roberto, diversity and inclusion are the two hot topics across the industries. While various studies have shown that diverse teams outperform in the fourth quartile by 36% in profitability, the consultancy field, such as legal firms, often remain behind in cultivating diverse teams and inclusive workplaces. Specifically, progression from entry-level roles to seniority in minorities and females remains relatively low in the legal field, resulting in a lack of senior management who understand and address the specific challenges faced by such professionals. Ultimately, lack of diversity at the senior level can lead to inadequate access to mentors and training designated to minority or female professionals.

Horizons ensure career opportunities and mentorships are formulated to match and develop each talent without unconscious bias. In this manner, the Firm strives to go beyond the surface and integrate individuals’ unique strengths to cultivate a multifaced and multidimensional team that can serve clients from all walks of life.

Suggestions for Female Entrepreneurs and Lawyers

Roberto says, “The legal world has advanced from the traditional patriarchal industry. Increased visibility of women in law has spearheaded practises such as work-life balance and transparency in gender pay gaps. For young women entering the legal world today, there are more options to improve work flexibility.”

He also thinks Covid-19 has accelerated agile working practices which align with out-of-work responsibilities including raising families. Aspiring women lawyers should not be intimidated by the specific challenges faced by women in a predominantly male-dominated profession. Rather seek opportunities and firms that support female leadership and work-life balance.

Roberto adds, “At Horizons, we encourage our female professionals to speak at events to increase the visibility of women in the legal field. In this manner, we can play an active role in changing the perception of what lawyers are perceived to be and aspire more females to progress into senior roles.”

Future Roadmap

With a massive experience of more than 40 years in advising both inbound and outbound China investment, the Firm has witnessed the rapid economic growth and changing legal landscape in China. Today, under the leadership of Roberto, the Firm is increasingly assisting consumer goods and high-tech companies to establish entities in China. The growth of technology and the middle-class market around China has generated a huge appetite for foreign companies to seize opportunities. Whilst many manufacturing plants in traditional sectors such as retail are moving operations to South Asian countries or Eastern Europe. Therefore, the foreign direct investments (‘FDI’) in China are swiftly evolving, and China is no longer the low-cost labour and manufacturing country. Rather, FDI in China shall align with national policy, namely the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021- 2025) for National Economic and Social Development Through 2035 published on March 12, 2021.

As a result, Horizons is assisting clients in implementing a new playbook that correlates with national strategy and the domestic market. And excited to play a substantial role in shaping the corporate structure for new clients entering the China market.

Brent Kruel, A Health and Wellness Thought Leader Spearheading Innovation in Musculoskeletal Disorders Treatment

Brent Kruel

CEO, BioFunctional Health Solutions is a distinguished graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and and recei ved a Master of Healthcare Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He holds the crown for spearheading innovation to more effectively screen for and treat musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and put the power of self-healing into the hands of employees in the workplace. Brent comes up with over twenty years of experience in a variety of settings to include hospitals, military healthcare, healthcare insurance, software, professional services, and consulting. This experience has allowed him to understand and intelligently address the challenges faced by both employers and employees in facing the problem of MSDs in the workplace to deliver effective solutions. He is a member of the Delta Omega and Alpha Epsilon honours societies.

Prior to joining BHS, Brent has held a variety of corporate leadership roles as well as started a software company. Brent served 14 years active duty in the Air Force and is a two-time combat veteran. In his last combat tour, Brent was the hospital administrator in charge of the largest military hospital in Iraq in 2004. He also served as a Physician Group Practice Manager, Director of Supply and Logistics, and Chief Information Officer of the largest Veterans Affairs and military hospital joint venture located in Las Vegas, NV.

Outside of BHS, Brent is an active volunteer in his community as a Committee Chair of the Cubs Scouts of America and delivers meals for Meals on Wheels. He is also an avid outdoorsman and mountain climber, having scaled many 14,000 foot plus mountains.

Bio Functional’s Advanced Health Solutions

The problem BHS Addresses: Total employee health and wellness can be summarized into three high-level “buckets” and the majority of corporate wellness programs and India’s healthcare system address only the symptoms without resolving the root causes of the problems:

Musculoskeletal Conditions/Disorders (MSKs/MSDs) affect 50% of all adults at any time and cost $781B in direct medical care costs annually which is 24% of all healthcare spending. These conditions are also the number one cause of worker’s compensation and disability claims costing and costing an additional $291B in lost productivity annually. Additionally, employees spend 1.1B hours away from work seeking care for masks. Poor health and wellness of employees. This very broad and general category includes nutrition (diet is arguably the biggest issue and easiest to fix, but takes difficult to obtain adoption/compliance); fitness/activity; chronic disease management; and substance use/abuse; and stress management.

Infectious diseases were a problem long before COVID with Influenza costing U.S. employers $11.2B annually. Now employers are faced with employees that do not want to return to work with over 23 million employees voluntarily leaving their jobs in 2020 and the number expected to exceed 25 million in 2021. Employees don’t feel safe returning to the workplace, and OSHA has put pressure on employers to assure a safe work environment.

How BHS addresses: Science + Technology + Human Touch = Measurable Outcomes

MSKs/MSDs – in short, BioFunctional brings the same patented screening and hands-on treatments that professional athletes trust to employees through a corporate wellness program. Some notable results are 98% of employees report more than a 50% reduction in pain associated with their MSKs. 79% of MSKs are resolved without the need to go to a doctors’ office for another type of treatment. Health and Wellness – Here, the registered nurses provide education and training to employees in the group and individual sessions. They will also design customized wellness plans to include goals established with individuals in their key focus areas like nutrition, weight loss, fitness, mental health support, etc.

Infectious Diseases – this includes assessment of the physical workspace, recommendations to low-cost solutions to reduce contact/surface transmission, recommendations to reduce employee-toemployee aerial transmissions, as well as contact tracing and return to work protocols after exposure or infection. The mere presence of a nurse provides a sense of safety.

