Advisors

John M. McLaughlin, Ph.D. has been involved in over 25 transactions in the autism and special education markets.  He served a Managing Director of Behavioral Innovations with eight ABA clinics in the Dallas Fort Worth area from 2009- 11.  An education entrepreneur his entire working life, at age 24 he started a school in Nashville now in its 45th year for students who benefited from a highly personalized education.  In the mid-80’s John become an associate professor of educational administration at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.  While a professor he researched the role of the private sector in school reform and started the influential Education Industry Report, tracking private investment in the education arena.  He left his tenured post in academia in 1997 to focus full-time on the business of education and behavioral health. 

John Bergstrom has been involved with advising companies on capital formation, merger & acquisition transactions, governance and strategy for almost three decades. He has worked with companies as an advisor on their liquidity processes by means of sale of the business to a larger corporation or a private equity firms, by means of initial public offerings as well as through recapitalization transactions. In addition to his significant transaction experience, John has been a member of the board of directors of over 20 companies, serving either as an independent member of the board or as the representative of investors.

Leaders across many industries turn to Dave for strategic advice and coaching given his expertise in business operations, financial management, public relations and marketing. He has worked with more than 100 clients over the span of his career, including nonprofit organizations, industry associations, municipalities, state governments and educational institutions, in addition to multinational corporations and small-to-medium sized businesses. 

Dave draws on nearly two decades of experience in business, as well as another decade in higher education. He has designed and managed enterprise-wide strategic communications programs for Citigroup, Bank of America, Principal Financial Group, and multiple divisions of Wells Fargo & Company, in addition to having served as director of strategic marketing and public relations for a private company with clients ranging in size from startup to Fortune 250. Most recently, he led communications and marketing for Drake University, including a refresh of the 140-year old institutional brand, the launch of online education and two-year degrees, along with oversight for a Democratic presidential debate and a global broadcast partnership with CNN during the most recent Iowa caucus season.  

Sarah has been in-love with Behavior Analysis since she took her first intro to ABA class as an undergraduate student at Gonzaga University. Sarah has been a Board Certified Behavior Analyst since 2004 (she even took the exam using real paper and a pencil). Sarah founded and was President of an ABA services business, STE Consultants, from 2004-2019. During that time STE Consultants worked to provide quality ABA services to individuals with ASD and developmental disabilities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento and Washington state.