F&B, CPG, Manufacturing & Distribution CEOs: your next crisis will start in a relationship you’re not watching
When a crisis hits, what fails first is your weakest stakeholder relationship. Find out which stakeholder needs your attention now, and the next steps to fix it, in a free 60-Minute Stakeholder Consultation.
CEO & COO | Scaled to $160M Exit | West Point Graduate | Gulf War Veteran
Limited bookings available
TWO PROBLEMS. SIX PLACES THEY HIDE.
Hidden Fragility: the risk you can’t see. Dangerous Dependence: too much riding on too few. Both live inside six stakeholder relationships.
“The crisis is never the problem. It’s the stakeholder relationship that was already failing — and nobody named it.”
This is for you if:
You survived the last disruption – but you know you got lucky
Whether it was COVID, a supply chain collapse, or a key executive who left at the worst possible moment – you made it through, but the vulnerabilities are still there.
You’re running harder but the margin keeps compressing
Nine times out of ten, this traces back to a stakeholder relationship that’s deteriorated. The P&L is the last place the problem shows up – not the first.
You are or will be experiencing explosive growth
Rapid growth is its own form of crisis. Revenue is up, orders are coming in, and underneath it, your stakeholder relationships are fracturing under a load they may not be ready to carry.
TOO OFTEN CEOs ARE SOLVING THE WRONG PROBLEM.
When something breaks in a business, the presenting problem is almost never the real one. The lost customer, the executive who quit, the supplier that went dark are all symptoms.
The root cause is almost always a stakeholder relationship that was quietly degrading — and nobody was measuring it, naming it, or fixing it.
My work exists to find and fill the gaps in your stakeholder relationships before a crisis finds them first.
This 60-Minute Stakeholder Consultation will help you identify the one that matters most.
The Common Good Framework: Stakeholder Resilience
Six relationships. One of them is your highest risk.
Hidden Fragility and Dangerous Dependence don’t float free. They hide inside these six relationships. This is where the search happens.
When they’re all healthy, the numbers get better:
Lower turnover, better supplier terms, community goodwill that holds when the business needs it most. I’ve seen it work in CPG, manufacturing, distribution, commercial real estate, and food and beverage.
I do this because I want your business to thrive
Through my career, I’ve learned through doing – not theorizing – what makes organizations resilient.
As VP of Operations at High West Distillery, I scaled operations roughly 800% over seven and a half years (about 600% by the four-year mark, when the company was acquired for $160M at a 10x revenue multiple) and led a $40M facility expansion. As CEO of Whiskey Del Bac, I raised $4.5M through COVID, grew the investor base from 26 to 100+, and drove a 14% CAGR through the worst industry downturn in decades.
As a West Point graduate and Armor Officer in Desert Storm, I led Battalion Maintenance for a 600-soldier, 200-vehicle battalion. Personally responsible for 105 of those soldiers and every single one came safely home.
I give away two free sessions per week to qualified businesses who are committed to strengthening their organization for the betterment of the communities they serve.
The goal of our 60 minutes together will be to reveal the blind spot that could save you when the next crisis hits – because it always does.
What Clients Say
“Despite limited resources, he introduced necessary planning as well as the operational and financial controls to provide a solid platform for ongoing growth.”
HENRY C. DUDLEY, INVESTOR & FORMER BOARD MEMBER — Hamilton Distillers Group (dba Whiskey Del Bac)
“At High West, his operational leadership helped position the company for its successful acquisition. At Whiskey Del Bac, his growth strategies secured vital capital and drove double-digit revenue growth through the COVID downturn.” NIK RUOTI · FOUNDER / PRINCIPAL, Strat Financial Consulting
“Kent not only came on as our CEO with that needed experience and perspective, but also with a vision for growing the company that we lacked.”
STEPHEN & AMANDA PAUL, CO-FOUNDERS — Hamilton Distillers Group (dba Whiskey Del Bac)
Case Studies: Stakeholder Alignment in Action
High West Distillery: Scaling to a $160M Exit
Stakeholders: Employees, Suppliers & Partners, Shareholders & Investors, Community
Situation: A craft distillery in a period of explosive growth, facing production bottlenecks and capacity constraints that threatened every stakeholder relationship.
