The Nonprofit Management Group is lead by Fred Leeb, winner of the 2007-2008 Turnaround of the Year Award from the Detroit Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA). Fred Leeb and Geni Giannotti, NMG Managing Directors, orchestrated the successful turnaround of Starfish Family Services while they were the Starfish interim CEO and COO, respectively

Starfish is a nonprofit that serves about 8,000 children and families annually. It has revenue of about $12 million per year, 270 employees and more than a dozen service sites. Starfish is generating consistent operating surpluses now and is taking the opportunity to be a leader in the nonprofit community.

Bill Mitchell, the Starfish Chairman of the Board, said, “We could not be happier with the results achieved in such a relatively short time…. Our relationship with our bank is excellent. Our relationship with the various government agencies that fund our operations has greatly improved as our financial condition has improved. Our auditors are happy with the turnaround…. You were a true partner with the Board and we are very grateful. I can recommend you without reservation….”

Turnaround Management Association Names Fred Leeb & Associates Winner of the 2007-2008 Turnaround of the Year Award

With international headquarters in Chicago, TMA’s 8,300 members in 43 regional chapters comprise a professional community of turnaround practitioners, attorneys, investors, lenders, venture capitalists, investment bankers, accountants, appraisers, liquidators, executive recruiters and consultants.

Fred Leeb's work is designed to help organizations achieve the next level of business success. His work builds upon a substantial body of knowledge from repeated consulting engagements with successful for-profits and nonprofits for over thirty years. Mr. Leeb's other experiences with nonprofits have included:

• Completing a highly successful ten-month turnaround engagement as the Interim Executive Director of the Minneapolis Jewish Community Center, having about 200 employees and 1,900 membership units. In this engagement, we surmounted the common problems faced by many nonprofits of having extremely limited resources and a very difficult, competitive operating environment. The agency went from having a very risky future to one that is on the right track for success. The energy and ideas of many people pulled a complex organization up by its own bootstraps. For the first time in many years, people understood the mission and direction of the agency. The two co-presidents of that organization recognized the achievements the organization made during this relatively short period of time. Two of their quotes regarding the engagement are as follows:

• "Fred was specifically charged with many facets of daily operations of our JCC including but not limited to: rebuilding the board, creating new board committees, dramatically improving staff morale, changing key staff members, developing new reports to focus on cash flow and income projections, develop new marketing channels, improving our communications with United Way, working with our funding sources including the Minneapolis Jewish Federation and other sister agencies, creating many new collaborations. I must say the list actually goes on; I believe we had over 12 pages of priority items that Fred prepared for us, implemented and managed during his tenure at our JCC. Fred is a dynamic business leader with a great propensity for self-direction, performance, and additionally coaching and working with key staff and Board Members. I consider Fred a capable and competent addition to any business project both non-profit and for-profit. I have developed a keen respect for Fred and his ability to perform a quality job in the midst of a very chaotic and transitional work environment. I feel fortunate to consider him not only a colleague but a new and dear friend. I am confident that he will be an asset to any project in which you are fortunate enough to have his involvement."
• "During this period, Mr. Leeb performed all the functions of the Executive Director in an exemplary fashion. He was able to organize the staff and the lines of reporting, manage the cash flow and begin to stimulate involvement by new lay people. In essence, he [Fred Leeb] transformed a completely dysfunctional organization into one that communicated internally and was focused on performing the task at hand. Additionally, he effected several changes in personnel that resulted in an increased level of overall productivity. However, most importantly, Mr. Leeb was able to instill a level of honesty and professionalism that had been absent for many years. There was improvement in the relationship with the Minneapolis Federation and United Way, joint programming with a host of other community agencies and new ideas for programming within the agency itself. Partnership, whether external or internal, became a way of life and was incorporated into the fabric of daily operations."

• Helping the interim Executive Director to manage a social service agency in transition. Providing adoption, foster care, counseling in drug prevention and drug abuse, Big Brothers Big Sisters, home support, adult day care, residential treatment for teens, supervised parenting/exchange and a teen parent center. Being the change agent: initiating new employee teams to address major issues, focusing on cash flow, achieving a better balance of revenue and expense, and improving the fiscal position of the agency.
• Developing a plan for a highly successful organization to help them attain the next level of performance and stay ahead of the competition.
• Focusing on core programming requirements to improve the match of resources with the mission of the agency.These decisions involved tough choices about prioritizing scarce resources
• Developing recommendations to fully utilize newly built facilities including indoor swimming, fitness, banquet hall, and gym facilities at a community center on the East Coast.
• Creating a new consensus to go forward on approximately 30 actions to improve operations for a nonprofit in New Haven, Connecticut.
• Working with the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association to improve business practices and reduce expense.
• Preparing an in-depth analysis (for an umbrella organization) of the fundamental issues facing a major constituent agency and creating an extensive list of practical recommendations for agency improvements.
• Working to improve the operations of the constituent agency's four major business groups and to successfully obtain approval of a $25 million building renovation/endowment program. [Since then, the goal was increased and $35 million already has been raised successfully.]
• Working to completely re-evaluate the balance of expenses and revenues, clarify priorities and to recommend practical solutions to critical financial problems for one of Detroit's oldest and largest religious organizations.
• Presenting business planning to executives at two national nonprofit seminars.
  
  The client’s business plans, prepared under the guidance of NMG, have resulted in many operational changes, beginning only weeks after the start date of the process. Decision-making for these client agencies became much easier because of a greater understanding and awareness on the part of the staff and the board of the key issues, financial information and key operating statistics. In addition, many new lines of communication were established between existing and new Board committees, the staff and lay people.
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  After receiving a BA in Economics from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from Wharton, Mr. Leeb started his career in the financial management training program at Ford and later joined Occidental Petroleum (a $20 billion conglomerate). He was promoted there to be the Director of Financial Planning and Analysis at the headquarters. He was responsible to top management for identifying the strengths, weaknesses, risks and opportunities in many business units. Mr. Leeb also has worked as a consultant for Coopers & Lybrand (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers) and Jay Alix & Associates (now AlixPartners), two of the preeminent consulting firms in the U.S.
  
  In early 1995, he formed his own consulting firm. One of the primary focuses has been work with nonprofit organizations.
  
  Mr. Leeb has functioned as Treasurer of the Children's Aid Society of Detroit, a board member of The Association for Corporate Growth, and a member of the Jewish Federation's Education Division, the Wharton Alumni Club, the Turnaround Management Association and the Detroit Association of Business Economists.
  
  
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