Lew Turnquist has more than 30 years of operational and transactional experience in technology companies — public and private, mature and early-stage, high-growth and turnaround. He has held the operating seat, not just the advisory one: CEO, President, EVP and COO roles with direct accountability for revenue, cost and people.
As EVP and COO he grew a wireless location technology and services company to a billion-dollar public market cap, and prior to that he was a founding team member at the world's first wireless Internet company. His line experience spans marketing, product management, sales and business development, and finance; which is why his diagnoses tend to land on the sales process, the product roadmap or the org chart as often as on the financials.
His turnaround and interim management work includes a large-format LED display designer and manufacturer in Atlanta, a sensor-based wearable medical device company, a 3D imaging product company, and a retail point-of-sale software company — mandates that involved refocusing sales, realigning product development to match product-market fit, right-sizing operating expense and rebuilding leadership teams, not simply recommending it.
On behalf of the Kirchner Group, he helped manage the New Acres Capital ag and food fund, and he recently led the restructuring of a C$150M private lending fund on behalf of its Board. While Senior Managing Partner at the Kirchner Group, he oversaw and/or personally led over 50 M&A and operational engagements across software, telecommunications, health, biotech, and agricultural technology.