Solution: Built supplier partnerships that reduced bottle costs by 40%. Oversaw a $40M facility expansion. Grew team capacity while maintaining culture. Kept community relationships strong through explosive growth.
Impact: Enabled roughly 800% operational scaling over seven and a half years (about 600% by the 2016 acquisition) and positioned the company for a $160M exit at a 10x revenue multiple.
Confectionery Manufacturer Turnaround
Stakeholders: Employees, Customers, Shareholders & Investors
Situation: A novelty confections manufacturer lost a single customer representing a substantial share of revenue — exposing dangerous customer concentration and cost structure weaknesses.
Solution: Empowered department heads and their teams to redesign products and rebuild cost models. Cut unprofitable SKUs by 50%. Led a transparent, respectful workforce reduction.
Impact: Restored profitability to all SKUs. Minimized key customer dependency. The employees who solved the crisis were the same stakeholder group most at risk—proving that aligned teams don’t just survive, they innovate under pressure.
Root cause clarity: Commercial Real Estate Restructuring
Stakeholders: Employees, Customers (Tenants), Suppliers & Partners, Shareholders & Investors
Situation: Took over a mismanaged 560,000 sq ft, Class A, office/retail complex with deferred maintenance, broken vendor relationships, and eroding tenant confidence.
Solution: Rebuilt the property management team, overhauled vendor partnerships, enforced lease terms, and restored tenant satisfaction across all stakeholder groups.
Impact: Transformed asset performance. Boosted property value, increased parking and leasing revenue, and rebuilt the trust that stakeholder neglect had destroyed.
Whiskey Del Bac: COVID Crisis Leadership
Stakeholders: Employees, Customers, Shareholders & Investors
Situation: Took over as CEO just before the COVID-19 shutdowns. Sales dropped, production halted, and staffing was reduced by 50%.
Solution: Aligned all stakeholder groups around a survival-to-growth plan. Raised $4.5M in capital, grew investor base from 26 to 100+, revamped portfolio, and expanded distribution.
Impact: Drove 14% CAGR through the worst industry downturn in decades. Proved that stakeholder alignment enables resilience when crisis hits hardest.
The Stakeholder Resilience Engagement™
It begins with a structured assessment producing a report and roadmap, typically one to three months depending upon the size and complexity of the business. From there, execution support is scoped case-by-case, ranging from coaching the CEO, to coaching the executive team responsible for the roadmap, to hands-on leadership of the implementation.
Speaking That Changes How Leaders Think
Keynotes, workshops, and leadership forums on crisis resilience, stakeholder alignment, and building organizations that last. Nearly four decades of leadership, from West Point to CEO to a $160M exit, grounded in stories audiences remember and frameworks they can use.
Leadership in Complexity: When There Are No Easy Answers — Leading effectively when the path forward isn’t clear: navigating ambiguity, making tough calls, and keeping teams aligned.
From Transaction to Legacy: Building Companies That Last — Shifting from quarter-to-quarter survival to building organizations that serve all stakeholders and endure.
The Common Good: The Idea That Built Your Daily Life — The Founders organized a nation around a simple idea: some things we can only build together. Roads and bridges, hospitals and airports, schools and parks, first responders and the military. This keynote traces that idea from 1776 to today, shows how it quietly underwrites daily life and every durable business, and gives leaders a practical way to put it back to work in their companies and communities.
Forged to Thrive: The Six Stakeholders Every Leader Ignores at Their Peril — A practical deep dive into the Common Good Framework: Stakeholder Resilience, and the vulnerabilities that break organizations in crisis.
Let’s Talk
Whether you’re exploring a consultation, looking for a keynote speaker, or have another way you’d like to engage, the first call is on me.
kent@kentcheeseman.com • (801) 403-5229 • Minneapolis, MN
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