Clients & Unbreakable Faith

BioFunctional’s customers range from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. They are also launching a self-care AI application for individuals all over the world. They establish and maintain unbreakable faith with their customers by treating them with mutual respect and having integrity in all their interactions with their customers. They also have a sense of excellence in all that they do and strive to truly help people be their best version of themselves. Simply put, they care about people and it shows.

Hurdles on the Way

Currently, the biggest challenge is companies understanding the importance of employee wellness in the midst of a pandemic. COVID-19 is a big deal; however, there is a lot that employers can do to help employees achieve better overall, they call it TOTAL wellness, health, and wellness. Another challenge they have always had is educating employers on how the treatments and procedures trusted by professional athletic teams around the world are better than what their doctor is prescribing them for musculoskeletal conditions (MSKs). The treatment pathway of choice unfortunately is the most expensive, most time-consuming, most invasive, and has alarmingly low efficacy (poor results).

The Driving Force

When asked about his driving force, the visionary shared, “Having been enlisted in the U.S. Air Force then graduating from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO were the two most significant influences on my career. First, I learned the value of core values and have continued to use the Air Force’s core values to guide my career and life: “Integrity First, “Service before Self”, and “Excellence in all We Do”. Furthermore, I came to follow Jesus Christ and in doing so have added the following core values: “Humility in Everything”, “Compassion for Everyone”, and “Faith in God”. Having these core values has been a compass to navigate me and my companies through the most challenging circumstances without compromising what is important to as a part of the human community.”

Favourite Books:

The Holy Bible & The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Future Outlook & Accomplishments on the Way

BioFunctional is on a very exciting stage. In January of 2022, they are releasing YouMari, the AI self-care system whose design is based on the same musculoskeletal healthcare trusted by professional athletes. They are making it affordable in order to help as many people as possible worldwide with getting out of pain without the need for surgery, physical therapy, or prescriptions. They are also supporting the system with a telehealth portal allowing people to speak directly to the physicians and make sure they are getting the best care available anywhere. This system will be available through employers and individuals can subscribe too.

Here is the list of awards won by the firm and visionary;

  • 10 Best Global Healthcare Companies to Watch in 2021
  • 50 Smartest Companies of the year 2020
  • The 10 Most Inspiring CEOs to Watch
  • 50 Fastest Growing Companies of the Year 2021
  • 10 Best Entrepreneurs of 2020
  • Perseverant Companies to Watch Globally 2021
A Piece of Advice for Female Entrepreneurs

Surround yourself ONLY with people that share your values and passion, and then invest in those who also have a similar drive as you. Too many entrepreneurs make the mistake of giving away too much of their ideas and company too soon to the wrong people that end up making growth challenging and sometimes controversial.

Jose R. Sanchez: Promoting A Necessary Path Forward that improves Access to Quality Health Care for Everyone

Jose R. Sanchez is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Humboldt Park Health (HPH). A dedicated senior health care executive with more than four decades of experience in the operational, strategic, and fiscal management of multi-faceted health care systems. Under his leadership, HPH has maintained financial stability and growth throughout his tenure. Besides consistently exceeding benchmarks in quality, safety, and patient satisfaction, José successfully orchestrated the hospital’s accreditation survey six times, including its most recent survey by DNV•GL Healthcare in 2021.

About Humboldt Park Health

Founded in 1894, Humboldt Park Health is a 200-bed acute care hospital in Chicago, Illinois. The hospital provides patient-centered healthcare focused on quality of care, ranging from wellness options to everyday care to treatment for each patient’s most critical needs.

Humboldt Park Health achieved Primary Stroke Certification from the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program (HFAP) and is recognized as a Patient Centered Medical Home by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). The hospital and its workforce pride themselves on providing excellent medical care for their patients, their families, and surrounding communities with thoughtfulness and respect.

Partnering with a Team of Excellent Physicians

Humboldt Park Health has an extensive and talented medical staff, featuring specialists in family medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, general surgery, neurology, behavioral health, emergency medicine, podiatry, gastroenterology, internal medicine, and ophthalmology. This team of experienced medical providers offers specialized services to its community, alleviating the challenges of traveling long distances to receive quality medical care.

A Reaffirmation of Its Commitment

In January 2021, the hospital completed a major re-branding initiative, renaming the hospital, HUMBOLDT PARK HEALTH to reflect the diverse and inclusive community it serves along with the tagline, “Advancing Health Equity” to emphasize the hospital’s renewed commitment to ensuring all members of the community have fair and just opportunities to be as healthy as possible, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or zip code.

In June 2020, a $7M renovation of the hospital was completed, which offers patients, visitors, and employees a more vibrant and welcoming experience. In 2021, a multimillion-dollar new MRI Suite, and Outpatient Behavioral Health Clinic was launched, offering patients an innovative and quality healthcare experience. A new multimillion- dollar Electronic Health Record system upgrade, Meditech Expanse, was also initiated and is scheduled to go live in December 2022.

A Representation of Strong Leadership

José’s powerful leadership has ensured that the hospital’s pandemic response remains strong to this day. it continues pushing forward with extreme vigilance in fighting COVID-19 and is proudly saving lives across the community. HPH continually strives to achieve healthy outcomes so that every human being has an equal opportunity to lead a happy and healthy lifestyle.

Hospital Philisophy and Credo

RESPECT – HPH, its leaders, employees, and medical staff demonstrates RESPECT by supporting all our members of our health care team, so they can focus on patients.

EMPATHY – HPH, its leaders, employees, and medical staff show EMPATHY by acknowledging our patients, their families, and/or colleagues’ pain and what they have been through.

EXCELLENCE – HPH, its leaders, employees, and medical staff believe that providing EXCELLENCE in Quality of Care necessitates that it is free from harm, minimizes redundancy and waste, allows for timely access to needed services, follows best practices, and incorporates our patients’ preferences and treatment priorities.

INTEGRITY – HPH, its leaders, employees, and medical staff exemplify INTEGRITY by being honest – telling the truth, being open, and not taking advantage of others.

