CEO & Investor Resources — Brennan Group, Inc.

Over the last 12 years, Brennan Group has worked with dozens of Entrepreneurs and first-time CEOs.

We created this resource section for CEOs and investors with the intention of sharing the invaluable benefits of working with coaches who have been a first-time CEO themselves. Throughout our experience placing highly strategic roles for high-growth companies, we are always impressed to see the value that CEO coaches add to any search process.

Allow us to introduce Our Highly Recommended CEO Advisors:

Scott Berg

CEO Advisor & Coach; Managing Director at 10X CEO; Board Member at Pronto Forms;
Former CEO at ServiceMax

Over the past 25 years I’ve had the great fortune to be part of successful technology companies that either went on to trade on public markets (Dendrite Cegedigm, Connect Inc., SuccessFactors) or were acquired by pubic companies and private equity investors (Extensity, Birst, ServiceMax). I thrive in the thrill-a-minute world of high growth software companies that face stiff competition on the road to market leadership. While my career started in IT, and Customer Service, Sales leadership and go-to-market strategy are my professional and intellectual foundation.

They say that being a CEO is one of the loneliest jobs in business. The pressure is always on to make the right decisions, hire and develop the right people, and pursue the right strategies, but you’re often alone in making the final call. On top of that, the role and complexity of being a CEO is expanding as global markets become local, companies serve a growing group of internal and external constituents, and the world demands a more inclusive and diverse workforce. 10X CEO®’s have the opportunity to leverage trusted peers to make them the best leaders they can be.

As a participating COO & CEO for 4 years in 10X CEO®, I learned what skills and priorities separate the top 1% of leaders and companies from the rest and the 10X return the top companies enjoy as a result. Humility, transparency and authenticity are crucial to developing your talent as a leader and growing every day. Like an athlete, you need to train, analyze and perform to be the best CEO. The power of the 10X CEO® peer network was critical to my decisions about commercial strategy, talent and work environment. I joined the program as a Managing Director to share my lessons learned with others and ensure that the ultimate peer network is available for the top company builders.

10X CEO Website

Dave Yarnold

Advisor, Board Member, and CEO Coach
Board Member at VidSig; MATRIXX Software; Model N; and Electic
Former CEO at ServiceMax

Dave has spent the better part of his career (30+ years) as a serial entrepreneur in the enterprise software industry. He currently works as an independent consultant, working with a number of CEOs as a coach and advisor, while serving as an independent director on the board of directors at Model N and several private companies. Prior to that, he was the CEO of ServiceMax, a cloud-based field service software application, which he sold to GE Digital in January 2017 for $1B.

Previously (2004-2008), he was Vice President of Global Sales for SuccessFactors, a SaaS leader in the talent management space, where he built a global sales team that grew from $2M to $120M in bookings over a four-year period. The company went public in November 2007 and was subsequently acquired by SAP for over $3B.

Mr. Yarnold’s experience in the software industry began in 1986 at Oracle, where he was part of the original team that developed and sold the first Oracle applications products. From 1996-1999, as Vice President of North American sales at Clarify, he helped that company grow from $18M to $250M in annual sales over a four-year period prior to Clarify’s acquisition by Nortel for $2.2B. He then led the Business Development and Worldwide Sales teams at Extensity, a provider of web-based employee productivity applications, from 1999-2003 during which the company completed a successful IPO in 2000, and, subsequently, a sale of the company in 2003 to Geac.

Mike Seashols

Advisor and Board Member
Former Chairman & Co-Founder at CongoVoice; Former Co-Founder & CEO at Versant and dosist; Former Chairman & CEO at Evolve Software; Former CEO at Documentum

My interest lies in sharing my wide array of entrepreneurial and operational experiences to interesting organizations in their strategy and execution to reach a more successful outcome. I am passionate about both strategy and execution - assisting in both areas to achieve the desired optimum results. I can inspire and encourage individuals from board members to the leadership team – across all the functional departments of the organization. I help in areas like overall market assessment, strategic planning, product / services offerings, Go to Market alternatives, staffing structure, focus priorities, pricing analysis, accountability metrics, digital communications, personnel recruitment / development / retention, and the evaluation & execution of liquidity options.

My life’s journey includes – growing up in Indiana, being recruited by IBM as a college freshman to be a computer programmer, graduating with a math degree from Manchester University, marrying my college sweetheart, having IBM move us to Silicon Valley.

After 10 years at IBM, I shifted my focus to becoming a software entrepreneur through an introduction by Don Valentine from Sequoia Ventures to Larry Ellison at ORACLE who recruited me as Oracle’s initial Sales & Marketing Vice President in 1981 (less than $10M in revenue) – I remained in that position thru their successful IPO in 1986. I was then recruited by one of Oracle’s competitors – Ingres – to join them in a similar capacity where I stayed through their IPO in 1988. I then co-founded Versant (object-oriented database) which was funded by TA Associates and Bessemer Partners – resulting in a successful IPO after 5 years of operations. In the mid 1990’s, I was recruited by Xerox Ventures to be the Chairman and interim CEO of Documentum where I led the development of their initial target market (pharmaceuticals) while recruiting their first CEO and key management team members resulting in a successful IPO four years later.

In 1998, I served as the Executive Chairman of a public company - Enlightnen Software (network monitoring for security and performance) for 3 years. I then joined Evolve Software (SAAS vendor for managing the consulting services function for large organizations) as Chairman & CEO and recruited the senior management team resulting in a successful IPO. I became the parttime Chairman of NetBase – one of the earliest social media monitoring and analysis products for 8 years. I was recruited to join GoldenGate Software (database replication) full time as the Chairman & CEO which was sold to Oracle for >$300 million. I served on the board of G5 (property management marketing software) as Chairman for 6 years which was sold to RealPage 2020.

One of my most rewarding roles was when my wife, Suzanne, and I co-founded a non-profit 501C3 with a Congolese couple, Mossai and Sabuli Sanguma called CongoVoice. Our focus was vulnerable children, water access, medical services, education, leadership training, and economic development. people. We successfully raised millions of dollars that was deployed through accountability-based programs resulting in a dramatic improvement in the quality of thousands of Congolese lives. CongoVoice was recognized by the Congolese government as a model for geographic expansion across the country. During 2022, we transitioned CongoVoice to be totally managed and staffed by Congolese with a self-sustaining economic model. We were blessed and proud that we were a strategic part of this positive and lasting transformation in the lives of Congolese people.

I also co-founded with my son, Matt, an early medical cannabis brand, dosist, which now operates in 5 states across the country.

I have assisted numerous organizations and individuals over the past 4 decades with strategy, staffing and execution. I have extensive experience with products & markets in data management / replication, network monitoring / security, content management, application software, social media monitoring / engagement, IoT hardware / software, recruiting / staffing, supply chain / retail, education services, non-profits, and property/ real estate management.