Duo partner to form new advisory firm

With over 60 years of experience owning and operating companies, sitting on public and private boards, conducting general business consulting, and executing mergers and acquisitions transactions, Jerry Cirino and Kip Marlow have teamed up to form MyBoard, a new Willoughbybased consulting firm.

Cirino and Marlow will assist private businesses in forming advisory boards which will provide ongoing consultation to business owners and executives.

“The formation of formal advisory boards has become very popular around the country and both

Kip and I have been ongoing members of several advisory boards,” Cirino said. “With MyBoard, clients will have us as board members augmented by other members from relevant specialties important to the client. That’s why we decided to create MyBoard.”

Marlow said specialists will come from the pair’s comprehensive professional contacts in all areas of business and will form an operating advisory board for clients in less than 30 days from engagement.

“We want to help develop the economic ecosystem in the region,” Marlow said. “My ministry was and

is counseling young entrepreneurs. I had an ad hoc group of advisors when I had my company consisting of my barber, mother-inlaw and others. It was good and bad. We’re launching this firm to do a deep dive to be closer to the owners of companies. We’re professionalizing the concept of advisors.”

Marlow was the founder and president of Marlow Surgical technologies for 22 years, selling it to a public company in 1997. According to a news release, he is currently an advisor for over 20 start-up and early stage companies with the Ray Kralovic Center for Entrepreneurship, also known as Lakestart.

Cirino was the founding CEO of SourceOne Healthcare Technologies, one of Jerry Cirino, left, Kip Marlow

the largest radiology companies in the world with annual sales of over $1.2 billion. He has served as CEO of several other medical technology companies, and is currently a Lake County commissioner, elected in 2016.

Both founders also have extensive experience in successfully growing companies, managing through expansions and downturns, transactions, and staff development, the release

stated.

“Advisory boards can not only assist private business owners in managing through day-to-day issues, but (also) create value and wealth for owners and other shareholders,” said Cirino.

As of last week, MyBoard has already secured its first client, Reidy Medical Supply and Doyle Medical, based in Stow and owned by Rita and Ted Stitzel.

Starting the business 26 years ago, Ted said he and Rita have been blessed to know quite a few individuals throughout the years, and consequently become friends with them.

“We’ve had comments about the need to have an advisory board for the company,” he said. “The challenge is these guys are my friends so they’re not

going to say we’re doing something wrong here or there.

“Fast forward to dinner a month ago, Jerry was telling me about the concept of MyBoard. It sounded fascinating and exactly what we needed. I think we’re getting to the size where we’re not 100 percent sure that we’re making all the right decisions. When I started the company, I was 23 so there are a lot of things that I don’t know. My expectation from Kip and Jerry, and hopefully Rita’s, too, is to bring a different perspective in that can help guide us and help continue the growth that we’ve experienced, and help manage it appropriately.”

Pricing for MyBoard services will depend on the size of a company and how

frequently boards will likely meet, Cirino said.

“We also look at a retainer relationship because, again, this is a commitment for a period of time and there’s lots of time to get up to speed on a company’s business,” he added. “This is filling an unmet need. We know from our experiences and our contacts in business that many companies out there can really be helped by an advisory board; not to be intrusive, but to help understand what directions to go in and how to tweak objectives, plans and strategies, and to be a good sounding board.”

For additional information, visit www. myboardadvisors.com or call 216-409-0383.