INCLUSIVITY – HPH, its leaders, employees, and medical staff embrace INCLUSIVITY – It is the behaviors that make people feel welcome. We motivate our entire workforce to achieve our goals.

EQUITY – HPH, its leaders, employees, and medical staff promote health EQUITY as a priority for all.

Personal Achievements and Milestones

In 2002, José was conferred an Honorary Doctorate from the New York College of Podiatric Medicine in recognition of his immeasurable accomplishments and steadfast commitment to improving the health care outcomes for some of the poorest and most disadvantaged populations in New York City.

In 2019, was conferred his second Honorary Doctorate from St. George’s University School of Medicine for his contributions to medicine, education, and public health. He also proudly holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the City College of New York and a Master of Social Work from Adelphi University.

He is a Member of the Illinois Health and Hospital Association Board of Trustees and IHA Executive Committee; Co-chair of the IHA Committee on Health Disparities; Chair of the West Side Health Equity Collaborative; Member of the City Club of Chicago Board of Governors and Boricua College Board of Trustees.

Staying Rooted in the Community

As a community-based hospital, Humboldt Park Health reinvests back into the community through programs to serve the poor and uninsured, manage chronic conditions like diabetes, health education, and promote initiatives, and outreach for the elderly. The hospital works hard every day to be a place of healing, caring, and connection for patients and families in the community called home.

Mission and Vision Statement

As a leader, José’s favorite quote is “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” – Steve Jobs

He believes in the power of innovation and utilizes it in building a significant and strong foundation. Here are the remarkable vision and mission statements of Humboldt Park Health.

MISSION: Humboldt Park Health is committed to advancing health equity and providing high-quality and compassionate health care services by partnering with patients and their families, our employees, medical staff, and the communities we serve.

VISION: Humboldt Park Health is the healthcare provider of choice for our communities and caregivers. We strive to be best in class for clinical care, service excellence, and employee engagement by following our guiding principle, “Equity Begins at Home.”

Words of Encouragement for Female Entrepreneurs

As a source of inspiration for female entrepreneurs entering the business world, these words of wisdom will have a meaningful impact.

An Accomplished Future

In 2022, HPH secured over $20 million in public funding for the development of a new Wellness Center in the Humboldt Park community to address health inequities by offering concrete solutions to meet community needs. This new center will serve as a place to improve the health of community members by extending the hospital’s continuum of care. A celebratory ground-breaking ceremony will be scheduled later this year. Upon completion, this will be the only Wellness Center for the residents of Humboldt Park located in the community.

Chafic Chebli: A Visionary Leader who Revolutionized the Eye Care Industry with Distinctive Solutions

An unconventional entrepreneur, Dr Chafic Chebli, Co-founder and CEO of PharmaStulln Inc.(PSI) believes in doing things differently. He aims to work on ideas that he is immensely passionate about and is not afraid to pinpoint an opportunity. Dr Chebli is an action taker, who makes it happen with his determined approach and sheer desire. He envisions a simple picture and makes it happen.

Dr Chebli is an entrepreneur- who would dive into details and render any rough gem into a shiny stone that blurs tier eyes while making a difference in their life.

A Former View about the Canadian Pharmaceutical Market

There was a time when the Canadian pharmaceutical market was saturated and shared among big pharma suppliers. PSI saw an unfulfilled need in preservative-free (PF) ophthalmic preparations, and it understood all positive impacts that those products could bring to Canadians.

Despite all challenges to launch a new product format and have Canadians believe and switch to it, PF ophthalmic products were a definite need. However, the existing and leading pharma companies would turn this down due to higher production costs and different production technology and skills. The companies were of the mindset that If what has been working and doing good, then why change it?

In fact, in Canada, the market was driven by product cost, while in Europe, the market is more driven by patient care. The company kept conventional ophthalmic products comprising irritants to patients’ eyes while Europe is already transforming them to preservative-free preparation.

When PSI gathered more information and details, sought after more practitioner opinions, the brighter the opportunity rose for Canada.

The Birth of PharmaStulln Inc.

By the end of 2016, PharmaStulln Inc. (PSI) was born as a specialty preservative-free ophthalmic product supplier for the Canadian market. PSI was a joint venture with PharmaStulln GmbH (Germany), a vertically integrated preservative-free ophthalmic product manufacturer in Germany and the rest of the European markets for at least the past 40 years. As Co-Founder and CEO of PSI in Canada, the company made sure PSI has one clear mission to develop/convert and launch preservative-free ophthalmic preparations.

By the end of 2017, PSI had submitted German dossiers for Health Canada approval, while Dr Chebli completed an acquisition of several dossiers already approved in Canada. In the year 2019, PSI’s first three products were launched.

PSI is then branded as a specialty ophthalmic products supplier, a one-stop to the latest technology, top quality, and irritant-free eyecare product provider.

More about the Visionary Brand – PharmaStulln

PharmaStulln is a leading pharmaceutical company with over six decades of rich experience in eye care. The company is focused on manufacturing eye drops in single-dose and multi-dose containers that are preservative-free. With superior technology and state-of-the-art production in Bavaria, Germany, the company is an industry expert in eye care.

PharmaStulln is dedicated to bringing its experience and expertise to the Canadian health care community. Its mission is to convert preserved products and re-introduce them as preservative-free. PSI’s clear vision is to advance eye care in Canada and to offer treatments without any irritants.

From Leader’s Desk

Everything begins with an idea. Being creative and getting things moving out of curiosity, perfection, and passion helps us to keep everything in focus. This way, you won’t lose sight of what’s important to us and we concentrate on producing sterile medicines.

The success of Pharma Stulln is based on manufacturing following the highest possible international quality standards using the latest technologies for over 60 years. We’ve been concentrating on perfecting our eye drops, our pharmaceutical production started with eye tonic, over time more and more innovations were to follow.

We, at PharmaStulln, represent quality, passion, and sustainability. Service-oriented operations focus on customers and the current needs of the market. Our high demands on quality and reliability maximize our flexibility. We also, train our highly skilled personnel to maintain our high expectations of the future.

