Each facilitator with The Alternative Board® (TAB) is an experienced business person who has successfully completed an extensive TAB facilitator training program and participates in ongoing training sessions. Most facilitators run or have run their own businesses giving them a unique perspective to share with the board members.
The TAB facilitator guides the group discussions without dominating the meetings and encourages all members to express their views while keeping the discussion on track. They also ensure problem solving ideas are generated and the meeting does not become a gripe session.
Steve Swanson is President of The Alternative Board - Pittsburgh through which he provides business coaching and peer advisory board facilitation to private business owners in the Pittsburgh area. He is also President of Swanson Consulting LLC, an independent business consulting firm. His practice has focused on strategic planning, sales and marketing, financial performance enhancement, and merger & acquisition strategy, valuation and due diligence. Client projects have also included foreign sourcing and joint venture evaluation in Asia.
Steve is a senior executive with more than twenty-five years of experience in new business development and effective business leadership in both large and small business environments. Steve has a proven record of teambuilding, strategic partnering and profitable results. His key competencies include merger & acquisition planning, due diligence, and integration; business mission and focus; strategic alliances; capital acquisition; corporate financial management; marketing strategies; and sales management.
Prior to his consulting career, Steve was President & CEO of AAA Financial Services, a subsidiary of PNC Bank. His business unit achieved the highest customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction results in the company. Under Steve’s leadership, AAA Financial Services created PNC’s first national direct mail and telemarketing campaigns for consumer loans and deposits; started a new telephone banking center unit with over 100 specially trained employees; and developed a successful sales and fulfillment-oriented Web site.
Steve has also been CFO of a privately owned oil and gas exploration and production company based in Buffalo, NY where he established financial planning and budgeting systems and managed bank and private investor relationships.
Steve is Chairman of the Finance Committee and a Director of Penn National Mutual Insurance Company, a mid-sized property and casualty insurance company based in Harrisburg, PA. He is also a Member of the National Board of Directors of the American Cancer Society, Chair of its Stakeholder Relations Committee and a member of its Audit & Stewardship Committee. And, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the ACS’ Pennsylvania Division.
Steve grew up in the North Hills of Pittsburgh where he lives with his wife and four children. He graduated from Roanoke College and received an MBA from Harvard Business School.