Aspire Associates' About Us:

THE CONCEPT

Aspire Associates™ is a sales and partnership development firm that achieves extraordinary business growth for clients. Providing a broad set of services, Aspire's Sales Growth Group and Business Growth Group serve small and large companies alike.

Aspire was co-founded by Stewart and Martha Baird, a husband and wife team ,with the initial focus on achieving extraordinary sales growth and value for clients.

However, business at Aspire is about creating growth through taking advantage of both personal and business opportunities. With a veritable treasure trove of displaced but successful executives right here in New England, we decided to work to help these executives reconnect with opportunities that stirred their hearts, as well as their minds.

As many of these executives have been part of Fortune 500 companies, to a growing firm they might seem unaffordable. However, under the Aspire model we connect these successful executives on a focused, part-time basis with clients that need the wisdom, experience and tenacity that comes with age and success. We do this using a formula that works to increase current cashflow and generates new cash through increased sales.

Profitable company growth and individual growth blossom in a positive, collaborative environment, because at Aspire, extraordinary growth is our business.

WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT:

We are "actioneers," not simply advisors, and personally generate sales and partnerships for clients. We achieve this result through a combination of executive-level sales, marketing and business development teams with an average 25 years experience, out-of-the-box thinking, and a relentless focus on creating results and value. And, not coincidentally, our compensation is a steady ratio of value generated.

Among the spectrum of services and products we have developed to meet associated needs of our clients are our Sales Successway© methodology, Interchange concept, and Travel-less Selling/Business© Interactive Workshops

Aspire collaborates with our clients to package and sell their services in a language and fashion that attract business buyers. Quite simply, we accelerate sales and create growth. Cashflow growth. Sales growth. Business growth. Personal growth. Because at Aspire, extraordinary growth is our business.

Aspire Associates Biography's:

CENTRAL CORE GROUP - sets standards, direction, strategy, budget, and growth plans for the company

G. Stewart Baird is co-founder and President of Aspire Associates. Stewart is responsible for setting Aspire's direction, building the team, locating new opportunities, and developing new ideas on behalf of Aspire and its clients. He is an avid promoter and spokesperson for 'Travel-less Selling©'. At a grass-roots level, he has worked with a wide variety of technology-based businesses and built a network of executive contacts that he uses to provide opportunities for Aspire clients.

Several of Stewart's significant sales successes include:

• Developing the highest billing territory for a new technology-focused business unit, increasing territory share to 37% while the established leader dropped 10 points
• Increased billings 25% and doubled new accounts in one year for a major technology leader
• Co-developed a program which provided 66% of one firm's increase in sales at 11x previous profitability

Prior to Aspire, Stewart has over 40 years of sales and marketing experience with industry leaders like McGraw-Hill, Scientific American and Chandler Leasing. He has founded and run three companies, serves on the Internet and Membership Committees of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge, and holds a degree in Psychology from Brown University.

Martha Haskell Baird is co-founder and Vice-President of Aspire Associates. Martha is responsible for designing Aspire's unique organizational structure, the collaborative techniques involved in keeping client project teams connected, and for developing breakthrough ideas for clients.

Mark Albion, Fortune 500 consultant and former Harvard Business School professor after attending an initial Aspire meeting wrote this about Martha in Fast Company's online edition - "her passion captivated us. I was ready to join her quest, her mission, her cause. That's a business plan I'd buy into anytime, anywhere." Separately: "...when we speak from the 'heart' as Martha did, it opens us up to our humanity, to our connectedness. If we can "package" that in our companies, the results are more than we would expect."

Prior to Aspire, she founded and managed three highly successful concert companies that earned critical acclaim in The Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, and the Boston Herald, as well as two televised concerts on WGBH. She has taught at Pine Manor College, the DeCordova Museum and Wheelock College. She holds a B.A. from Bennington College, studied at Emerson College, and earned professional sales certification at Lasell College.