Driven by a Racer’s Mindset

Dr Chebli’s idol racer Ayrton Senna once said, “If you no longer go for the gap that exists, you are no longer a racer”. Inspired by this quote, Dr Chebli knew his mindset was the same as a racer. Hence he decided to create a difference in the lives of eye patients and the eye care industry.

Working with a Pragmatic Approach

Dr Chebli believes that there is a solution for every problem/challenge created by man. Life itself is a constant challenge. One has to learn to take one step at a time in their journey and remain focused on their goals and deliverables. Have a mission and discover the path that will lead to utmost success.

All About Leadership Principles

As for leadership principles, I learned to listen and live by:

  • See it simple, keep it simple, and make it simple
  • Keep your true colors and lead by example
  • A change is always challenging and an ambitious job for a champion. Maintaining the transformation, accepting it, and living by it requires a heroic attitude.
  • Motivate every team member to be the hero of their change, project, product, and a thought or an idea.

 

Dr. Jeanette K. Winters: A Managing Partner (Parrish Partners)

Human resources were always a focus of my work, yet it was not until joining Intel that I was able to experience the power of aligning people and business strategies. Seeing the combination of ground-breaking technology created, manufactured, and distributed globally was the ultimate catalyst for what has become the focus on my work. Creating people systems offers the organization an opportunity to grow through and with its people, while engaging a community of stakeholders. For me, seeing people learn how to be their best, grow into a role, or perform at unexpected levels of excellence is what has me jumping out of bed to race to work each day.

I have long held the perspective that HR is a two-sided coin. On the one-side, we are chartered to serve as the advocates for employees, gathering their input, watching out for their best interests, while providing opportunities for each to bring their best. On the other side of the coin, we are equally chartered to engage in and protect the interests of the business. Without a thriving business, our ability to serve employees can be severely gated. Do we have to make difficult choices at times, with business interests taking precedence over people? Yes, as the future of the enterprise must be our primary objective.

When friends and colleagues ask about human resources as a profession, I make certain to emphasize what I believe are the essential qualities of a successful people leader:

  • Courage: In HR, we are faced with tough decisions almost daily. We must be prepared to align with and support the organization’s values, mission, and objectives, while at the same time advocating for employees. There are often times when the primary needs of one seems to crush the other, yet we must be prepared to make tough calls.
  • Ability to listen intentionally: Listening is a necessary skill for all leaders, however, in human resources, if you’re not listening, you’re not learning. I believe we must listen, learn, and then act. Listening is essential in grappling with people issues. It is truly the only way to really get to the heart of any contentious matter.
  • Strong back, warm heart: Dr. Brene Brown author of Braving the Wilderness and Dare to Lead, describes this quality as including “strong backs, soft fronts, and wild hearts”. HR leaders must possess compassion (having a heart), and conviction to maintain compliance, equity, and fairness (the strong backbone). Yes, we are usually charged with ensuring appropriate compliance with the myriad of regulations that govern our work and that takes the ability to say no, even when it’s unpopular. People have to deal with life’s many ups and downs, and it’s important, to remember that sometimes, we need to find a way to say yes when individual situations call for it.
  • Great communicator: The subject matter we call HR is complex. We need to be able to communicate to employees with different cultural views, educational levels, and job types. We talk to front-line workers, and our peers in the C-suite with regularity. The ability to convey complex material simply to any given audience is essential.
  • Business acumen: A mentor once advised me to learn to “follow the money”. What he meant was to understand how the business makes, spends, and invests cash. I describe myself as a businessperson specialising in people. In whatever industry I work, I devote time and effort to learning about market dynamics and the forces that surround our company.

If someone says, “oh, I love to work with people”, or “I like to train people”, I encourage them to look into learning (an essential function within the overall HR functional array) or even become a coach. The people side of the business requires an aptitude for business savviness, data analytics, conflict resolution, ability to maintain objectivity, along with the subject matter expertise. “Just” being a people person, won’t provide you with the grit, grind, and guts it takes to lead human resources.

The global pandemic accelerated movements we began to experience earlier in the 2010 decade. Here are the things we are grappling with today as human resource professionals:

  • The Great Resignation: Data suggests that nearly one out of every 2-3 three employees are looking to leave their role in the near term. Growing a business out of the pandemic slump, backfilling vacant positions, or even creating businesses have been made so much more complex because of the numbers of employees leaving their roles. In August alone, nearly 5,000,000 workers resigned. This level of employee “churn” is exceedingly costly, time-consuming, without a guarantee of success complicates organizational goal fulfilment.
  • Wage demands & rising salaries: Workers are pressing for living wages. Even the move to elevate the minimum wage to $15 per hour won’t position many to actually earn a living wage. Exacerbated by
    the churn, companies are finding that they need to compete with international firms in terms of wages,
    benefits, and flexibility. It simply is more expensive to attract and retain talent.
  • Employees seeking purpose and meaning in their jobs: Employees report they want their work to have meaning and purpose. Companies, medical care facilities, even educational institutions are struggling to define purpose and mission that attracts the much-needed talent. This level of connection is based in one’s culture and must be demonstrable, observable, even felt. The time when we could post values in the lobby of headquarters and consider the exercise done, have long passed.
  • Demands for growth, development, and promotions: One of the top five expectations for employees is their personal learning and skill development. They want to learn, to earn, to ready themselves for jobs that matter. Training, development, and experiences are no longer nice to have; they are now table stakes.

My objective is to enable people to become and bring their best. My work matters to individuals, their teams, and employers, and key stakeholders counting on each other to accomplish their shared objectives. Business is global, must be cooperative, and collaborative and human resources plays a monumental role in making that a reality.

