Don Springer
Don Springer has a personal mission to create value that enriches individual lives and transforms organizations. He accomplishes that by leveraging his decades of CEO and Board of Directors’ experience, combined with the latest research, to provide governance and actionable stakeholder strategies that ignite and accelerate growth.
He has served on the boards of international and domestic technology and service companies, both public and private, as well as on non-profit boards. He also served as a board director of companies in the UK, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, and Sweden, while living in Europe.
Don is presently serving as Chairman of The Colton Group, Inc., a strategic advisory firm for emerging businesses, global companies, and social enterprises. As such, he has provided board governance, growth strategies and business model innovation for companies serving US, European, and Asian markets. He is also serving as a Director of GovernX LLC, a governance consultancy helping private companies raise their standards of governance.
Additionally, Don is serving as an advisory board member of the Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance at The University of Texas at Dallas (IECG), which develops thought leadership on governance issues for public and private companies, governmental, and nonprofit organizations. He serves on the Institute’s strategy committee who developed the Governance Capital Model, a new approach to governance in a dynamic, distributed, and networked world. He is also a regular lecturer for the Institute’s Executive Certification Programs in the Governance Capital Model and in Nonprofit Governance.
Don has directly led high performance growth, strategic repositioning, and innovation for both large and small companies earlier in his career. As CEO/President, he led companies associated with the Fortune 500 such as a global technology and services subsidiary of Ford Motor Co., a Microsoft VAR, and an EDS EdTech venture. He has also been founder and CEO of multiple venture-backed startups, emerging businesses, and had an early career at Texas Instruments. In addition to organic growth, he has $1.3B of M&A experience in various roles encompassing buy-side, sell-side, and integration.
He was a past member of CEO Netweavers where he founded and chaired the New Business Development SIG. He has been a past member of Executive Connection Dallas, CEO Trust, and a past mentor with the North Texas Regional Center for Innovation and Commercialization.
Don has been a regular guest lecturer at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, the University of Texas at Dallas Jindal School of Management, and SMU’s Cox School of Business Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship.
Don and his wife enjoy their family, cooking together, the arts, literature, and continuing education.
Jim Pizzimenti
Jim Pizzimenti is Co-Founder of The Colton Group, a strategic advisory firm serving the nonprofit and private sectors to promote capacity building and organizational growth. Jim is an experienced executive with 30 years in leadership focused on growth, strategic planning, and outcomes based measurement. He has been successful in all facets of operational and executive management for organizations of 70 to 500 people with $10 million to $600 million in annual revenue.
Jim’s previous senior management experience includes serving as President of Novations Learning Technologies, VP/corporate officer for a technology/services subsidiary of Ford Motor Company, VP at MSX International, and Service Delivery Officer at a web based B2B services company. Since 2004, Jim has focused on supporting nonprofit sector clients, working with foundations and funders, associations, community development organizations, and direct service agencies to build capacity, set strategy, and launch programs serving the community.
Jim has also held volunteer leadership and board positions in the nonprofit sector for over 25 years. His service includes United Way SEM as Allocations Chair and Fund Distribution Committee member, a founding board member at the University of Michigan Dearborn for the M.S. program in Adult Instruction and Performance Technology, trustee for the American Red Cross Southeastern Michigan Chapter, founding board member of the Greater Detroit Network of Social Innovators, and as a board member of the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce.
