Kirk Jabara has been assisting mid-market business owners for over 27 years as a business consultant and as president of his own company. Kirk is co-founder of Fulcrum Partners.

Kirk obtained a BA degree in Economics and Mathematics from Albion College, and studied abroad at the University of Sussex. Kirk began his career with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) in Detroit, Michigan. He was one of the founders of Andersen's mid-market consulting group in 1986, and became a partner and leader of the practice for Michigan. Kirk was responsible for developing Andersen's national manufacturing and consumer products consulting practice for mid-market companies.

Kirk has assisted dozens of mid-market companies with strategy, mergers, acquisitions, succession planning, process improvement, technology deployment and cost reduction. He has extensive experience in the manufacturing and consumer products industries, but has also worked with a wide variety of clients in the services sector. He has owned and operated retail and other services businesses. Kirk currently serves as Director for two manufacturing companies in Michigan, and is Trustee for the Charlevoix County Community Foundation.

Kirk relocated with his family back to his "roots" in Northern Michigan in 1998, He is based in Boyne City, Michigan, with his wife Lynn and two children.

Jim has an extensive business career spanning 25 years in the information and communications technology sectors. His experience includes management and executive leadership roles in sales and general management with Control Data, ROLM, IBM, Siemens, Norstan Communications, SPS Commerce, and QCI. His consulting experience has included engagements in business strategy, sales process, performance management, customer service and process re-engineering.

In 2001 he founded White Cedar Group, a mid-market M&A firm. Since then he has been a member of the Michigan Equity Alliance, a partner in Equity Ltd. and now co-founder of Fulcrum Partners. During his career, Jim successfully led a dozen merger and acquisition transactions for operations ranging from $500,000 to $20,000,000 in revenue.

Jim served 11 years as an officer in the United States Air Force, where he was a decorated combat fighter pilot. He holds a BA in economics from Wittenberg University, an MA from Central Michigan University in management and an MBA from the University of Michigan in marketing. Jim earned certification as a Business Transfer Specialist and a Financial Recasting Consultant from the Business Brokers Network. He is a member of the Association for Corporate Growth and the International Business Brokers Association. He is also active in the local community as a Trustee of the Frankfort Willoughby Rotary Foundation, Secretary of the Board of Directors for the Friends of Point Betsie Lighthouse, and a member of the Board of Directors for the Crystal Downs Property Owners Association.

Jim and his wife Pam live in Frankfort. Their son, a business executive, lives in Pasadena, California, and their daughter, a newspaper editor, lives in Tampa, Florida.

Bill Schumann has been actively involved in Mergers & Acquisitions transactions for over 10 years both as a senior corporate executive and as the president and owner of a middle market M&A firm.

Bill obtained a BBA degree from the University of Iowa with subsequent MBA studies at Northwestern University and has completed the American Management Association's Executive Management Program. He also served four years in the U.S. Navy as a communications officer. Bill is a member of the International Business Brokers Association and is a co-founder of the Michigan Equity Alliance, a statewide organization of business intermediaries.

Bill's career includes over 30 years of experience in medium-sized manufacturing businesses. He has held management and senior executive level positions with five companies whose annual revenue ranged from $100 million to over $500 million. He is a skilled negotiator and has been involved in the sale and acquisition of over a dozen companies. In 2000 he started his own M & A firm which was merged with Equity Ltd. in June of 2003. He is a co-founder of Fulcrum Partners.

Bill is married and has two grown children. His son lives in the Denver area and is a field engineer for a large supplier to the construction industry. His daughter lives in Phoenix and works in the computer industry.

Dan Holbert, MBA has been buying, selling and managing businesses in West Michigan since 1978. His experience includes successfully closing over 25 business transactions.

Dan obtained his BS and MBA from the University of Michigan. He first worked in big Corporate America including IBM, Andersen Consulting for 5 years and Vice President for a company that grew to $ 100 million in 11 years.

In 1989 he began his career as a Mergers & Acquisition Specialist. He bought and sold 7 of his own businesses, worked for companies in M&A positions and worked as a Business Broker. He began his own M&A firm in 2001. He merged his company with Equity, Ltd. in 2003, an is a co-founder of Fulcrum Partners. He is an expert in financial deal analysis, distribution businesses and has worked with companies in many fields. He is also an adjunct Professor at the University of Phoenix teaching management and finance courses.

Dan holds the CM&A (Certified in Mergers & Acquisitions) awarded by the Alliance for Mergers & Acquisitions Advisors, the CBC (Certified Business Counselor) awarded by the Institute for Certification of Business Counselors, the SBA (Senior Business Analyst) and MEA (Machinery and Equipment Analyst) awarded by the Society of Business Analysts and the BTS (Business Transfer Specialist) awarded by the Business Broker Network.

Dan is married with 3 sons. One is an IT expert living in Phoenix and two are living at home with Dan and his wife, Kate.