Buyer, owner, operator, advisor. I’ve run a consulting practice since the early 2000s, first as EBS, then PennyDrop Strategies, now ARYS, and the reason hasn’t changed: the best technology advice I ever got came from people who had already done the job. I want to be that person for associations and nonprofits.
A lot of technology consulting is sold by people who never had to live with the systems they recommend.
And the people who could give great advice are usually too busy running their own shops. So organizations end up with slide decks that miss, vendors who steer toward their own products, and implementations that take twice as long and cost twice as much as they should. Nobody means for it to happen. It just does.
ARYS sits in the small space between the two. I’ve spent twenty-five years as the buyer, the owner, the operator and the board’s translator, across foodservice, manufacturing, distribution and associations, with a consulting practice running alongside all of it since the early 2000s.
Most of what I recommend is something I’ve lived through myself, sometimes twice. That’s the kind of advice I’d want if I were in your seat.
One consulting practice since the early 2000s, under three names: EBS, Inc., then PennyDrop Strategies, now ARYS Intelligence. About 500 engagements, most of them short advisory work, alongside enterprise IT leadership at $100M+ businesses. Each chapter taught me something I now bring to every client.
E-commerce, SEO, web infrastructure, managed services. The economics of running a tech business taught more than any program later.
ERP and CRM implementation across a multi-entity foodservice distributor. First exposure to the operations spine that holds a real business together.
$125M enterprise IT program across WMS, OMS, EDI, ERP, and the integration backbone tying them together. Multi-vendor, multi-year, board-visibility.
Digital transformation, data platform, AI deployment, and the executive translation work that came with all of it, inside a large professional association, on the staff side of the table rather than the vendor side.
The same practice with a new name and a clear focus: hands-on technology help for associations, nonprofits and organizations like them, from someone who has actually delivered the work.
What I’ve picked up across every job, program and implementation. The useful part isn’t any one skill; it’s knowing how they fit together when things get busy.
Most consulting firms run a pyramid. The partner sells the work, and then you mostly see someone a layer or two down: bright, but new to your particular problem.
ARYS is the opposite on purpose. I’m on the first call, the implementation calls, the board briefing and the negotiation with your vendor. There’s no handoff, because there’s no one to hand off to.
That puts a ceiling on how big ARYS can grow, and I’m fine with that. The work I enjoy most is the kind that changes how an organization runs, and that doesn’t get better by adding layers between us.
The first conversation is free and short. Either I can help, or I’ll tell you honestly that you don’t need me. Both are useful.