Fair warning, HR can be hard work. That is why it’s really important to ensure you’re investing in adequate self-care. Exercise is the key for me, along with a high-quality night’s sleep. Self-care (diet, exercise, sleep) are the essential elements for ensuring I can run hard each and every day. And the quality time spent with family and our animals is the foundation of why I do what I do. HR practitioners have been stretched, stressed, and strained to the point of exhaustion the past two years . I see many of my colleague suffering from burnout – simply because the pressure just hasn’t lifted in what is now nearly two years.”

Parrish Partners was created to embrace both sides of the HR “coin”. We work with our clients to craft strategy, undertake transformations, or conduct merger and acquisition due diligence along with a keen sense of what is needed on the human capital side. We live the mantra that the business depends on people, and the employees enable the business.

Our services, especially in strategic planning, M&A, change management, coaching, and training imbue these key principles. We specialize in leading transformations with a world-class team, with long track records of success. Since I joined the team in 2014, the work has enabled me to meet a wonderful array of people, grow my skills, as well as serve many.

Those who have worked with me, know I close each meeting, each day with the following: Remember, learn something new each day and you’ll always be a competitive force. I also encourage us all to be ready to pass the baton – to whoever comes after us. Life is a remarkable equivalent to a four by four-hundred-meter relay. Go as fast as you can and be ready to pass the baton securely, knowing the race can only be won together.

Keith Uthe: A Steller Performer in the Mortgage City

To find ideal mortgage solutions for clients, ensure their financial security, and above all attain peace of mind, Keith Uthe, a multifaceted personality strives every day with a vision of “Everyone is living a life of abundance”. His role as Mortgage Broker, Smith Manoeuvre Certified Professional, Real Estate Investment Advisor, Certified Financial Life Profession, and High-Performance Advisor to other mortgage professionals, is helping people build and create their future wealth so they are living a financial life by design.

Becoming a Mortgage Broker

The journey began when Keith realized he was not happy at his job. Moving ahead, he decided to quit that job and landed the opportunity as a junior underwriter with a private lender. When he got laid off from this job just over a year later, a good friend introduced him to a brokerage owner.

The respected professionals saw Keith’s potential and believed in him and what he could accomplish as a mortgage broker. He took that belief, rolled with it and grew the business substantially every year.

About the Company

As a licensed mortgage broker, Keith offers clients access to multiple different A, B, and private lenders with many lending solutions for residential, investment, and commercial properties. From first-time home buyers, business-for-self borrowers, and those needing equity lending or creative lending solutions he has unique options that can fit almost any borrower. He also offers Real Estate Investment and Financial Life Professional advising to those clients who are looking for guidance to help them understand their relationship to money, wealth, and worth and how that impacts the financial choices they make.

The self-fulfilling service Keith provides is advising mortgage professionals on how to be masterful and achieve high performance so that they may operate at the top of their game every day.

Building Trustworthy Client Relationships

Keith works with those interested in investing- be it buying real estate or other financial products. These individuals seek guidance on how to create their financial future by design using the equity in their homes to make that happen. Here’s why the clients tune in with Keith:

My clients’ unbreakable faith in me is because they are receiving MORE:

  • Meaningful conversations about how their mortgage plays a part in their financial future
  • Opportunities that they never realized existed for them.
  • Reliable service that goes beyond taking a mortgage application
  • Experience to help them take control of their financial future
Tackling a Major Challenge

The greatest challenge lies in increasing the capacity of processing mortgage files for clients while continuing to have those meaningful and critical conversations.

Hence, Keith works closely with a couple of underwriters in his office, who massively help him meet the increasing needs and demands of clients.

The Journey of an Action-taker

Keith believes in taking action inspired by the quote, “You get what you give and it isn’t mine to keep”. He stands where he is today because he took action after seeking the help and advice of his friend and advisor, Richard Dolan, who continues to be his advisor to this day. Keith leveraged and utilized his knowledge to capitalize on the opportunities that were already available to him and became highly involved in business networking.

Today, Keith’s professional journey is an excellent real-time experience for many budding entrepreneurs who plan to enter the business world. His precious advice to these upcoming entrepreneurs is, “Have a mentor or coach that will hold you to account for being in action, guide you, and push you to move the needle where you never dreamed possible. Realize the three keepers that hold you back are Ego, Fear, and Judgement”. Keith, an inspiration to others, is himself inspired by the book- ‘The One Thing’ by Gary Keller.

The Winning Moments

Keith’s dedicated hard work and exceptional performance have led him to the path of success. Here are a few of the prestigious moments of his career:

  • 2021 Canadian Mortgage Professionals Hot List
  • 2021 Mortgage Alliance Elite Club Top 10%
  • 2020 Smith Manoeuvre Certified Professional
  • 2020 Certified Financial Life Professional
  • 2017-2020 Mortgage Alliance Master Club Top 20%
  • 2017 and 2019 Real Estate Investment Network(REIN) Real Estate Professional of the Year
  • 2016 Certified Real Estate Investment Advisor
  • 2015 Real Estate Investment Network(REIN) Innovative Investor of the Year
A Day in the Life of Keith

Currently, Keith’s daily routine is much different due to Covid-19. Here’s how it looks:

“When I get downstairs and let our dog outside, I am preparing the juice of one lemon with 16 ounces of water to drink right away. During my 15-minute waiting period before eating I usually run down to the gas station to pick up my tea and when I get home, I make my breakfast and watch the sports highlights. I am usually down to my basement office by 8:30 AM unless I need to drive our daughter to school. My calendar is blocked during the day so that I can complete specific tasks at different times and clients schedule calls in the open spaces I make available. I eat lunch anywhere from 1-2 PM and then work until about 5 PM.

Dinner as a family for about an hour and then I usually do some more evening work until it is time for our dog’s evening walk which takes about an hour. After the walk is typically when I watch some TV with my wife and daughter until bedtime. On those none work hours I referee wheelchair basketball, enjoy, fishing, movies, travel, socializing, going to the gym, and being outdoors.”

A Take on the Mortgage Industry’s Insider Insights

The mortgage industry is about the clients and their future. Hence, the mortgage brokers and agents need a better understanding of themselves and how to have deep and meaningful conversations with their clients. “Through a deeper understanding of self, we can guide them towards the actions necessary to be a high performer so they can have the maximum impact on both their own life and the lives of their clients”, Keith concludes.

