SmartCore Solutions

Linda Leake

Chief Operating Officer, Human Relations Strategy

Results-driven, effectual leader experienced in building and growing organizations, revenues and relationships within the non-profit, public and private sectors.

Within in her own businesses and the 300+ companies she has served, Linda Leake gets measurable revenue results through people. Her ability to assess and find the pain, plan the change and engage herself and others in implementing constructive change have been proven time and again in all sizes of organizations.

Linda has experience across all functional areas of business. As an Executive Partner with SmartCore Business solutions, Linda will continue to put her “lived it” experience and multiple talents to use with the Clients of SmartCore. She has been engaged in a multitude of industries with C Level Executives and Managers. Linda knows people, their behavior and maximizes their full potential. Right people are the Return On Investment (ROI) for every successful organization.

Prior to SmartCore, Linda owned, managed and sold three successful companies in nine years in healthcare, retail, and manufacturing. Linda sold her speech therapy practice with four office locations to venture capitalists, stayed on for two years and was one of six executives to grow a national company from $7- $45 million in revenue, 150 – 1500 employees in two years and the company went public at $17 a share. Her sales abilities brought in $3 million in 18 months while also developing and implementing marketing materials for rehabilitation services to hospitals and nursing homes. Linda’s experience with venture capitalists positioned her to exceed goals and obtain results with 300+ organizations and thousands of individuals locally and nationally. She has also authored the book Private Practice: A Business Venture. In addition, Linda has a patent for her invention, Make A Mark!

Linda has served on numerous private and non-profit Boards. In addition, wrote numerous articles for publications with some being Plastic Surgery Practice Advisor, North Carolina Business, Women’s Edge, Women in the Triangle, Business Leader, Triangle Business Journal, News and Observer, Council for Entrepreneurial Development Newsletter, Business Sense - bankers publication, Small Business Sense - Pacific Bell publication. Multiple sources also published articles about her work including Entrepreneur, Success, Wall Street Journal. Sales Management, Triangle Business Journal, Business Leader.

Ms. Leake’s career includes successful experience as an entrepreneur, executive, leader, manager, mediator, coach, facilitator, speaker, author, and inventor. Her Bachelor’s Degree from Western Michigan University and her Master’s Degree from Wayne State University, with post-graduate courses in supreme and district court mediation, legal terminology, organization development, marketing, sales, fundraising, strategic planning and two years of training with venture capitalists position her to continue to achieve results through thousands of more people in hundreds of more organizations.

Graham Crispin

M&A Advisor, Business Broker

During the last 30 years, Graham Crispin provided Technology and Business Management leadership within the Defense, Education, Telecommunications and IT space. His responsibilities spanned Strategic Planning, Implementation and Operations. Today, Graham deploys those skills and experience to help business owners achieve wealth through strategic planning and execution, business divestment, and mergers and acquisitions.

Early in Graham’s career as an Australian Air Force military officer he was essential in procurement of Air Traffic Control Radars by coordinating the in-service logistics and associated planning. Later, as a senior project engineer with the Australian Defense Science Organization, he coordinated business aspects of a Research Division for financial and program planning, intellectual property management, and managed systems projects at the cutting edge of Over-the-Horizon Radar. Graham also led the entrepreneurial development of a program of innovative business-relevant post graduate courses for the Telecommunications and IT community. He combined the resources of industry and universities to provide flexible curriculum delivery by combining videoconferencing, print and internet delivery modes. Focusing on Turn-around Y2K Projects Graham relocated to the United States and delivered millions of dollars of savings through best of class project, risk, software, and teamwork systems.

Graham received his Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Communications/Electronics from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1982 (equivalent to a BSEE with double major in Telecommunications and Electronics). He was awarded the Master of Business Administration degree from The University of Adelaide in 1992 with a focus on International Business and Technology. Mr. Crispin served as: Vice-Chairman on the Information Industries Training Advisory Board of the State of South Australia, as a Board Member and founding member of the Carolinas Virginia Business Brokers’ Association (CVBBA), Committee Member of the Capital City Club and Cardinal Club Business Alliance, Member of the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Lieutenant Governor of Carolinas Kiwanis Division 28, President of Cary Kiwanis and Vice Chairman of its Education Trust and Distinguished former President of Cary Toastmasters.

He is currently on the board of two businesses in their startup phase and is a regular presenter on business transition topics to professional organizations such as the CPA Law Forum.

Jeffrey J. Kaplan

Financial Leadership, Capital Raising, Mergers & Acquisitions Turnarounds

Kaplan has 30 years experience as a CFO with 23 years of those years working with public companies. During his career, Kaplan has been directly responsible for closing over $1.4 billion in transactions, including underwritten public offerings (four IPOs), PIPEs, acquisitions and bank financings. As EVP and CFO at Rare Medium Group, Kaplan completed a $186 million underwritten public offering and more than $70 million in private placement funding. Throughout his career as a CFO, Kaplan has been responsible for building and developing corporate finance and administrative staff to handle growth, and he has implemented budgeting and forecasting disciplines to manage growth. During Kaplan's tenure at Clabir Corporation, a conglomerate that owned 37 restaurants and 100 convenience stores, the company brought the popular Klondike™ ice cream bar to the national market and subsequently spun-off Klondike as a separate public company.

Kaplan also has substantial experience implementing and managing successful investor relations campaigns and coordinated securities analyst coverage for a number of public companies. Kaplan specializes in financial leadership, capital raising, mergers and acquisitions, investor relations and CFO mentoring for public and emerging-growth companies as well as turnaround and workout situations.

Kaplan holds a Master’s of Business Administration with distinction from the New York University Stern School of Business, where he was elected a charter member of Beta Gamma Sigma (National Business Honor Society), and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University.

Selected Accomplishments

• Directed and completed a $186 million underwritten public offering, a $70 million private placement and obtained security analyst coverage from three major investment banks as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Rare Medium Group. Successfully hired staff to manage one year growth from $30 million to $130 million in revenue.
• Negotiated and closed a $90 million public subordinated debt issue; structured, negotiated and closed two acquisitions aggregating $74 million in purchase price and managed the creation of an international tax structure resulting in $3 million in annual savings as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Safety Components International, Inc.
• Spun-off the Klondike™ ice cream bar subsidiary into a separate public company and built manufacturing facilities to expand production while bringing this ice cream bar to the national market as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Clabir Corporation.
• Cut operating expenses by 45% and installed budgeting and cash management procedures as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Viewpoint Corporation.

Geoff Sinn

IT Managed Services

Geoff Sinn is a highly innovative, results-oriented senior executive who has over two decades of experience in the area of IT Managed Services. He is recognized as a pioneer and thought leader in the industry, and has been a key player in the growth of Managed Services from a niche offering in the 1990’s to an accepted way of doing business today. He has successfully implemented a Managed Services business six times, both as LOBs within larger companies and as stand-alone entities. He has held senior level positions at companies ranging in size from Fortune 500 to raw start-ups; in each case, having full management and P&L responsibility for the businesses he established.

Geoff’s experience in IT Managed Services is extensive covering a wide variety of IT disciplines, including remote monitoring and management; backup; replication; storage; disaster recovery/business continuity; software-as-a-service; email archiving; security; hosting; and cloud computing. He is credited with implementing the industry’s first stand-alone tape outsourcing business, storage utility business, and end-to-end Virtual Business Continuity business aimed at the mid-market. In addition, he built one the most successful Storage Service Providers in Arsenal Digital Solutions which was purchased in 2007 for over $100M. Geoff has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of New Brunswick and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario, one of the top 20 business schools in the world. Geoff currently resides in Cary, North Carolina.