Steven J. Rankel is Vice President of Business Development and has over 15 years of experience developing new markets through sales and innovative strategic marketing in both technology and non-technology companies. He has a gift for explaining, positioning and selling complex technology and has used it to help successfully grow and turn around several firms. He has significant experience implementing Travel-less selling concepts and technologies in consulting, services and product-sales environments, and has and managed strategic relationships in the telecom, wireless, fin services, manufacturing, information, publishing and consulting verticals.

Several of his direct sales accomplishments include:

• Developed a Travel-less selling approach that won $1 million in contracts for a boutique consulting firm
• Led sales & marketing in the successful turnaround (and +200% expansion) of a high-tech telecom firm
• Established US operations for a European software firm and grew the US client base to 200 clients in under 2 years.

Prior to Aspire Steve has been a senior executive at several firms, established the US operations of a European software publisher, founded and ran a business development company and held positions with Ernst & Young and American Express. He holds a BS in Marketing and Information Technology, Summa Cum Laude, from Clarkson University.

Sales Growth Group Leader: Russ Cramer

Russ is responsible for developing Aspire's internal sales team and generating sales on behalf of Aspire clients. For more than 30 years Russ has sold and managed
sales of hardware, software, systems, and services to end users, OEM's and corporations in the government, commercial and education markets.

His positive, driving energy, congeniality, and focus has produced many, many awards for distinguished sales achievement, including six consecutive "Million Dollar"
awards from Data General and 100% Club at DIGITAL. He has also worked with such distinguished organizations as Wall Data, Avatar, NEC, the US Air Force, and
founded Center2000, a Y2K systems consulting firm. Some major corporations Russ has sold: Arthur D. Little Systems, Sovran Financial Corporation, US Postal Services, Liberty Mutual, GE Canada, Philips, and SmithKline Beecham,

Early in his career, Russ also worked on the space program as a design engineer at Eastman Kodak and for the National Security Agency. He holds a BSEE from
Lehigh University and a Master's in Engineering Administration from George Washington University.

Note: We seek highly-motivated, skilled, team-oriented, results-driven men and women with great integrity to enlarge our Sales Growth Group

Advisor & Associated Specialist: Lionel Fray

Lionel Fray has been a management consultant to senior and top management for the past 25 years. His specialty is leading and coaching a business unit client team in creatively exploiting its possibilities.

The principal of Lionel L. Fray Associates, Inc., during recent years, he has worked on a series of engagements with Intel. Other major clients he has served include AT&T, Bell Atlantic, Brunswick, CBS, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deere, Disney, DuPont, Exxon, Hercules, Hallmark, and many smaller companies and institutions.

Previously, Mr. Fray was at Temple, Barker & Sloane (now merged with Mercer Consulting) where he became a Vice President and led its consulting group in business planning. He also served as Vice President of TBS Capital. Prior to that he was a Vice President at Harbridge House (now a subsidiary of PricewaterhouseCoopers) responsible for its general management group. His prior experience was with Management Systems, Mitre, and U.S. Sonics, a high-tech startup he co-founded.

Mr. Fray holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from M.I.T., and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. He has published and conducted seminars on strategic planning and financial analysis. He is a member of The Strategic Leadership Forum and the Institute of Management Consultants, and is listed in Who's Who in America.

Associated Business Growth Group Improvement Expert: Marvin M. Wurtzel

Marvin M. Wurtzel has over thirty years of multinational experience with high technology and financial services companies in growth and merger situations. In addition to consulting with senior executives, his personal experience includes all aspects of management in the quality, process improvement, customer value, and customer focus functions.

The Principal of Marvin M. Wurtzel & Associates, Marvin has worked for leading companies including Fidelity Investments Systems Company, Eaton Semiconductor, Prime Computer, Bose, and Raytheon, as well as smaller and high-growth organizations.

He has developed and taught three courses for Northeastern University, two of which were also presented via satellite broadcast for National Technical University.

A three-time Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Examiner, he is also a Fellow in the American Society for Quality and a Certified Quality and Reliability Engineer.

Marvin holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from The City College of New York and a Master of Science in Engineering Management from Northeastern University

Bios for other individual specialists furnished upon request. Contact G. Stewart Baird at 508-758-9920, Sbaird@Aspire Associates.com