A Value-Based Future

Keith’s future business plan is limitless based on his abilities to add help as and when needed and continue to have the required meaningful conversations. He looks forward to helping other mortgage agents realize their full potential by making them understand what it truly means to be in high performance.

Meet Sharon Gallant, an Inspiring & Innovative Business Leader and the Engine Behind GLG Communications

Passionate, innovative, a risk-taker, and an influential woman entrepreneur, Sharon Gallant, President and Owner of GLG Communications, has sown the seeds to ensure her company always exceeds the constantly evolving marketing and communication challenges.

Sharon Gallant is an exceptional advertising and communications executive. When you meet her, you feel her energy and passion immediately. She thinks fast, talks fast, and moves fast. With an academic background that includes a Bachelor’s of Science and Master’s of Science degrees, and a career pedigree that includes powerful leadership positions at multinational ad agencies, she now oversees her own business, running GLG Communications since 2004, a full-service communications agency that manages the marketing and promotion of a veritable “who’s who” of blue-chip medical, pharmaceutical and consumer brands. Her agency, considered by most to be the best in Canada and the top five in North America, services clients from around the world. With agency offices occupying a modern loft space whose walls are covered in many hundreds of awards, it is clear to see why Sharon Gallant is so proud of the company she created.

However, her business success, she says, pales in comparison to her real success – she is the proud mother of two teenage daughters, both of whom are attending college this year. “My real point of pride is in being the mother to two astonishing young women. They amaze me every single day and remind me of why creating society where women have limitless opportunities is essential”.

A people-person, Sharon Gallant thrives on working with her staff as well as with her clients. When asked what she appreciates most about having a client roster that is the envy of the industry she says “I value that they trust us with their brands. I never take that for granted. I tell my staff never to take that for granted. We strive to earn their confidence and their trust every single day, and we do that because we care…because we care enough to always go beyond what is expected. We are completely invested. Good clients can feel that right away.”

With an agency staffed with the best minds in the business, GLG Communications has grown and flourished. And Sharon Gallant is quick to say she knows why “because we have a clear and singular business proposition. We don’t ever want to be big. It’s the opposite of who we aspire to be. We want to always be the best. That’s a very different proposition. Bigger is not better. It’s perhaps better if all your agency has is a mercantile motive, but, make no mistake, it is absolutely never better for the clients. Our clients know that. Bigger is never better. Better is better. Clients need and want a team they trust and a team that is customized and tailored to their needs. A small team that is the best in the industry, fairly priced, and who truly and deeply care about strategic brand building– no agency can deliver that except us. Not even close. If there’s a secret to our success, that’s it”.

Inspiration Behind the Inception

Sharon Gallant left her high-profile EVP and GM role at a large global agency to launch GLG Communications because she knew she could do it better. She believes that you cannot do what is best for your shareholders at a publicly-traded network agency when you should instead be doing what’s best for your clients’ companies’ shareholders. Those two motives, she says, are in direct opposition. “I’m a risk-taker by nature, as all entrepreneurs are, but I never felt any risk in starting my own agency – it seemed so obvious to me that a different agency business model would be embraced”, she apprised.

Empowering Aspiring Business Women

Sharon Gallant believes it is imperative to openly and honestly share your expertise and your knowledge. “Your successes and failures must be shared – in full transparency – so that other women can avoid similar mistakes. All too often, successful entrepreneurs keep to themselves, possibly to protect competitive advantage”. She believes that being open and honest, and sharing insights, can be motivational and empowering to other women.

Sharon’s Take on the Competition & Discrimination Against Woman in the Industry

When asked about her competition, the leading lady replies with a wry smile. “I have to be honest and say that I have no thoughts whatsoever on my competition. I honestly never think about them. It’s not a good use of my time. I think about our clients and their brands. They often share their negative experiences working with other agencies. I listen. If we concentrate on our amazing clients and what they need, everything else looks after itself.”

When asked about discrimination in the industry, Sharon Gallant doesn’t hesitate to answer honestly “Yes, I have had to face discrimination. Including very recently.”

She goes on to elaborate, “But I have also had the benefit of working with amazing men who believed in me and who offered me huge opportunities. I would not be where I am today without having had mentorship from the best of the best. I have so much to be grateful for”.

The Book that Inspires This Business Woman

Sharon Gallant is a huge fan of Hemmingway’s “The Sun Also Rises”. His clear, condensed writing style is very similar to ad agency copywriting. That resonates with her. She read that novel when she was 18 and admits that she has likely re-read it about a dozen times since. “How Hemmingway weaves a story and says so much without having to say much at all is an act of genius and is extremely compelling to me.”

The Future Roadmap of GLG Communications

Sharon Gallant is planning to bring more innovative approaches to break new ground and to approach every client’s business needs with ingenuity and creativity. “GLG is a team of ambitiously-minded people who work best in collaboration with ambitiously-minded clients. We get bored without innovation, so we will continue to expand our offering well beyond the traditional agency model. It keeps the team fresh and it keeps us on our toes” We would have to agree – and admittedly it definitely keeps GLG far ahead of their competition.

Words of Wisdom

Her advice to young women just starting out? Always be over-prepared! “A lot of my success I owe to out working others and knowing that I was far better prepared”, asserted Sharon Gallant. “Go beyond what others are doing. Be more educated, more knowledgeable, more strategic, and more insightful than others. Then you will have the confidence to know that you can accomplish absolutely anything – because you can.”

Jeffery Arnold: A thought-Provoking Leader and Global Ambassador for the Insurance Industry

An expert, industry leader, and author in the insurance industry with three decades of rich experience, Jeffery Arnold is the President of RIGHTSURE, INC. He is a master of insurance mergers and acquisitions, managing deals ranging from six figures to more than $100 million.

He has authored Four Number One Best-Selling Books on Insurance and Technology, including: “The Art of the Insurance Deal” and “How to Beat Your Insurance Company”. His writings and leadership focus on reengineering the insurance environment to be more policyholder-friendly. Jeffery Arnold gives his audiences pages full of insights on How to Reduce your Insurance Premiums and How to effectively Beat Insurance Companies. He has successfully managed deals ranging from a few hundred thousand to more than one hundred million dollars.

Founded in 2007, RIGHTSURE is an Insurance Technology Firm whose platform offers The End Of Insurance Shopping.

His latest venture is a newly created platform called Rateguard: A DONE-FOR-YOU service leveraging RIGHTSURE’S award-winning and innovative technology that intends to END INSURANCE SHOPPING as we know it and disrupt the entire insurance ecosystem.

A Deep-rooted Passion for the Insurance Technology Space

Jeffery’s career in the Insurance Joint Ventures space started by accident. After experiencing a series of failures in Acting, Comedy, and Stage Work, he stumbled into the vertical. To make ends meet and have a steady income, he answered an Ad 31 years ago.

And that was the start of his new flourishing career. He was immersed from day one with an urge to learn, read, and discover more about this wonderfully exciting industry.

While Insurance and Tech combined can bore many, to me it is the industry of all things fun, sexy, and just plain awesome. He applied the crazy theory of Entrepreneurship to Insurance and started his new ventures.

He has been fortunate to do joint ventures with Banks, Credit Unions, Mortgage Firms, Online Search Engines, Auto Dealerships, Privately Held Money Funds, Publicly Traded Aggregators, and some neat Reinsurance stuff with billion-dollar companies.

An Exceptional Journey

RIGHTSURE dedicates its success to every single team member. The personal sacrifice and commitment of the entire team have helped the brand achieve its current position. Each team member who has come to work on a project or become a part of RIGHTSURE has invested their creative talents and contributed to their maximum potential. They have built a remarkable platform and high-energy work environment.

A Client-Centric Approach

We take care of our customers like family. The ideal client needs coverage for multiple assets, home, auto, boat, RV, motorcycle, etc. With a dedicated approach towards offering the best customer service, RIGHTSURE puts its customers at the top of everything.

It is known for our Famously Friendly Humans and if we continue to deliver an exceptional policyholder experience, our clients will continue to be our primary source of new business generation by referring others.

Challenges: The Ladder towards Growth

Rapid growth challenges all skillsets from leadership to management to patience. As RIGHTSURE continues to grow, Jeffery Arnold has to keep adjusting, improving human relations skillsets, financial discipline, vision casting, and re-recruiting its key people during the Great Resignation that all companies are facing.

A Day in the Life of Jeffery

Jeffery Arnold starts his day with a cup of coffee. After the caffeine, he checks industry reports followed by Stock
Prices of Competitors, Vendors, and Carrier Partners. One of his good friends told him years ago that EMAIL is “other people’s work”. Hence, he abides by the advice and doesn’t start his day by responding to emails. Instead, he reflects upon the legal pad of things to do, tasks to follow up on, and initiatives to move forward.

Jeffery Arnold tries to keep meetings to an absolute minimum of 30 minutes or less, most at around 15 minutes. He
believes in keeping everyone focused on the big picture. The only exception to this rule is the majority of our IT – Tech – Platform Meetings tend to go an hour each time, but we are working with all in that entire group to be more succinct.

Books: Source of Inspiration

Growing up, Jeffery Arnold was intrigued by the book – Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. In his mid-20s, he stumbled across The E-Myth by Michael Gerber. This book changed how he operated his small company and transformed his thinking about working ON the business instead of IN the business.

I have forever held fast to that mindset, as well as implemented nearly everything Michael writes about in his subsequent books. Also, he seeks inspiration by the quote, Your Goals, Minus Your doubts, Equal Your Reality- by Ralph Marston.

Moments of Victories

RIGHTSURE is The Most Awarded Insurance Firm of this Decade. Here is a sample but not an all-inclusive listing of SOME awards received:

  • 2021 Finance Monthly Magazine – Insurance Firm of the Year North America
  • 2021 Insurance Business America – Top Insurance Workspace
  • 2021 Top 5 Star Insurance Brokerage IBA Americas
  • 2021 Corporate Vision – 2021 Corporate Excellence Award Winner RIGHTSURE
  • 2021 Progressive Insurance Platinum Blue for Exclusive Select Agencies
  • 2021 Safeco Insurance Ignite Award of Top Performing Agencies
  • 2020 Insurance Journal Best Insurance Firm to Work For.
  • 2020 Finance and Insurance Magazine Top Insurance Agent United States
  • 2020 Insurance Business America Top Insurance Workspace
  • 2015 to 2021 Spectrum Award Winner for Service Excellence 7 years in a row
Women Entrepreneurs for the Win

The Insurance Industry is highly inclusive and ahead of most other industries in embracing Female Leadership. RIGHTSURE itself has more Female Executives than Male ones. Our Executive Vice President, CFO, COO, and four of our Five Directors are Female. All Promoted from within as they display leadership and knowledge required to lead a high-growth firm like ours.

A Power-Packed Future

RIGHTSURE’s RATEGUARD platform is helping to put consumers in control of how much one pays for insurance and is changing the entire insurance ecosystem as it teaches consumers How To Beat Insurance Company Rate Increases

RIGHTSURE is currently in the middle of raising more capital to improve its platform and gain more market share.

As far as the most exciting part of what we do is: I truly am humbled by how our giving MODEL has grown at RIGHTSURE. A portion of every Single Policy dollar goes to:

This is powerful as it creates an impact as the team is helping change lives for the better. Every single policyholder at RIGHTSURE contributes to these great causes.

Christophe Billiottet: Meet the Man Behind Qatar’s First Deep Technology Startup – ADGS

While treading on the journey dedicated to picking out the most Influential Business Persons, Prime View came to know about Christophe Billiottet, CEO, ADGS, one of the glorious gems shining in the tech world. Christophe Billiottet – The man who revolutionized how some countries handled the pandemic and its variants, such as the DELTA or the OMICRON with an ADGS flagship product, PANDEXIT. The World Innovation Summit for Health declared PANDEXIT one of the major health innovations for 2020, considering that the decision allowed by the product was saving a lot of lives and lowering the pandemic impact on economies.

Christophe Billiottet is not exactly what we could name a young entrepreneur: ex-fighter pilot,57 years, he has a history of 5 companies created since 1994, 2 of them with successful exits. The last one, ADGS, the first Deep Technology startup Company from Qatar, has been founded on a friendship with the purpose to do what he loved most, a bridge between science fiction and the modern world, something that is called “deep technologies”. They are experts in Emergent Behavior (Agent-Based Modeling), Artificial Intelligence applied to Big Data and Behavioral Biometrics applied to CyberSecurity.

A differentiator in the deep tech segment: ADGS

In 2015, the foundation stone of ADGS was kept with the most brilliant minds available to build a small team. The idea was mostly to select very creative and competent employees based on their IQ and interestingly, it appeared that some of the selected persons had Asperger Syndrome, a light autistic behavior characterized by a remarkable focus and persistence, a strong aptitude to recognize patterns, and high attention to detail. ADGS is a company where they felt extremely comfortable and where they could flourish.

Christophe Billiottet said that no private investor was smart enough to understand the difference between “digital tech” and “deep tech” and the criteria were based on fast traction, the market size, the competition, and the number of potential customers.

The Beginning…

Investors were looking for smartphone apps, eCommerce applications and dreaming about the new Facebook, the new Google or the new WhatsApp, etc… None of these companies were particularly innovative in the matter of technology. In 2021, if there are still some successful digital startups, the world is now at the end of a wave where finding new digital markets becomes extremely difficult, except when a company is financially strong enough to absorb the competition. This is not innovation.

In 2015, the deep tech industry had no demand, no traction, no competitors, and hence, no investor interested to work with Deep Tech companies. The cost of maintaining such a company was high, the return not expected before years and the market was blurry.

This is where the experience of Christophe Billiottet and its self-funding capacity helped create ADGS with the support of a great visionary institution, the Qatar Foundation. Developing a Deep Tech company might take 3 to 7 years of R&D before being able to deliver a marketable product. The expecting return can be of two orders of magnitude higher than what can be expected from a Digital Tech company.

Christophe Billiottet’s Take on the Latest Technologies

Today, the world is rushing for Artificial Intelligence, an area where ADGS built strong and original algorithms and preparing the world of tomorrow is what deep technologies do: Artificial Intelligence, Behavioral Biometrics, Natural Language Processing, Biotechnologies or Agent-Based Modeling. These are the technologies that have the power to change our world.

Artificial Intelligence is based on a learning process, and the more data it learns from, the more useful AI can be. For predicting extraordinary events, there is a lack of data that will make AI at best imprecise, and usually completely wrong.

Innovative Solutions

ADGS developed some revolutionary models to simulate missing data, bringing millions of information to feed AI engines, using ABM simulation models.

ABM + AI algorithms allow you to solve problems you never knew could be solved and until now, a lot of Christophe’s interlocutors still do not understand the scope of ADGS algorithms. In particular, ABM + AI algorithms are the only reliable predictive model to predict output for exceptional situations like COVID-19 spreading, building evacuation, military conflict output, or other major events where data is mostly inexistent.

With the idea to simplify the understanding of these concepts, the ADGS team created small videos available on the company’s YouTube channel and for those with a technology background, added academic articles on the website’s “references” page.

An ADGS flagship product, PANDEXIT, changed how some countries handled the pandemic and its variants, such as the DELTA or the OMICRON. The World Innovation Summit for Health declared PANDEXIT one of the major health innovations for 2020, considering that the decision allowed by the product was saving a lot of lives and lowering the pandemic impact on economies.

PANDEXIT allows decision-makers to know the ins and outs of their decisions: discovering the right policies against the OMICRON variant for instance needs parameters that are not yet available (at the time this article is written) and developing the efficient policies required to fight against the new variant are still unavailable. PANDEXIT, however, is already able to simulate the propagation of the disease and discovers the policies that can prevent the virus from becoming dominant. Unfortunately, most governments rely on old methods and take drastic measures where they are not necessary, or on the opposite, take timid and insufficient actions to stop the propagation of the virus. PANDEXIT fixes this problem.

Classic statistical designs are completely overwhelmed by the very diversity of vaccinated/unvaccinated, variants, preconditions, and travels. In PANDEXIT, a new variant just implies entering new parameters in the model, without any other modification. It takes a few minutes.

Cutting-edge technology, PANDEXIT, became a decisional product to allow governments to always have a decisive step ahead of the virus.

Some other products like CARP (Capital Asset Replacement Prediction), changed the way some early adopters Industries and Oil and Gas were handling their assets to lower their budgets. In the matter of Cyber Security and FinTech, STROKK solved the problems of 2FA (“two Factors Authentication”) while vastly increasing the security of any password by using Keystroke Dynamics which is a Behavioral Biometric Methodology. TASMO (“Text Analysis and Semantic Modeling”) handles Big Data with ease, whether structured or unstructured, using an advanced Natural Language Processing engine developed by ADGS.

Future Outlook

ADGS is currently working on an “Industrial process flows simulator applied to exceptional situations”, like the one in Tchernobyl. The industrial flows can be simulated while the proper prevention or response can be discovered before or after catastrophic events occur. More generally, ADGS’s next product will be able to simulate any failures at any stage in a long process and discover the domino effect such failure might produce.

Words of Wisdom

Starting a company must not be a solitary journey: two or three very different and complementary profiles are great elements of future success. You must also start with enough capital and be prepared to not be paid, or just the minimum. Also, the “entry ticket” of what you plan to develop must be high: if you have a nice idea, but that is easily reproducible for a reasonable cost, expect your idea to be copied as soon as it becomes slightly popular. In this case, you must rush for investor money or somebody else will.

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